scholarly journals THE ROLE OF PRINT EXPOSURE IN SUPPORTING COGNITIVE ABILITY AMONG OLDER ADULTS

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S651-S651
Author(s):  
Xiaomei Liu ◽  
Elizabeth A L Stine-Morrow ◽  
and Giavanna S McCall
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Recognition Test ◽  
Verbal Fluency ◽  
Verbal Ability ◽  
Reading Engagement ◽  
Print Exposure ◽  
Age Related

Abstract Reading is an activity that has long been thought to have beneficial effects on cognitive ability, however, little is known about the effects of long-term reading engagement on cognition among older adults. Pre-test data are reported from an ongoing study of the effects of a literacy-based intervention on cognition among older adults. Participants (66.7% female) ranging from 60 to 79 years of age with education ranging from 11 to 19 years were administered a battery of measures, including print exposure checklists, which are objective indices for assessing long-term reading-related activities, as well as cognitive assessments. A composite measure of print exposure was based on the Author Recognition Test, Magazine Recognition Test, Non-fiction Author Recognition Test, and Fiction Recognition Test (alpha=.92). Cognition was assessed in a comprehensive battery, including measures of verbal ability, working memory, episodic memory, and verbal fluency (alpha=.83). Print exposure was marginally related to self-reported time spent reading (r=.27, p.4), suggesting criterion-related validity. Age-related declines were not evident for any of our cognitive measures in this sample, t(46)’s.8, and there was a modest increase in reading engagement with age (r=.36, p=.01). Controlling for verbal ability, print exposure had a significant positive influence on global cognition (standardized beta=0.38, p=.01); however, these effects were specific to episodic memory and verbal fluency, t(46)>2, p<.05. These preliminary findings are suggestive of selective cognitive benefits from continued literacy engagement in reading in later life.

The effect of age and sex on clustering and switching during speeded verbal fluency tasks

2009 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 196-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
SHAWNDA LANTING ◽  
NICOLE HAUGRUD ◽  
MARGARET CROSSLEY
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Sex Differences ◽  
Verbal Fluency ◽  
Verbal Ability ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Strategy Use ◽  
Semantic Fluency ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Fluency Task ◽  
Age And Sex

AbstractPast research has been inconsistent with regard to the effects of normal aging and sex on strategy use during verbal fluency performance. In the present study, both Troyer et al.’s (1997) and Abwender et al.’s (2001) scoring methods were used to measure switching and clustering strategies in 60 young and 72 older adults, equated on verbal ability. Young adults produced more words overall and switched more often during both phonemic and semantic fluency tasks, but performed similarly to older adults on measures of clustering. Although there were no sex differences in total words produced on either fluency task, males produced larger clusters on both tasks, and females switched more frequently than males on the semantic but not on the phonemic fluency task. Although clustering strategies appear to be relatively age-insensitive, age-related changes in switching strategies resulted in fewer overall words produced by older adults. This study provides evidence of age and sex differences in strategy use during verbal fluency tests, and illustrates the utility of combining Troyer’s and Abwender’s scoring procedures with in-depth categorization of clustering to understand interactions between age and sex during semantic fluency tasks. (JINS, 2009, 15, 196–204.)

scholarly journals Semantic Relatedness Corrects the Age-Related Binding Deficit in Working Memory and Episodic Memory

2019 ◽  
Vol 75 (9) ◽  
pp. 1841-1849 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vanessa M Loaiza ◽  
Sabina Srokova
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Semantic Relatedness ◽  
Item Memory ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Long Term Retention

Abstract Objectives It is well known that age differentially impacts aspects of long-term episodic memory (EM): Whereas a binding deficit indicates that older adults are less capable than younger adults to encode or retrieve associations between information (e.g., the pairing between two memoranda, such as lock – race), item memory is relatively intact (e.g., recognizing lock without its original pairing). Method We tested whether this deficit could be corrected by facilitating establishment of the bindings in working memory (WM) through adapting the semantic relatedness of studied pairs according to participants’ ongoing performance (Experiments 1 and 2). We also examined whether this was evident for the long-term retention of pairs that were not tested in WM (Experiment 2). Results The results revealed matched binding and item memory in WM and EM between age groups. Most importantly, older adults required increased semantic strength between word pairs to achieve similar performance to that of younger adults, regardless of whether pairs were immediately tested during the WM task. Discussion These findings indicate that relying on their superior semantic memory can correct the commonly exhibited profound deficit in binding memory in older age.

