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The effects of different proxies of cognitive reserve on episodic memory performance: aging study in Iran

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 October 2019

Neda Mohammad ,
Tara Rezapour ,
Reza Kormi-Nouri ,
Ehsan Abdekhodaie ,
Atieh M. Ghamsari ,
Hadi B. Ehsan  and
Javad Hatami
Neda Mohammad
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
Tara Rezapour
Affiliation:
Translational Neuroscience Program, Institute for Cognitive Science Studies, Tehran, Iran
Reza Kormi-Nouri
Affiliation:
Center for Health and Medical Psychology, Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden
Ehsan Abdekhodaie
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
Atieh M. Ghamsari
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
Hadi B. Ehsan
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
Javad Hatami*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran Translational Neuroscience Program, Institute for Cognitive Science Studies, Tehran, Iran
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: Javad Hatami, Department of Psychology, University of Tehran, Dr Kardan Street, Tehran 1445983861, Iran. Phone + 98 2161117480. Fax: +98 21 88254734. Email: hatamijm@ut.ac.ir.
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Abstract

Objective:

The main aim of the present study is to investigate the association between different measures of cognitive reserve including bilingualism, mental activities, type of education (continuous versus distributed), age, educational level, and episodic memory in a healthy aging sample.

Methods:

Four hundred and fifteen participants aged between 50 and 83 years participated in this cross-sectional study and were assessed with the Psychology Experimental Building Language Test battery tapping episodic memory. Demographic variables were collected from a questionnaire designed by the research team.

Results:

Compared to participants with continuous type of education, those with distributed type performed better in tests of episodic memory, while no differences were found between bilingual and monolingual participants. We additionally found that age negatively predicts episodic memory, whereas playing mind teasers and educational level have positive relationships with episodic memory.

Conclusions:

Our results indicate that higher cognitive reserve, as measured by distributed educational training, higher level of education, and doing regular mental activities, is associated with better performance on episodic memory tasks in older adults. These results were discussed in connection with successful aging and protection against memory decline with aging.

Keywords

episodic memorycognitive reservebilingualismmental activities
Type
Original Research Article
Information
International Psychogeriatrics , Volume 32 , Issue 1: Issue Theme: Cultural Diversity in Psychogeriatrics , January 2020 , pp. 25 - 34
Copyright
© International Psychogeriatric Association 2019 

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