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Relationships between years of education, regional grey matter volumes, and working memory-related brain activity in healthy older adults

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the relationships between educational attainment, regional grey matter volume, and functional working memory-related brain activation in older adults. The final sample included 32 healthy older adults with 8 to 22 years of education. Structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to measure regional volume and functional MRI was used to measure activation associated with performing an n-back task. A positive correlation was found between years of education and cortical grey matter volume in the right medial and middle frontal gyri, in the middle and posterior cingulate gyri, and in the right inferior parietal lobule. The education by age interaction was significant for cortical grey matter volume in the left middle frontal gyrus and in the right medial cingulate gyrus. In this region, the volume loss related to age was larger in the low than high-education group. The education by age interaction was also significant for task-related activity in the left superior, middle and medial frontal gyri due to the fact that activation increased with age in those with higher education. No correlation was found between regions that are structurally related with education and those that are functionally related with education and age. The data suggest a protective effect of education on cortical volume. Furthermore, the brain regions involved in the working memory network are getting more activated with age in those with higher educational attainment.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a grant to S.B. from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). B.B. was supported by postdoctoral fellowships from the Fondation Institut de Gériatrie de Montréal and the Fondation Lemaire. Authors would like to thank Bianca Bier, Chloé de Boysson, and Emilie Lepage for their help in testing participants.

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  1. Centre de recherche de l’Institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada

    Benjamin Boller, Samira Mellah, Gabriel Ducharme-Laliberté & Sylvie Belleville

  2. Psychology Department, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada

    Benjamin Boller, Gabriel Ducharme-Laliberté & Sylvie Belleville

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  1. Benjamin Boller
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  2. Samira Mellah
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Boller, B., Mellah, S., Ducharme-Laliberté, G. et al. Relationships between years of education, regional grey matter volumes, and working memory-related brain activity in healthy older adults. Brain Imaging and Behavior 11, 304–317 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-016-9621-7

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