August 20, 2025
For 25 years, scientists at Northwestern University have been studying adults age 80 and older who have the same memory skills as someone 30 years younger. Researchers are seeking to understand how this remarkable group of elderly men and women, so-called super agers, is able to resist the cognitive decline of so many of their aging peers, fending off the ravages of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.
Since 2000, the Northwestern researchers have studied nearly 300 of these super-agers in their 80s and 90s, who are able to recall everyday events and past personal histories as well as or better than someone in their 50s or 60s. They have performed autopsies on the brains of 77 who subsequently died.
What they’ve discovered is that super-agers share certain unique biological and behavioral traits that likely contribute to their long-running mental acuity. The findings, published in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia, challenge the long-held belief that cognitive decline is an inevitable part of aging.
“It’s really what we’ve found in their brains that’s been so earth-shattering for us,” said Sandra Weintraub, the lead author of a new review of the ongoing research and a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and neurology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. The brains of many of the super agers had little or none of the telltale plaques and tangles, formed by the toxic proteins known as beta-amyloid and tau, that are hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease. And in those who had moderate levels of plaques and tangles, the brain lesions didn’t seem to kill off brain cells or affect memory.
“What we realized is there are two mechanisms that lead someone to become a super ager,” said Dr. Weintraub. “One is resistance: they don’t make the plaques and tangles. Two is resilience: they make them, but they don’t do anything to their brains.”
On memory tests, the elderly super agers scored on par with people who were middle aged. Brain regions critical for memory, decision making, emotional control and motivation showed little of the shrinkage typical of their same-aged peers.
Super agers also showed a common behavioral trait: They tended to be highly social. As a group, they reported having strong friendships and to place a high value on personal relationships, were often active in their communities, and showed high levels of autonomy and independence. Their personalities tended to be on the extroverted side, and their brains also showed higher concentrations of specialized cells called von Economo neurons that are linked to emotion and social behavior. Even though they differed in terms of what they ate, how much they drank, and what kinds of exercise they got, social connection was a common thread among the super agers.
The findings are consistent with reports showing that people who stay socially engaged as they age tend to show less cognitive decline and are at lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. Other studies have found that people who feel lonely are at increased risk of dementia, in part because they tend to have chronically elevated levels of the stress hormone cortisol, which can lead to body-wide inflammation that damages the brain.
The researchers are continuing to study super agers in the hopes of discovering new ways to help preserve brain health as we age. “Our findings show that exceptional memory in old age is not only possible but is linked to a distinct neurobiological profile,” Dr. Weintraub said. “This opens the door to new interventions aimed at preserving brain health well into the later decades of life.”
By ALZinfo.org, The Alzheimer’s Information Site. Reviewed by Eric Schmidt, Ph.D., Fisher Center for Alzheimer’s Research Foundation at The Rockefeller University.
Source: Sandra Weintraub, Tamar Gefen, Changiz Geula, et al: “The first 25 years of the Northwestern University SuperAging Program.” Alzheimer’s & Dementia, The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association, August 7, 2025
