ArticleBMJ (Clinical research ed.)2018
Intellectual engagement and cognitive ability in later life (the "use it or lose it" conjecture): longitudinal, prospective study.
Article in BMJ (Clinical research ed.), 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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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.
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Who cites it
28 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 97 citations in OpenAlex.
- Cognitive stimulation in the workplace, plasma proteins, and risk of dementia: three analyses of population cohort studies.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2021Pooled it
- The use of commercial computerised cognitive games in older adults: a meta-analysis.Scientific reports · 2020Pooled it
- A randomised controlled trial of physical activity and cognitive training in older adults: the PhABHeaD study.Trials · 2026Trial
- Job Satisfaction, Self-Rated Work Performance, and Precuneus Gray Matter Volume: An Exploratory Neuroimaging Study.Brain and behavior · 2026Article
- Harmonization of late-life participation in cognitively stimulating activities across four cohort studies of cognitive aging.Experimental gerontology · 2026Article
- Associations of Lifetime Cognitive Enrichment With Incident Alzheimer Disease Dementia, Cognitive Aging, and Cognitive Resilience.Neurology · 2026Article
- Is social connection the key to prevention? Educational attainment, incident dementia, and the role of later-life social engagement.Innovation in aging · 2026Article
- Lifestyle Drives Astroglial Plasticity Toward Cognitive Improvement: Roles of Physical Exercise, Environmental Enrichment, Diet, and Sleep.Molecular neurobiology · 2025Review
- Factors influencing healthcare workers' attitudes toward delayed retirement: a cross-sectional survey.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Psychosocial factors associated with perceived cognitive functioning in prostate cancer survivors: an exploratory cross-sectional analysis.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2025Article
- The Combination of Physical Activity and Cognitive Games is Associated With Better Cognitive Performance and Gray Matter Volume in Older Adults.International journal of geriatric psychiatry · 2025Article
- 2024 Alzheimer's disease facts and figures.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2024Article
- Social support and cognitive activity and their associations with incident cognitive impairment in cognitively normal older adults.BMC geriatrics · 2024Article
- Well-designed manufacturing work improves some cognitive abilities in individuals with cognitive impairments.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciences · 2024Article
- Occupational complexity of paid work and housework, and its impact on the cognitive performance in community dwelling older adults, preliminary results.Dementia & neuropsychologia · 2024Article
- Examination of potentially modifiable dementia risk factors across the adult life course: The Framingham Heart Study.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2023Article
- Working in old age in Mexico: Implications for Cognitive Functioning.Ageing and society · 2022Article
- Cognitive performance protects against Alzheimer's disease independently of educational attainment and intelligence.Molecular psychiatry · 2022Article
- Leisure-time sedentary behaviors are differentially associated with all-cause dementia regardless of engagement in physical activity.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2022Article
- Episodic Memory Performance Modifies the Strength of the Age-Brain Structure Relationship.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesTo examine the association between intellectual engagement and cognitive ability in later life, and determine whether the maintenance of intellectual engagement will offset age related cognitive decline.
designLongitudinal, prospective, observational study.
settingNon-clinical volunteers in late middle age (all born in 1936) living independently in northeast Scotland.
participantsSample of 498 volunteers who had taken part in the Scottish Mental Health Survey of 1947, from one birth year (1936).
main outcome measuresCognitive ability and trajectory of cognitive decline in later life. Typical intellectual engagement was measured by a questionnaire, and repeated cognitive measurements of information processing speed and verbal memory were obtained over a 15 year period (recording more than 1200 longitudinal data points for each cognitive test).
resultsIntellectual engagement was significantly associated with level of cognitive performance in later life, with each point on a 24 point scale accounting for 0.97 standardised cognitive performance (IQ-like) score, for processing speed and 0.71 points for memory (both P<0.05). Engagement in problem solving activities had the largest association with life course cognitive gains, with each point accounting for 0.43 standardised cognitive performance score, for processing speed and 0.36 points for memory (both P<0.05). However, engagement did not influence the trajectory of age related decline in cognitive performance. Engagement in intellectual stimulating activities was associated with early life ability, with correlations between engagement and childhood ability and education being 0.35 and 0.22, respectively (both P<0.01).
conclusionThese results show that self reported engagement is not associated with the trajectory of cognitive decline in late life, but is associated with the acquisition of ability during the life course. Overall, findings suggest that high performing adults engage and those that engage more being protected from relative decline.
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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.