Intellectual engagement and cognitive ability in later life (the “use it or lose it” conjecture): longitudinal, prospective study

AbstractObjectivesTo examine the association between intellectual engagement and cognitive ability in later life, and determine whether the maintenance of intellectual engagement will offset age related cognitive decline.DesignLongitudinal, prospective, observational study.SettingNon-clinical volunt...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:BMJ (Online) 2018-12, Vol.363, p.k4925-k4925
Main Authors: Staff, Roger T, Hogan, Michael J, Williams, Daniel S, Whalley, L J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adults
Age
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Aging
Archives & records
Children
Cognition
Cognition & reasoning
Cognitive ability
Cognitive Aging - psychology
Cognitive Dysfunction - psychology
Dementia
Education
Female
Health care
Humans
Information processing
Longitudinal Studies
Male
Memory
Mental disorders
Older people
Patient Participation - psychology
Problem Solving
Prospective Studies
Recreation - psychology
Recreation Therapy - methods
Recreation Therapy - psychology
Scotland
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:AbstractObjectivesTo examine the association between intellectual engagement and cognitive ability in later life, and determine whether the maintenance of intellectual engagement will offset age related cognitive decline.DesignLongitudinal, prospective, observational study.SettingNon-clinical volunteers in late middle age (all born in 1936) living independently in northeast Scotland.ParticipantsSample of 498 volunteers who had taken part in the Scottish Mental Health Survey of 1947, from one birth year (1936).Main outcome measuresCognitive ability and trajectory of cognitive decline in later life. Typical intellectual engagement was measured by a questionnaire, and repeated cognitive measurements of information processing speed and verbal memory were obtained over a 15 year period (recording more than 1200 longitudinal data points for each cognitive test).ResultsIntellectual engagement was significantly associated with level of cognitive performance in later life, with each point on a 24 point scale accounting for 0.97 standardised cognitive performance (IQ-like) score, for processing speed and 0.71 points for memory (both P
ISSN:0959-8138
1756-1833
DOI:10.1136/bmj.k4925