Good Start, Good Brain

Across the lifespan, trajectories of brain size and cognition followed parallel pathways, and the highest trajectories were associated with greater birthweight and better parental education.

Relationships between cognition and environmental factors in specific age groups are often studied (e.g., lower Alzheimer disease risk with higher education). But less has been known about relationships between intellectual ability and brain development across the lifespan. Investigators in Norway examined this issue in 974 individuals aged 4 to 88 years who underwent magnetic resonance imaging and tests of general cognitive ability (GCA; age-specific Wechsler IQ tests); most underwent rescanning 2 years later (1633 observations).

First, in a subsample of 502 children (ages, 4–12 years), investigators located brain cortical areas strongly associated with GCA. Within this defined region of interest (ROI), studies have previously shown that co…

Reviewing Author

Barbara Geller, MD

Disclosures

Nothing to disclose

Barbara Geller, MD

Disclosures

Nothing to disclose

Good Start, Good Brain

Topics

Reviewing Author