• Question: Does your brain change as you get older?

    Asked by chajicka to Tom, Simon, Anita on 28 Jan 2014. This question was also asked by samiha.
    • Photo: Anita Hall

      Anita Hall answered on 28 Jan 2014:

      Hello

      Yes and researchers are getting better and better at investigating and describing how it changes due to developments in technology such as more sensitive brain scanners. For example there are really interesting studies of the changes that occur to the brain during adolescence see for example: http://royalsociety.org/events/2013/the-teenage-brain/ or http://goo.gl/92mCIf

      Some of the brain biology that is known to change includes the connections between brain regions, the amount and distribution of fatty myelin nerve insulation in the brain and particularly in some diseases, the number of neurons in parts of the brain e.g. the number of dopaminergic neurons in the midbrain decreases in people with Parkinson’s disease.

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