Why do intellectual performances decrease with age? Recent studies show that an important role in this process has the decreased communication between different parts of the brain that occurs with age. More specifically, the intellect and the memory are affected by what is called white matter (consisting of axons – neuronal extensions).
White Matter Damage Leads To A Weaker Communication Between Different Parts Of The Brain
As we age, it becomes increasingly difficult for us to remember dates, names – even where we left our keys. Although this could be an early form of Alzheimer’s, there are still chances that our capacity to remember things decreases just because we age – and our brains, like our bodies, simply aren’t in their best shape anymore.
But what is it that ultimately leads to the decrease of memory and other cognitive abilities with age? Previous research has shown that packages of axons (tubular extensions of neurons to communicate with other nerve cells) loosen in time. These pipes, also known as white matter, help interconnect the various parts of the brain in order to process information optimally.
Now researchers have learned that these paths of “white matter” slow with age, affecting the communication between certain parts of the brain.
A Harvard Study On How Our Brain Communicates
“We focused on studying the various ways of communicating in the brain,” says the study co-author Jessica Andrews-Hanna, a graduate of Harvard University. “The degree to which regions of white matter are actually stable states the degree to which certain regions are capable of effective communication with other regions.”
Andrews-Hanna and the other researchers from Harvard (along with representatives from the University of Michigan and Washington University in St.. Louis) concluded that white matter degrades naturally with age – causing inefficient communication between different regions of the brain and a deficit of the memory – a result of cognitive tests and brain scans of 93 healthy patients, aged between 18 and 93. The participants in this study were divided into two groups: one represented by those aged 18-34 years and the other group, aged between 60 and 93.
Researchers’ study subjects undergo cognitive and memory tests. As they answered the test, the scientists monitored the activity of prefrontal area and the posterior part of the brain using fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) in order to determine whether or not these regions worked together simultaneously. The results, published in the journal Neuron shows that intercommunication between the two regions decreased dramatically within the elderly group.
They were able to show potential reasons for the deterioration of white matter, by making thorough scan of the brain using diffusion tensor images, an MRI technique to determine how well the white matter functions, by monitoring water movement along axonal packages. If the communication is strong, water flows like a waterfall, says Randy Buckner, the cognitive neuroscientist at Harvard, if the link is weak, the model looks more like a drop of ink that is spread in all directions (diffuse) in a bucket water. The latter model has been most evident in older persons, an indication that their white matter integrity lost.
Buckner says the team plans to examine how aging affects certain white matter, gray matter and neurotransmitters. “We want to know if this is an important factor in explaining why some people get older in an “elegant” way.
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