Objectives Active lifestyles are related to higher levels of cognitive functioning. Fewer studies have examined the importance of engaging in different activities (activity variety) for cognitive functioning. Moreover, it is unclear whether activity variety in specific domains (i.e., cognitive, physical, or social) is important for cognitive health. The current study examined whether overall activity variety as well as variety in specific domains relates to cognitive functioning. Method In Waves 2 and 3 of the Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS), 3,337 adults reported their activity engagement and completed a cognitive battery. For longitudinal analyses, 2,049 participants were classified into four groups based on their rank-ordering of activity variety across nine years (remained high, increased, decreased, or remained low). Results Cross-sectional analyses revealed that overall activity variety was related to higher cognitive functioning over and above activity frequency; physical and social activity variety each contributed significantly and uniquely to this association. Longitudinal analyses revealed that those with consistently low overall activity variety at both waves had lower cognitive functioning at Wave 3 than those with high activity variety at either wave, after adjusting for cognitive functioning at Wave 2. Those with consistently high or increasing social activity variety had higher cognitive functioning at Wave 3 than participants with low activity variety at both waves. Discussion Findings suggest that activity variety, particularly in the social domain, is related to concurrent and future cognitive function across adulthood.

Participating in a broad and balanced range of daily activities (i.e., activity diversity) has been associated with better cognitive functioning in later life. One possible explanation for this finding is that high levels of activity diversity are merely a proxy for being more physically active, a factor robustly linked to cognitive health. The present study examined whether activity diversity has a unique association with cognitive functioning beyond physical movement. Community-dwelling older adults (N = 252, Mage = 73.55 years, SD = 6.39) completed a cognitive battery and then responded to ecological momentary assessments of their participation in 10 common activity types (e.g., reading, chores, social visits) every 3 hr for 5–6 days. They also wore accelerometers to track daily physical movement. Multiple regression models revealed that greater diversity in daily activities was related to higher cognitive functioning even after adjusting for physical movement and other covariates such as education level. This study further clarifies the unique relationship of activity diversity, beyond physical movement, with cognition.

Researchers are growing increasingly interested in how the diversity of daily activities are related to well-being. The current study examined how both frequency and diversity in daily activities are associated with cognitive functioning. Participants from the third wave (2013-2016) of the Midlife Development in the U.S (MIDUS) survey (N=1281) completed both a telephone-based cognitive assessment and a mailed survey asking about participation in three different types of activities: cognitive (e.g., doing word games, attending educational lectures or courses), physical (e.g,. exercise, home chores), and social (volunteer work, attending sports or social groups). Frequency of activity participation was assessed with items asking how often they engaged in these activities, and diversity of activity participation was calculated by summing the number of activities they reported doing in each category. All analyses included sociodemographic variables, health status, and openness to experience as covariates. Findings from multiple regression indicated that greater frequency in all activities (cognitive, physical, and social) was related to higher levels of cognitive functioning. Greater diversity of social activity was also related to higher cognitive functioning. Education mediated the association between diversity in cognitive activities and cognitive functioning, suggesting that the link between higher levels of cognitive functioning and education may be partly attributed to people with higher levels of education engaging in greater diversity of cognitive activity.

Recent studies indicate that engaging in more diverse activities is related to higher cognitive functioning. Questions remain, however, regarding whether activity variety within different domains is important. We examined how overall activity variety across domains, as well as variety within cognitive, physical, and social domains are related to cognitive functioning. Data were drawn from Waves 2-3 of Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS). In cross-sectional analyses (N = 3349), activity variety overall and within each domain were positively related to cognitive functioning regardless of activity frequency. In longitudinal analyses (n = 2054), participants with consistently higher activity variety overall and within the social domain over time (vs. those with consistently low or decreasing activity variety) exhibited better cognitive functioning at W3 after adjusting for cognitive functioning at W2. Findings suggest that engaging in a variety of activities that involve multiple cognitive processes might be beneficial for cognitive health.

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