SuperAgers: Bigger Brains or Less Loss?

So-called SuperAgers are defined as people over age 80 who have unusually high performance on tests of episodic memory. These individuals also have higher cortical thickness on structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) than their healthy age-matched peers and show no atrophy compared to 50- to 65-year-old healthy individuals. Whether SuperAgers simply start with a thicker cortex or have less volume loss with age is unclear.

To examine brain volume change over 18 months, researchers recruited individuals 80 years and older with normal daily functioning. The 24 SuperAgers (75% women; mean age, 83.3 years) scored at or above the norm for adults aged 50 to 65 years on tests of episodic memory and at age norm or above on other cognitive domains…