Cortical thickness and its associations with age, total cognition and education across the adult lifespan

Habeck, Christian; Gazes, Yunglin; Razlighi, Qolamreza R.; Stern, Yaakov

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0230298

Cited by 32 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 37 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The results, however, are less consistent. While Brito et al (2017) reported that thinner cortical thickness predicted higher language performance, the very recent study of Habeck et al (2020) showed no association between cortical thickness (even for language areas) and language competence measured by standard psychometric tests.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Are language skills related to structural features in Broca's and Wernicke's area?

Jäncke

Liem

Mérillat

2020

Eur J of Neuroscience

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study used structural magnetic resonance imaging to examine whether specific anatomical features of Broca's and Wernicke's areas are related to language functions in typically developing older subjects with no specific language expertize. Data from 231 subjects from the Zurich LHAB-study are used for this study. For these subjects, we obtained several psychometric measures from which we calculated performance measures reflecting specific psychological functions (language comprehension, verbal fluency, perceptual speed, visual memory, recognition of regularities, and logical thinking). From the MRI measurements, we calculated the cortical thickness and cortical surface of Broca's and Wernicke's areas. Applying multiple regression analyses, we identified a moderately strong relationship between language comprehension and the brain metrics from Broca's and Wernicke's areas and showed that approximately 10% of the variance in language comprehension performance is explained by the linear combination of all perisylvian brain metrics. The other psychological functions (verbal fluency, perceptual speed, visual memory, recognition of regularities, and logical thinking) are not related to these brain metrics. Subsequent detailed analyses revealed that the cortical thickness of Wernicke's area, in particular, contributed most to this structure-function relationship. The better performance in the language comprehension tests was related to a thicker cortex in Wernicke's area. Thus, this study demonstrates a structure-function relationship between the anatomical features of the perisylvian language areas and language comprehension, suggesting that particular anatomical features are associated with better language performance.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Are language skills related to structural features in Broca's and Wernicke's area?

Jäncke

Liem

Mérillat

2020

Eur J of Neuroscience

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Prominent accounts of heterogeneity in neural and behavioral aging postulate that this is the case, arguing that education acts as a modifiable protective factor ( 1 ) or cognitive reserve ( 2 , 3 ) of human neurocognitive aging. However, findings from cross-sectional studies provide only inconclusive support for an association between education and neurocognitive level in aging ( 4 – 7 ), and the longitudinal support for an influence of education on age-related neurocognitive change is even more elusive. In fact, a comprehensive review recently concluded that level of education does not reliably influence the rate of cognitive decline in aging ( 8 ).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Educational attainment does not influence brain aging

Nyberg

Magnussen

Lundquist

et al. 2021

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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.

show abstract

“…As reported by Melikyan et al (2019) , compared with the oldest-old population in the United States ( He and Muenchrath, 2011 ), the cognitively normal sample in The 90 + Study has a higher proportion of Caucasians (98.5% vs. 88%) and a higher percentage of individuals with more than a high school education (78% vs. 28%). Previous research has shown that differences in sex and education may account for cognitive test performance ( Hall et al, 2007 ; van Hooren et al, 2007 ), and cortical thickness ( Seo et al, 2011 ; Habeck et al, 2020 ; Steffener, 2021 ). As reported in Tables 1 , 2 , the overall TCP NACC sample was 61% female with had an average of 15 years of education, while The 90 + Study sample was 64% female and 46% college educated and above.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Regional Cortical Thickness Predicts Top Cognitive Performance in the Elderly

Dominguez

Stark

Ren

et al. 2021

Front. Aging Neurosci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

While aging is typically associated with cognitive decline, some individuals are able to diverge from the characteristic downward slope and maintain very high levels of cognitive performance. Prior studies have found that cortical thickness in the cingulate cortex, a region involved in information processing, memory, and attention, distinguish those with exceptional cognitive abilities when compared to their cognitively more typical elderly peers. Others major areas outside of the cingulate, such as the prefrontal cortex and insula, are also key in successful aging well into late age, suggesting that structural properties across a wide range of areas may better explain differences in cognitive abilities. Here, we aim to assess the role of regional cortical thickness, both in the cingulate and the whole brain, in modeling Top Cognitive Performance (TCP), measured by performance in the top 50th percentile of memory and executive function. Using data from National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center and The 90 + Study, we examined healthy subjects aged 70–100 years old. We found that, while thickness in cingulate regions can model TCP status with some degree of accuracy, a whole-brain, network-level approach out-performed the localist, cingulate models. These findings suggests a need for more network-style approaches and furthers our understanding of neurobiological factors contributing to preserved cognition.

show abstract

Cortical thickness and its associations with age, total cognition and education across the adult lifespan

Cited by 32 publications

References 37 publications

Are language skills related to structural features in Broca's and Wernicke's area?

Are language skills related to structural features in Broca's and Wernicke's area?

Educational attainment does not influence brain aging

Regional Cortical Thickness Predicts Top Cognitive Performance in the Elderly

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About