Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 30, 2025

Highlighting and Reducing the Impact of Negative Aging Stereotypes During Older Adults' Cognitive Testing
Published on: January 24, 2020
Cognitive reserve is associated with education, social determinants, and cognitive outcomes among older American
Astrid M Suchy-Dicey1, W T Longstreth2, Dedra S Buchwald2
1Huntington Medical Research Institutes, Pasadena, CA, USA. astrid.suchy-dicey@hmri.org.
Abstract:
Cognitive reserve, a component of resilience, may be conceptualized as the ability to overcome accumulating neuropathology and maintain healthy aging and function. However, research measuring and evaluating it in American Indians is needed. We recruited American Indians from 3 regional centers for longitudinal examinations (2010-13, n = 818; 2017-19, n = 403) including MRI, cognitive, clinical, and questionnaire data. We defined cognitive reserve by measuring the residual from individual regressions of cognitive tests over imaged brain volumes, adjusted for age and sex. Analyses examined three different metrics of cognitive reserve against sociodemographic, clinical, and longitudinal cognitive data in causal mediation models. Better cognitive reserve was significantly associated with more education, higher income, lower prevalence of depression, lower prevalence of diabetes, and lower prevalence of kidney disease, but we found no statistically significant evidence for an association with plasma biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease and related dementias, APOE e4 carrier status, alcohol use, body mass, or hypertension. Better cognitive reserve was associated with better cognitive function over mean 6.7 years follow-up (range 4-9 years); and the association for education with cognition over time was mediated in part (15-24%) by cognitive reserve. Cognitive reserve, although challenging to measure, appears important for understanding the range of cognitive aging in American Indians.
More Related Videos
07:01Working Memory Training for Older Participants: A Control Group Training Regimen and Initial Intellectual Functioning Assessment
Published on: September 20, 2020
10:13Assessment of Age-related Changes in Cognitive Functions Using EmoCogMeter, a Novel Tablet-computer Based Approach
Published on: February 14, 2014
Related Concept Videos
Cognitive Development During Adulthood
Biological Influences on Intelligence
Environmental Influences on Intelligence
Information Processing Approach
Surveys
Ethnic Identity within a Larger Culture