MRI Brain Scan Credit: NIH

Research with Alzheimer's patients has linked greater cognitive ability and memory retention to brain size.

In studies, researchers have performed autopsies on the brains of patients who died with Alzheimer's disease.

Some of these Alzheimer's patients had developed dementia, while others maintained their cognitive and thinking ability until death.

The studies showed that Alzheimer's patients that maintained their cognitive ability had a larger hippocampus than did Alzheimer's patients with dementia.

The researchers believe that a larger hippocampus may serve to protect people from some of the effects of Alzheimer's disease.

For additional information, see:

• How Big Is Your Brain? Its Size May Protect You From Memory Loss (Science Daily)