Anders M Fjell
Professor of psychology. Center for Lifespan Changes in Brain and Cognition. University of Oslo. Interested in the brain from the start to the end. www.lcbc.uio.no
- Does memory fade slowly, or in drops and bursts? We analyzed 728k tests from 210k people. Key finding: “stability” isn’t a trait you either have or don’t have - it’s often a time-limited state at different points in aging. Preprint "Punctuated Memory Change": 👇 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
- We harmonized data across 3 major cohorts (SHARE, HRS, Betula). We also looked at MRI data from ~2,000 people to see the brain basis of these changes. Stability is real for ~10% > 70 years over a decade, with less brain atrophy in the medial temporal lobe.
- However, the core finding was that the "Smooth Decline" is largely a statistical artifact of averaging. When we look at individuals, we see that memory aging is often "punctuated": extended plateaus of stability interrupted by abrupt, state-like transitions of loss.
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View full threadThis work suggests we need to look at aging as a complex system with critical transitions, not just gradual wear and tear.
- Reposted by Anders M FjellAn international research effort combining brain imaging and memory testing from thousands of adults is offering a clearer picture of how age-related brain changes affect memory. @andersfjell.bsky.social Learn More in Nature Communications @natureportfolio.nature.com 👉 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Reposted by Anders M FjellWhy do some people lose memory faster with age? A mega-analysis of 13 longitudinal datasets (3,700+ adults, 10,000+ MRIs) shows that memory decline tracks brain atrophy, especially in the hippocampus, and that these links strengthen with age, but not APOE status: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Reposted by Anders M FjellVulnerability to memory decline in aging revealed by a mega-analysis of structural brain change www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Reposted by Anders M Fjell" Our mega-analysis reveals a nonlinear relationship between memory decline and brain atrophy, primarily affecting individuals with above-average brain structural decline. "
- Impressive MEGA-analysis: Vulnerability to memory decline in aging revealed by a mega-analysis of structural brain change www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Very impressed with @didacvp.bsky.social's work in @natcomms.nature.com, the most thorough mapping of longitudinal memory-atrophy relationships in normal aging, showing both global and memory-specific associations, which grow stronger with age. Early accsess here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Reposted by Anders M FjellImpressive MEGA-analysis: Vulnerability to memory decline in aging revealed by a mega-analysis of structural brain change www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Thanks for the fun and interesting discussions @kathrynbates.bsky.social and Chloe Carrick
- Is sleep important for the brain? 🧠😴 we asked Professor @andersfjell.bsky.social and explored the different theories as to why we sleep, and why the golden 7 hours might not be for everyone: www.scienceorfiction.co.uk/p/is-sleep-i...
- Reposted by Anders M FjellOver 12,500 brain scans from cognitively healthy adults reveal that sex differences in age-related brain atrophy can’t explain why women have higher rates of Alzheimer's disease. The authors call for research into alternative explanations. In PNAS: ow.ly/hIYj50XgiCn
- It is this type of sky over the university. Morning office window view.
- @nature.com made a news piece on our new @pnas.org paper. Good job Anne Ravndal! Men’s brains shrink faster than women’s: what that means for Alzheimer’s. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
- Reposted by Anders M FjellAnother interesting paper from LifeBrain consortium suggesting that sex differences in healthy brain aging are unlikely to explain higher prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease in women www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
- @pnas.org: Small sex differences in brain aging, steeper decline in men in some regions. Does not explain why more women are diagnosed with AD. 12,638 longitudinal MRIs, 4,726 participants across 14 cohorts. Control for head-size, education, life-expectancy. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
- Takeaway: sex gaps in structural brain aging are modest and we must look beyond atrophy to explain women’s higher AD diagnosis rates. Other biomarkers? Or maybe non-biological causes?
- Using 4570 longitudinal MRIs + 1684 Aβ PET scans from cognitively healthy older adults @jamesmroe.bsky.social find cortical thickness changed ≥7 years before PET-detectable Aβ. Those who later developed high Aβ already had thicker cortex & less thinning. @LCBC_uio www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- Effects remained even when accounting for amyloid level. Reflect an immune response to accumulating, sub-threshold Aβ? Preexisting effects of higher cortical thickness in those that subsequently develop high Aβ? Protective factor?
