Motivation as a Mediator of the Relation Between Cognitive Reserve and Cognitive Performance

Instruments to Assess Cognitive Reserve Among Older Adults: a Systematic Review of Measurement Properties

Cognitive reserve explains the differences in the susceptibility to cognitive impairment related to brain aging, pathology, or insult. Given that cognitive reserve has important implications for the cognitive health of typically and pathologically aging older adults, research needs to identify valid and reliable instruments for measuring cognitive reserve. However, the measurement properties of current cognitive reserve instruments used in older adults have not been evaluated according to the most up-to-date COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health status Measurement INstruments (COSMIN). This systematic review aimed to critically appraise, compare, and summarize the quality of the measurement properties of all existing cognitive reserve instruments for older adults. A systematic literature search was performed to identify relevant studies published up to December 2021, which was conducted by three of four researchers using 13 electronic databases and snowballing method. The COSMIN was used to assess the methodological quality of the studies and the quality of measurement properties. Out of the 11,338 retrieved studies, only seven studies that concerned five instruments were eventually included. The methodological quality of one-fourth of the included studies was doubtful and three-seventh was very good, while only four measurement properties from two instruments were supported by high-quality evidence. Overall, current studies and evidence for selecting cognitive reserve instruments suitable for older adults were insufficient. All included instruments have the potential to be recommended, while none of the identified cognitive reserve instruments for older adults appears to be generally superior to the others. Therefore, further studies are recommended to validate the measurement properties of existing cognitive reserve instruments for older adults, especially the content validity as guided by COSMIN.Systematic Review Registration numbers: CRD42022309399 (PROSPERO).

Musical and psychomotor interventions for cognitive, sensorimotor, and cerebral decline in patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment (COPE): a study protocol for a multicentric randomized controlled study

BACKGROUND

Regular cognitive training can boost or maintain cognitive and brain functions known to decline with age. Most studies administered such cognitive training on a computer and in a lab setting. However, everyday life activities, like musical practice or physical exercise that are complex and variable, might be more successful at inducing transfer effects to different cognitive domains and maintaining motivation. "Body-mind exercises", like Tai Chi or psychomotor exercise, may also positively affect cognitive functioning in the elderly. We will compare the influence of active music practice and psychomotor training over 6 months in Mild Cognitive Impairment patients from university hospital memory clinics on cognitive and sensorimotor performance and brain plasticity. The acronym of the study is COPE (Countervail cOgnitive imPairmEnt), illustrating the aim of the study: learning to better "cope" with cognitive decline.

METHODS

We aim to conduct a randomized controlled multicenter intervention study on 32 Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) patients (60-80 years), divided over 2 experimental groups: 1) Music practice; 2) Psychomotor treatment. Controls will consist of a passive test-retest group of 16 age, gender and education level matched healthy volunteers. The training regimens take place twice a week for 45 min over 6 months in small groups, provided by professionals, and patients should exercise daily at home. Data collection takes place at baseline (before the interventions), 3, and 6 months after training onset, on cognitive and sensorimotor capacities, subjective well-being, daily living activities, and via functional and structural neuroimaging. Considering the current constraints of the COVID-19 pandemic, recruitment and data collection takes place in 3 waves.

DISCUSSION

We will investigate whether musical practice contrasted to psychomotor exercise in small groups can improve cognitive, sensorimotor and brain functioning in MCI patients, and therefore provoke specific benefits for their daily life functioning and well-being.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

The full protocol was approved by the Commission cantonale d'éthique de la recherche sur l'être humain de Genève (CCER, no. 2020-00510) on 04.05.2020, and an amendment by the CCER and the Commission cantonale d'éthique de la recherche sur l'être humain de Vaud (CER-VD) on 03.08.2021. The protocol was registered at clinicaltrials.gov (20.09.2020, no. NCT04546451).