scholarly journals The Effects of Reading Engagement on Older Adults’ Resource Allocation in Reading and Cognition

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 367-367
Author(s):  
Giavanna McCall ◽  
Sueyoun Hwang ◽  
Takudzwa George ◽  
Xiaomei Liu ◽  
Elizabeth A L Stine-Morrow
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Resource Allocation ◽  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Verbal Fluency ◽  
Reading Engagement ◽  
Reading Processes ◽  
Conceptual Processing ◽  
Literacy Engagement ◽  
Significant Difference

Abstract With aging, print exposure has been shown to predict effective resource allocation during reading, as well as to account for growth in certain abilities. To test the hypothesis that literacy engagement has causal effects on reading processes and the cognitive abilities on which they depend, we developed a home-based literacy intervention administered via iPads. Participants (64% female; 60-79 years of age; < 10hrs/week of reading at baseline) were randomly assigned to an 8-week reading intervention group (developed in collaboration with a Champaign Library adult literacy specialist) or to a puzzle control, both of which involved ~8hrs/week of activity engagement. At pretest and posttest, participants performed a self-paced reading task to assess resource allocation to word and conceptual processing, and completed a battery of cognitive measures assessing episodic memory, working memory, and verbal fluency (alphas ≥ .79). Based on one-tailed tests, results showed greater positive change in working memory, t(57)=1.69, p<.05, for the literacy group relative to the control, and a marginally significant difference in change in episodic memory, t(57)=1.62, p<.06, but not in verbal fluency, t< 1. In addition, there was a significant difference between conditions in change in resource allocation to conceptual processing, t(53)=1.75, p<.05. Changes in working memory and conceptual processing were positively correlated (r=.27, p=.02). These findings suggest that reading engagement may be beneficial for older adults’ growth in fluid ability, which impacts reading processes, so as to create a “virtuous spiral” of resilience between literacy engagement and ability.

35 Social Contact Mode and 15-Year Episodic Memory Trajectories in Older Adults with and Without Hearing Loss: the Elsa Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 50 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. i7-i11
Author(s):  
S Rafnsson ◽  
A Maharani ◽  
G Tampubolon
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Social Contact ◽  
Sensitivity Analyses ◽  
Impaired Hearing ◽  
Contact Mode

Abstract Introduction Frequent social contact benefits cognition in later life although evidence is lacking on the potential importance of the modes chosen by older adults for interacting with others in their social network. Method 11,513 participants in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) provided baseline information on hearing status and social contact mode and frequency of use. Multilevel growth curve models compared episodic memory (immediate and delayed recall) at baseline and long-term in participants who interacted frequently (offline only or offline and online combined), compared to infrequently, with others in their social network. Results Frequent offline (β = 0.29; p < 0.05) and combined offline and online (β = 0.76; p < 0.001) social interactions predicted better episodic memory after adjustment for multiple confounding factors. We observed positive long-term influences of combined offline and online interactions on memory in participants without hearing loss (β = 0.48, p = 0.001) but not of strictly offline interactions (β = 0.00, p = 0.970). In those with impaired hearing, long-term memory was positively influenced by both modes of engagement (offline only: β = 0.93, p < 0.001; combined online and offline: β = 1.47, p < 0.001). Sensitivity analyses confirmed the robustness of these findings. Conclusion Supplementing conventional social interactions with online communication modes may help older adults, especially those living with hearing loss, sustain, and benefit cognitively from, personal relationships.

Aging of Competitive Athletes

Gerontology ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 63 (5) ◽  
pp. 488-494 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hirofumi Tanaka
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Poor Quality ◽  
Negative Stereotypes ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Masters Athletes ◽  
Competitive Athletes ◽  
Vascular Stiffening ◽  
High Motivation ◽  
Clinical Conditions

Demographics of human aging are rapidly changing. As illustrated in the biomedicalization of aging, an ever increasing number of older adults is affected by a variety of clinical conditions and diseases, including vascular stiffening, sarcopenia, physical disability, and poor quality of life. One population that is situated in the opposite end of the health and functional spectrum to the sedentary frail elderly is Masters athletes. These older competitive athletes are endowed with substantial functional capacity, overall long-term health, high motivation, and psychosocial outlook. Masters athletes are combating the dogma and negative stereotypes of older adults and aging. From the scientific standpoint, examining Masters athletes can provide insight into preventive gerontology, primary prevention of age-related diseases and dysfunctions, and exercise-based medical practices. Moreover, the study on Masters athletes is simply joyous and entertaining as they often remind us what can be possible in aging.

