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Brain and Behavior

Brain Development

What is cortical atrophy?

Cortical atrophy refers to the shrinking of the neocortex that occurs with age. The gyri (convolutions) shrink, the sulci (grooves between gyri) and the ventricles (vessels filled with cerebral spinal fluid) expand, and there is about a 17 percent decrease in brain weight in both sexes by age eighty.