SuperAgers, aged 80 and above, have distinctly different looking brains than those of normal older people, according to new Northwestern Medicine research that is beginning to reveal why the memories of these cognitively elite elders don't suffer the usual ravages of time.
SuperAgers have memories that are as sharp as those of healthy persons decades younger.
Understanding their unique "brain signature" will enable scientists to decipher the genetic or molecular source and may foster the development of strategies to protect the memories of normal aging persons as well as treat dementia.
Published Jan. 28 in the Journal of Neuroscience, the study is the first to quantify brain differences of SuperAgers and normal older people.
Cognitive SuperAgers were first identified in 2007 by scientists at Northwestern's Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer's Disease Center at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
Their unusual brain signature has three common components when compared with normal persons of similar ages: a thicker region of the cortex; significantly fewer tangles (a primary marker of Alzheimer's disease) and a whopping supply of a specific neuron —von Economo—linked to higher social intelligence.
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