Are You Smarter Than a 90 Year Old?

 Finals are coming up, and every student on college campuses around the world are starting to panic.  They are dreading the all-nighters spent cramming for the exams, anxious to pull up their grades at the last minute after a long semester of hard work.  Unfortunately, young people realize this fluid and plastic memory will not last long.  In fact, this is the prime time for memory formation.  It seems to be a grim future of decline in memory and other cognitive functioning.  But what if one could maintain this high cognitive efficiency?  There is a small population of people who actually do retain memory incredibly well as they continue aging.  This group of people, referred to as “Super-Agers,” maintain their superior cognitive functioning well into their 80’s and 90’s, even surpassing those in their 20’s or 30’s, the supposed peak of cognitive abilities.  These people live extremely active lives, continually engaging in intellectual pursuits at varying degrees of intensity.

            Researchers at Northwestern University have conducted a large study of Super-Agers to better understand what makes their brains different from the rest of the community similar in age.  In a study published in the Journal of Neuroscience this year done with 31 Super-Agers, MRI scans showed an unusual brain signature as compared to 21 people of similar age.  Super-Ager brains were shown to have a much larger and thicker region of the cortex known as the anterior cingulate cortex.  This area has been known to “influence cognitive control, conflict resolution, and perseverance.”¹  The enlargement may be part of an explanation as to their continual active lifestyles despite their aging.

Another significant find was the lack of neurofibrillary tangles, a marker of the dementia Alzheimer’s disease, which affects 35 million people worldwide.  Neurofibrillary tangles strangle healthy neurons and marks the significant decline in cognitive functioning in Alzheimer’s patients.  It was found that Super-Agers had up to 92% less of these tangles in their brains than those with mild cognitive impairment.  These tangles are not exclusively seen in Alzheimer’s patients, however; they are a part of the normal aging process.  When compared to an elderly control population, with neither Super-Aging qualities nor mild cognitive impairments, Super-Agers had up to 87% less of these neurofibrillary tangles.

Super-Ager brains were also found to have up to five times more of what are called von Echonomo neurons.  These neuron populations, also found in dolphins, whales, elephants, and some apes, are believed to be involved in the “rapid transmission of information during social interactions.”¹  The Northwestern researchers believe this could be related to their superior memory capacity. 

These three differences in the brains of Super-Agers can help scientists and doctors better understand memory loss as a result of the aging process.  Neuroscientists like Dr. Robert Morrison of Loyola University Chicago are attempting to understand the process of learning and memory to help find predictable markers for cognitive diseases such as Alzheimer’s, allowing a doctor to track a patient’s cognitive decline.  Dr. Morrison, in conjunction with the Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer’s Disease Center (CNADC) at Northwestern University, studies rule-based category learning in the elderly.  Using a combination of both behavioral and functional neuroimaging techniques, his research group has found individual differences in both task performance and awareness of learning during the task.  He hopes to further explore the extent of this finding in both those with Alzheimer’s disease as well as in Super-Agers.  The goal he hopes to accomplish is to find a way for doctors to track cognitive function and decline using an EEG monitor to measure executive functioning, which can be used at home for patients at risk of dementia.  This could help detect the dementia at a much earlier stage, and thus begin treatment to slow down the effects before too much damage has been done.

Memory loss due to aging is an inevitable fact for most of the general population.  Understanding the general process by learning from Super-Agers, who lack the cognitive decline, can help scientists to learn more about dementias and other cognitive diseases.  This research can help make better and more effective treatment, possibly affecting the lives of millions of people worldwide.

References:

1. Fang, Janet. "How "SuperAger" Brains Are Different Than Everyone Else's." IFLScience. IFLScience, 04 Feb. 2015. Web. 23 Nov. 2015. <http://www.iflscience.com/brain/how-superager-brains-are-different-everyone-elses>.

2. Bharani, Krishna L., Ken A. Paller, Paul J. Reber, Sandra Weintraub, Jorge Yanar, and Robert G. Morrison. "Compensatory Processing during Rule-based Category Learning in Older Adults." Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition (2015): 1-23. Web.

3. Gefen, T., M. Peterson, S. T. Papastefan, A. Martersteck, K. Whitney, A. Rademaker, E. H. Bigio, S. Weintraub, E. Rogalski, M.- M. Mesulam, and C. Geula. "Morphometric and Histologic Substrates of Cingulate Integrity in Elders with Exceptional Memory Capacity." Journal of Neuroscience 35.4 (2015): 1781-791. Web. 22 Nov. 2015.

4. Morrison, Robert G. "Predicting Pathological Aging: Behavioral and Electrophysiological Biomarkers for Alzheimer's Disease." Neuroscience Seminar. Illinois, Chicago. 27 Oct. 2015. Lecture.

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