Reading Habits Among Older Adults in Relation to Level and 15-Year Changes in Verbal Fluency and Episodic Recall

Cognition and Cognitive Reserve

Cognition is a mental process that provides the ability to think, know, and learn. Though cognitive skills are necessary to do daily tasks and activities, cognitive aging causes changes in various cognitive functions. Cognitive abilities that are preserved and strengthened by experience can be kept as a reserve and utilized when necessary. The concept of reserving cognition was found when people with Alzheimer's disease had differences in clinical manifestations and cognitive functions. The cognitive reserve builds resilience against cognitive decline and improves the quality of life. Also, several lines of studies have found that the plasticity between neurons has a significant impact on cognitive reserve and acts against cognitive decline. To extend the findings, the present study provides a comprehensive understanding of cognitive reserve and the variables that are involved in maintaining cognition. The study also considers reading as one of the cognitive proxies that develops and maintains cognitive reserve.

Which intellectual activities are related to cognitive reserve? Introduction and testing a three-dimensional model

BACKGROUND

A common belief among people and some researchers is that keeping yourself mentally active may decrease the risk of dementia. Over the past years, despite widespread efforts to identify proxies for protecting cognitive reserve against age-related changes, it is still not clear what type of intellectual activity would be beneficial for cognitive reserve. To fill this gap, we propose a three-dimensional model of intellectual activity. According to this conceptual model, intellectual activities could be distinguished based on their locations in a three-dimensions space, including; (1) Activation: active vs. passive, (2) Novelty: novel vs. familiar, and (3) Productivity: productive vs. receptive. We assumed that the activities that are categorized as more active, novel, and productive could be considered as a cognitive reserve proxy.

METHODS

To test this hypothesis, a sample of 237 participants older than 50 years (Mage = 58.76 ± 6.66; 63.7% women) was recruited to take part in the study. Episodic, semantic and working memory were assessed with computerized battery tests (Sepidar) and a self-report questionnaire was used to assess intellectual activities. Activities were categorized in terms of; (1) passive, familiar, and receptive activities (radio/watching TV), (2) active, familiar, and receptive activities (solving crosswords), (3) active, novel, and receptive activities (reading), and (4) active, novel, and productive activities (writing).

RESULTS

The results indicated that writing moderates the effect of age on episodic and semantic memory. Reading only moderates the effect of age on semantic memory, and radio/watching TV and solving crosswords do not play a role in moderation analysis.

CONCLUSIONS

Our finding suggests that intellectual activities have different moderating effects on the relationships between age and memory performance. Individuals with high levels of participation in novel and productive activities over the life course are less likely to clinically demonstrate cognitive impairments. Our results support the potential benefit of the three-dimensional model to provide a better insight into the complex role of intellectual activities in cognitive reserve, particularly for older adults. Further research is needed to evaluate the efficacy and the benefits of the model.

Neuroanatomical correlates of macrostructural receptive abilities in narrative discourse in unilateral left hemisphere stroke: A behavioural and voxel-based morphometry study

BACKGROUND

Little is known about story retelling and comprehension abilities in groups with lower levels of education and socio-economic status (SES). A growing body of evidence suggests the role of an extended network supporting narrative comprehension, but few studies have been conducted in clinical populations, even less in developing countries.

AIMS

To extend our knowledge of the impact of a stroke on macrostructural aspects of discourse processes, namely main and complementary information, in individuals with middle-low to low SES and low levels of education. Relationships were tested between the performance in story retell and comprehension and reading and writing habits (RWH). Also, the associations between retelling and comprehension measures and their structural grey matter (GM) correlates were explored.

