Attending a college or university does not significantly affect the trajectory of age-related brain atrophy, a study finds. Education has been associated with a wide range of benefits, including socioeconomic status, employment, and health. However, the extent to which education alters the rate of neural and cognitive changes over the lifespan is unclear. Lars Nyberg, Anders Fjell, and colleagues analyzed structural MRI data from the Lifebrain and UK Biobank datasets. More than 2,000 individuals, ranging in age from 29 years to 91 years, participated in a total of 4,422 scans conducted at multiple time-points during their lifetimes. Consistent with previous studies, the results revealed age-related declines in the volume of certain portions of cortex, as well as the hippocampus, which plays a critical role in learning and memory. However, higher education did not significantly influence the pace at which these brain regions shrank over time. This pattern was replicated even in cortical regions that were larger in volume in university-educated individuals, compared with those who did not attend a university. According to the authors, educational attainment is associated with a long-lasting neurocognitive advantage that may reduce the risk of dementia but not by decreasing the rate of age-related brain atrophy.
###
Article #2021-01644: "Educational attainment does not influence brain aging," by Lars Nyberg et al.
MEDIA CONTACTS: Lars Nyberg, Umeå University, Umeå, SWEDEN; tel: +46 70 609 27 75; email: < lars.nyberg@umu.se >; Anders Fjell, University of Oslo, Oslo, NORWAY; email: < a.m.fjell@psykologi.uio.no >
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences