Education shapes the link between EEG aperiodic components and cognitive aging.

EEG aperiodic exponent and offset both declined with age in healthy individuals across the lifespan.

• The sample consisted of 714 healthy individuals aged 18-91 years from an open-source EEG dataset.
• Generalized Additive Mixed Models (GAMMs) were used to model non-linear relationships between age, aperiodic components, education, and cognition.
• The decline in aperiodic components was widespread across the cortex.
• Both the aperiodic exponent (slope of the power spectrum) and offset (intercept) showed age-related reductions.

Higher education levels mitigated age-related declines in EEG aperiodic components.

• Education was treated as a moderating factor in the relationship between age and aperiodic EEG components.
• Individuals with higher education showed attenuated reductions in both aperiodic exponent and offset compared to those with lower education.
• This pattern was observed in a widespread manner across cortical regions.
• Education is described as 'a known protective factor against age-related decline in cognitive performance' and was largely overlooked in prior EEG aperiodic studies.

The relationship between aperiodic EEG components and MMSE cognitive performance diverged by education level among older adults.

• Among older adults with lower education, lower aperiodic exponents and offsets were associated with worse cognitive outcomes (lower MMSE scores).
• Among higher-educated individuals after age 60, a reverse pattern emerged: lower aperiodic exponents and offsets predicted better MMSE performance.
• The aperiodic components interacted with both age and education in predicting MMSE performance in a widespread way across the cortex.
• Cognitive performance was measured using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE).

The link between aperiodic EEG components and cognitive aging is moderated by education rather than being a straightforward relationship.

• The study hypothesized and confirmed that education moderates the interplay between age, aperiodic components, and cognitive performance.
• The divergent patterns by education level suggest that lower aperiodic activity may carry different functional significance depending on educational background.
• The authors suggest these findings 'underscore the importance of accounting for individual differences, like educational background, when exploring age-related changes in EEG aperiodic components and cognition.'
• The analysis used Generalized Additive Mixed Models to capture potentially non-linear moderating effects across the 18-91 year age range.

Education has been largely overlooked in prior studies linking aperiodic EEG components to cognition, representing a gap this study addressed.

• The study reanalyzed an existing open-source EEG dataset of 714 healthy individuals rather than collecting new data.
• The age range spanned 18-91 years, covering the full adult lifespan.
• Prior literature on aperiodic EEG components and cognitive aging did not adequately account for educational background as a moderating variable.
• The study is framed as addressing this specific gap in the literature.