Institute of Psychology, Humboldt University.
Psychol Aging. 2013 Dec;28(4):1147-63. doi: 10.1037/a0033327.
Perceived control plays an important role for remaining cognitively fit across adulthood and old age. However, much less is known about the role of perceived control over and above common correlates of cognition, and possible factors that underlie such control-cognition associations. Our study examined whether perceived control was predictive of individual differences in subsequent 4-year changes in episodic memory, and explored the mediating role of physical activity and indicators of physical fitness, cardiovascular, and metabolic health for control-memory associations. To do so, we used longitudinal data from the nationwide Health and Retirement Study (HRS; N = 4,177; ages 30 to 97 years; 59% women). Our results show that perceiving more control over one's life predicted less memory declines, and this protective effect was similar in midlife and old age. We additionally observed that higher levels and maintenance of physical activity over 2 years, better pulmonary function, lower systolic blood pressure (SPB), lower hemoglobin A1c, and higher high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) also predicted less memory declines. Mediation analyses revealed that levels of, and 2-year changes in, physical activity, as well as levels of pulmonary function and hemoglobin A1c and HDL-C, each uniquely mediated control-memory change associations. Our findings illustrate that perceived control, physical activity, and indicators of physical fitness and cardiovascular and metabolic health moderate changes in memory, and add to the literature on antecedents of cognitive aging by conjointly targeting perceived control and some of its mediating factors. We discuss possible pathways underlying the role of control for memory change and consider future routes of inquiry to further our understanding of control-cognition associations in adulthood and old age.
感知控制在成年和老年期间保持认知能力方面起着重要作用。然而，人们对感知控制在认知的常见相关因素之外的作用，以及可能导致这种控制与认知关联的因素知之甚少。我们的研究考察了感知控制是否可以预测个体在随后 4 年内情景记忆变化的差异，并探讨了身体活动以及身体适应性、心血管和代谢健康的指标在控制与记忆关联中的中介作用。为此，我们使用了来自全国健康与退休研究（HRS；N=4177；年龄 30-97 岁；59%为女性）的纵向数据。我们的研究结果表明，感知到对自己生活的更多控制可以预测记忆衰退的减少，这种保护作用在中年和老年时期相似。我们还观察到，2 年内更高水平和维持的身体活动、更好的肺功能、更低的收缩压（SPB）、更低的血红蛋白 A1c 和更高的高密度脂蛋白胆固醇（HDL-C）也可以预测记忆衰退的减少。中介分析表明，身体活动的水平和 2 年变化，以及肺功能和血红蛋白 A1c 和 HDL-C 的水平，每个因素都独立地介导了控制与记忆变化的关联。我们的研究结果表明，感知控制、身体活动以及身体适应性、心血管和代谢健康的指标可以调节记忆的变化，并通过同时针对感知控制及其一些中介因素，为认知老化的前因研究增添了新的内容。我们讨论了控制对记忆变化的作用的潜在途径，并考虑了进一步研究成年和老年时期控制与认知关联的未来研究途径。
