Kim Jaeik, Chey Jeanyung, Kim Sang-Eun, Kim Hoyoung
Department of Psychology, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea; Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea.
Department of Psychology, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea; Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea.
Neurosci Res. 2015 May;94:50-61. doi: 10.1016/j.neures.2014.12.009. Epub 2014 Dec 31.
Education involves learning new information and acquiring cognitive skills. These require various cognitive processes including learning, memory, and language. Since cognitive processes activate associated brain areas, we proposed that the brains of elderly people with longer education periods would show traces of repeated activation as increased synaptic connectivity and capillary in brain areas involved in learning, memory, and language. Utilizing positron emission topography (PET), this study examined the effect of education in the human brain utilizing the regional cerebral glucose metabolism rates (rCMRglcs). 26 elderly women with high-level education (HEG) and 26 with low-level education (LEG) were compared with regard to their regional brain activation and association between the regions. Further, graphical theoretical analysis using rCMRglcs was applied to examine differences in the functional network properties of the brain. The results showed that the HEG had higher rCMRglc in the ventral cerebral regions that are mainly involved in memory, language, and neurogenesis, while the LEG had higher rCMRglc in apical areas of the cerebrum mainly involved in motor and somatosensory functions. Functional connectivity investigated with graph theoretical analysis illustrated that the brain of the HEG compared to those of the LEG were overall more efficient, more resilient, and characterized by small-worldness. This may be one of the brain's mechanisms mediating the reserve effects found in people with higher education.
教育涉及学习新信息和获取认知技能。这些需要包括学习、记忆和语言在内的各种认知过程。由于认知过程会激活相关的脑区，我们提出，受教育时间较长的老年人的大脑会显示出重复激活的痕迹，表现为参与学习、记忆和语言的脑区中突触连接性增强和毛细血管增多。本研究利用正电子发射断层扫描（PET），通过局部脑葡萄糖代谢率（rCMRglcs）来研究教育对人脑的影响。比较了26名高学历（HEG）老年女性和26名低学历（LEG）老年女性的脑区激活情况以及各脑区之间的关联。此外，应用基于rCMRglcs的图形理论分析来研究大脑功能网络特性的差异。结果显示，高学历组在主要参与记忆、语言和神经发生的大脑腹侧区域的rCMRglc较高，而低学历组在主要参与运动和体感功能的大脑顶端区域的rCMRglc较高。通过图形理论分析研究的功能连接表明，与低学历组相比，高学历组的大脑总体上更高效、更具弹性，具有小世界特性。这可能是大脑介导高学历人群中发现的储备效应的机制之一。
