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BRAIN AGING

College education as a modulator of the aging brain

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

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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.

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

References

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

    Jorge Sepulcre

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  1. Jorge Sepulcre
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Correspondence to Jorge Sepulcre.

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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

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