The Exposome and Neurocognitive Trajectories Across the Lifespan: Integrating Chemical, Microbial, and Psychosocial Determinants of Neuropsychological Health

Understanding the sources of interindividual variability in cognitive and psychological trajectories across the lifespan requires moving beyond single-factor etiological models. The exposome—defined as the totality of environmental exposures from conception through late adulthood—provides not simply a collection of risk domains, but a unifying biological logic: the recognition that chemical, microbial, and psychosocial exposures are co-occurring, temporally overlapping forces that converge on the same neurobiological substrates and, therefore, can only be studied meaningfully in relation to one another. This Research Topic adopts the exposome as an operational—not merely rhetorical—framework to characterize how the joint architecture of the environment shapes neuropsychological and cognitive trajectories from prenatal life through older adulthood, aiming to inspire innovative research in this vital area.The integrative value of the exposome framework rests on a central mechanistic argument: chemical contaminants (heavy metals, pesticides, phthalates, atmospheric pollutants), disruption of the microbiota–gut–brain axis, and chronic psychosocial stress and socioeconomic adversity do not act through independent pathways—they converge on shared downstream biological mechanisms, principally mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress, and neuroinflammation. It is precisely this mechanistic convergence—not the mere co-occurrence of diverse exposures—that justifies their joint analysis within a single conceptual framework and that distinguishes exposome science from the parallel but disconnected investigation of individual environmental risk factors. During developmentally sensitive periods such as gestation, early infancy, and the preschool years, these overlapping exposures interact, potentiate, and mutually modulate one another, producing cumulative neuropsychological effects that no single-domain study can capture. This same integrative logic applies to later life, where the accumulated biological and psychosocial exposome modulates the rate of cognitive aging and the neurobiological resilience of the aging brain.This Research Topic, therefore, invites contributions unified by a shared analytical commitment: to position neuropsychological and cognitive trajectories—rather than isolated biomarkers or single outcomes—as the primary dependent construct, and to treat the exposome as the explanatory architecture through which chemical, microbial, and psychosocial factors jointly act on the brain across the lifespan. We especially encourage collaborative efforts that develop integrative models, bringing researchers together to advance this important field, ultimately informing neuropsychological assessment, predictive diagnosis, and cognitive rehabilitation across the lifespan.We welcome original research articles, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, cohort studies, and methodological papers addressing, but not limited to:• Joint and cumulative effects of chemical exposure mixtures (heavy metals, pesticides, phthalates, particulate matter) on neuropsychological and cognitive trajectories across development• The microbiota–gut–brain axis as a mechanistic bridge within the broader exposome, linking biological environmental signals to neurobehavioral outcomes• The psychosocial exposome—chronic stress, socioeconomic adversity, and structural inequality—as a modulator of neurodevelopment and cognitive aging• Neurodevelopmental and neuropsychological disorders understood through a cumulative, multi-domain exposure lens• Integrative exposome models and methodological advances for studying the joint neuropsychological impact of complex environmental systems Topic editors: David Hernández-Bonilla, CHRISSIE FERREIRA DE CARVALHO, Cortez-Lugo Marlene Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/82946/the-exposome-and-neurocognitive-trajectories-across-the-lifespan-integrating-chemical-microbial-and-psychosocial-determinants-of-neuropsychological-health