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Comment
. 2010 Mar;24(2):255-7.
doi: 10.1037/a0018828.

News of cognitive cure for age-related brain shrinkage is premature: a comment on Burgmans et al. (2009)

Naftali Raz  1 , Ulman Lindenberger
Affiliations
Comment

News of cognitive cure for age-related brain shrinkage is premature: a comment on Burgmans et al. (2009)

Naftali Raz et al. Neuropsychology. 2010 Mar.

Abstract

The extant longitudinal literature consistently supports the notion of age-related declines in human brain volume. In a report on a longitudinal cognitive follow-up with cross-sectional brain measurements, Burgmans and colleagues (2009) claim that the extant studies overestimate brain volume declines, presumably due to inclusion of participants with preclinical cognitive pathology. Moreover, the authors of the article assert that such declines are absent among optimally healthy adults who maintain cognitive stability for several years. In this comment accompanied by reanalysis of previously published data, we argue that these claims are incorrect on logical, methodological, and empirical grounds.

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References

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