Abstract

Higher general cognitive ability (GCA) is associated with lower risk of neurodegenerative disorders, but neural mechanisms are unknown. GCA could be associated with more cortical tissue, from young age, i.e. brain reserve, or less cortical atrophy in adulthood, i.e. brain maintenance. Controlling for education, we investigated the relative association of GCA with reserve and maintenance of cortical volume, -area and -thickness through the adult lifespan, using multiple longitudinal cognitively healthy brain imaging cohorts (n = 3327, 7002 MRI scans, baseline age 20–88 years, followed-up for up to 11 years). There were widespread positive relationships between GCA and cortical characteristics (level-level associations). In select regions, higher baseline GCA was associated with less atrophy over time (level-change associations). Relationships remained when controlling for polygenic scores for both GCA and education. Our findings suggest that higher GCA is associated with cortical volumes by both brain reserve and -maintenance mechanisms through the adult lifespan.

Details

Title
Brain aging differs with cognitive ability regardless of education
Author
Walhovd, Kristine B. 1 ; Nyberg, Lars 2 ; Lindenberger, Ulman 3 ; Amlien, Inge K. 4 ; Sørensen, Øystein 4 ; Wang, Yunpeng 4 ; Mowinckel, Athanasia M. 4 ; Kievit, Rogier A. 5 ; Ebmeier, Klaus P. 6 ; Bartrés-Faz, David 7 ; Kühn, Simone 8 ; Boraxbekk, Carl-Johan 9 ; Ghisletta, Paolo 10 ; Madsen, Kathrine Skak 11 ; Baaré, Willliam F. C. 12 ; Zsoldos, Enikő 13 ; Magnussen, Fredrik 4 ; Vidal-Piñeiro, Didac 4 ; Penninx, Brenda 14 ; Fjell, Anders M. 1 

 University of Oslo, Center for Lifespan Changes in Brain and Cognition, Oslo, Norway (GRID:grid.5510.1) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 8921); Oslo University Hospital, Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Oslo, Norway (GRID:grid.55325.34) (ISNI:0000 0004 0389 8485) 
 University of Oslo, Center for Lifespan Changes in Brain and Cognition, Oslo, Norway (GRID:grid.5510.1) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 8921); Umeå University, Umeå Center for Functional Brain Imaging, Umeå, Sweden (GRID:grid.12650.30) (ISNI:0000 0001 1034 3451) 
 Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Center for Lifespan Psychology, Berlin, Germany (GRID:grid.419526.d) (ISNI:0000 0000 9859 7917); Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, Berlin, Germany (GRID:grid.4372.2) (ISNI:0000 0001 2105 1091); Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, London, UK (GRID:grid.83440.3b) (ISNI:0000000121901201) 
 University of Oslo, Center for Lifespan Changes in Brain and Cognition, Oslo, Norway (GRID:grid.5510.1) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 8921) 
 Radboud University Medical Center, Cognitive Neuroscience Department, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, The Netherlands, Nijmegen, The Netherlands (GRID:grid.10417.33) (ISNI:0000 0004 0444 9382) 
 University of Oxford, Department of Psychiatry, Oxford, UK (GRID:grid.4991.5) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 8948) 
 Universitat de Barcelona, and Institut d’Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences & Institute of Neurosciences, Barcelona, Spain (GRID:grid.10403.36) (ISNI:0000000091771775) 
 Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Center for Lifespan Psychology, Berlin, Germany (GRID:grid.419526.d) (ISNI:0000 0000 9859 7917); University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Clinic and Policlinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Hamburg, Germany (GRID:grid.13648.38) (ISNI:0000 0001 2180 3484) 
 Umeå University, Umeå Center for Functional Brain Imaging, Umeå, Sweden (GRID:grid.12650.30) (ISNI:0000 0001 1034 3451); Copenhagen University Hospital - Amager and Hvidovre, Danish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance (DRCMR), Centre for Functional and Diagnostic Imaging and Research, Copenhagen, Denmark (GRID:grid.4973.9) (ISNI:0000 0004 0646 7373); Umeå University, Department of Radiation Sciences, Diagnostic Radiology, Umeå, Sweden (GRID:grid.12650.30) (ISNI:0000 0001 1034 3451); Copenhagen University Hospital Bispebjerg, Institute of Sports Medicine Copenhagen (ISMC) and Department of Neurology, Copenhagen, Denmark (GRID:grid.411702.1) (ISNI:0000 0000 9350 8874); University of Copenhagen, Institute for Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, Copenhagen, Denmark (GRID:grid.5254.6) (ISNI:0000 0001 0674 042X) 
10  University of Geneva, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Geneva, Switzerland (GRID:grid.8591.5) (ISNI:0000 0001 2322 4988); UniDistance Suisse, Brig, Switzerland (GRID:grid.8591.5); University of Geneva, Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research LIVES, Geneva, Switzerland (GRID:grid.8591.5) (ISNI:0000 0001 2322 4988) 
11  Copenhagen University Hospital - Amager and Hvidovre, Danish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance (DRCMR), Centre for Functional and Diagnostic Imaging and Research, Copenhagen, Denmark (GRID:grid.4973.9) (ISNI:0000 0004 0646 7373); University College Copenhagen, Radiography, Department of Technology, Copenhagen, Denmark (GRID:grid.508345.f) 
12  Copenhagen University Hospital - Amager and Hvidovre, Danish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance (DRCMR), Centre for Functional and Diagnostic Imaging and Research, Copenhagen, Denmark (GRID:grid.4973.9) (ISNI:0000 0004 0646 7373) 
13  University of Oxford, Department of Psychiatry, Oxford, UK (GRID:grid.4991.5) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 8948); University of Oxford, Welcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Oxford, UK (GRID:grid.4991.5) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 8948) 
14  Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam UMC, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (GRID:grid.12380.38) (ISNI:0000 0004 1754 9227) 
Publication year
2022
Publication date
2022
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20452322
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2702714996
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2022. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.