Back to Search
Start Over
Influence of young adult cognitive ability and additional education on later-life cognition
- Source :
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol 116, iss 6
- Publication Year :
- 2019
- Publisher :
- eScholarship, University of California, 2019.
-
Abstract
- How and when education improves cognitive capacity is an issue of profound societal importance. Education and later-life education-related factors, such as occupational complexity and engagement in cognitive-intellectual activities, are frequently considered indices of cognitive reserve, but whether their effects are truly causal remains unclear. In this study, after accounting for general cognitive ability (GCA) at an average age of 20 y, additional education, occupational complexity, or engagement in cognitive-intellectual activities accounted for little variance in late midlife cognitive functioning in men age 56–66 ( n = 1009). Age 20 GCA accounted for 40% of variance in the same measure in late midlife and approximately 10% of variance in each of seven cognitive domains. The other factors each accounted for n = 367). In our view, the most parsimonious explanation of our results, a meta-analysis of the impact of education, and epidemiologic studies of the Flynn effect is that intellectual capacity gains due to education plateau in late adolescence/early adulthood. Longitudinal studies with multiple cognitive assessments before completion of education would be needed to confirm this speculation. If cognitive gains reach an asymptote by early adulthood, then strengthening cognitive reserve and reducing later-life cognitive decline and dementia risk may really begin with improving educational quality and access in childhood and adolescence.
- Subjects :
- Male
Aging
LOTHIAN BIRTH COHORT
Developmental psychology
0302 clinical medicine
Cognition
Cognitive Reserve
Longitudinal Studies
Young adult
Cognitive decline
BRAIN
10. No inequality
Cognitive reserve
RISK
Pediatric
Multidisciplinary
SCORES
DEMENTIA
05 social sciences
Middle Aged
RESERVE
Flynn effect
Psychology
Adolescent
longitudinal
occupational complexity
SURFACE-AREA
reverse causation
050105 experimental psychology
Education
03 medical and health sciences
Young Adult
Clinical Research
Behavioral and Social Science
medicine
Acquired Cognitive Impairment
Dementia
Humans
0501 psychology and cognitive sciences
Cognitive Dysfunction
Cognitive skill
cognitive activities
Life Style
Aged
ENVIRONMENT
cognitive aging
Prevention
Neurosciences
medicine.disease
VIETNAM ERA TWIN
Brain Disorders
Quality Education
3111 Biomedicine
Cognition Disorders
030217 neurology & neurosurgery
Cognitive load
Subjects
Details
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol 116, iss 6
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....5e377068f36956b9605cd6f9caee0271