{"title":"Openness to experience and cognitive functioning and decline in older adults: The mediating role of cognitive reserve","authors":"Teresa Montoliu , Mariola Zapater-Fajarí , Vanesa Hidalgo , Alicia Salvador","doi":"10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2023.108655","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Objective</h3><p>Openness to experience has been consistently associated with better cognitive functioning in older people, but its association with cognitive decline is less clear. Cognitive reserve has been proposed as a mechanism underlying this relationship, but previous studies have reported mixed findings, possibly due to the different ways of conceptualizing cognitive reserve. We aimed to analyze the potential mediating role of cognitive reserve in the association between openness and cognitive functioning and decline in healthy older people.</p></div><div><h3>Method</h3><p>In Wave 1 and at the four-year follow-up (Wave 2), 87 healthy older people (49.4% women; M age = 65.08, SD = 4.54) completed a neuropsychological battery to assess cognitive functioning and a questionnaire to assess cognitive reserve. Openness was measured with the NEO- Five-Factor Inventory. Mediation models were proposed to investigate the relationship between openness and cognitive function or decline through cognitive reserve or its change.</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>Cognitive reserve mediated the openness-cognitive functioning association. Thus, individuals with higher openness showed greater cognitive reserve, and this greater cognitive reserve was associated with better cognitive functioning. Moreover, greater cognitive reserve at baseline also mediated the association between higher openness and slower cognitive decline. However, change in cognitive reserve did not mediate the association between openness and change in cognitive functioning.</p></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>Cognitive reserve is a mechanism underlying the association between openness and cognitive functioning and decline. These findings support the differential preservation hypothesis, suggesting that healthy older adults who engage in more cognitively stimulating activities would show less age-related cognitive decline.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":19279,"journal":{"name":"Neuropsychologia","volume":"188 ","pages":"Article 108655"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0000,"publicationDate":"2023-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Neuropsychologia","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0028393223001896","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Objective
Openness to experience has been consistently associated with better cognitive functioning in older people, but its association with cognitive decline is less clear. Cognitive reserve has been proposed as a mechanism underlying this relationship, but previous studies have reported mixed findings, possibly due to the different ways of conceptualizing cognitive reserve. We aimed to analyze the potential mediating role of cognitive reserve in the association between openness and cognitive functioning and decline in healthy older people.
Method
In Wave 1 and at the four-year follow-up (Wave 2), 87 healthy older people (49.4% women; M age = 65.08, SD = 4.54) completed a neuropsychological battery to assess cognitive functioning and a questionnaire to assess cognitive reserve. Openness was measured with the NEO- Five-Factor Inventory. Mediation models were proposed to investigate the relationship between openness and cognitive function or decline through cognitive reserve or its change.
Results
Cognitive reserve mediated the openness-cognitive functioning association. Thus, individuals with higher openness showed greater cognitive reserve, and this greater cognitive reserve was associated with better cognitive functioning. Moreover, greater cognitive reserve at baseline also mediated the association between higher openness and slower cognitive decline. However, change in cognitive reserve did not mediate the association between openness and change in cognitive functioning.
Conclusions
Cognitive reserve is a mechanism underlying the association between openness and cognitive functioning and decline. These findings support the differential preservation hypothesis, suggesting that healthy older adults who engage in more cognitively stimulating activities would show less age-related cognitive decline.
期刊介绍:
Neuropsychologia is an international interdisciplinary journal devoted to experimental and theoretical contributions that advance understanding of human cognition and behavior from a neuroscience perspective. The journal will consider for publication studies that link brain function with cognitive processes, including attention and awareness, action and motor control, executive functions and cognitive control, memory, language, and emotion and social cognition.