METHODS & PROCEDURES

A total of 17 adults with unilateral left hemisphere (LH) chronic ischaemic stroke without the presence of significant aphasia and 10 matched (age, education and SES) healthy controls (HC) participated in the study. Retell and comprehension tasks were performed after listening or reading narrative stories. Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) analysis was conducted on a subgroup of nine individuals with LH stroke and the 10 matched controls using structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

OUTCOMES & RESULTS

Retelling and comprehension abilities were not significantly different between LH and HC, nonetheless quantitively lower in LH. Exploratory correlations showed that retelling and comprehension abilities in both written and auditory modalities were correlated with naming abilities. At the neural level, written comprehension positively correlated with GM density of the LH, including areas in the temporal pole, superior and middle temporal gyrus as well as the orbitofrontal cortex, precentral and postcentral gyri. Auditory narrative comprehension was associated with GM density of the lingual gyrus in the right hemisphere.

CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS

The present results suggest that retelling and comprehension of auditory and written narratives are relatively well-preserved in individuals with a LH stroke without significant aphasia, but poorer than in HC. The findings replicate previous studies conducted in groups with higher levels of education and SES both at the behavioural and neural levels. Considering that naming seems to be associated with narrative retell and comprehension in individuals with lower SES and education, this research provides evidence on the importance of pursuing further studies including larger samples with and without aphasia as well as with various SES and education levels.

WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS

What is already known on this subject Story retell and comprehension of auditory and written discourse have been shown to be affected after stroke, but most studies have been conducted on individuals with middle to high SES and high educational levels. What this paper adds to existing knowledge The study reports on narrative retell and comprehension in both auditory and written modalities in groups of HC and individuals with LH brain damage, with low-to-middle SES and lower levels of education. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? This study highlights the importance of taking into consideration the sociodemographic and RWH of patients when assessing discourse retell and comprehension in both auditory and written modalities. It also underlines the importance of including patients without significant aphasia following LH stroke to look at the effect of both stroke and aphasia on narrative comprehension and story retelling.

Does the frequency of reading and writing habits contribute to executive functions, intelligence, and learning in adolescents with healthy development?

The influence of the frequency of reading and writing habits (FRWH) on cognition has been investigated by several studies in the literature. However, the implications of FRWH on executive development, intelligence, and academic achievement are not yet clear in adolescents with healthy development. The aim was to verify whether there are differences in executive functions, intelligence, and academic achievement between adolescents with high and low FRWH. Moreover, we aimed to investigate if there are differences in the parental FRWH between adolescents with high and low FRWH. The sample was composed of 47 healthy adolescents, n = 24 with high FRWH and n = 23 with low FRWH. Adolescents with higher FRWH had better performance on measures of vocabulary, Speech Act analysis, and Oral Narrative Discourse. Therefore, a high FRWH has a positive influence on the cognitive development of healthy adolescents, especially with regard to pragmatic language. However, adolescents with low FRWH performed better than those with a high FRWH on an automatic counting task. The interpretation of cognitive performance and academic achievement scores in neuropsychological assessment should consider the FRWH of parents and adolescents. This factor should be targeted by early stimulation interventions to help adolescents achieve the highest possible levels of global development.

Television watching, reading, cognition, depression and life satisfaction among middle-aged and older populations: A group-based trajectory modelling analysis of national data

This retrospective cohort study aimed to identify heterogeneous cognition, depression, and life satisfaction trajectory groups, and to examine the independent contributions of watching television and reading to these trajectories among middle-aged and older adults. A sample was taken from the Taiwan Longitudinal Study on Aging (TLSA) with measures of cognition, depression, life satisfaction, watching television, and reading during 12 years of follow-up (N = 4440). Group-based trajectory models and multinomial logistic regressions were used. The findings showed that the cohort was separated into three global cognition groups of low-cognition (n = 376), declining-cognition (n = 805), and maintained-cognition (n = 2718); three episodic memory groups of high-declining (n = 540), middle-stable (n = 2066), and improving groups (n = 1293); three depression groups of low-to-low (n = 2571), median-to-high (n = 960), and high-to-high groups (n = 368); and three life satisfaction groups of low- (n = 1133), middle- (n = 977), and high-level groups (n = 1789). Also, the findings demonstrated that after adjusting for covariates, those who did not watch television or read at the baseline had independently significantly increased odds of having lower global cognitive function, higher depression, and lower life satisfaction over time versus those who watched television or read almost every day. Based on the findings obtained, group-based trajectories of cognition, depression, and life satisfaction scores identified distinct subgroups among TLSA participants. Moreover, the findings suggest that healthcare providers need to develop more targeted population interventions to ensure successful aging. Healthcare providers can encourage older adults, particularly new retirees, to participate in leisure activities (i.e., watching television and reading) to reduce prevalence rates of cognitive impairment and depression.

