Does motor functioning mediate the relationship between executive functions and psychological well-being of atypically developing older adults?

Abstract

The contribution of motor efficiency to the maintenance of psychological well-being in cognitively impaired older individuals is still insufficiently examined. This investigation primarily intended to evaluate whether muscular strength mediates the relationship between different facets of psychological well-being (i.e., personal satisfaction, emotional competence, coping), negative mood, and central executive efficiency through the Clock-Drawing, Trail-Making (Part A), and verbal fluency tests. Furthermore, the impact of cognitive decline on self-reported psychological well-being and depression was explored, using the handgrip strength (HGS) measure as a covariate. One hundred and nineteen older participants, 44 males and 75 females, aged 63 years and older (Mage = 77.7 years, SD = 5.6 years), completed a battery of tests assessing executive functions, HGS, depression, and psychological well-being. Significant low to moderate associations were found between distinct executive functions, HGS, psychological well-being, and depression. In addition, personal satisfaction did not correlate with any measure of executive functions, the clock-drawing score was associated only with coping index, and self-reported depression correlated only with the Trail-Making Test score. Moreover, a series of mediation analyses documented that executive functions (primarily assessing verbal fluency and motor speed) and HGS explained approximately 20–46% of the variance in perceived psychological well-being and depression. Finally, more cognitively impaired participants reported worse total psychological well-being, emotional competence, and coping. In conclusion, motor proficiency mediates the relationship between selective measures of executive functions and perceived psychological well-being and depression in cognitively impaired individuals.

Cognitive Reserve, Physical Reserve, and Cognitive Efficiency of Older People Living in the Sardinian Blue Zone. An Exploratory Study

“…Therefore, future research should overcome these issues, extending the number and type of tests to be administered. Moreover, to favor the generalizability of the current findings, the study must be replicated both with larger samples of cognitively healthy respondents recruited elsewhere and participants exhibiting Mild Cognitive Impairment, since CR and physical reserve may be fundamental as protective factors to contrast the impact of cognitive decline and the occurrence of dementia in late lifespan (e.g., Bherer et al, 2013; Corbo et al, 2023; Fastame et al, 2022a). Finally, future longitudinal research is necessary to clarify the role played by the developmental factors in the relationship among CR, physical reserve, and cognition in late adulthood.…”

Aging and Psychological Well-Being: The Possible Role of Inhibition Skills

“…These complex evaluations would certainly require the intervention of higher cognitive functions, such as EFs. Accordingly, previous studies showed that cognitive control strategies—depending on EF efficiency—support adaptive psychological processes such as self-reflection, emotion regulation, and convergence of cognitive, motivational, and emotional goals [ 29 , 30 , 31 ]. Moreover, Shamsabadi et al [ 32 ] reported that working memory, cognitive flexibility, quantitative reasoning, and planning correlated to all measures of PWB, with the exception that quantitative reasoning and planning were not correlated to Purpose in life and Positive relations, respectively.…”