scholarly journals Dissociating refreshing and elaboration and their impacts on memory

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lea M. Bartsch ◽  
Vanessa M. Loaiza ◽  
Lutz Jäncke ◽  
Klaus Oberauer ◽  
Jarrod A. Lewis-Peacock
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Ethics Committees ◽  
Fmri Data ◽  
Ethical Review ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
List Type ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Age Related

AbstractMaintenance of information in working memory (WM) is assumed to rely on refreshing and elaboration, but clear mechanistic descriptions of these cognitive processes are lacking, and it is unclear whether they are simply two labels for the same process. This fMRI study investigated the extent to which refreshing, elaboration, and repeating of items in WM are distinct neural processes with dissociable behavioral outcomes in WM and long-term memory (LTM). Multivariate pattern analyses of fMRI data revealed differentiable neural signatures for these processes, which we also replicated in an independent sample of older adults. In some cases, the degree of neural separation within an individual predicted their memory performance. Elaboration improved LTM, but not WM, and this benefit increased as its neural signature became more distinct from repetition. Refreshing had no impact on LTM, but did improve WM, although the neural discrimination of this process was not predictive of the degree of improvement. These results demonstrate that refreshing and elaboration are separate processes that differently contribute to memory performance.HighlightsRepeated reading, refreshing, and elaboration are differentiable in brain activation patterns in both young and older adults.Elaboration selectively improved long-term memory for young adults, and the size of the benefit was related to the neural separability of elaboration from other processes.Older adults implemented a sub-optimal form of elaboration, and this may be a factor contributing to age-related deficits in long-term memory.Ethics statementThe study was approved by the ethical review board of the canton of Zurich (BASEC-No. 2017-00190) and all subjects gave informed written consent in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.Data and code availability statementAll behavioral data and analysis scripts can be assessed on the Open Science Framework (osf.io/p2h8b/). The fMRI data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author, LMB. The fMRI data are not publicly available due to restrictions of the Swiss Ethics Committees on research involving humans regarding data containing information that could compromise the privacy of research participants.

Long-Term Exposure to Air Pollutants and Cognitive Function in Taiwanese Community-Dwelling Older Adults: A Four-Year Cohort Study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jen-Hau Chen ◽  
Tsung-Yu Kuo ◽  
Hwa-Lung Yu ◽  
Charlene Wu ◽  
Su-Ling Yeh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Cohort Study ◽  
Executive Function ◽  
Verbal Fluency ◽  
Air Pollutants ◽  
Community Dwelling ◽  
High Concentrations ◽  
High Level ◽  
Community Dwelling Older Adults

Background: Previous studies have assessed limited cognitive domains with relatively short exposure to air pollutants, and studies in Asia are limited. Objective: This study aims to explore the association between long-term exposure to air pollutants and cognition in community-dwelling older adults. Methods: This four-year prospective cohort study recruited 605 older adults at baseline (2011–2013) and 360 participants remained at four-year follow-up. Global and domain-specific cognition were assessed biennially. Data on PM2.5 (particulate matter ≤ 2.5 μm diameter, 2005–2015), PM10 (1993–2015), and nitrogen dioxide (NO2, 1993–2015) were obtained from Taiwan Environmental Protection Administration (TEPA). Bayesian Maximum Entropy was utilized to estimate the spatiotemporal distribution of levels of these pollutants. Results: Exposure to high-level PM2.5 (>29.98 μg/m3) was associated with an increased risk of global cognitive impairment (adjusted odds ratio = 4.56; β = −0.60). High-level PMcoarse exposure (>26.50 μg/m3) was associated with poor verbal fluency (β = −0.19). High-level PM10 exposure (>51.20 μg/m3) was associated with poor executive function (β = −0.24). Medium-level NO2 exposure (>28.62 ppb) was associated with better verbal fluency (β = 0.12). Co-exposure to high concentrations of PM2.5, PMcoarse or PM10 and high concentration of NO2 were associated with poor verbal fluency (PM2.5 and NO2: β = −0.17; PMcoarse and NO2: β = −0.23; PM10 and NO2: β = −0.21) and poor executive function (PM10 and NO2: β = −0.16). These associations became more evident in women, apolipoprotein ε4 non-carriers, and those with education > 12 years. Conclusion: Long-term exposure to PM2.5 (higher than TEPA guidelines), PM10 (lower than TEPA guidelines) or co-exposure to PMx and NO2 were associated with poor global, verbal fluency, and executive function over 4 years.

