[email protected] 1 | zajac, i. t., cavuoto, p., & bennett, l. (2015). the relationship between...
TRANSCRIPT
• Zajac, I. T., Cavuoto, P., & Bennett, L. (2015). The relationship between participation in brain-health activities and cognitive abilities in a high functioning sample of older Australian adults. Paper presented at the Australasian Society for Behavioural Health and Medicine, Perth, Western Australia.
Suggested Citation
NUTRITION & HEALTH PROGRAM
BRAIN-HEALTH ACTIVITIES AND COGNITIVE ABILITY IN HIGH FUNCTIONING OLDER AUSTRALIAN ADULTS
Zajac, I. T., Cavuoto, P., & Bennett, L. (2015). The relationship between participation in brain-health activities and cognitive abilities in a high functioning sample of older Australian adults. Paper presented at the Australasian Society for Behavioural Health and Medicine, Perth, Western Australia.
Overview of Presentation
• Overview of Ageing Globally, and in Australia
• Ageing and Cognitive Decline
• Brain Training! Fact or Fad?
• Self-Report Brain-Health Activities & Cognitive Ability
• Conclusions
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Ageing & Cognitive Ability
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• 86% of people said they were worried about getting older. More than half (54%) worried about losing their mind and memory. Fewer than this (39%) said they were anxious about being lonely
Dept. Health Survey, UK, 2009
Cognitive Decline Expressed in IQ Points
8 |
• Decline in cog function of ~1.5SD from 20 to 70 years of age. • From ~50 years, change averages ~.30SD per life decade
Brain Training! Fact or Fad?
• The last decade or so has seen a significant increase in terms of Brain Training• Brain Training taps into the anxieties of Baby Boomers• Brain Training is enabled by modern technology (tablets, smart phones)• Brain Training is a lucrative concept driven by those with a vested interest• In 2012, the Luminosity App made USD $24Million• Recent Meta-Analysis concluded the following:
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Self-Report Brain-Health Activities & Cognitive Ability• Purpose:
Cross-sectional study in order to explore the relationship between self-report Brain-Health activities and Cognitive Ability in ‘healthy’ older Adults
• Participants: N=194 community dwelling older adults who were participating in a larger,
longitudinal cognitive trial. Very ‘high-health’ status (e.g., exclusion criteria include metabolic disease, sleep apnoea, prior stroke, MMSE <24 etc ... )
Mean age was 68 years (SD=5.2); 56% Female, 44% male.
• Brain Health Activities: Cross-words, Puzzles, Studying Second Language, Reading, Brain Training Apps Frequency of use & Duration of use also measured
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CSIRO Cognitive Assessment Battery
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C-CAB Factors General Description
Attention / Reaction Time
Respond quickly & accurately to various stimuli
Processing Speed Make decisions quickly about stimuli and respond accordingly
Verbal Working Memory
Remember & recall verbal stimuli over multiple trials
Spatial Working Memory
Remember & recall a spatial stimulus over multiple trials
Reasoning Speed Quick decisions concerning spatial problems
Recognition Memory Word & Face recognition after ~25 mins
Memory Scanning Compare targets to preceding sets of stimuli
Quality of Memory* Accuracy measure across memory tasks
Results: Brain Health Activities
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Crosswords Puzzles Studying Language Reading Brain Training0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
YesNo
ACTIVITY YES (N) NO (N)
Crosswords 101 93
Puzzles 107 87
Studying Language 18 176
Reading 147 47
Brain Training 21 173
Results: Brain Health Activities & Cognitive Function
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Regression Coefficients for Unadjusted Models
BRAIN HEALTH ACTIVITY
COGNITIVE ABILITY CONSTRUCTS
Reaction Time Speed Reasoning Speed
Memory Scanning
Recognition Memory
Verbal WM Spatial WM Quality of Memory
Crosswords 0.14 0.32*** 0.11 0.05 0.08 0.21** 0.11 0.22**
Puzzles 0.08 .17* .17* .16* 0.001 0.08 0.05 0.14
Studying Language 0.08 0.01 0.06 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.09 0.1
Reading -0.14* -0.12 0.01 0.01 -0.08 -0.19** -0.02 -0.08
Brain Training -0.03 0.12 0.01 -0.08 0.05 0.02 0.04 0.03
*p= <.05; **p=<.01; ***p=<.001
Results: Brain Health Activities & Cognitive Function
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Regression Coefficients Adjusted for Age & Sex
BRAIN HEALTH ACTIVITY
COGNITIVE ABILITY CONSTRUCTS
Reaction Time Processing Speed
Reasoning Speed
Memory Scanning
Recognition Memory
Verbal WM Spatial WM Quality of Memory
Crosswords 0.25*** (0.32***)
0.17* (0.21**)
0.16* (0.22**)
Puzzles 0.08n.s.
