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The Wisdom of Psychopaths
In this engrossing journey into the lives of psychopaths and their infamously crafty behaviors, the renowned psychologist Kevin Dutton reveals that there is a...
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As people age, their brain tends to shrink and their memory gets worse. But what if this deterioration weren't inevitable? New research suggests not only that some elderly individuals retain sharp memory skills but also that their brain remains unscathed. Although scientists do not yet know what is responsible for this special resiliency—or how to help people acquire it—a brain region involved in attention may offer an important clue.
Researchers at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine identified 12 individuals older than 80 years—whom they called “Super Agers”—who performed as well on memory tests as a group of 14 volunteers between the ages of 50 and 65. The scientists performed structural MRI scans on both groups as well as a third group of normal subjects over the age of 80. Although the researchers expected the Super Agers' brains to show some evidence of age-related decline, their average brain thickness matched that of the younger group, and both groups' brains were significantly thicker than those of normal octogenarians.
One brain region important for attention, called the anterior cingulate, was actually thicker in the Super Agers than in their younger counterparts. This finding suggests that “Super Agers may have a particularly keen sense of attention that helps to support their memory,” explains lead author Emily Rogalski, a neuroscientist at Northwestern's Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer's Disease Center, who published the work in the Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society. In particular, compared with normal octogenarians, Super Agers have four times as many von Economo neurons, which are large cingulate brain cells implicated in higher-order thinking. In ongoing research, Rogalski hopes to tease out the genetic and lifestyle factors significant for preventing age-related decline, noting that according to her preliminary analyses, “there may be more than one way to becoming a Super Ager.”
This article was originally published with the title Brains of “Super Agers” Look Decades Younger.
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17 Comments
Add CommentSince I'm about to turn 77, that's good news.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAre they more youthful in other ways? Is their outlook on life more optimistic? Do they like to do things that younger folk might do? Do they dress younger, still enjoy rock & roll, listen to Mozart, etc.? Do they continue to learn new things?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI would love to see William Shatner's and Betty White's brains. I'll bet they are amazing.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisJoining in discussions on the Internet, and playing Tetris seem to keep one's brain young.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhat are some hypotheses about WHY the super agers have more "large cigulate brain cells." Info on cause and effect would make for more interesting research.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI celebrated my 79th birthday today. I go dancing, still drive my car, take care of my health, garden, do crafts, crosswords, and jigsaw puzzles. I have an inquiring mind and like to know what makes things tick. I will get older but I will never be old. "Old"is a state of mind - I won't live there!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI just saw a show about a futurist named Raymond Kurzweil. He believes that with the exponential growth in technology and medicine that people will soon be able to live hundreds of years. He has a book that is called "live long enough to live forever".
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhat accounts for chap well into his 9th decade whose judgment, planning & literary skills have risen markedly since recent retirement, despite clinical impairment of hippocampal memory & focus?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBetter short-term memory in gerons could slash the rising global costs of senility.
The brain research that is going on is fascinating. My ancestors lived into their 90's as far back as 1650 C.E. and all retained very active minds....where would one volunteer to be part of longevity/aqueity research?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI will be 80 next may. I am still doing computer and network consulting. My first computer work was in 1955. I still live by the motto "If I haven't learned something new today, it is a wasted day".
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSince it has been shown that learning something difficult sparks the addition of brain cells, perhaps these people are curious and simply continue to learn new things.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSuper agers look decades younger because new devices they are using.Internet and other social media giving challenge to them and they are using more Brain power to fight these new challenges.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI've always wondered about the relationships between brain structure (cingulate gyrus in particular), Alzheimer's, and cannabis responses. Some folks lose orientation, short-term memory, and develop attention deficit much faster and more profoundly than others when under the influence. Could THC be a simple, cheap diagnostic tool to reveal Alzheimer's predisposition?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thiswhat was the article about? oh I'll scroll back up to read it...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSilkysmom ,
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYou can go Dancing because you must lack Arthritis.
Physical activity is not just a state of mind, it is a state of your Spinal Disks and other bits that provide freedom of movement.
I got diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis 36 years ago,well before the Brain was due to fizzle.
Numerous brain studies have occurred including the longitudinal nun studies - which may be over, as the nuns involved were born between 1886 and 1916 - of differences between people whose stimulations vary.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNovelty, in the sense of learning and adapting to new or unprecedented experiences, is vital to the development of more complex dendritic connections.
Retaining body health is a large factor.
Social connections have been shown to be related to improved mental activity. As you know, these always bring new and surprising experience.
More education along with lifelong learning/stimulation are associated with noticeably longer life, as is optimism.
It has been found that 80-year-olds possessing and/or chasing these attributes have significantly more neural connections than 50-year-olds.
Yes, you can choose to improve now, as large gains can occur at any time; sometimes I think that the exhaustion of patience we experience in situations has to do with the constant health-seeking propensity of our very awake neurons: our natural thrust is toward life and health.
One thing that happens when you get older (I'll be 84 in March) is that every day gets more precious. I've still got so much to do (and them naps get in the way) so I just take one day at a time. I'm just finishing updating my book that I wrote in 1996 into an ebook. (Its been sold all over the world via the internet - in small quantities) I still bike with my buddies in the summer (the rides are getting shorter about 10 to 15 miles) Right now I'm doing an experiment in my basement - I'm trying to determine if the relativistic inertial mass of the earth is greater in july (aphelion) then in January (perihelion). That's just a couple of things I'm trying to get done but first my wife and I are going to the movies this afternoon and then have a bite to eat. Then them darn naps take up more time so that knocks the heck out of the day - well there is alway tomorrow - I hope. (one more thing - i'm retired from the Buffalo Fire Dept. 25 years today.)
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://novan.com/michelson-morley.htm