Cognitive reserve refers to acquired learnings that modulate brain resistance to physiological aging or brain damage. One relevant component of cognitive reserve seems to be the richness of connections in the semantic knowledge. We examined the influence of cognitive reserve and semantic knowledge on proper name and common noun retrieval.Sixty-six elderly participants were administered a questionnaire for cognitive reserve, and tests assessing semantic knowledge and proper name and common noun retrieval. Results showed that proper names were more difficult to retrieve than common nouns. Moreover, cognitive reserve and semantic knowledge were linearly and positively associated with common noun retrieval, with additive effects. In contrast, they interacted with each other in predicting the retrieval of proper names: cognitive reserve had a greater impact on proper name retrieval in older adults with weaker semantic profile, while semantic knowledge assisted proper name retrieval in older adults with scarcer cognitive reserve.
Proper Names and Common Nouns are differently supported by Cognitive Reserve and Semantic Knowledge in healthy aging