# s-age-brain: negative age stereotypes vs Alzheimer’s disease biomarkers

<< holding negative attitudes towards the elderly (ageism) is correlated with the later development of neurobiological changes, or biomarkers, linked to Alzheimer’s >>

<< scores on the Attitudes Toward Old People Scale (AOPS) questionnaire predicted later hippocampal atrophy, as measured with structural MRI (n=52), and with the levels of neurofibrillary tangles and amyloid plaques present in the brain post mortem (n=74) >>

<< the authors don’t discuss the possibility that both of these phenomena are caused by a third, confounding factor – a covariate that wasn’t controlled for >>

<< For example, socioeconomic status or income could explain these results >>

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/neuroskeptic/2016/01/06/7291/

Levy BR, Ferrucci L, et al. (2015). A Culture-Brain Link: Negative Age Stereotypes Predict Alzheimer’s Disease Biomarkers. Psychology and Aging PMID: 26641877

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26641877