Susanne de Mooij, prof. Rik Henson and Dr. Rogier Kievit investigated whether and when brain connections change with age, and how these changes map onto our cognitive functioning. Using Cam-CAN data, they observed that brain structures become less connected to each other after about 55 years of age. In contrast, the relations between language, memory and reasoning stayed the same across the lifespan. Finally, they found that memory performance becomes less dependent on a white matter network (connecting the hippocampus to other parts of the brain) in later life.