Reading and writing habits compensate for aging effects in speech connectedness

We investigate the association of short- and long-range recurrences (speech connectedness) with age, education, and reading and writing habits (RWH) in typical aging using an oral narrative production task. Oral narrative transcriptions were represented as word-graphs to measure short- and long-range recurrences. Speech connectedness was explained by the combination of age, education, and RWH, and the strength of RWH's coefficient reflects the aging effect.

Macrostructural Aspects in Oral Narratives in Brazilian Portuguese by Left and Right Hemisphere Stroke Patients With Low Education and Low Socioeconomic Status

OBJECTIVE

Individuals with a stroke in either the left hemisphere (LH) or the right hemisphere (RH) often present macrostructural impairments in narrative abilities. Understanding the potential influence of low education and low socioeconomic status (SES) is critical to a more effective assessment of poststroke language. The first aim was to investigate macrostructural processing in low-education and low-SES individuals with stroke in the LH or RH or without brain damage. The second aim was to verify the relationships between macrolinguistic, neuropsychological, and sociodemographic variables.

METHOD

Forty-seven adults with LH (n = 15) or RH (n = 16) chronic ischemic stroke and 16 matched (age, education, and SES) healthy controls produced three oral picture-sequence narratives. The macrostructural aspects analyzed were cohesion, coherence, narrativity, macropropositions, and index of lexical informativeness and were compared among the three groups. Then, exploratory correlations were performed to assess associations between sociodemographic (such as SES), neuropsychological, and macrostructural variables.

RESULTS

Both the LH and the RH presented impairments in the local macrostructural aspect (cohesion), whereas the RH also presented impairments in more global aspects (global coherence and macropropositions). All five macrostructural variables correlated with each other, with higher correlations with narrativity. Naming was correlated with all macrostructural variables, as well as prestroke reading and writing habits (RWH), showing that higher naming accuracy and higher RWH are associated with better macrostructural skills.

CONCLUSIONS

The present results corroborate the role of the LH in more local processing and that of the RH in more global aspects of discourse. Moreover, this study highlights the importance of investigating discourse processing in healthy and clinical populations of understudied languages such as Brazilian Portuguese, with various levels of education, SES, and RWH.

The Lifetime of Experiences Questionnaire: Psychometric Properties and Relationships With Memory Function in an Iranian Elderly Sample

This study aimed to validate the Persian version of the Lifetime of Experiences Questionnaire (LEQ) and examine the relationship between life experience and memory function. To this end, two studies were conducted. Study one examined the factor structure, internal consistency, and convergent and discriminant validity of the Persian version of LEQ with 247 healthy elderly individuals (M age = 70.17, SD = 4.42; 55.9% women). The exploratory factor analysis yielded a five-factor solution, including Knowledge, Physical, Socialization, Artistic, and Leisure dimensions, which accounted for 42.42% of the explained variance. The internal consistency of the LEQ was in the acceptable range (α = 0.703). Also, the LEQ and its subscales (except the Artistic subscale) had a negative relationship with geriatric depression and a positive relationship with a healthy lifestyle, supporting the measure's convergent and discriminant validity. In the second study, we examined the relationship between LEQ (total and subscales score) and memory function using Pearson correlation and moderating analysis with 149 participants (M age = 70.37, SD = 4.29; 55.03% women). The results demonstrated that the LEQ total and subscales scores correlated positively with episodic memory. In the same vein, LEQ total score and Knowledge subscale showed a positive correlation with semantic memory. The results of moderation analysis showed that LEQ subscales have a different role in memory decline. The knowledge subscale as a content component moderates the effect of age on semantic memory (B = 0.005, t = 2.021, p = 0.045), while the mid-life non-specific activities, which are based on life stages, moderate the effect of age on episodic memory (B = 0.007, t = 3.348, p = 0.001). In conclusion, our results indicated that the Persian version of the LEQ is a valid and reliable instrument for measuring experiences and activities throughout life, which can be used in professional clinical and research settings in the aging context with Iranian elderly samples. Furthermore, our findings suggest that various life experiences can be considered cognitive reserves in old age.

