London, Aug 12 - Education reduces the impact of Alzheimer's disease on cognition even if brain volume loss has already occurred, says a study carried out in Germany.

Robert Perneczky, department of psychiatry at Munich's Klinikum rechts der Isar, explains: 'We know that there is not always a close association between brain damage due to Alzheimer's disease and the resulting symptoms of dementia.'

Dementia is the progressive deterioration in cognitive function - the ability to process thought (intelligence).

'In fact, there are individuals with severe brain pathology with almost no signs of dementia, whereas others with only minor brain lesions exhibit a considerable degree of clinical symptoms,' adds Perneczky.

Prior to the current study, brain damage was assessed after death using brain autopsy measures or using very sensitive functional imaging measures in live individuals.