Structural MRI measures brain anatomy, the physical size and shape of brain structures. Structural changes are downstream of functional changes: by the time brain volume has visibly decreased on an MRI, functional loss has been accumulating for years. An MRI also requires a large, stationary scanner and runs $1,000 to $5,000 or more per scan, which makes it episodic rather than something a clinic can repeat on a quarterly cadence.
BrainYears™ measures the brain's electrical responses directly, at one-millisecond precision, during a controlled cognitive task. This captures the speed and efficiency of neural processing, the functional changes that precede structural decline by years. It achieves accuracy matching MRI-derived brain age clocks (MAE 4.4 years), from a portable headset, in about 20 minutes, with results available immediately.
The two are complementary. Imaging answers questions a functional measure cannot, and BrainYears measures function upstream of the structural changes imaging is built to see.
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