scholarly journals Activity in Older Adults: Cause or Consequence of Cognitive Functioning? A Longitudinal Study on Everyday Activities and Cognitive Performance in Older Adults

2002 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. P153-P162 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. J. Aartsen ◽  
C. H. M. Smits ◽  
T. van Tilburg ◽  
K. C. P. M. Knipscheer ◽  
D. J. H. Deeg
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Cognitive Functioning ◽  
Cognitive Performance ◽  
Everyday Activities

scholarly journals Senior Dance Experience, Cognitive Performance, and Brain Volume in Older Women

2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Niemann ◽  
Ben Godde ◽  
Claudia Voelcker-Rehage
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Cognitive Functioning ◽  
Older Women ◽  
Cognitive Performance ◽  
Gray Matter ◽  
Brain Volume ◽  
Fitness Level ◽  
Motor Fitness

Physical activity is positively related to cognitive functioning and brain volume in older adults. Interestingly, different types of physical activity vary in their effects on cognition and on the brain. For example, dancing has become an interesting topic in aging research, as it is a popular leisure activity among older adults, involving cardiovascular and motor fitness dimensions that can be positively related to cognition. However, studies on brain structure are missing. In this study, we tested the association of long-term senior dance experience with cognitive performance and gray matter brain volume in older women aged 65 to 82 years. We compared nonprofessional senior dancers (n=28) with nonsedentary control group participants without any dancing experience (n=29), who were similar in age, education, IQ score, lifestyle and health factors, and fitness level. Differences neither in the four tested cognitive domains (executive control, perceptual speed, episodic memory, and long-term memory) nor in brain volume (VBM whole-brain analysis, region-of-interest analysis of the hippocampus) were observed. Results indicate that moderate dancing activity (1-2 times per week, on average) has no additional effects on gray matter volume and cognitive functioning when a certain lifestyle or physical activity and fitness level are reached.

Research … How Fun Is That? Interesting Questions Relative to the Effects of Exercise on Cognitive Performance

2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 151-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer L. Etnier
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Cognitive Functioning ◽  
Cognitive Performance ◽  
Cognitive Outcomes ◽  
Future Research ◽  
North American Society ◽  
National Meeting ◽  
The North ◽  
American Society

In developing a senior lecture for the 2014 national meeting of the North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity, I had the opportunity to reflect upon a career of research and to focus on three interesting questions that my colleagues and I have attempted to address. These questions have led to several studies that all revolve around identifying ways to increase the effects of exercise on cognitive performance. In particular, the questions examine the possibility of increasing effects by focusing on particular populations (e.g., older adults, children) and by increasing our understanding of dose-response relationships between exercise parameters (e.g., intensity, duration) and cognitive outcomes. I present empirical evidence relative to each of these questions and provide directions for future research on physical activity and cognitive functioning.

scholarly journals DNA methylation and cognitive functioning in healthy older adults

2011 ◽  
Vol 107 (5) ◽  
pp. 744-748 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olga J. G. Schiepers ◽  
Martin P. J. van Boxtel ◽  
Renate H. M. de Groot ◽  
Jelle Jolles ◽  
Frans J. Kok ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Dna Methylation ◽  
Folic Acid ◽  
Cognitive Functioning ◽  
Cognitive Performance ◽  
Global Dna Methylation ◽  
Older Individuals ◽  
Healthy Older Adults ◽  
Study Results ◽  
The Relationship

