Brain Imaging Suggests How Higher Education Helps To Buffer Older Adults From Cognitive Decline

WASHINGTON -- College seems to pay off well into retirement. A new study from the University of Toronto sheds light on why higher education seems to buffer people from cognitive declines as they age. Brain imaging showed that in older adults taking memory tests, more years of education were associated with more active frontal lobes – the opposite of what happened in young adults. It appears possible that education strengthens the ability to "call in the reserves" of mental prowess found in that part of the brain.