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Good evening GanSist everyone! 
GanSist, many people think of college as just a way to get a diploma, find a better job, or increase their income. This assumption is not completely wrong. However, there is another benefit that often goes unnoticed, namely its impact on human brain function.
In recent decades, scientists in the fields of neurology, cognitive psychology, and aging science have examined the relationship between education level and a person’s thinking ability. The results are quite interesting. It turns out that higher education does not just increase knowledge, but is also associated with increasing various neurocognitive functions.
It needs to be understood from the start that higher education is not a “magic drug” that makes someone automatically smarter. Many other factors such as genetics, sleep patterns, exercise, nutrition, mental health and daily intellectual activities also play a big role. However, the learning process that lasts for years in college provides very intense intellectual stimulation that helps the brain develop and adapt.
Here are 4 benefits of higher education for brain function based on scientific research.
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1. Improve your ability to think and solve problems
During lectures, students are not only asked to memorize material. Students are also required to read various sources, compare theories, evaluate evidence, and develop logical arguments. This activity trains the brain’s executive functions.
Executive function is a collection of mental abilities that include planning, decision making, impulse control, flexibility of thinking, and the ability to solve problems. Most of these functions involve the prefrontal cortex, a part of the brain that develops into young adulthood.
When someone is used to doing research tasks, making scientific reports, or having critical discussions, their brain continues to use neural pathways related to higher-level reasoning. The more frequently these pathways are used, the more efficiently the neural network works through a process known as neuroplasticity.
Meta-analysis research by Opdebeeck, Martyr, and Clare found that education is one indicator cognitive reserveassociated with better executive functioning abilities in healthy adults. These findings show that complex learning activities provide real benefits for higher-order thinking abilities.
In other words, lectures do not just fill your head with theory, but also train you to think systematically and logically.
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2. Helps Strengthen Memory and Language Skills
One activity that can hardly be separated from the world of lectures is reading and writing. Students must understand books, scientific journals, research results, and academic presentations in large numbers.
This activity is training working memoryor working memory. Working memory allows a person to temporarily store information while processing it to complete a task. For example, when reading a scientific article, a person must remember the contents of the previous paragraph while understanding the new information being read.
Apart from that, higher education also enriches language skills. Vocabulary becomes broader, the ability to comprehend reading improves, and a person becomes more skilled at conveying ideas coherently.
Meta-analyses involving more than 128,000 participants show that education is associated with better performance across a variety of cognitive domains, including memory, language, visuospatial abilities, and executive function.
This benefit is not only useful when you are still a student, but also helps someone in everyday life, from understanding complex information to making decisions based on various sources of information.
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3. Increase Cognitive Suggestion (Cognitive Reserve)
This is one of the most interesting concepts in modern neuroscience. Researchers use the term cognitive reserveor cognitive reserve to describe the brain’s ability to cope with changes due to aging or disease. A person with a high cognitive reserve is able to maintain thinking function longer even though biological changes have occurred in the brain.
Why does this happen? Over years of learning, the brain builds an increasingly complex network of connections between neurons. The abundance of intellectual experience makes the brain have more “alternative pathways” when some networks are disturbed.
Meng and D’Arcy’s meta-analysis of 133 studies with a total of 437,477 participants showed that lower levels of education were associated with an increased risk of dementia. These results provide strong support for the theory cognitive reserve.
This does not mean that college graduates are immune to Alzheimer’s disease or dementia. The disease can still occur. However, higher education is associated with the brain’s ability to compensate for damage so that clinical symptoms may appear later than in people with lower cognitive reserve.
This concept is one of the reasons why scientists recommend lifelong learning activities, even after a person no longer has formal education.
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4. Train the brain to continue adapting
The human brain is not a static organ. Instead, the brain continues to change throughout life through the process of neuroplasticity. Every time a person learns new ideas, masters new skills, has discussions, or solves problems that have never been faced before, changes occur in the strength of the connections between nerve cells.
The college environment provides many opportunities to do this. Students are required to face various academic challenges, work together in groups, compile research, speak in public, and adapt to various different points of view.
All these activities encourage the brain not to just rely on old habits, but to continue building new strategies in thinking.
Interestingly, research also shows that the benefits of intellectual activity do not stop at a young age. Various studies have found that elderly people who continue to participate in learning or intellectual activities show better cognitive performance than those who are not mentally active. This reinforces the idea that the brain remains able to adapt throughout life if it continues to be given appropriate stimulation.
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Higher Education Is Not the Only Path
Although various studies show the benefits of higher education on neurocognitive function, it is important to understand that college is not the only way to build a healthy brain.
Someone who does not have higher education can still have excellent cognitive abilities if they continue to study independently, read books, learn new languages, play musical instruments, do work that is intellectually challenging, have active discussions, and maintain a healthy lifestyle.
In other words, what matters most is not just the degree, but how often the brain is used to think, analyze and learn new things.
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CLOSURE
Modern science increasingly shows that the benefits of higher education do not stop at increasing insight or career opportunities. The learning process that lasts for years also provides intensive training for the brain.
Various studies show that higher education is associated with improved executive function, memory, language skills, and formation cognitive reservewhich helps the brain be more resilient in facing the aging process. However, education is only one part of a lifestyle that supports brain health.
Ultimately, the human brain develops through continuous use. The more often a person learns, thinks critically, and faces intellectual challenges, the greater the chance of his brain maintaining optimal cognitive function into old age. So, if college provides the opportunity to continue to hone your thinking skills, the benefits will not only be felt when you graduate, but can also be a long-term investment in brain health.
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SOURCE
Meng, X., & D’Arcy, C. (2012). Education and dementia in the context of the cognitive reserve hypothesis: A systematic review with meta-analyses and qualitative analyses. PLOS ONE, 7(6)e38268.
Opdebeeck, C., Martyr, A., & Clare, L. (2016). Cognitive reserve and cognitive function in healthy older people: A meta-analysis. Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, 23(1)40-60.
Stern, Y. (2009). Cognitive reserve. Neuropsychologia, 47(10)2015-2028.
Livingston, G., Huntley, J., Sommerlad, A., et al. (2020). Dementia prevention, intervention, and care: 2020 report of the Lancet Commission. The Lancet, 396(10248)413-446.
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