Evidence map›Paper›PMID 27584668›Full record

ArticleDevelopmental psychology2017

Cognitive performance across the life course of Bolivian forager-farmers with limited schooling.

Michael Gurven, Eric Fuerstenberg, Benjamin Trumble, Jonathan Stieglitz, Bret Beheim, Helen Davis, Hillard Kaplan

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Developmental psychology, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
28citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

28 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Diverse mathematical knowledge among indigenous Amazonians.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023
    Pooled it
  2. Incidence of dementia and mild cognitive impairment in two Indigenous Bolivian cohorts.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2026
    Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Physical activity mediates age differences in cognition among Tsimane forager-horticulturalists.The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences · 2025
    Article
  6. Article
  7. The cultural construction of "executive function".Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025
    Article
  8. Poor Oral Health Is Associated With Inflammation, Aortic Valve Calcification, and Brain Volume Among Forager-Farmers.The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences · 2024
    Article
  9. Prevalence of dementia and mild cognitive impairment in indigenous Bolivian forager-horticulturalists.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2023
    Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Evolutionary Approaches in Aging Research.Cold Spring Harbor perspectives in medicine · 2022
    Review
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Education and Cognitive Functioning Across the Life Span.Psychological science in the public interest : a journal of the American Psychological Society · 2020
    Review
  18. Article
  19. Relationship of sanitation, water boiling, and mosquito nets to health biomarkers in a rural subsistence population.American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council · 2020
    Article
  20. Cognitive Aging and Dementia: A Life Span Perspective.Annual review of developmental psychology · 2019
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Michael GurvenDepartment of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara.
Eric FuerstenbergDepartment of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara.
Benjamin TrumbleDepartment of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara.
Jonathan StieglitzInstitute for Advanced Study in Toulouse.
Bret BeheimDepartment of Anthropology, University of New Mexico.
Helen DavisDepartment of Anthropology, University of Utah.
Hillard KaplanDepartment of Anthropology, University of New Mexico.

Funding

Brain atrophy, cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's in low CVD-risk populationRF1AG054442 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO · PI FINCH, CALEB E, GURVEN, MICHAEL DOUGLAS · 2017 to 2020
$8.8M
The Human Life Course and the Biodemography of AgingR01AG024119 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA BARBARA · PI GURVEN, MICHAEL DOUGLAS, KAPLAN, HILLARD S · 2004 to 2015
$7.4M
The Human Life Course and the Biodemography of AgingR56AG024119 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA BARBARA · PI GURVEN, MICHAEL DOUGLAS, KAPLAN, HILLARD S · 2009 to 2015
$1.0M
NIA NIH HHS R01 AG024119NIA NIH HHS R56 AG024119NIA NIH HHS RF1 AG054442
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Cognitive performance is characterized by at least two distinct life course trajectories. Many cognitive abilities (e.g., "effortful processing" abilities, including fluid reasoning and processing speed) improve throughout early adolescence and start declining in early adulthood, whereas other abilities (e.g., "crystallized" abilities like vocabulary breadth) improve throughout adult life, remaining robust even at late ages. Although schooling may impact performance and cognitive "reserve," it has been argued that these age patterns of cognitive performance are human universals. Here we examine age patterns of cognitive performance among Tsimane forager-horticulturalists of Bolivia and test whether schooling is related to differences in cognitive performance over the life course to assess models of active versus passive cognitive reserve. We used a battery of eight tasks to assess a range of latent cognitive traits reflecting attention, processing speed, verbal declarative memory, and semantic fluency (n = 919 individuals, 49.9% female). Tsimane cognitive abilities show similar age-related differences as observed in industrialized populations: higher throughout adolescence and only slightly lower in later adulthood for semantic fluency but substantially lower performance beginning in early adulthood for all other abilities. Schooling is associated with greater cognitive abilities at all ages controlling for sex but has no attenuating effect on cognitive performance in late adulthood, consistent with models of passive cognitive reserve. We interpret the minimal attenuation of semantic fluency late in life in light of evolutionary theories of postreproductive life span, which emphasize indirect fitness contributions of older adults through the transfer of information, labor, and food to descendant kin. (PsycINFO Database Record

Indexed as

CognitionEducational StatusAdolescentAdultAgedAged, 80 and overBoliviaChildCognitive AgingCross-Sectional StudiesFarmersFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedModels, Psychological

Identifiers

PMID27584668
PMCPMC5191915

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

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.