Open AccessCognitive Functioning in Healthy Aging: The Role of Reserve and Lifestyle Factors Early in Life
Author(s) -
Thomas Fritsch,
McKee J. McClendon,
Kathleen A. Smyth,
Alan J. Lerner,
Robert P. Friedland,
Janet D. Larsen
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
the gerontologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.524
H-Index - 138
eISSN - 1758-5341
pISSN - 0016-9013
DOI - 10.1093/geront/47.3.307
Subject(s) - cognitive reserve , verbal fluency test , cognition , psychology , episodic memory , cognitive skill , effects of sleep deprivation on cognitive performance , developmental psychology , perspective (graphical) , fluency , gerontology , medicine , neuropsychology , psychiatry , cognitive impairment , mathematics education , artificial intelligence , computer science
According to the reserve perspective on cognitive aging, individuals are born with or can develop resources that help them resist normal and disease-related cognitive changes that occur in aging. The reserve perspective is becoming more sophisticated, but gaps in knowledge persist. In the present research, we considered three understudied questions about reserve: Is reserve primarily static (unchangeable) throughout the life course or dynamic (changeable, in terms of increases or decreases)? Can reserve be increased at any point in life, or are there optimal time periods--such as early life, midlife, or late life--to increase it? Does participation in different types of leisure and occupational activities in early life and midlife have different effects depending on specific domains of late-life cognitive functioning? Here we link early cognitive and activity data--gathered from archival sources--with cognitive data from older adults to examine these issues.
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