New research explores why some octogenarians have exceptional memories.

When it comes to aging, we tend to assume that cognition gets worse as we get older. Our thoughts may slow down or become confused, or we may start to forget things, like the name of our high school English teacher or what we meant to buy at the grocery store.

But that’s not the case for everyone.

For a little over a decade, scientists have been studying a subset of people they call “super-agers.” These individuals are age 80 and up, but they have the memory ability of a person 20 to 30 years younger.

Most research on aging and memory focuses on the other side of the equation — people who develop dementia in their later years. But, “if we’re constantly talking about what’s going wrong in aging, it’s not capturing the full spectrum of what’s happening in the older adult population,” said Emily Rogalski, a professor of neurology at the University of Chicago, who published one of the first studies on super-agers in 2012.

Cases of dementia are rising around the world. The disease has no cure, but caregivers and families are finding innovative ways for patients to live with dignity

“Today an estimated 57 million people globally have dementia—about 12 percent live in the United States—and cases are projected to rise to 153 million by 2050. By then, medical and caregiving costs are expected to reach $16.9 trillion worldwide. Numerous factors are contributing to the increase, most notably a growing older population; a rise in risk factors like obesity and diabetes; and worsening air pollution, which, studies show, damages brain health.”

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