ArticleFrontiers in aging neuroscience2016
The Busier the Better: Greater Busyness Is Associated with Better Cognition.
Article in Frontiers in aging neuroscience, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 13 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- The Well-Being of the Elderly: Memory and Aging.Frontiers in psychology · 2020Pooled it
- Behavioral and Biochemical Evaluation of a Curcumin-Loaded Nano-Liposomal Formulation in a Scopolamine-Induced Mouse Model of Cognitive Impairment.Biomolecules & therapeutics · 2026Article
- Cognitive and gray matter volume predictors of learning across two types of casual video games in older Adults: Action vs Strategy.Aging brain · 2024Article
- The Roles of Busyness and Daily Routine in Medication Management Behaviors Among Older Adults.Journal of applied gerontology : the official journal of the Southern Gerontological Society · 2022Article
- Cognitive and structural predictors of novel task learning, and contextual predictors of time series of daily task performance during the learning period.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2022Article
- Busyness, mental engagement, and stress: Relationships to neurocognitive aging and behavior.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2022Review
- Subtle Signals of Status on Social Network Sites: Evidence From China.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Article
- Cognitive trajectories and spectrum of neuropathology in SuperAgers: The first 10 cases.Hippocampus · 2019Article
- Young-Old City-Dwellers Outperform Village Counterparts in Attention and Verbal Control Tasks.Frontiers in psychology · 2019Article
- The effects of bedtime writing on difficulty falling asleep: A polysomnographic study comparing to-do lists and completed activity lists.Journal of experimental psychology. General · 2018Article
- Age-Related Biomarkers in LLFS Families With Exceptional Cognitive Abilities.The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences · 2017Article
- A general neurologist's perspective on the urgent need to apply resilience thinking to the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer's disease.Alzheimer's & dementia (New York, N. Y.) · 2017Review
- What makes us busy? Predictors of perceived busyness across the adult lifespan.The Journal of general psychologyArticle
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Sustained engagement in mentally challenging activities has been shown to improve memory in older adults. We hypothesized that a busy schedule would be a proxy for an engaged lifestyle and would facilitate cognition. Here, we examined the relationship between busyness and cognition in adults aged 50-89. Participants (N = 330) from the Dallas Lifespan Brain Study (DLBS) completed a cognitive battery and the Martin and Park Environmental Demands Questionnaire (MPED), an assessment of busyness. Results revealed that greater busyness was associated with better processing speed, working memory, episodic memory, reasoning, and crystallized knowledge. Hierarchical regressions also showed that, after controlling for age and education, busyness accounted for significant additional variance in all cognitive constructs-especially episodic memory. Finally, an interaction between age and busyness was not present while predicting cognitive performance, suggesting that busyness was similarly beneficial in adults aged 50-89. Although correlational, these data demonstrate that living a busy lifestyle is associated with better cognition.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.