Researchers were surprised to find that an additional 12 months of schooling
did not affect brain structure or provide protective benefits.
Scientists from Radboud University Medical Centre in The Netherlands leveraged
a “natural experiment” involving 30,000 British participants to precisely
assess the long-term impact of an extra year of education on the brain.
Previous studies have highlighted many positive outcomes of education.
Generally, individuals who spend more time in school tend to be healthier,
more intelligent, hold better jobs, and earn higher incomes compared to those
with fewer years of education.
However, it remains uncertain whether extended education leads to changes in
brain structure over the long term and guards against brain aging.
Many other factors impact brain structure – including childhood environment,
genetic traits, and exposure to pollution – making it challenging to isolate
the effects of education.
Prof. Rogier Kievit and Dr. Nicholas Judd of Radboud University recognized a
“unique” opportunity to assess the effects of an additional year of schooling.
In 1972, a change in UK law increased the minimum school-leaving age from 15
to 16, while other conditions remained unchanged.
The researchers described this as an intriguing ‘natural experiment,’ an event
outside their control that created exposed and unexposed groups.
For their study, published in eLife, data from 30,000 individuals who
attended school during that period, including MRI scans taken 46 years later,
were used, marking it as the largest brain imaging dataset globally.
The team analyzed the MRI scans for structural differences in various brain
regions but found no significant differences between those with an extra year
of schooling and those without.
Dr. Judd commented, “This surprised us.
“We know education has positive effects, so we anticipated that it might
protect against brain aging.
“Age-related changes are evident in our MRI data, showing declines in total
brain volume, surface area, cortical thickness, and poorer water diffusion.
However, the extra year of education doesn’t seem to impact these areas.”
The researchers noted that while changes in the brain may have been evident
right after the additional year of education, this was not captured in the
study.
Kievit added: “It’s possible that education temporarily increases brain size,
but it returns to its baseline later. After all, the brain must fit within the
skull.
“It might be similar to physical training: intense exercise at 16 could
enhance muscle size, but the effect may not last 50 years later.”
The team suggested that the extra education might induce microscopic brain
changes that MRIs cannot detect.
Previous research and smaller studies have indicated that more education
correlates with brain benefits.
For instance, individuals with more education tend to have better cognitive
functions, superior health, and higher job prospects.
Kievit pointed out, however, that these associations are not evident in brain
structure as viewed through MRI.
He concluded, “Our findings emphasize caution when interpreting causation from
mere correlations.
“While we observe correlations between education and the brain, we do not see
evidence of changes in brain structure.”
