What it contributes
In everyday life
What research says about aging
Read the supporting sources
Brain, cognition & aging
Your brain changes.
Keep exploring.
Explore the regions behind memory, thought, and movement, and discover how brain aging differs from person to person.
31 regions. One connected brain.
Four anatomical perspectives · An educational explorer
Reference anatomy · teaching explorer
Understanding change
A region is part of a network.
These descriptions highlight contributions, not exclusive functions. Memory, language, emotion, and movement emerge from systems working together.
Two people of the same age can have very different brains and very different trajectories.
Aging summaries describe research patterns, not predictions for an individual. A smaller region does not automatically mean poorer performance.
What does “ROI” mean?
A region of interest: an area chosen for study. Some ROIs follow anatomical boundaries; others combine several areas. Definitions differ across atlases and research protocols.
Why use four different views?
A lateral view hides medial and deep structures. The medial view reveals the inner cortical surface; the coronal view opens the hemispheres; the temporal cutaway exposes the memory system. No single view shows everything.
Does brain aging mean dementia?
No. Dementia is not an inevitable consequence of aging. Occasional forgetfulness is different from persistent difficulties that interfere with everyday independence. NIA: memory and aging ↗
Can brain size tell us someone’s abilities?
A single region’s size is not a direct measure of someone’s abilities. Brain systems, health, experience, and context all matter.
Does older always mean less capable?
No. Processing speed may decline on average, while knowledge and vocabulary can remain strong. People differ considerably in how their thinking changes.
How are the 3D regions defined?
The 3D brain uses the CerebrA atlas and MNI reference anatomy. Functional areas do not always match anatomical parcels exactly; any proxy highlight is identified below the brain. Regions without a suitable 3D boundary retain the 2D teaching illustration. Shape, size, and folding vary between people.
Browse all 31 regions
Sources & further exploration
3D anatomy: Manera et al. (2020), CerebrA, with the matching MNI ICBM152 symmetric 2009c template. Surfaces are smoothed approximations extracted from MRI tissue probabilities and atlas labels. Surface colors use nearby atlas labels within 2 mm; these are not individual functional boundaries.
Compare with an anatomical reference illustration
Lateral human brain illustration, courtesy of NIAID / Ryan Kissinger (NIH BioArt 60; public domain). The reference image loads online; the 2D and 3D explorer above works offline.
Reference and image credit ↗
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MRI derived 3D surfaces with 2D teaching illustrations available for comparison. The reference brain is a symmetric group average. No individual aging scores or clinical predictions are calculated.