Abstract

To what extent is the design of technological devices for older adults symptomatic of our way of thinking about human cognitive aging? So far, technology-based solutions for the older adults are employed as reactive rather than preventive interventions and are often focused on impairments and age/dementia-related declines. In more specific terms, technologies are designed as cognitive crutches, rather than extended-mind devices. The aim of the present paper is twofold. First, pointing out researchers’ responsibility in the spreading of conceptual frameworks that drive the development (and failure) of technological tools for older adults. Second, proposing an alternative perspective about cognitive aging across the embodied shift. The embodied cognition paradigm provides both on descriptive and explicative view about how individuals engage their environment. Indeed, the methodological benefits of such a perspective stem from a better understanding about how the cognition emerges from the interaction between the bodily abilities and available resources in the current environment. It is argued here that the embodied cognition paradigm is a relevant theoretical framework for the gerontechnological domain.

Keywords:Aging and alzheimer’s disease; Cognitive aging; Embodied cognition; Gerontechnology; Researchers’ responsibility