EXPERT MEETING ON DEVELOPING INFORMED ANIMAL MODELS OF SOCIAL AGING

National Academy Of Sciences, Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

The NIA seeks input from human and animal experts to exchange comparative insights and identify the most promising methodological and analytic tools and ecologically valid approaches for developing and using animal models of social aging. This proposed meeting addresses the need to conduct an expert meeting on Developing Informed Animal Models of Social Aging. This meeting will address the central question: How might animal models fill critical knowledge gaps about the psychological, behavioral and social processes that shape health and well-being of humans in midlife and older age? Research with animal models can help reveal fundamental biological rules that govern each of these processes, and uncover patterned regularities, contextual sensitivities, and sources of individual variation, outside of the realm of culture. Such research can help overcome issues of selection and reverse causality which complicate interpretation of the dynamic interplay among these processes, in explaining their interrelated links to aging outcomes across the life course. By establishing and sustaining collaborative relationships between human and animal researchers, this could better inform our causal theories about links between social and behavioral factors and health in aging.