Higher levels of neuroticism in older adults predict lower executive functioning across time: the mediating role of perceived stress

Neuroticism has been associated with individual differences across multiple cognitive functions. Yet, the literature on its specific association with executive functions (EF) in older adults is scarce, especially using longitudinal designs. To disentangle the specific influence of neuroticism on EF and on coarse cognitive functioning in old adulthood, respectively, we examined the relationship between neuroticism, the Trail Making Test (TMT) and the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) in a 6-year longitudinal study using Bayesian analyses. Data of 768 older adults (M age = 73.51 years at Wave 1) were included in a cross-lagged analysis. Results showed no cross-sectional link between neuroticism and TMT performance at Wave 1 and no longitudinal link between neuroticism at Wave 1 and MMSE at Wave 2. However, neuroticism at Wave 1 predicted TMT performance at Wave 2, indicating that the more neurotic participants were, the lower they performed on the TMT six years later. Additional analyses showed that this relation was fully mediated by participants' perceived stress. Our results suggest that the more neurotic older adults are the more stress they may perceive six years later, which in turn negatively relates to their EF. In sum, this study demonstrates that neuroticism may lead to lower EF in older age across six years. It further suggests older adults' perceived stress as mediator, thereby providing novel insights into the mechanisms underlying this relation. Possible intervention approaches to counter these effects are discussed.

Inter-Individual Differences in Cognitive Tasks: Focusing on the Shaping of Decision-Making Strategies

In this paper, we review recent (published and novel) data showing inter-individual variation in decision-making strategies established by mice in a gambling task (MGT for Mouse Gambling Task). It may look intriguing, at first, that congenic animals develop divergent behaviors. However, using large groups of mice, we show that individualities emerge in the MGT, with about 30% of healthy mice displaying risk-averse choices while about 20-25% of mice make risk-prone choices. These strategies are accompanied by different brain network mobilization and individual levels of regional -prefrontal and striatal- monoamines. We further illustrate three ecological ways that influence drastically cognitive strategies in healthy adult mice: sleep deprivation, sucrose or artificial sweetener exposure, and regular exposure to stimulating environments. Questioning how to unmask individual strategies, what are their neural/neurochemical bases and whether we can shape or reshape them with different environmental manipulations is of great value, first to understand how the brain may build flexible decisions, and second to study behavioral plasticity, in healthy adult, as well as in developing brains. The latter may open new avenues for the identification of vulnerability traits to adverse events, before the emergence of mental pathologies.

In Older Adults, Perceived Stress and Self-Efficacy Are Associated with Verbal Fluency, Reasoning, and Prospective Memory (Moderated by Socioeconomic Position)

Despite evidence that stress relates negatively to cognitive functioning in older adults, little is known how appraisal of stress and socioeconomic meso-level factors influence different types of cognitive functions in older adults. Here, we assess the relationship between perceived stress (PSS scale) and a battery of cognitive functions, including prospective memory in 1054 older adults (65+). A moderator analysis assessed whether this relationship varies with neighborhood socioeconomic status using an area-based measure of Socioeconomic Position (SEP). Perceived stress was associated with worse processing speed, verbal fluency, and inductive reasoning. The perceived self-efficacy subscale of the PSS is related to better performance in these measures. Higher self-efficacy was also associated with better prospective memory; this relationship was more pronounced for people with high neighborhood SEP. These findings indicate that not only do perceived stress and perceived self-efficacy relate to cognitive functioning in older age but also that neighborhood SEP is a moderator of this relationship.

Online assessment of cognitive functioning across the adult lifespan using the eCOGTEL: a reliable alternative to laboratory testing

As the population ages, risks for cognitive decline threaten independence and quality of life of older adults. Classically, psychological assessment tools that evaluate cognitive functioning are administered in face-to-face laboratory sessions, which are time- and resource-consuming. The present study set out to examine whether the eCOGTEL—an online adaptation of the Cognitive Telephone Screening Instrument (COGTEL; Kliegel et al. in J Psychol 141(2):147–170, 2007)—represents a reliable measure of cognitive performance in adulthood. Therefore, an age-stratified adult lifespan sample of 253 participants (aged 19–86 years) completed a face-to-face assessment in the laboratory and a self-administered online version, at their homes. A second, independent sample of 176 younger adults (aged 19–30 years) performed a test–retest assessment of the eCOGTEL. Results showed strong correlations between overall cognitive scores assessed online and in the laboratory, as well as a high test–retest reliability. Further, comparable data distributions between both assessment modes underline the feasibility of the eCOGTEL across the adult lifespan and particularly in older age. Our findings thereby indicate that the eCOGTEL can reliably measure cognitive performance across the lifespan at reduced costs, which may help detecting individuals at risk of developing age-related cognitive decline. Due to these strengths, the eCOGTEL represents a valuable contemporary approach for the resource-efficient online assessment of cognition, which may benefit a broad array of fundamental and applied research fields, such as clinical and organizational psychology.

