The study, conducted at the University of Adelaide, assessed visual and non-visual response to stimuli amongst a group of 60 older participants (aged 55–95) and a group of 60 younger participants (aged 18–38).

Researcher Dr Joanna Brooks said similar results across both groups from spatial attention tasks involving touch, sight and sound suggested that certain cognitive systems in the right cerebral hemisphere – such as spatial attention – may be “encapsulated” and protected from the effects of ageing.

In one task, participants were blindfolded and asked to locate the centre of a range of wooden objects. Brooks found that subjects in both groups had a significant and consistent bias towards the left-hand side of each object’s true centre.

“Our results challenge current models of cognitive ageing because they show that the right side of the brain remains dominant for spatial processing throughout the entire adult lifespan,” Brooks said. “We now need to better understand how and why some areas of the brain seem to be more affected by ageing than others.”

The study adds further hope that by unlocking the secrets of the brain, researchers may one day be able to artificially replicate its natural protective mechanisms and aid the treatment or prevention of conditions such as Alzheimer’s and dementia.

“There may be a signature of neural activity in that part of the brain that can tell us something about these protective mechanisms,” Brooks said. “And if we can eventually work towards that goal we might be able to harness that knowledge into our own understanding of the parts of the brain.”