School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK.
BMJ Open. 2024 Aug 19;14(8):e083968. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2024-083968.
Information processing speed (IPS) has been proposed to be a key component in healthy ageing and cognitive functioning. Yet, current studies lack a consistent definition and specific influential characteristics. This study aimed to investigate IPS as a multifaceted concept by differentiating cognitive and motor IPS.
DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: A retrospective data analysis using data from the Medical Research Council National Survey of Health and Development (a population-based cohort of UK adults born in 1946) at childhood (ages 8, 11 and 15) and adulthood (ages 60-64 and 68-70). Using structural equation modelling, we constructed two models of IPS with 2124 and 1776 participants, respectively.
Measures of interest included IPS (ie, letter cancellation, simple and choice reaction time), intelligence (ie, childhood intelligence and National Adult Reading Test), verbal memory, socioeconomic status (SES) and cognitive functions measured by the Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination III, as well as a variety of health indexes.
We found distinct predictors for cognitive and motor IPS and how they relate to other cognitive functions in old age. In our first model, SES and antipsychotic medication usage emerged as significant predictors for cognitive IPS, intelligence and smoking as predictors for motor IPS while both share sex, memory and antiepileptic medication usage as common predictors. Notably, all differences between both IPS types ran in the same direction except for sex differences, with women performing better than men in cognitive IPS and vice versa in motor IPS. The second model showed that both IPS measures, as well as intelligence, memory, antipsychotic and sedative medication usage, explain cognitive functions later in life.
Taken together, these results shed further light on IPS as a whole by showing there are distinct types and that these measures directly relate to other cognitive functions.
信息处理速度（IPS）被认为是健康衰老和认知功能的关键组成部分。然而，目前的研究缺乏一致的定义和特定的影响特征。本研究旨在通过区分认知和运动 IPS 来探究 IPS 作为一个多方面的概念。
设计、设置和参与者：使用来自英国医学研究理事会国民健康与发展调查（1946 年出生的英国成年人的一项基于人群的队列研究）在儿童期（8、11 和 15 岁）和成年期（60-64 岁和 68-70 岁）的数据进行回顾性数据分析。使用结构方程模型，我们分别构建了包含 2124 名和 1776 名参与者的 IPS 两个模型。
我们发现了认知 IPS 和运动 IPS 的不同预测因素，以及它们与老年时其他认知功能的关系。在我们的第一个模型中，社会经济地位（SES）和抗精神病药物的使用成为认知 IPS 的显著预测因素，智力和吸烟成为运动 IPS 的预测因素，而两者都共享性别、记忆和抗癫痫药物的使用作为共同的预测因素。值得注意的是，两种 IPS 类型之间的所有差异都朝着相同的方向发展，除了性别差异，认知 IPS 中女性的表现优于男性，而运动 IPS 中则相反。第二个模型表明，两种 IPS 测量值以及智力、记忆、抗精神病药物和镇静药物的使用都可以解释晚年的认知功能。
综上所述，这些结果通过显示存在不同类型的 IPS 并且这些测量值直接与其他认知功能相关，进一步阐明了 IPS 作为一个整体的概念。