Sedentary Behavior and Happiness: The Mediation Effects of Social Capital

Background and Objectives

This study aimed to examine the associations between time spent in 6 different domains of sedentary behavior and happiness and whether social capital mediated such associations among adults and older adults living in a rural area of Japan.

Research Design and Methods

Cross-sectional data from 3,357 participants (mean age: 60 ± 16 years) were used. 6 domains of sedentary behavior, happiness, and social capital were assessed using a self-report questionnaire. Age-stratified multivariable linear regression models adjusted for covariates were used to examine the associations between 6 domains of sedentary behavior and happiness. For relationships where the direct effect was significant, we tested the mediating effects of 2 social capital measures.

Results

Among both adults and older adults, more time spent viewing television was significantly associated with lower happiness scores, and more time spent engaging in other leisure activities was significantly associated with higher happiness scores. In addition, more time spent using cell phones and computers was significantly associated with lower happiness scores among the adults. Engaging in activities with neighbors significantly mediated the relationship between other leisure activities and happiness in the adults and older adults, and between television viewing and happiness in the older adults.

Discussion and Implications

Our findings indicated that less television viewing and more mentally active sedentary behavior (e.g., talking with others and engaging in hobbies) were associated with greater happiness. One aspect of social capital, engaging in activities with neighbors, acts as a potential mediator for relationships between sedentary behavior and happiness.

Association Between Reading Habit and Sleep Among Age Over 40 Years Community Residents: A Population-Based Evidence Study

PURPOSE

Sleep disturbance is a paramount public health concern that besets many modern middle-aged and elderly community residents. Reading is important to adults as it facilitates the completion of daily tasks, and might be associated with sleep issues. The present study aimed to analyze the association between reading and sleep using Chinese national survey data.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

The 2018 China Family Panel Studies survey data were used, and the target sample was extracted according to age (>40 years). Reading behavior and reading quantity were chosen as independent variables, and sleep duration, sleep-onset time, and sleep quality were selected as dependent variables. A multilevel mixed linear/ordinal logistic regression model was employed to evaluate the association, and restricted cubic splines with 4 knots were employed to flexibly model the association of reading quantity and sleep duration.

RESULTS

A total of 18,740 adults were selected, and the reading rate was 15.04%. Reading habit was significantly negatively associated with weekday sleep duration, but not with duration at weekends, as determined from the full set of confounders adjusted models. Reading behavior was also associated with delayed sleep-onset time (OR: 0.935, 95% CI: 0.908-0.964), but not with sleep quality. Reading quantity showed a nonlinear relationship with sleep duration, appropriate reading quantity was related with long sleep duration.

CONCLUSION

Reading was associated with short sleep duration on weekdays, but not with sleep quality. Furthermore, reading was related to late sleep-onset time, and for the middle-aged and elderly Chinese populations, appropriate reading quantity was related with long sleep duration.

