The SHARE International Seminar Series (SISS) presents:

Why Do People With More Education Tend to Have Better Memory in Older Age: A Population Neuroscience Approach

Abstract

Three main theories of education’s role in cognitive aging exist: that it protects against age-related memory and structural brain decline; that it enhances cognitive resilience to structural brain changes such as hippocampal atrophy; or that education reflects stable early-life individual differences that also tend to support better memory in older age.

In the European ‘Lifebrain’ consortium, we set out to clarify the role of education in cognitive aging by examining whether higher levels of education slowed brain or memory decline, enhanced resilience to brain aging, or reflected long-standing individual differences.

The talk will give a synopsis of our findings, including how we attempted to use SHARE data in combination with longitudinal brain imaging cohorts.

Biography

Anders M. Fjell is a professor of psychology at the University of Oslo, where he leads the Center for Lifespan Changes in Brain and Cognition (LCBC). He spends his days trying to understand how the human brain develops and changes from childhood through old age, with a focus on memory, brain structure and function, and factors that shape cognitive health across the lifespan.

He enjoys working at the intersection of neuroscience, psychology, and population-based data, and is particularly interested in how large-scale registries and brain imaging can be combined to understand why people develop and age differently.