- Reposted by Anders M Fjell🧠 Education boosts memory levels but not brain aging resistance A new study across 33 countries found more education links to better memory and larger brain volume, but not slower cognitive or brain decline. 🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41... #SciComm 🧪
- @natmed.nature.com made a nice Research Briefing about our paper. Highglights with less details, the main conclusion is the same: Education does not affect memory decline or brain aging @LCBC_UiO @LifebrainEU www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Reposted by Anders M Fjell🧠💡 CAN YOU SAVE YOUR FUTURE BRAIN BY GETTING A DEGREE? A new Nature Medicine paper—led by @andersfjell.bsky.social—analyzed 407,000 memory tests and 15,000 brain scans across 33 countries to find out whether education protect you from cognitive decline at older ages. The answer: not really. [1/5]
- New in @NatureMedicine Education is not linked to slower memory or brain decline in aging. We analyzed 400,000 memory tests and 15,000 MRIs from 33 countries. Associations likely shaped by childhood schooling and development. @LCBC_UiO @LifebrainEU rdcu.be/ex8iC
- The three #LancetCommission reports on #DementiaPrevention have shifted focus from early schooling to longer education as protection against dementia. Our new results suggest this shift may be misguided: early-life factors, not adult education, likely drive the effect.
- People with more education did better — but declined just as fast. The takeaway: To reduce dementia risk, we may need to shift from boosting adult cognitive reserve to investing in early education. #Lifecourse #BrainHealth #DementiaPrevention
- Reposted by Anders M FjellNew paper by @njudd.com shows that an additional year of education doesn't causally affect telomere length in old age, despite many (theory) accounts arguing otherwise. It's been desk rejected by 13 journals happy to publish small 'positive' telomere studies. Sigh. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- This is a really interesting paper - showing what you can and cannot infer about individual differences in change from x-sect data. A take-home-message is that typical brain age models cannot be used to measure differences in brain aging - deviations reflect stable differences between people.
- Happy to see my first first-author paper in Imaging Neuroscience (along with @fmrib-karla.bsky.social and @nichols.bsky.social): Characterising ongoing brain aging and baseline effects from cross-sectional data doi.org/10.1162/IMAG...
- Preprint: before age 60, between-people diffs in brain vols almost exclusively reflect stable diffs, while systematic diffs in rate-of-change in aging cause up to 40% of the variation to be due to change at 80 years. @edvardg.bsky.social 🧵https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.05.26.655710v1
- Some interesting implications: Very difficult to find systematic differences between people in change before 50. The big exception is the ventricles: Larger diffs in change from earlier in adulthood.
- Brain age models trained on chronological age are almost deemed to pick up signal from regions where there are almost no differences in change - i.e. brain age gap says next-to-nothing about aging before 60 years. Fits perfectly with @fmrib-steve.bsky.social et al www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- Finally, similar to the conclusion of @didacvp.bsky.social direct.mit.edu/imag/article... long follow-up time between scans yields much higher sensitivity to detect individual differences in change than many scans: 2 scans over 4 yr better than 12 scans over 1 yr
- Very nice in @pnas.org - people who slept closer to their own culture's norms for sleep duration had better overall health. Sleep duration is more complex than often considered in a strict neuroscientific or biomedical sense. @ChristineOuBC @stevenheine.bsky.social www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
- This is a great centre (and a great city), very good opportunity 👇
- Join us in beautiful Oslo! Associate Professor @ocbe.bsky.social @uio.no Deadline May 18th www.jobbnorge.no/en/available...
- A balanced discussion in @nature on the possible role of sleep for waste clearance, with both sides presenting their arguments. What is lacking is a stronger focus on how the evidence looks in humans - so far it is not particularly strong. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
- For those interested in my opinion, please see journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
- Very interesting from @VidalDidac - MUCH higher reliability for structural neuroimaging measures with longer follow-up time rather than more follow-ups or higher n. 2.-year follow-up requires 4 times higher n than 6-year follow up. @LCBC_UiO direct.mit.edu/imag/article...
- Did you know that different prenatal environment causes MZ twins' brains to deviate? But when exposed to cognitive intervention in adulthood, common genetics make their brains converge while DZ twin brains become more different. Fascinating! @LCBC_UiO www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- Preprint from @didacvp.bsky.social - a common brain factor underlying memory decline in older age. Stronger associations in older, but independent of genetic Alzheimer risk. Very interesting work using >10.000 MRI scan. @LCBC_UiO www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- Reposted by Anders M FjellOpen Postdoctoral position! - ERC Advanced Grant project HOMME www.jobbnorge.no/en/available-jobs/job/276000/postdoctoral-fellow About the HOMME project www.sv.uio.no/psi/english/research/projects/homme
