How 'Superagers' Keep Their Memory Sharp at 80+
Get the Health newsletter
Daily health & science — research, biotech, public health, the studies worth knowing. Free.
- Emily Rogalski, a neuroscientist at the University of Chicago, leads the ongoing superager study of people over 80 whose memory matches that of individuals in their 50s or 60s.
- Superagers' brains show larger cerebral cortices and hippocampi, and contain 4-5 times more Von Economo neurons in the anterior cingulate — a region that is also thicker than in 50-60 year olds.
- The study now spans five sites in the US and Canada, with superagers recruited from farmers' markets, retirement communities, and word of mouth; participants commit to biennial visits, six-month phone check-ins, and brain donation at death.
- Autopsy results show superagers generally have less tau protein, yet some carry abundant Alzheimer's-related pathology without symptoms, and their genetics do not significantly differ from cognitively average peers.
- Social activity emerged as the single most consistent lifestyle factor across superagers, while diet and exercise habits varied widely — some ate TV dinners growing up, others bike hundreds of miles.
- Resilience also recurred across superagers, illustrated by a Holocaust survivor who, in her 90s, still ran the gift shop in her retirement community.
- Staying socially connected appears to slow cognitive decline even in people who develop Alzheimer's, according to Rogalski's observations — though she cautions causation is hard to pin down.
Why it matters: For a population increasingly anxious about dementia, the superager study reframes Alzheimer's research from asking what goes wrong to what goes right — and identifies social engagement, not diet or exercise, as the most modifiable lever for protecting memory into old age, since genetics alone do not explain the difference.
Ask SkimNews
