State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
Laboratory of Neuropsychology, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
Aging Ment Health. 2021 Jul;25(7):1224-1231. doi: 10.1080/13607863.2020.1749832. Epub 2020 May 2.
Perceived loneliness has implications in both cognitive and affective domains. High loneliness is considered to be a major risk factor for major depressive disorder. Loneliness is also associated with impaired executive control functioning (ECF) including multiple cognitive subdomains, such as working memory, planning, response inhibition, and attention control. However, little knowledge exists as to whether perceived loneliness is associated with impaired functioning of specific ECF components. The relationship between perceived loneliness and the latent dimensions capturing multiple measures across different ECF paradigms has not been established. In this study, we first investigated the latent dimensions of ECF processes across a comprehensive range of paradigms using exploratory factor analysis. We then examined the association of perceived loneliness and the resulted ECF components in older adults while simultaneously controlling for other demographic and affective measures. Four components emerged from the factor analysis: social cognition and processing speed, planning and working memory, selective, divided attention and inhibition control, and sustained attention and motor inhibition. We observed that the second ECF component, planning and working memory, was a significant predictor of perceived loneliness even after controlling for depressive characteristics measured by the Geriatric Depression Scale. Our findings have potential clinical significance in the older population, by showing that planning and working memory functions may predict perceived loneliness, which is also associated with higher risk for major depression. Thus, older individuals who have lower planning and working memory functions may be specifically targeted for possible early prevention of chronic loneliness and depression.
孤独感在认知和情感领域都有影响。高度孤独被认为是重度抑郁症的一个主要风险因素。孤独感也与执行控制功能（ECF）受损有关，包括多个认知子领域，如工作记忆、计划、反应抑制和注意力控制。然而，对于孤独感是否与特定的 ECF 成分的功能受损有关，我们知之甚少。孤独感与跨不同 ECF 范式捕捉多个测量指标的潜在维度之间的关系尚未建立。在这项研究中，我们首先使用探索性因素分析研究了跨一系列综合范式的 ECF 过程的潜在维度。然后，我们在同时控制其他人口统计学和情感测量的情况下，检查了孤独感与老年人 ECF 成分的关联。因子分析得出了四个成分：社会认知和处理速度、计划和工作记忆、选择性、分散注意力和抑制控制以及持续注意力和运动抑制。我们观察到，第二个 ECF 成分，即计划和工作记忆，是孤独感的一个显著预测因素，即使在控制了老年抑郁量表测量的抑郁特征后也是如此。我们的研究结果在老年人群中具有潜在的临床意义，表明计划和工作记忆功能可能预测孤独感，而孤独感也与更高的重度抑郁症风险相关。因此，计划和工作记忆功能较低的老年人可能会成为慢性孤独和抑郁的早期预防的特定目标人群。