Executive functions and functional impairment in Latin seniors suffering from depression

Functional impairment (FI) relates to the condition of executive functions (EFs). While EFs become affected by age and educational level (EL). Seniors suffering from depression (SSDs) on the other hand show EF-related deficiencies; however, there is hardly any literature available regarding their relationship with FI in Latin SSDs, who usually have low ELs.

OBJECTIVE

To verify the relationship between EFs and FI in SSDs of Latin origins, by controlling the effects associated with age and educational level.

METHODOLOGY

Cross-sectional study, of cases and controls, conducted on a nonprobability sample, made up of 102 self-sufficient SSDs and 142 control subjects over age 50, monolinguals of Latin origin (Chileans), all assessed by means of a battery of assessments such as: Geriatric Depression Scale, Addenbrook's Cognitive Assessment III, Trail making Tests A and B, STROOP word-color test, and semantic and phonological verbal fluency tests. A domain of composite EFs was established with standardized Chilean population scores, where age and educational levels were controlled. A simple linear regression analysis was conducted to determine the relationship between EFs and FI in SSDs.

RESULTS

Upon controlling age and educational levels, EFs explained an FI variance of 3.9% in SSDs; depression explained an EF variance of 3.2%, and 3.7% of FI.

CONCLUSION

The results of the present study highlight the importance of a timely intervention when it comes to geriatric depression, considering the negative effect it has over the executive functions and the functionality of seniors.

Impact of Cognitive Reserve and Premorbid IQ on Cognitive and Functional Status in Older Outpatients

The study aimed to investigate cross-sectionally the associations of cognitive reserve (CR) and premorbid IQ with cognitive and functional status in a cohort of older outpatients. Additionally, we evaluated the association of CR and premorbid IQ with the worsening of patients' cognitive status at one-year follow-up. We originally included 141 outpatients (mean age 80.31 years); a telephone-based cognitive follow-up was carried out after one year, including 104 subjects (mean age 80.26 years). CR (β = 0.418), premorbid IQ (β = 0.271) and handgrip strength (β = 0.287) were significantly associated with the MMSE score. The cognitive worsening at follow-up was associated with lower CR, lower MMSE score, reduced gait speed and frailty exhibited at baseline. Univariate linear regressions showed that CR was associated with handgrip strength (β = 0.346), gait speed (β = 0.185), autonomy in basic (β = 0.221) and instrumental (β = 0.272) daily activities, and frailty (β = -0.290); premorbid IQ was significantly associated with autonomy in instrumental daily activities (β = 0.211). These findings highlight the need for integrating CR and premorbid IQ with physical and motor measures when appraising predictors of cognitive decline in the elderly population. The study also newly extends the link of CR and premorbid IQ to the functional status in older adults.

Solving the Puzzle of Cognitive Reserve Effects on Cognitive Decline: The Importance of Considering Functional Impairment

AIMS

We investigated whether the longitudinal relation between cognitive reserve accumulated across the lifespan and rate of cognitive decline over 6 years differed by the individual's degree of functional impairment.

METHODS

We analyzed longitudinal data from 897 older adults (M = 74.33 years) tested on the Trail Making Test (TMT) in 2 waves 6 years apart.

RESULTS

There was a significant interaction of functional impairment with cognitive reserve on latent change in cognitive functioning. Specifically, with no functional impairment in the first wave of assessment, greater cognitive reserve accumulated across the lifespan significantly predicted a reduced cognitive decline over 6 years (i.e., smaller increase in TMT completion time). In contrast, with certain functional impairment (in at least some activities) in the first wave, greater cognitive reserve build-up predicted a steeper cognitive decline (i.e., larger increase in TMT completion time).

CONCLUSION

Individuals with greater cognitive reserve accumulated across the lifespan show a reduced cognitive decline if they still have relatively little functional impairment, while they will show a steeper decline (compared to individuals with less cognitive reserve) as soon as functional impairment becomes substantial.