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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jan 18, 2026

Symmetric Bihemispheric Postmortem Brain Cutting to Study Healthy and Pathological Brain Conditions in Humans

Symmetric Bihemispheric Postmortem Brain Cutting to Study Healthy and Pathological Brain Conditions in Humans

Published on: December 18, 2016

Neuropathology determines whether brain systems segregation benefits cognitive performance.

Annabell Coors^1,2,3, Weiyi Zeng¹, Ulrich Ettinger⁴

¹Population Health Sciences, German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Bonn, Germany.

Imaging Neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.)

|September 12, 2025

Summary

Brain systems become less segregated with age, particularly in older women. This age-related brain reorganization may compensate for cognitive changes and influence performance based on neuropathology.

Keywords:

aging brain systems segregation cognition neuroaxonal damage resting-state fMRI

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Last Updated: Jan 18, 2026

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Evaluation of Hemisphere Lateralization with Bilateral Local Field Potential Recording in Secondary Motor Cortex of Mice

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Published on: July 31, 2019

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Cognitive Science
Aging Research

Background:

The human brain functions as a large-scale network with specialized systems.
Age-related changes lead to decreased segregation of these brain systems, but the underlying mechanisms and implications remain unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate age- and sex-specific differences in brain system segregation.
To analyze the relationship between brain system segregation and cognitive performance across different age groups.
To determine if neuropathology influences the association between brain organization and cognition.

Main Methods:

Utilized resting-state functional MRI data from 6,455 participants (30-95 years) from the Rhineland Study.
Calculated system segregation indices based on functional connectivity within and between 12 brain systems.
Assessed cognitive functions including memory, processing speed, executive function, crystallized intelligence, and oculomotor tasks.

Main Results:

Confirmed that brain systems become less segregated with increasing age (global segregation: ß = -0.298, p < 0.001).
Observed a stronger age-related decrease in segregation in women compared to men.
Found that higher segregation benefited memory and processing speed in individuals with mild neuropathology, while lower segregation benefited crystallized intelligence in middle-aged adults.

Conclusions:

Age-related brain reorganization, characterized by decreased system segregation, is more pronounced in older women.
The impact of brain system segregation on cognitive performance varies with age and the presence of neuropathology.
Brain reorganization may act as a compensatory mechanism, potentially explaining shifts in crystallized and fluid cognitive abilities across the lifespan.