Cognitive activity mediates the association between social activity and cognitive performance: A longitudinal study.

Abstract

Social activity is one aspect of an active lifestyle and some evidence indicates it is related to preserved cognitive function in older adulthood. However, the potential mechanisms underlying this association remain unclear. We investigate four potential mediational pathways through which social activity may relate to cognitive performance. A multilevel structural equation modeling approach to mediation was used to investigate whether cognitive activity, physical activity, depressive symptoms, and vascular health conditions mediate the association between social activity and cognitive function in older adults. Using data from the Victoria Longitudinal Study (VLS), we tested four cognitive outcomes: fluency, episodic memory, reasoning, and vocabulary. Three important findings emerged. First, the association between social activity and all four domains of cognitive function was significantly mediated by cognitive activity at the within-person level. Second, we observed a significant indirect effect of social activity on all domains of cognitive function through cognitive activity at the between-person level. Third, we found a within-person indirect relationship of social activity with episodic memory performance through physical activity. For these older adults, engagement in social activities was related to participation in everyday cognitive activities and in turn to better cognitive performance. This pattern is consistent with the interpretation that a lifestyle of social engagement may benefit cognitive performance by providing opportunities or motivation to participate in supportive cognitively stimulating activities.

Social Frailty Leads to the Development of Physical Frailty among Physically Non-Frail Adults: A Four-Year Follow-Up Longitudinal Cohort Study

“…Older adults’ social domains may have a positive impact on their cognitive function. Previous studies have indicated that poor social relationships, low levels of social activity and low social engagement are associated, not only with cognitive decline [ 38 , 39 ], but also with an increased risk of dementia [ 40 , 41 , 42 ]. As several issues in each domain, including the definition of frailty, need to be further explored, future studies should analyze the relationships between the various domains, including cognitive impairment.…”

Greater lifestyle engagement is associated with better cognitive resilience

“…by focusing on physical health or social engagement, but rarely both). Previous studies which have assessed various aspects of lifestyle have tended to rely on separate linear regressions (6)(7)(8), mediation analyses (9) or sum scores (10,11) for their analyses, limiting the extent to which possible complementary benefits of lifestyle can be detected. Thus, unless these factors are analysed conceptually and mathematically simultaneously, it remains an open question as to whether individual lifestyle factors will 'sum up' to demonstrate incremental benefits, or rather be redundantly associated with better outcomes (see also Kremen et al, 2019 (12)).…”

A Larger Social Network Enhances Novel Object Location Memory and Reduces Hippocampal Microgliosis in Aged Mice

“…Aging is broadly associated with progressive impairment in hippocampal function in mammals (Bettio et al, 2017 ). Both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies suggest that humans with more social ties have better preservation of cognitive function, particularly hippocampal-dependent forms of memory, in old age than those with fewer ties (Bassuk et al, 1999 ; Seeman et al, 2001 ; Béland et al, 2005 ; Ertel et al, 2008 ; Haslam et al, 2015 ; Brown et al, 2016 ). Causation, however, has been difficult to determine in humans and clinical trials of social network interventions have yielded unclear results (Hogan et al, 2002 ; Green et al, 2008 ).…”