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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Oct 24, 2025

Assessment of Age-related Changes in Cognitive Functions Using EmoCogMeter, a Novel Tablet-computer Based Approach
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Increases in Cognitive Activity Reduce Aging-Related Declines in Executive Functioning.

Mirjam Stieger1, Margie E Lachman1

  • 1Lifespan Developmental Psychology Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, United States.

Frontiers in Psychiatry
|August 16, 2021
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Increasing cognitive activity can help reduce age-related declines in executive functioning (EF), particularly for individuals without a college degree. Maintaining or decreasing cognitive engagement may lead to greater EF decline over time.

Keywords:
cognitioncognitive agingcognitive engagementeducational attainmentepisodic memoryexecutive function

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive neuroscience
  • Gerontology
  • Psychology

Background:

  • Cognitive decline is common with aging, but individual experiences vary.
  • Previous studies link cognitive activity frequency to cognitive test performance.
  • The impact of increasing cognitive activity with age on cognitive decline is less understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if increasing cognitive activity over time mitigates cognitive decline in middle-aged and older adults.
  • To examine the role of educational attainment in the relationship between changes in cognitive activity and cognitive function.

Main Methods:

  • Longitudinal study of 2,130 community-dwelling adults (aged 33-83 at baseline) from the Midlife in the United States study.
  • Cognitive assessments of episodic memory (EM) and executive functioning (EF) conducted approximately 9 years apart.
  • Multilevel models used to analyze the impact of educational level and changes in cognitive activity on changes in EM and EF.

Main Results:

  • Increases in cognitive activity significantly predicted reduced declines in executive functioning (EF), independent of initial activity levels.
  • This benefit was particularly pronounced for individuals without a college degree.
  • No significant association between increased cognitive activity and EF changes was found for those with a college degree.

Conclusions:

  • Increasing engagement in cognitive activities is crucial for preserving executive functioning (EF) in aging adults, especially those with lower educational attainment.
  • Educational level moderates the benefits of increased cognitive activity on executive functioning.
  • Findings highlight the importance of promoting cognitive engagement to counteract age-related cognitive changes, particularly in vulnerable populations.