Department of Psychology, Lancaster University, Lancaster, United Kingdom.
PLoS One. 2023 Apr 20;18(4):e0280566. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0280566. eCollection 2023.
Lifetime experiences and lifestyle, such as education and engaging in leisure activities, contribute to cognitive reserve (CR), which delays the onset of age-related cognitive decline. Word-finding difficulties have been identified as the most prominent cognitive problem in older age. Whether CR mitigates age-related word-finding difficulties is currently unknown. Using picture-naming and verbal fluency tasks, this online study aimed to investigate the effect of CR on word-finding ability in younger, middle-aged, and older adults. All participants were right-handed, monolingual speakers of British English. CR for both the period preceding and coinciding with the COVID-19 pandemic was measured through years of education and questionnaires concerning the frequency of engagement in cognitive, leisure, and physical activities. Linear mixed-effect models demonstrated that older adults were less accurate at action and object naming than middle-aged and younger adults. Higher CR in middle age predicted higher accuracies for action and object naming. Hence, high CR might not only be beneficial in older age, but also in middle age. This benefit will depend on multiple factors: the underlying cognitive processes, individual general cognitive processing abilities, and whether task demands are high. Moreover, younger and middle-aged adults displayed faster object naming compared to older adults. There were no differences between CR scores for the period preceding and coinciding with the pandemic. However, the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on CR and, subsequently, on word-finding ability might only become apparent in the long term. This article discusses the implications of CR in healthy ageing as well as suggestions for conducting language production studies online.
生活经历和生活方式，如教育和参与休闲活动，有助于认知储备（CR），从而延缓与年龄相关的认知能力下降的发生。在老年时，单词查找困难已被确定为最突出的认知问题。CR 是否可以减轻与年龄相关的单词查找困难目前尚不清楚。本在线研究使用图片命名和言语流畅性任务，旨在调查 CR 对年轻、中年和老年人单词查找能力的影响。所有参与者均为惯用右手、以英语为母语的英国人群体。在 COVID-19 大流行之前和期间，通过受教育年限和参与认知、休闲和体育活动的频率问卷来衡量 CR。线性混合效应模型表明，与中年和年轻人相比，老年人在动作和物体命名方面的准确性较低。中年时期较高的 CR 预测了动作和物体命名的更高准确性。因此，高 CR 不仅在老年时有益，而且在中年时也有益。这种益处将取决于多种因素：潜在的认知过程、个体的一般认知处理能力以及任务需求是否很高。此外，年轻人和中年人在物体命名方面比老年人更快。在大流行之前和期间的 CR 分数之间没有差异。但是，COVID-19 大流行对 CR 以及随后对单词查找能力的影响可能仅在长期内才会显现。本文讨论了 CR 在健康老龄化中的意义，以及在线进行语言产生研究的建议。
