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The impact of brain size on pilot performance varies with aviation training and years of education

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 March 2010

MAHEEN M. ADAMSON ,
VIKTORIYA SAMARINA ,
XU XIANGYAN ,
VIRGINIA HUYNH ,
QUINN KENNEDY ,
MICHAEL WEINER ,
JEROME YESAVAGE  and
JOY L. TAYLOR
MAHEEN M. ADAMSON*
Affiliation:
Department of Veterans Affairs and Sierra-Pacific MIRECC, Palo Alto, California Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California
VIKTORIYA SAMARINA
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California
XU XIANGYAN
Affiliation:
Department of Veterans Affairs and Sierra-Pacific MIRECC, Palo Alto, California
VIRGINIA HUYNH
Affiliation:
Department of Veterans Affairs, San Francisco, California University of California, San Francisco, California
QUINN KENNEDY
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California
MICHAEL WEINER
Affiliation:
Department of Veterans Affairs, San Francisco, California University of California, San Francisco, California
JEROME YESAVAGE
Affiliation:
Department of Veterans Affairs and Sierra-Pacific MIRECC, Palo Alto, California Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California
JOY L. TAYLOR
Affiliation:
Department of Veterans Affairs and Sierra-Pacific MIRECC, Palo Alto, California Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California
*
*Correspondence and reprint requests to: Maheen M. Adamson, Stanford/VA Aging Clinical Research Center, 3801 Miranda Avenue (151Y), Palo Alto, CA, 94304. E-mail: madamson@stanford.edu
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Abstract

Previous studies have consistently reported age-related changes in cognitive abilities and brain structure. Previous studies also suggest compensatory roles for specialized training, skill, and years of education in the age-related decline of cognitive function. The Stanford/VA Aviation Study examines the influence of specialized training and skill level (expertise) on age-related changes in cognition and brain structure. This preliminary report examines the effect of aviation expertise, years of education, age, and brain size on flight simulator performance in pilots aged 45–68 years. Fifty-one pilots were studied with structural magnetic resonance imaging, flight simulator, and processing speed tasks. There were significant main effects of age (p < .01) and expertise (p < .01), but not of whole brain size (p > .1) or education (p > .1), on flight simulator performance. However, even though age and brain size were correlated (r = −0.41), age differences in flight simulator performance were not explained by brain size. Both aviation expertise and education were involved in an interaction with brain size in predicting flight simulator performance (p < .05). These results point to the importance of examining measures of expertise and their interactions to assess age-related cognitive changes. (JINS, 2010, 16, 412–423.)

Keywords

Magnetic resonance imagingAptitudeMotor skillsAgeNeuropsychological testsOccupations
Type
Research Articles
Information
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society , Volume 16 , Issue 3 , May 2010 , pp. 412 - 423
Copyright
Copyright © The International Neuropsychological Society 2010

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