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Cognitive Reserve Mediates the Relation between Openness to Experience and Smaller Decline in Executive Functioning
Andreas Ihle1,2,3, Sascha Zuber4,5,6, Élvio R Gouveia5,7,8
1Department of Psychology, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland, Andreas.Ihle@unige.ch.
Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders
|September 12, 2019
Summary
Older adults high in openness to experience engage more in leisure activities, which helps maintain executive functioning over time. This engagement preserves cognitive reserve, slowing cognitive decline.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Gerontology
Background:
- Openness to experience is a personality trait linked to cognitive function.
- Executive functioning is crucial for daily activities in older adults.
- Leisure activities may play a role in cognitive aging.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine if leisure activity engagement mediates the relationship between openness to experience and changes in executive functioning.
- To understand the long-term effects of personality on cognitive health in aging.
Main Methods:
- Longitudinal study with 897 older adults (mean age 74.33).
- Data collected over 6 years, with two waves of testing.
- Assessed openness to experience, leisure activity engagement, and executive functioning via the Trail Making Test (TMT).
Main Results:
- Higher openness to experience predicted greater leisure activity engagement.
- Leisure activity engagement mediated 37.2% of the association between openness and preserved executive functioning.
- Increased leisure activities were linked to a slower decline in TMT performance.
Conclusions:
- Openness to experience promotes leisure activities in older age.
- Leisure activities may bolster cognitive reserve, mitigating executive function decline.
- Personality traits can influence cognitive aging trajectories through behavioral pathways.
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