Educational attainment does not influence brain aging
Education has been related to various advantageous lifetime outcomes. Here, using longitudinal structural MRI data (4,422 observations), we tested the influential hypothesis that higher education translates into slower rates of brain aging. Cross-sectionally, education was modestly associated with r...
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Published in | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 118; no. 18; pp. 1 - 3 |
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Main Authors | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
United States
National Academy of Sciences
04.05.2021
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Series | Brief Report |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
ISSN | 0027-8424 1091-6490 1091-6490 |
DOI | 10.1073/pnas.2101644118 |
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Summary: | Education has been related to various advantageous lifetime outcomes. Here, using longitudinal structural MRI data (4,422 observations), we tested the influential hypothesis that higher education translates into slower rates of brain aging. Cross-sectionally, education was modestly associated with regional cortical volume. However, despite marked mean atrophy in the cortex and hippocampus, education did not influence rates of change. The results were replicated across two independent samples. Our findings challenge the view that higher education slows brain aging. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 14 content type line 23 Author contributions: L.N., K.B.W., and A.M.F. designed research; F.M., A.L., and Ø.S. analyzed the data; and L.N., F.M., A.L., W.B., D.B.-F., L.B., C.J.B., A.M.B., C.A.D., K.E., P.G., R.N.H., C.J., R.K., M.K., E.K., S.K., U.L., B.W.J.H.P., S.P., Ø.S., L.V.-A., K.B.W., and A.M.F. wrote the paper. Edited by Peter L. Strick, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, and approved March 10, 2021 (received for review January 28, 2021) |
ISSN: | 0027-8424 1091-6490 1091-6490 |
DOI: | 10.1073/pnas.2101644118 |