When I'm 64 (2006) / Chapter Skim
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5 Social Engagement and Cognition
5 Social Engagement and Cognition
Pages 68-79
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From page 68... ...
These studies have largely been correlational in nature, so that it is impossible to know whether people who age well have selected engaged life-styles or whether those life-style behaviors themselves promote healthy aging. Caution is also required in assuming that activities that improve cognitive functioning in older adults who do not have dementia will contribute to preventing Alzheimer's disease.
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From page 69... ...
. However, the construct of social engagement as a behavioral variable supportive of cognitive health has not been systematically considered in either the cognitive or social psychological literature.
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From page 70... ...
. Functional imaging studies present a consistent picture of decreased hippocampal activation and increased frontal recruitment during working memory and long-term memory tasks (Gutchess et al., 2005; Park et al., 2003)
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From page 71... ...
. A variety of terms have been applied to intermediate conditions in which there is cognitive decline that is not sufficiently severe to be diagnosed as dementia (e.g., mild cognitive impairment)
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From page 72... ...
completed a major randomized clinical trial with older adults up to age 95 that showed modest effects of training on memory and perceptual speed. The effects of training on cognition tended to be very specific, and there was little evidence for broad improvement in everyday cognitive functioning after specific cognitive tasks were trained (Ball et al., 2002)
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From page 73... ...
In a similar vein, data from the Maastricht Longitudinal Study indicated that individuals with cognitively demanding jobs showed less cognitive decline over a 3-year period than those with less demanding jobs (Bosma et al., 2003)
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From page 74... ...
Another plausible interpretation of engagement effects is that highly social individuals in late adulthood are healthier than less engaged individuals. It may be that engagement effects in old age, although real, do not result from a causal relationship, but that individuals with greater physical health also have better cognition and engage in more activities than their frailer counterparts.
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From page 75... ...
While learning new skills can be more difficult with an audience, well-practiced skills are performed better in the presence of others. The importance of social context may also be understood in terms of its potential negative effects on cognitive function through the operation of age-related stereotypes (see Chapter 6)
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From page 76... ...
First, it is important to know if social engagement does have a measurable effect on cognition and maintenance of independence in late adulthood, both independently of cognitive stimulation and in concert with it. There have not been any controlled experimental studies examining the effects of sustained social interactions on immediate and longer term changes in cognitive function, although there are sufficient data from epidemiologic studies to suggest strongly that high social function is protective of neurocognitive processes.
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From page 77... ...
Research that specifically characterizes the types of social engagement that are facilitative of cognitive function is needed. It is also important to understand the role of social networks across the life span in maintaining cognitive function, for example, whether the size of social networks is important, or whether it is the extent of social engagement, regardless of network size, that matters.
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From page 78... ...
In the United States, cross-racial studies of performance on standardized tests of neuropsychological functioning indicate that European Americans, on average, have a higher level of performance than other groups (typically African Americans) (Escobar et al., 1986; Fillenbaum et al., 1988)
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From page 79... ...
Furthermore, the outcome of research on motivation and behavior change and on socioemotional influences on decision making will directly affect the design of any interventions needed to increase social engagement. Understanding the mechanisms underlying the causes and effects of social engagement, and discovering the types of activities that might maintain and even improve cognitive function is a major issue for public health policy and for the lives of the older population.
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