(0.17*) 0.17* (0.17*)
0.16* (0.16*)
Reading 0.13n.s.
(-0.14*) -0.19** (-0.19**)
*p= <.05; **p=<.01; ***p=<.001
Results: Brain Health Activities & Cognitive Function
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Regression Coefficients Adjusted for SES, Age & Sex
BRAIN HEALTH ACTIVITY
COGNITIVE ABILITY CONSTRUCTS
Reaction Time Processing Speed
Reasoning Speed
Memory Scanning
Recognition Memory
Verbal WM Spatial WM Quality of Memory
Crosswords 0.25*** 0.25*** (0.32***)
0.17* 0.17* (0.21**)
0.16* 0.16* (0.22**)
Puzzles 0.17* (0.17*)
0.16* (0.16*)
Reading -0.19** -0.19** (-0.19**)
*p= <.05; **p=<.01; ***p=<.001
Results: Duration & Frequency of Brain Health Activities
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Comparison of Cognitive Performance (after adjusting for Age & Sex) across duration, and frequency variables for crosswords &/OR Puzzles
Duration in Years Times Per Week
<5 Yearsn=35
>5 Yearsn=100
p-value
0 to 5n=38
6 to 10n=58
10 or moren=39
p-valueMean SD Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD
Reaction Time -0.02 1.06 0.07 0.95 .660 -0.17 1.06 0.16 0.87 0.08 1.02 0.27
Processing Speed -0.03 0.91 0.18 1.06 .310 -0.18 1.09 0.10 0.97 0.46 0.95 0.02
Reasoning Speed 0.00 0.93 0.13 0.98 .501 -0.14 1.18 0.08 0.94 0.33 0.67 0.10
Memory Scanning 0.02 0.95 0.10 1.01 .694 0.03 1.11 0.01 0.93 0.21 0.98 0.60
Recognition Memory 0.31 0.78 -0.04 1.10 .087 -0.12 1.17 0.02 1.03 0.26 0.88 0.27
Verbal WM 0.16 0.90 0.03 1.01 .501 -0.18 1.09 0.07 0.98 0.28 0.85 0.13
Spatial WM -0.21 1.08 0.09 0.99 .132 -0.20 1.15 0.04 0.81 0.17 1.14 0.27
Quality of Memory 0.10 1.12 0.07 1.05 .903 -0.34 1.00 0.27 1.14 0.23 0.90 0.01
0 to 5 6 to 10 10+-0.80
-0.60
-0.40
-0.20
0.00
0.20
0.40
0.60
Processing SpeedQuality of Memory
Times Per Week(Crosswords &/OR Puzzles)
Results: Weekly Involvement in Brain-Health Activities
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Average Δ: g=.60
Conclusions• Reading was the most popular past-time which might be considered a positive
‘brain-health’ activity
• Participation in reading DID NOT relate positively to cognitive performance (quite the opposite, in fact...)
• Around half the sample reported they actively participate in crosswords and puzzles
• Use of crosswords & puzzles related positively to cognitive performance across a variety of cognitive constructs
• Relationships were robust after controlling for Age, Sex & SES
• Frequency BUT NOT duration of use was associated with better cognitive function
Conclusions
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• Despite evidence of a relationship, the benefits are ‘small’ in statistical terms (~.30 to ~.50 SD units)
• However, this effect size is equivalent to 1 life-decade of change in cognitive function from 50 years of age
• This was a ‘high-functioning’, cognitively healthy sample Given the restriction of range in this sample (i.e., participants are very similar to one
another) the presence of these effects lends some credibility to the use-it or lose-it hypotheses of ageing
• Studies of this nature do not establish a causal relationship! People who have better cognitive function may be more likely to frequently engage in these
activities Need better proxies for ‘baseline ability’ when undertaking epidemiological investigations
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