Long-term supplementation with folic acid may improve cognitive performance in older individuals. The relationship between folate status and cognitive performance might be mediated by changes in methylation capacity, as methylation reactions are important for normal functioning of the brain. Although aberrant DNA methylation has been implicated in neurodevelopmental disorders, the relationship between DNA methylation status and non-pathological cognitive functioning in human subjects has not yet been investigated. The present study investigated the associations between global DNA methylation and key domains of cognitive functioning in healthy older adults. Global DNA methylation, defined as the percentage of methylated cytosine to total cytosine, was measured in leucocytes by liquid chromatography–MS/MS, in 215 men and women, aged 50–70 years, who participated in the Folic Acid and Carotid Intima-Media Thickness (FACIT) study (clinical trial registration number NCT00110604). Cognitive performance was assessed by means of the Visual Verbal Word Learning Task, the Stroop Colour-Word Interference Test, the Concept Shifting Test, the Letter–Digit Substitution Test and the Verbal Fluency Test. Using hierarchical linear regression analyses adjusted for age, sex, level of education, alcohol consumption, smoking status, physical activity, erythrocyte folate concentration and 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase 677 C → T genotype, we found that global DNA methylation was not related to cognitive performance on any of the domains measured. The present study results do not support the hypothesis that global DNA methylation, as measured in leucocytes, might be associated with cognitive functioning in healthy older individuals.

scholarly journals Sarcopenic Obesity and Cognitive Functioning: The Mediating Roles of Insulin Resistance and Inflammation?

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. E. Levine ◽  
E. M. Crimmins
Keyword(s):  
Insulin Resistance ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Body Composition ◽  
Cognitive Functioning ◽  
Cognitive Performance ◽  
Muscle Mass ◽  
Significant Proportion ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Older Subjects ◽  
The Relationship

This study examined the influence of insulin resistance and inflammation on the association between body composition and cognitive performance in older adults, aged 60–69 and aged 70 and older. Subjects included 1127 adults from NHANES 1999–2002. Body composition was categorized based on measurements of muscle mass and waist circumference as sarcopenic nonobese, nonsarcopenic obese, sarcopenic obese, and normal. Using OLS regression models, our findings suggest body composition is not associated with cognitive functioning in adults ages 60–69; however, for adults aged 70 and over, sarcopenia and obesity, either independently or concurrently, were associated with worse cognitive functioning relative to non-sarcopenic non-obese older adults. Furthermore, insulin resistance accounted for a significant proportion of the relationship between cognitive performance and obesity, with or without sarcopenia. Additionally, although high CRP was significantly associated with poorer cognitive functioning in adults ages 60–69, it did not influence the association between body composition and cognitive performance. This study provides evidence that age-related physiological maladaptations, such as metabolic deregulation, which are associated with abdominal fat, may simultaneously contribute to lower cognition and muscle mass, reflecting a degradation of multiple physiological systems.

scholarly journals Disrupted neural synchrony mediates the relationship between white matter integrity and cognitive performance in older adults

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Hinault ◽  
M. Kraut ◽  
A. Bakker ◽  
A. Dagher ◽  
S.M. Courtney
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
White Matter ◽  
Cognitive Functioning ◽  
Cognitive Performance ◽  
Cognitive Aging ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Individual Variability ◽  
White Matter Integrity ◽  
Neural Basis

AbstractOur main goal was to determine the influence of white matter integrity on the dynamic coupling between brain regions and the individual variability of cognitive performance in older adults. EEG was recorded while participants performed a task specifically designed to engage working memory and inhibitory processes, and the associations among functional activity, structural integrity, and cognitive performance were assessed. We found that the association between white matter microstructural integrity and cognitive functioning with aging is mediated by time-varying alpha and gamma phase-locking value (PLV). Specifically, older individuals with better preservation of the inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus showed greater task-related modulations of alpha and gamma long-range PLV between the inferior frontal gyrus and occipital lobe, lower local phase-amplitude coupling in occipital lobes, and better cognitive control performance. Our results help delineate the role of individual variability of white matter microstructure in dynamic synchrony and cognitive performance during normal aging, and show that even small reductions in white matter integrity can lead to altered communications between brain regions, which in turn can result in reduced efficiency of cognitive functioning.Significance statementCognitive aging is associated with large individual differences, as some individuals maintain cognitive performance similar to that of young adults while others are significantly impaired. We hypothesized that individual differences in white matter integrity would influence the functional synchrony between frontal and posterior brain regions, and cognitive performance in older adults. We found that the association between reduced tract integrity and worse cognitive performance in older adults was mediated by task-related modulations of coupling synchrony in the alpha and gamma bands. Results offer a mechanistic explanation for the neural basis of the variability of cognitive performance in older adults who do not have any clinically diagnosable neuropathology, and for the association between structural network integrity and cognition in older adults.

