Association of Crossword Puzzle Participation with Memory Decline in Persons Who Develop Dementia

Abstract

Participation in cognitively stimulating leisure activities such as crossword puzzles may delay onset of the memory decline in the preclinical stages of dementia, possibly via its effect on improving cognitive reserve. We followed 488 initially cognitively intact community residing individuals with clinical and cognitive assessments every 12–18 months in the Bronx Aging Study. We assessed the influence of crossword puzzle participation on the onset of accelerated memory decline as measured by the Buschke Selective Reminding Test in 101 individuals who developed incident dementia using a change point model. Crossword puzzle participation at baseline delayed onset of accelerated memory decline by 2.54 years. Inclusion of education or participation in other cognitively stimulating activities did not significantly add to the fit of the model beyond the effect of puzzles. Our findings show that late life crossword puzzle participation, independent of education, was associated with delayed onset of memory decline in persons who developed dementia. Given the wide availability and accessibility of crossword puzzles, their role in preventing cognitive decline should be validated in future clinical trials.

Leisure Technology for the Elderly: A Survey, User Acceptance Testing and Conceptual Design

“…The investigation found that Sudoku improved vision-spatial skills, word puzzle enhanced the level of IQ and reading ability, and picture-matching game improved the ability of visual memory. Besides that, another research study also claimed that the playing of crossword puzzle could slow down memory deterioration process of elderly people who suffer from www.ijacsa.thesai.org Dementia due to an increased in Verbal Intelligence Quotient (VIQ) [14]. VIQ is a measurement of speaking abilities, verbal skills, ability to express themselves using appropriate vocabulary and ability to communicate with other people [14].…”

“…Besides that, another research study also claimed that the playing of crossword puzzle could slow down memory deterioration process of elderly people who suffer from www.ijacsa.thesai.org Dementia due to an increased in Verbal Intelligence Quotient (VIQ) [14]. VIQ is a measurement of speaking abilities, verbal skills, ability to express themselves using appropriate vocabulary and ability to communicate with other people [14]. Kim et al [15] proposed a name-face matching application named CogStim Game based on Cognitive Stimulation (CS) approach.…”

O Procedimento Selective Reminding na Avaliação da Memória e Aprendizagem: Um Levantamento de Estudos Brasileiros

“…Destaca-se a utilização do procedimento com diversos objetivos de avaliação: em mudanças cognitivas no teste de novas drogas (Culang-Reinlieb, Sneed, Keilp, & Roose, 2012;Krupp et al, 2011), disfunções de memória em pacientes com doenças neurológicas (Bell, Fine, Seidenberg, & Hermann, 2005;Solanto et al, 2007), na avaliação de práticas preventivas através de estímulos cognitivos, com o intuito de atrasar os declínios cognitivos em estágios pré-clínicos de demência (Pillai et al, 2011). Também tem sido utilizado para avaliar a diferenças no funcionamento neurocognitivo em patologias ou subtipos (Almeida et al, 2007) e no auxílio ao diagnóstico de doenças neurodegenerativas (Deloire et al, 2006;Wenger, Negash, Petersen, & Petersen, 2010).…”

“…Também tem sido utilizado para avaliar a diferenças no funcionamento neurocognitivo em patologias ou subtipos (Almeida et al, 2007) e no auxílio ao diagnóstico de doenças neurodegenerativas (Deloire et al, 2006;Wenger, Negash, Petersen, & Petersen, 2010). Nos estudos de avaliação de intervenções, nos quais as tarefas foram reaplicadas em diferentes momentos, os autores se utilizaram de grupos controle ou grupo de comparação, buscando controlar o viés do efeito de prática (CulangReinlieb et al, 2012;Krupp et al, 2011;Pillai et al, 2011).…”

Training Adapted to Alzheimer Patients for Reducing Daily Activities Errors and Cognitive Decline

“…Firstly, it is a well-known elder people game, which is widely available and accessible. Secondly, Pillai et al [12] have shown by following 488 initially cognitively intact persons, that mentally challenging activities that, independently of the education, the memory decline is delayed in persons who develop dementia. Landau et al [13] have also hypothesized that may influence the progression of AD.…”