How Our Brain Changes With Age

Using advanced medical imaging techniques to carry out brain scans, researchers examined 93 people ages 18 to 93. Participants who were older were also given a battery of tests to measure their mental abilities, including memory and mental function related to overall planning and processing speed.

The results of the study revealed that in younger people, their brain systems were mostly in sync with each other, but this was not so in older adults. With these participants, it was found that the front and back regions of the brains were particularly out of sync.

The researchers also found that older individuals with better test scores were more likely to have synchronized brains, but they were not all affected the same way. The head researcher, Dr. Randy Buckner, says that the study shows that cognitive decline in aging may be linked to the disruption of communication between different regions of the brain.