Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

BRAIN AGING

College education as a modulator of the aging brain

Nature Aging volume 1, pages 980–981 (2021)Cite this article

Subjects

What makes some human brains more resilient to aging than others? In an Article in Nature Aging, Chan et al. provide evidence that brain connectomes in older adults are altered by a college education — an environmental factor that might be an advantageous modulator of brain reserve during aging.

It is frequently postulated that education has the potential to change lives by transforming learning experiences into durable neuronal signatures. Despite being a vital question for modern societies, how education shapes our brains across the lifespan is still largely unknown. In a study by Chan et al. published in Nature Aging1, the authors investigated a key question in aging neuroscience — whether college education influences (and perhaps modulates) brain network segregation in older adults. It is well established that older adults with low levels of formal education are at increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia2. The application of cognitive reserve theories in aging3 — that is, models that explain how specific factors might help to overcome the negative effects of neurodegeneration on cognitive function — has boosted research into potential interventional factors for resilience against brain damage. Chan et al.’s investigation targets the heart of the topic: whether the integrity of cerebral networks allows an individual to seemingly resist the effects of normal and pathological aging.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy article

Get time limited or full article access on ReadCube.

$32.00

Buy

All prices are NET prices.

Fig. 1: Theoretical diagrams of network segregation and integration in the aging brain.

References

  1. Chan, M. Y. et al. Nat. Aging https://doi.org/10.1038/s43587-021-00125-4 (2021).

  2. Xu, W. et al. Mol. Neurobiol. 53, 3113–3123 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Stern, Y. Neuropsychologia 47, 2015–2028 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Bullmore, E. & Sporns, O. Nat. Rev. Neurosci. 10, 186–198 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Yu, M., Sporns, O. & Saykin, A. J. Nat. Rev. Neurol 17, 545–563 (2021).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Sepulcre, J. et al. Nat. Med. 24, 1910–1918 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Guzmán-Vélez, E. et al. Preprint in https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.07.03.450933 (2021).

  8. Costumero, V. et al. Distance disintegration delineates the brain connectivity failure of Alzheimer’s disease. Neurobiol. Aging 88, 51–60 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Gordon Center for Medical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Jorge Sepulcre

Authors
  1. Jorge Sepulcre
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jorge Sepulcre.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declares no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Sepulcre, J. College education as a modulator of the aging brain. Nat Aging 1, 980–981 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43587-021-00131-6

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43587-021-00131-6

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing