Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-20T08:10:05.501Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The effects of different proxies of cognitive reserve on episodic memory performance: aging study in Iran

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 October 2019

Neda Mohammad ,
Tara Rezapour ,
Reza Kormi-Nouri ,
Ehsan Abdekhodaie ,
Atieh M. Ghamsari ,
Hadi B. Ehsan  and
Javad Hatami
Neda Mohammad
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
Tara Rezapour
Affiliation:
Translational Neuroscience Program, Institute for Cognitive Science Studies, Tehran, Iran
Reza Kormi-Nouri
Affiliation:
Center for Health and Medical Psychology, Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden
Ehsan Abdekhodaie
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
Atieh M. Ghamsari
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
Hadi B. Ehsan
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
Javad Hatami*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran Translational Neuroscience Program, Institute for Cognitive Science Studies, Tehran, Iran
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: Javad Hatami, Department of Psychology, University of Tehran, Dr Kardan Street, Tehran 1445983861, Iran. Phone + 98 2161117480. Fax: +98 21 88254734. Email: [email protected].
Get access

Abstract

Objective:

The main aim of the present study is to investigate the association between different measures of cognitive reserve including bilingualism, mental activities, type of education (continuous versus distributed), age, educational level, and episodic memory in a healthy aging sample.

Methods:

Four hundred and fifteen participants aged between 50 and 83 years participated in this cross-sectional study and were assessed with the Psychology Experimental Building Language Test battery tapping episodic memory. Demographic variables were collected from a questionnaire designed by the research team.

Results:

Compared to participants with continuous type of education, those with distributed type performed better in tests of episodic memory, while no differences were found between bilingual and monolingual participants. We additionally found that age negatively predicts episodic memory, whereas playing mind teasers and educational level have positive relationships with episodic memory.

Conclusions:

Our results indicate that higher cognitive reserve, as measured by distributed educational training, higher level of education, and doing regular mental activities, is associated with better performance on episodic memory tasks in older adults. These results were discussed in connection with successful aging and protection against memory decline with aging.

Keywords

episodic memorycognitive reservebilingualismmental activities
Type
Original Research Article
Information
International Psychogeriatrics , Volume 32 , Issue 1: Issue Theme: Cultural Diversity in Psychogeriatrics , January 2020 , pp. 25 - 34
Copyright
© International Psychogeriatric Association 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Angel, L., Fay, S., Bouazzaoui, B., Baudouin, A. and Isingrini, M. (2010). Protective role of educational level on episodic memory aging: An event-related potential study. Brain and Cognition, 74, 312–323. doi: 10.1016/j.bandc.2010.08.012.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ansari, N.N., Naghdi, S., Hasson, S., Valizadeh, L. and Jalaie, S. (2010). Validation of a Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) for the Persian population: A pilot study. Applied Neuropsychology, 17, 190–195. doi: 10.1080/09084282.2010.499773.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Armstrong, M.J. et al. (2012). Roles of education and IQ in cognitive reserve in Parkinson’s disease-mild cognitive impairment. Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders Extra, 2, 343–352. doi: 10.1159/000341782.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Asghari, A., Saed, F. and Dibajnia, P. (2008). Psychometric properties of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21 (DASS-21) in a non-clinical Iranian sample. International Journal of Psychology, 2, 82–102.Google Scholar
Bak, T.H., Nissan, J.J., Allerhand, M.M. and Deary, I.J. (2014). Does bilingualism influence cognitive aging? Annals of Neurology, 75, 959–963. doi: 10.1002/ana.24158.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bialystok, E., Craik, F. I. and Freedman, M. (2007). Bilingualism as a protection against the onset of symptoms of dementia. Neuropsychologia, 45, 459–464. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2006.10.009.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caffo, A.O. et al. (2016). The role of pre-morbid intelligence and cognitive reserve in predicting cognitive efficiency in a sample of Italian elderly. Aging Clinical and Experimental Research, 28, 1203–1210. doi: 10.1007/s40520-016-0580-z.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cheng, S.T. (2016). Cognitive reserve and the prevention of dementia: The role of physical and cognitive activities. Current Psychiatry Reports, 18, 85. doi: 10.1007/s11920-016-0721-2.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Craik, F.I.M., Bialystok, E. and Freedman, M. (2010). Delaying the onset of Alzheimer disease: Bilingualism as a form of cognitive reserve. Neurology, 75, 1726–1729. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0b013e3181fc2a1c.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Daffner, K.R. (2010). Promoting successful cognitive aging: A comprehensive review. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, 19, 1101–1122. doi: 10.3233/JAD-2010-1306.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dias, J.G.M., da Silva, P.R.A. and Alvez, T.C.D.T.F. (2015). Cognitive reserve in elderly: Neuropsychological aspects and the education role in the latest findings. Revista de Medicina, 94, 136–146. doi: 10.11606/issn.1679-9836.v.94i3p136-146.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fletcher, P.C. and Henson, R.N.A. (2001). Frontal lobes and human memory: Insights from functional neuroimaging. Brain, 124, 849–881. doi: 10.1093/brain/124.5.849.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fyffe, D.C., Mukherjee, S., Barnes, L.L., Manly, J.J., Bennett, D.A. and Crane, P.K. (2011). Explaining differences in episodic memory performance among older African Americans and whites: The roles of factors related to cognitive reserve and test bias. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 17, 625–638. doi: 10.1017/S1355617711000476.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ganguli, M., Snitz, B.E., Lee, C.W., Vanderbilt, J., Saxton, J.A. and Chang, C.C. (2010). Age and education effects and norms on a cognitive test battery from a population-based cohort: The Monongahela-Youghiogheny Healthy Aging Team. Aging and Mental Health, 14, 100–107. doi: 10.1080/13607860903071014.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Giogkaraki, E., Michaelides, M.P. and Constantinidou, F. (2013). The role of cognitive reserve in cognitive aging: Results from the neurocognitive study on aging. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 35, 1024–1035. doi: 10.1080/13803395.2013.847906.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gottlieb, S. (2003). Mental activity may help prevent dementia. BMJ: British Medical Journal, 326, 1418–1418. doi: 10.1136/bmj.326.7404.1418-h.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hatami, H. et al. (In press). Preliminary reliability and validity of the Iranian computerized version of memory tasks of the Betula study. Journal Basic and Clincal Neuroscience (BCN).Google Scholar
Herlitz, A., Nilsson, L.G. and Backman, L. (1997). Gender differences in episodic memory. Memory & Cognition, 25, 801–811. doi: 10.3758/BF03211324.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jafari, P., Nozari, F., Ahrari, F. and Bagheri, Z. (2017). Measurement invariance of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21 across medical student genders. International Journal of Medical Education, 8, 116–122. doi: 10.5116/ijme.58ba.7d8b.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jefferson, A.L. et al. (2011). A life course model of cognitive activities, socioeconomic status, education, reading ability, and cognition. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 59, 1403–1411. doi: 10.1111/j.1532-5415.2011.03499.x.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kliegel, M., Zimprich, D. and Rott, C. (2004). Life-long intellectual activities mediate the predictive effect of early education on cognitive impairment in centenarians: A retrospective study. Aging & Mental Health, 8, 430–437. doi: 10.1080/13607860410001725072.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kormi-Nouri, R., Moniri, S. and Nilsson, L.-G. (2003). Episodic and semantic memory in bilingual and monolingual children. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 44, 47–54. doi: 10.1111/1467-9450.00320.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kramer, A.F., Bherer, L., Colcombe, S.J., Dong, W. and Greenough, W.T. (2004). Environmental influences on cognitive and brain plasticity during aging. The Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, 59, M940–M957. doi: 10.1093/gerona/59.9.m940.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lachman, M.E., Agrigoroaei, S., Murphy, C. and Tun, P.A. (2010). Frequent cognitive activity compensates for education differences in episodic memory. The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 18, 4–10. doi: 10.1097/jgp.0b013e3181ab8b62.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lara, E. et al. (2017). Cognitive reserve is associated with quality of life: A population-based study. Experimental Gerontology, 87(Pt A), 67–73. doi: 10.1016/j.exger.2016.10.012.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ljungberg, J.K., Hansson, P., Andres, P., Josefsson, M. and Nilsson, L.G. (2013). A longitudinal study of memory advantages in bilinguals. PLoS ONE, 8, e73029. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0073029.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lovden, M., Ronnlund, M., Wahlin, A., Backman, L., Nyberg, L. and Nilsson, L.G. (2004). The extent of stability and change in episodic and semantic memory in old age: Demographic predictors of level and change. The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 59, P130–P134. doi: 10.1093/geronb/59.3.p130.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maass, A. et al. (2014). Laminar activity in the hippocampus and entorhinal cortex related to novelty and episodic encoding. Nature Communications, 5, 5547. doi: 10.1038/ncomms6547.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Masel, M.C. and Peek, M.K. (2009). Ethnic differences in cognitive function over time. Annals of Epidemiology, 19, 778–783. doi: 10.1016/j.annepidem.2009.06.008.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mueller, S.T. and Piper, B.J. (2014). The psychology experiment building language (PEBL) and PEBL test battery. Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 222, 250–259. doi: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2013.10.024.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Naveh-Benjamin, M., Guez, J., Kilb, A. and Reedy, S. (2004). The associative memory deficit of older adults: Further support using face-name associations. Psychology and Aging, 19, 541–546. doi: 10.1037/0882-7974.19.3.541.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nilsson, L.-G., Adolfsson, R., Bäckman, L., de Frias, C.M., Molander, B. and Nyberg, L. (2004). Betula: A prospective cohort study on memory, health and aging. Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, 11, 134–148. doi: 10.1080/13825580490511026.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nilsson, L.-G. et al. (1997). The betula prospective cohort study: Memory, health, and aging. Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, 4, 1–32. doi: 10.1080/13825589708256633.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nyberg, L. (2017). Functional brain imaging of episodic memory decline in ageing. Journal of Internal Medicine, 281, 65–74. doi: 10.1111/joim.12533.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nystrom, M.B.T., Sorman, D.E., Kormi-Nouri, R. and Ronnlund, M. (2017). To what extent is subjective well-being in late adulthood related to subjective and objective memory functioning? Five-year cross-lagged panel analyses. Aging & Mental Health, 23, 92–99. doi: 10.1080/13607863.2017.1394439.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Opdebeeck, C., Martyr, A. and Clare, L. (2016). Cognitive reserve and cognitive function in healthy older people: A meta-analysis. Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, 23, 40–60. doi: 10.1080/13825585.2015.1041450.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ossher, L., Bialystok, E., Craik, F.I., Murphy, K.J. and Troyer, A.K. (2013). The effect of bilingualism on amnestic mild cognitive impairment. Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 68, 8–12. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbs038.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Park, D.C. and Reuter-Lorenz, P. (2009). The adaptive brain: Aging and neurocognitive scaffolding. Annual Review of Psychology, 60, 173–196. doi: 10.1146/annurev.psych.59.103006.093656.