Plasma concentrations of vitamin B12 and folate and global cognitive function in an older population: cross-sectional findings from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA)

2020 ◽  
Vol 124 (6) ◽  
pp. 602-610 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deirdre M. A. O’Connor ◽  
Eamon J. Laird ◽  
Daniel Carey ◽  
Aisling M. O’Halloran ◽  
Robert Clarke ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Folic Acid ◽  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Cognitive Function ◽  
Cognitive Performance ◽  
Vitamin B ◽  
Plasma Vitamin ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Folate Status ◽  
Global Cognitive Function

AbstractThe uncertainty surrounding high intakes of folic acid and associations with cognitive decline in older adults with low vitamin B12 status has been an obstacle to mandatory folic acid fortification for many years. We estimated the prevalence of combinations of low/normal/high vitamin B12 and folate status and compared associations with global cognitive function using two approaches, of individuals in a population-based study of those aged ≥50 years in the Republic of Ireland. Cross-sectional data from 3781 men and women from Wave 1 of The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing were analysed. Global cognitive function was assessed by the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). Prevalence estimates for combinations of vitamin B12 (plasma vitamin B12 < or ≥258 pmol/l) and folate (plasma folate ≤ or >45·3 nmol/l) concentrations were generated. Negative binomial regression models were used to investigate the associations of vitamin B12 and folate status with global cognitive function. Of the participants, 1·5 % (n 51) had low vitamin B12 (<258 pmol/l) and high folate (>45·3 nmol/l) status. Global cognitive performance was not significantly reduced in these individuals when compared with those with normal status for both B-vitamins (n 2433). Those with normal vitamin B12/high folate status (7·6 %) had better cognitive performance (MMSE: incidence rate ratio (IRR) 0·82, 95 % CI 0·68, 0·99; P = 0·043, MoCA: IRR 0·89, 95 % CI 0·80, 0·99; P = 0·025). We demonstrated that high folate status was not associated with lower cognitive scores in older adults with low vitamin B12 status. These findings provide important safety information that could guide fortification policy recommendations in Europe.

scholarly journals A longitudinal study of the impact of social network size and loneliness on cognitive performance in depressed older adults

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (6) ◽  
pp. 889-897 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jisca S. Kuiper ◽  
Nynke Smidt ◽  
Sytse U. Zuidema ◽  
Hannie C. Comijs ◽  
Richard C. Oude Voshaar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Cognitive Performance ◽  
Network Size ◽  
Social Network Size ◽  
The Impact

scholarly journals Intra-Individual Variability in Cognitive Performance Can Befuddle the Study of Cognitive Impairments and Decline

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Szymon Zdanowski ◽  
Alieke Tieks ◽  
Bertus F. Jeronimus ◽  
Marij Zuidersma
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Cognitive Functioning ◽  
Cognitive Performance ◽  
Cognitive Impairments ◽  
Individual Variability ◽  
Group Level ◽  
Cognitive Assessments ◽  
Rapid Variation ◽  
Single Snapshot ◽  
Over Time

Using group-aggregated results and snapshot assessments of cognitive performance may prove problematic if the assessed construct shows substantial and rapid variation over time. To illustrate the significance of this issue, we analyzed cognitive performance data of ten older adults undergoing daily computerized cognitive assessments (CogState Brief Battery) for 36–93 days. In all cases, the day-to-day intra-individual variability was substantial when compared with group-level, between-person variability. This indicates that the results of studies using single snapshot assessments of cognitive functioning should be interpreted with caution. Additionally, group-aggregated measures of cognitive performance may not directly extrapolate to an individual.

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