Prefrontal cortex aging
DEAlterung des präfrontalen Kortex
The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is the front part of your brain that runs your 'executive' functions: working memory, mental flexibility, impulse control, and planning ahead. (It spans Brodmann areas 9, 10, 11, 46, and 47.) It is one of the last brain regions to fully mature in adolescence, and one of the first to decline with age. From your 30s onward, even without disease, it thins, its neurons retract branches, spine density drops, and dopamine and noradrenaline signaling fade. Brain scans show older adults use the PFC more broadly and on both sides for the same task. Some read that as compensation; others as inefficiency. The decline speeds up with chronic stress (via stress-hormone remodeling of neurons), high blood pressure, and poor sleep. And it is modifiable: aerobic exercise, mentally demanding activities, and good sleep all help.
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Sources
- Sherwood CC, Gordon AD, Allen JS, Phillips KA, Erwin JM, Hof PR, Hopkins WD. (2011). Aging of the cerebral cortex differs between humans and chimpanzees. *Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences*doi:10.1073/pnas.1016709108
- Lustig C, Shah P, Seidler R, Reuter-Lorenz PA. (2009). Aging, training, and the brain: a review and future directions. *Neuropsychology Review*doi:10.1007/s11065-009-9119-9