Normal healthy ageing includes widespread changes in the brain. These brain changes have typically been claimed to lead to increasingly severe problems with a variety of everyday cognitive functions, such as memory, attention, and problem solving. However, over the past decade this view is starting to change, resulting in a major re-evaluation of how we think about normal aging and the consequences of normal brain ageing. Ageing is no longer seen as an inexorable progressive decline in neural and cognitive fitness. Instead, a much more differentiated - and more positive - view is emerging of the nature of the developmental change from early to late adulthood. Instead of focussing on what cognitive functions decline in aging, this research focuses on what is preserved, trying to understand the brain mechanisms by which cognitive functions can be preserved in spite of extensive changes in brain structure and function. In this talk Professor Tyler discussed some of the research that takes a positive view of changes across the life-span, and in dong so is starting to over-turn existing stereotypes of ageing.