Lenehan Megan E, Summers Mathew J, Saunders Nichole L, Summers Jeffery J, Ward David D, Ritchie Karen, Vickers James C
School of Medicine (Psychology), University of Tasmania.
School of Social Sciences, University of the Sunshine Coast.
Neuropsychology. 2016 Jul;30(5):525-31. doi: 10.1037/neu0000249. Epub 2015 Nov 16.
Increasing an individual's level of cognitive reserve (CR) has been suggested as a nonpharmacological approach to reducing the risk for Alzheimer's disease. We examined changes in CR in older adults participating over 4 years in the Tasmanian Healthy Brain Project.
A sample of 459 healthy older adults between 50 and 79 years of age underwent a comprehensive annual assessment of current CR, neuropsychological function, and psychosocial factors over a 4-year period. The intervention group of 359 older adults (M = 59.61 years, SD = 6.67) having completed a minimum of 12 months part-time university study were compared against a control reference group of 100 adults (M = 62.49 years, SD = 6.24) who did not engage in further education.
Growth mixture modeling demonstrated that 44.3% of the control sample showed no change in CR, whereas 92.5% of the further education participants displayed a significant linear increase in CR over the 4 years of the study. These results indicate that older adults engaging in high-level mental stimulation display an increase in CR over a 4-year period.
Increasing mental activity in older adulthood may be a viable strategy to improve cognitive function and offset cognitive decline associated with normal aging. (PsycINFO Database Record
提高个体的认知储备（CR）水平已被提议作为一种降低患阿尔茨海默病风险的非药物方法。我们研究了参与塔斯马尼亚健康大脑项目4年以上的老年人的认知储备变化。
对459名年龄在50至79岁之间的健康老年人进行了为期4年的年度综合评估，内容包括当前的认知储备、神经心理功能和社会心理因素。将完成至少12个月兼职大学学习的359名老年人（平均年龄M = 59.61岁，标准差SD = 6.67）干预组与未接受继续教育的100名成年人（平均年龄M = 62.49岁，标准差SD = 6.24）对照参考组进行比较。
生长混合模型显示，44.3%的对照组样本在认知储备方面没有变化，而92.5%的继续教育参与者在研究的4年中认知储备呈显著线性增加。这些结果表明，参与高水平精神刺激的老年人在4年期间认知储备增加。
在老年期增加精神活动可能是改善认知功能和抵消与正常衰老相关的认知衰退的可行策略。（PsycINFO数据库记录）
