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Training-induced brain structure changes in the elderly.

Janina Boyke1, Joenna Driemeyer, Christian Gaser

  • 1Department of Systems Neuroscience, University of Hamburg, D-22046 Hamburg, Germany.

The Journal of Neuroscience : the Official Journal of the Society for Neuroscience
|July 11, 2008
PubMed
Summary
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Elderly individuals can learn new skills, showing brain plasticity similar to younger adults. Learning juggling in seniors led to gray matter increases in visual and reward-related brain areas.

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Neuroplasticity
  • Aging Brain Research

Background:

  • Learning in young adults is linked to temporary increases in brain gray matter.
  • The aging brain's capacity for structural plasticity during skill acquisition remains unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if the aging brain exhibits structural plasticity during skill learning.
  • To compare skill acquisition and associated gray matter changes in elderly individuals versus young adults.

Main Methods:

  • Healthy senior citizens learned three-ball cascade juggling.
  • Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to observe changes in brain gray matter.
  • Performance proficiency was compared between elderly and adolescent groups.

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Main Results:

  • Elderly participants learned juggling, though with lower proficiency than adolescents.
  • Gray matter increases related to learning were found in the hMT/V5 area (visual cortex) in both age groups.
  • Elderly learners showed additional transient gray matter increases in the hippocampus and nucleus accumbens.

Conclusions:

  • The aging brain retains the capacity for structural plasticity, particularly in response to new skill learning.
  • Skill acquisition in seniors engages similar visual processing areas (hMT/V5) as in younger individuals.
  • Learning novel motor skills in older adults can also induce plasticity in memory (hippocampus) and reward (nucleus accumbens) circuits.