Episodic Future Thinking and Cognitive Aging

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel L. Schacter ◽  
Aleea L. Devitt ◽  
Donna Rose Addis
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Prospective Memory ◽  
Cognitive Aging ◽  
Episodic Future Thinking ◽  
Future Thinking ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Prosocial Intentions ◽  
Age Related Changes

Episodic future thinking refers to the ability to imagine or simulate experiences that might occur in an individual’s personal future. It has been known for decades that cognitive aging is associated with declines in episodic memory, and recent research has documented correlated age-related declines in episodic future thinking. Previous research has considered both cognitive and neural mechanisms that are responsible for age-related changes in episodic future thinking, as well as effects of aging on the functions served by episodic future thinking. Studies concerned with mechanism indicate that multiple cognitive mechanisms contribute to changes in episodic future thinking during aging, including episodic memory retrieval, narrative style, and executive processes. Recent studies using an episodic specificity induction—brief training in recollecting episodic details of a recent experience—have proven useful in separating the contributions of episodic retrieval from other non-episodic processes during future thinking tasks in both old and young adults. Neuroimaging studies provide preliminary evidence of a role for age-related changes in default and executive brain networks in episodic future thinking and autobiographical planning. Studies concerned with function have examined age-related effects on the link between episodic future thinking and a variety of processes, including everyday problem-solving, prospective memory, prosocial intentions, and intertemporal choice/delay discounting. The general finding in these studies is for age-related reductions, consistent with the work on mechanisms that consistently reveals reduced episodic detail in older adults when they imagine future events. However, several studies have revealed that episodic simulation nonetheless confers some benefits for tasks tapping adaptive functions in older adults, such as problem-solving, prospective memory, and prosocial intentions, even though age-related deficits on these tasks are not eliminated or reduced by episodic future thinking.

Long-Term Exposure to Air Pollutants and Cognitive Function in Taiwanese Community-Dwelling Older Adults: A Four-Year Cohort Study

2020 ◽  
Vol 78 (4) ◽  
pp. 1585-1600
Author(s):  
Jen-Hau Chen ◽  
Tsung-Yu Kuo ◽  
Hwa-Lung Yu ◽  
Charlene Wu ◽  
Su-Ling Yeh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Cohort Study ◽  
Executive Function ◽  
Verbal Fluency ◽  
Air Pollutants ◽  
Community Dwelling ◽  
Short Exposure ◽  
High Level ◽  
Community Dwelling Older Adults

Background: Previous studies have assessed limited cognitive domains with relatively short exposure to air pollutants, and studies in Asia are limited. Objective: This study aims to explore the association between long-term exposure to air pollutants and cognition in community-dwelling older adults. Methods: This four-year prospective cohort study recruited 605 older adults at baseline (2011–2013) and 360 participants remained at four-year follow-up. Global and domain-specific cognition were assessed biennially. Data on PM2.5 (particulate matter≤2.5μm diameter, 2005–2015), PM10 (1993–2015), and nitrogen dioxide (NO2, 1993–2015) were obtained from Taiwan Environmental Protection Administration (TEPA). Bayesian Maximum Entropy was utilized to estimate the spatiotemporal distribution of levels of these pollutants. Results: Exposure to high-level PM2.5 (>29.98μg/m3) was associated with an increased risk of global cognitive impairment (adjusted odds ratio = 4.56; β= –0.60). High-level PMcoarse exposure (>26.50μg/m3) was associated with poor verbal fluency (β= –0.19). High-level PM10 exposure (>51.20μg/m3) was associated with poor executive function (β= –0.24). Medium-level NO2 exposure (>28.62 ppb) was associated with better verbal fluency (β= 0.12). Co-exposure to high concentrations of PM2.5, PMcoarse or PM10 and high concentration of NO2 were associated with poor verbal fluency (PM2.5 and NO2: β= –0.17; PMcoarse and NO2: β= –0.23; PM10 and NO2: β= –0.21) and poor executive function (PM10 and NO2: β= –0.16). These associations became more evident in women, apolipoprotein ɛ4 non-carriers, and those with education > 12 years. Conclusion: Long-term exposure to PM2.5 (higher than TEPA guidelines), PM10 (lower than TEPA guidelines) or co-exposure to PMx and NO2 were associated with poor global, verbal fluency, and executive function over 4 years.

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