If you find it difficult to remember things as you get older, it’s partly because your brain is shrinking gradually, year by year. Previously, researchers believed that the brain atrophies more slowly in people with higher levels of education.
The assumption has been that education itself kept the brain active, because you are learning new things. Now a new large study shows that this is not the case.
The researchers found that people with higher education had a bigger brain to begin with. It could therefore be that they had a slightly better starting point once they get older. Although the connection between education and brain volume was only modest, it was definitely present, according to [researcher Anders Martin] Fjell.
He believes one explanation for this connection could be shared genetics.
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“It’s been shown that the same genes are to some extent associated with higher education and larger brain volumes,” he says. The genes and the environment may interact in creating these connections, the researcher says.
“Parents transfer their genes for education and brain volume to their children. They can also create an environment that raises the probability that the children will pursue higher education.”