Aging and the rehabilitation of homonymous hemianopia: The efficacy of compensatory eye-movement training techniques and a five-year follow up

The specificity and effectiveness of eye-movement training to remedy impaired visual exploration and reading with particular consideration of age and co-morbidity was tested in a group of 97 patients with unilateral homonymous hemianopia using a single subject /n-of-1 design. Two groups received either scanning training followed by reading training, or vice versa. The third group acted as a control group and received non-specific detailed advice, followed by training of scanning and reading. Scanning and reading performance was assessed before and after the waiting period, before and after scanning and reading training, and at short-term (11 weeks on average) and long-term follow-up (5 years on average). Improvements after training were practice-dependent and task-specific. Scanning performance improved by ∼40%, reading by ∼45%, and was paralleled by a reduction of subjective complaints. The advice (=control) condition was without effect. All improvements occurred selectively in the training period, not in treatment-free intervals, and persisted in the short- and long-term follow-up over several years. Age had only a minor, although significant effect on improvement in reading after training; co-morbidity had no significant impact on the outcome of training. In conclusion, visual impairments associated with homonymous hemianopia can be successfully and durably reduced by systematic and specific training of compensatory eye-movement strategies. The improvements in compensation strategies were independent of subjects' age and of co-morbidity.

Biological and environmental predictors of heterogeneity in neurocognitive ageing: Evidence from Betula and other longitudinal studies

Individual differences in cognitive performance increase with advancing age, reflecting marked cognitive changes in some individuals along with little or no change in others. Genetic and lifestyle factors are assumed to influence cognitive performance in ageing by affecting the magnitude and extent of age-related brain changes (i.e., brain maintenance or atrophy), as well as the ability to recruit compensatory processes. The purpose of this review is to present findings from the Betula study and other longitudinal studies, with a focus on clarifying the role of key biological and environmental factors assumed to underlie individual differences in brain and cognitive ageing. We discuss the vital importance of sampling, analytic methods, consideration of non-ignorable dropout, and related issues for valid conclusions on factors that influence healthy neurocognitive ageing.

Explaining vocabulary knowledge in adulthood through comparison with knowledge of math concepts

Previous research has assumed that all types of semantic knowledge are similarly affected by aging. We investigate whether knowledge of vocabulary and math concepts show comparable lifetime change. A sample of 252 participants aged 17-91 completed two multiple-choice tasks that examined knowledge of infrequent word meanings and knowledge of basic math concepts. Up to age 64, vocabulary scores improved, whereas math scores remained stable. After that age, vocabulary scores remained stable, while math scores declined. We suggest that the fact that the learning and use of infrequent vocabulary are incidental, incremental, and contextual contributes to maintenance of word knowledge into old age. In contrast, learning of basic math concepts occurs relatively early in life in an intentional manner, and both learning and use of these concepts involve constrained contexts. Thus, the nature of the acquisition and use of semantic knowledge across the lifespan affects its fate in old age.

Education moderates the effects of large central artery aging on cognitive performance in middle-aged and older adults

Central artery aging, including elevated aortic stiffness, central blood pressure (BP), and pulse pressure (PP), is a novel risk factor for the development of age-associated cognitive dysfunction. Individuals with higher educational attainment may develop greater brain pathology prior to the onset of cognitive decline. However, whether education moderates relations between central artery aging and cognitive performance is unknown. We hypothesized that years of formal education would moderate the relation between central artery aging and cognitive performance in middle-aged/older (MA/O) adults (n = 113, age 67.3 ± 0.7 years). Significant interactions between education*central systolic BP (β = .21, p = .02) and education*central PP (β = .22, p = .01) demonstrated weaker associations between central BP and PP with processing speed performance in those with higher education. Similarly, education moderated the relation between aortic stiffness (carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity, cfPWV) and executive function performance (β = .21, p = .02). To test if the relation between central arterial aging and cognitive performance was captured by a predetermined education threshold, MA/O adults were secondarily categorized as ≤high school (HS) (i.e., ≤12 years, n = 36) or >HS (≥13 years, n = 77). Higher central systolic BP was associated with slower processing speed (≤HS: r = -.59, p < .001 vs. >HS: r = -.25, p = .03) and weaker executive function (r = -.39, p = .03 vs. r = -.32, p = .006). Higher cfPWV was selectively correlated with weaker executive function performance (r = -.39, p = .03) in ≤HS only and this association significantly differed between education groups. Educational attainment appears to moderate the adverse effects of central artery aging on cognitive performance among MA/O adults.