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sattler, C., Toro, P., Schönknecht, P. and Schröder, J. (2012). Cognitive activity, education and socioeconomic status as preventive factors for mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease. Psychiatry Research, 196, 90–95. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2011.11.012.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Scarmeas, N., Levy, G., Tang, M.-X., Manly, J. and Stern, Y. (2001). Influence of leisure activity on the incidence of Alzheimer’s disease. Neurology, 57, 2236–2242. doi: 10.1212/wnl.57.12.2236.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schroeder, S.R. and Marian, V. (2012). A bilingual advantage for episodic memory in older adults. Journal of Cognitive Psychology (Hove), 24, 591–601. doi: 10.1080/20445911.2012.669367.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stern, Y. (2002). What is cognitive reserve? Theory and research application of the reserve concept. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 8, 448–460. doi: 10.1017.S1355617701020240.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stern, Y. (2009). Cognitive reserve. Neuropsychologia, 47, 2015–2028. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2009.03.004.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stern, Y. et al. (2018). Whitepaper: Defining and investigating cognitive reserve, brain reserve, and brain maintenance. Alzheimer’s & Dementia, 14, pii: S1552-5260(18)33491-5. doi: 10.1016/j.jalz.2018.07.219.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Valenzuela, M. and Sachdev, P.S. (2009). Harnessing brain and cognitive reserve for the prevention of dementia. Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 51(Suppl 1), S16–S21. PMID: 21416010; PMCID: PMC3038530.Google ScholarPubMed
Vance, D. (2012). Potential factors that may promote successful cognitive aging. Nursing: Research and Reviews, 2012, 27. doi: 10.2147/nrr.s32229.Google Scholar
van Loenhoud, A.C. et al. (2017). A neuroimaging approach to capture cognitive reserve: Application to Alzheimer’s disease. Human Brain Mapping, 38, 4703–4715. doi: 10.1002/hbm.23695.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vuoksimaa, E. et al. (2013). Cognitive reserve moderates the association between hippocampal volume and episodic memory in middle age. Neuropsychologia, 51, 1124–1131. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2013.02.022.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wilson, R.S., Boyle, P.A., Yu, L., Barnes, L.L., Schneider, J.A. and Bennett, D.A. (2013). Life-span cognitive activity, neuropathologic burden, and cognitive aging. Neurology, 81, 314–321. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0b013e31829c5e8a.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wilson, R.S., Hebert, L.E., Scherr, P.A., Barnes, L.L., De Leon, C.M. and Evans, D.A. (2009). Educational attainment and cognitive decline in old age. Neurology, 72, 460–465. doi: 10.1212/01.wnl.0000341782.71418.6c.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wilson, R.S., Scherr, P.A., Schneider, J.A., Tang, Y. and Bennett, D.A. (2007). Relation of cognitive activity to risk of developing Alzheimer disease. Neurology, 69, 1911–1920. doi: 10.1212/01.wnl.0000271087.67782.cb.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Woumans, E.V.Y., Santens, P., Sieben, A., Versijpt, J.A.N., Stevens, M. and Duyck, W. (2014). Bilingualism delays clinical manifestation of Alzheimer’s disease. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 18, 568–574. doi: 10.1017/s136672891400087x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yates, L.A., Ziser, S., Spector, A. and Orrell, M. (2016). Cognitive leisure activities and future risk of cognitive impairment and dementia: Systematic review and meta-analysis. International Psychogeriatrics, 28, 1791–1806. doi: 10.1017/s1041610216001137.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zahodne, L.B. et al. (2011). Education does not slow cognitive decline with aging: 12-year evidence from the victoria longitudinal study. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 17, 1039–1046. doi: 10.1017/S1355617711001044.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zahodne, L.B., Manly, J.J., Brickman, A.M., Siedlecki, K.L., DeCarli, C. and Stern, Y. (2013). Quantifying cognitive reserve in older adults by decomposing episodic memory variance: Replication and extension. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 19, 854–862. doi: 10.1017/s1355617713000738.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zahodne, L.B., Schofield, P.W., Farrell, M.T., Stern, Y. and Manly, J.J. (2014). Bilingualism does not alter cognitive decline or dementia risk among Spanish-speaking immigrants. Neuropsychology, 28, 238–246. doi: 10.1037/neu0000014.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zeineh, M.M., Engel, S.A., Thompson, P.M. and Bookheimer, S.Y. (2003). Dynamics of the hippocampus during encoding and retrieval of face-name pairs. Science, 299, 577–580. doi: 10.1126/science.1077775.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zelinski, E.M., Gilewski, M.J. and Schaie, K.W. (1993). Individual differences in cross-sectional and 3-year longitudinal memory performance across the adult life span. Psychology and Aging, 8, 176–186. doi: 10.1037/0882-7974.8.2.176.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed