The Impact of Physical and Mental Activity on Cognitive Aging

Author(s):  
Amy J. Jak
2020 ◽  
Vol 75 (8) ◽  
pp. e198-e203
Author(s):  
Becca R Levy ◽  
Martin D Slade ◽  
Robert H Pietrzak ◽  
Luigi Ferrucci

Abstract Objectives Most studies of aging cognition have focused on risk factors for worse performance and on either genetic or environmental factors. In contrast, we examined whether 2 factors known to individually benefit aging cognition may interact to produce better cognition: environment-based positive age beliefs and the APOE ε2 gene. Method The sample consisted of 3,895 Health and Retirement Study participants who were 60 years or older at baseline and completed as many as 5 assessments of cognition over 8 years. Results As predicted, positive age beliefs amplified the cognitive benefit of APOE ε2. In contrast, negative age beliefs suppressed the cognitive benefit of APOE ε2. We also found that positive age beliefs contributed nearly 15 times more than APOE ε2 to better cognition. Discussion This study provides the first known evidence that self-perceptions can influence the impact of a gene on cognition. The results underscore the importance of combined psychosocial and biological approaches to understanding cognitive function in older adults.


Healthcare ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 547
Author(s):  
Mi Sook Jung ◽  
Eunyoung Chung

This study examined the association between television (TV) viewing and cognitive dysfunction in elderly Koreans. Among participants of the 2014 National Survey of Older Koreans, 9644 were considered in this study. To better identify the association between two factors, propensity score (PS) matching with exact method was used. Finally, 168 viewers and non-viewers each were selected based on estimated PS on key variables and eliminating double matches. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed when controlling for possible covariates. Viewers were more likely to have cognitive dysfunction than non-viewers, with significant differences in most covariates. After correcting confounding effects of these covariates with PS matching, TV viewing was found to be a significant risk factor of cognitive dysfunction, along with absence of diagnosed hypertension and non-participation in physical leisure activities. TV viewing might be associated with increased risk of cognitive dysfunction in later life. Appropriate education and strategies to minimize TV viewing among older adults should be established to contribute to attenuating cognitive aging. More interventional studies can help older adults, caregivers, and healthcare professionals explore the cognitively beneficial alternatives to TV use considering the impact of socioeconomic factors of selecting TV viewing as a preferred leisure activity.


Cognition ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 207 ◽  
pp. 104524
Author(s):  
Christopher Hilton ◽  
Andrew Johnson ◽  
Timothy J. Slattery ◽  
Sebastien Miellet ◽  
Jan M. Wiener

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 205-226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas H. Bak

Abstract Within the current debates on cognitive reserve, cognitive ageing and dementia increasingly showing a positive effect of mental, social and physical activities on health in older age, bilingualism remains one of the most controversial issues. Some reasons for it might be social or even ideological. However, one of the most important genuine problems facing bilingualism research is the high number of potential confounding variables. Bilingual communities often differ from monolingual ones in a range of genetic and environmental variables. In addition, within the same population, bilingual individuals could be different from the outset from those who remain monolingual. We discuss the most common confounding variables in the study of bilingualism, aging and dementia, such as group heterogeneity, migration, social factors, differences in general intelligence and the related issue of reverse causality. We describe different ways in which they can be minimised by the choice of the studied populations and the collected data. In this way, the emerging picture of the interaction between bilingualism and cognitive aging becomes more complex, but also more convincing.


ADMET & DMPK ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaiwen Cheng ◽  
Yanhui Deng ◽  
Ming Li ◽  
Hong Mei Yan

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariana Teles ◽  
Dingjing Shi

The association between subjective memory complaints (SMCs) and objective memory performance (OMP) has been consistently reported as small, but how the dynamics of this association changes as a function of depressive symptoms and the individual's cognitive functioning level remains unclear. Method: using the bivariate dual change score approach, the present study investigated the directionality of the SMC-OMP association in a sample of healthy older adults (N = 2,057) from the Virginia Cognitive Aging Project. The sample was assessed throughout ten years, five-time points, and the impact of education, depressive symptoms, and low-memory functioning were tested. Three dimensions of SMC were assessed: Frequency of Forgetting, Seriousness of Forgetting, and Retrospective Memory. Results: For Frequency of Forgetting and Seriousness of Forgetting, the unidirectional models in which both subjective dimensions predicted subsequent changes in OMP showed the best fit to the data. For Retrospective Memory, the opposite direction was supported, with OMP leading the association. However, significant coupling effects were not found between these pairs of constructs. After including depressive symptoms as a covariate, Frequency of Forgetting significantly predicted subsequent changes in OMP (γ= -1.226, SE = 0.543). A similar result was found for the low-memory functioning group after the inclusion of depression, with the frequency of memory complaints predicting subsequent memory decline (γ = -1.026, SE = 0.112, p < 0.05). Our results do not support a predictive value of SMC for OMP without accounting for the influence of depressive symptoms and low-memory functioning in this longitudinal association.


Author(s):  
Gabriel K. Rousseau ◽  
Nina Lamson ◽  
Wendy A. Rogers

A variety of individual difference variables affect whether someone notices, encodes, comprehends, and complies with a product warning label. Failures at any of these stages reduce the effectiveness of warnings. Development of effective warnings must be based on understanding the characteristics of the product user. As the population grows older, consideration of age-related changes in perceptual and cognitive abilities becomes more relevant to the warning designer. Aging researchers have identified a variety of declines and changes in vision (e.g., acuity, contrast sensitivity, and color discrimination) and memory (e.g., working memory and prospective memory). By considering the abilities of the product user, the impact of age-related changes may be minimized. Based on cognitive aging research and theory, we will make recommendations about how designers can increase the effectiveness of warnings for older adults.


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