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BRIEF COMMUNICATIONS: Danielle J. Tisserand, Hans Bosma, Martin P.J. Van Boxtel, and Jelle Jolles Head size and cognitive ability in nondemented older adults are related Neurology 2001; 56: 969-971 [Abstract] [Full text] [PDF]

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Reply to I Steiner and J P Newman

D Tisserand   (19 July 2001)

Head size and cognitive ability in nondemented older adults are related

I Steiner, J P Newman   (19 July 2001)

Reply to I Steiner and J P Newman 19 July 2001
D Tisserand Brain and Behavior Institute Maastricht University Maastricht Netherlands Send Correspondence to journal: Re: Reply to I Steiner and J P Newman d.tisserand{at}np.unimaas.nl D Tisserand	We acknowledge that relating anthropometric measures to mental abilities is a charged research topic. Too often, human history has shown that associating intellectual abilities or personality characteristics with individual differences in physical appearance can lead to discrimination of certain groups of people. However, the purpose of our study was to investigate the relationship between head size and cognitive performance in elderly subjects while explicitly adjusting for individual differences (e.g. age, sex, and education). Race was no issue here as all participants were Caucasian. Furthermore, neither height nor socioeconomic background (assumed to reflect nutritional and other developmental factors early in life) significantly influenced the head size cognition associations which we found. While leaving aside the discussion of whether it is plausible to suggest the existence of a relationship between a global measure such as head size and specific mental abilities, the consistency of the findings are remarkable. In studies with demented patients, a relationship between head or brain size and disease severity has been reported repeatedly. [2, 3, 4] This head size cognition association, albeit small, also seems to apply to healthy elderly individuals. [1, 5] As described in our paper, these studies have been taken as evidence for a brain reserve hypothesis, that is, larger brains may provide a buffer against cognitive deterioration. References: 1) Tisserand DJ, Bosma H, Van Boxtel MPJ, Jolles J. Head size and cognitive ability in nondemented older adults are related. Neurology 2001;56:969-971. 2) Graves AB, Mortimer JA, Larson EB, Wenzlow A, Bowen JD, Mc Cormick WC. Head circumference as a measure of cognitive reserve. Association with severity of impairment in Alzheimer's disease. Br J Psychia 1996;169:86-92. 3) Mori E, Hirono N, Yamashita et al. Premorbid brain size as a determinant of reserve capacity against intellectual decline in Alzheimer's disease. Am J Psychia 1997;154:18-24. 4) Schofield PW, Logroscino G, Andrews HF, Albert S, Stern Y. An association between head circumference and Alzheimer's disease in a population-based study of aging and dementia. Neurology 1997;49:30-37. 5) Reynolds MD, Johnston JM, Dodge HH, DeKosky ST, Ganguli M. Small head size is related to low Mini-Mental State Examination scores in a community sample of nondemented older adults. Neurology 1999;53:228-229.
Head size and cognitive ability in nondemented older adults are related 19 July 2001
I Steiner Hadassah University Hosptial Jerusalem Israel, J P Newman Send Correspondence to journal: Re: Head size and cognitive ability in nondemented older adults are related isteiner{at}md2.huji.ac.il I Steiner, et al.	We read with much interest and a certain aura of deja' vu the report by Tisserand et al [1] on the relationship between head size and cognitive ability. Beyond issues such as differential average size of the brains of men and women or the science of phrenology and other theories on the association between head structure and personality [2, 3], this work brings to mind the story of Paul Broca's claim that brain size is associated with intelligence.[4] His theory was based in part on the post mortem of George Curvier, the founder of paleontology, who was found to possess a very large brain (weighing 1830 gm). As no measures of the skull were taken, the hat of the scientist was located and presented as circumstantial evidence for his enormous head, (and brain) size. Nevertheless, the assertion that the head size of Curvier was due to arrested hydrocephalus could not be disproved so the evidence was dismissed. Ever since 1861 when Broca was occupied with this scientific strife until lately when new information on Albert Einstein's brain hit the tabloids and the scientific community,5 the size of brains has been a juicy item (Turgenev's brain weighed more than 2000 gm, while Anatole France's weighed in at only 1017 gm4). However, prior to concluding that size does matter, and Paul Broca might have been, at the end of the day, right, this report does not detail how head size was corrected for body weight, individual height, nutrition and gender, as well as race. Therefore, we think that any conclusion from this report should be regarded with some caution. References: 1) Tisserand DJ, Bosma H, Van Boxtel MP, Jolles J. Head size and cognitive ability in nondemented older adults are related. Neurology. 2001;56:969-71. 2) Hoff TL. Gall's psychophysiological concept of function: the rise and decline of "internal essence". Brain Cogn. 1992;20:378-98. 3) Liberini P, Spano P. From the mind to the brain: an unusual pathway. J Hist Neurosci. 2000;9:41-5. 4) Gould SJ. The Panda's Thumb. More reflections in natural history. Penguin Books, London, 1980. 5) Witelson SF, Kigar DL, Harvey T. The exceptional brain of Albert Einstein. Lancet. 1999;353:2149-53.