ArticleBrain imaging and behavior2026
Dynamic neurocognitive adaptation: childhood and adult-midlife engagement associated with later-life brain structure and cognition in older adults with and without mild cognitive impairment.
Article in Brain imaging and behavior, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundResilience in aging—the capacity to maintain cognition and function despite neuropathology—has been described through cognitive reserve, brain reserve, and maintenance. The dynamic Neurocognitive Adaptation (dNA) framework expands these constructs by defining resilience as a lifelong process of adaptive engagement across cognitive, physical, creative, and social domains that shape neural integrity and cognitive outcomes over time.
methodsFifty-eight older adults (39 cognitively normal, 19 with mild cognitive impairment) completed neuropsychological testing, amyloid assessment, and structural MRI. The dNA scale quantified engagement across seven life-course time windows. Hierarchical multiple regressions examined domain- and time-specific associations between dNA scores and cortical thickness or regional volumes (FreeSurfer 7.3.2), controlling for age, sex, education, and diagnosis. Exploratory mediation and moderation models tested indirect and interaction effects of demographic and diagnostic factors.
resultsChildhood (Time Window 1) emerged as a sensitive period: higher cognitive engagement is associated with stronger semantic fluency, and physical engagement is linked to a better episodic learning. Creative and physical engagement during childhood related to larger anterior and posterior cingulate and temporal-pole volumes. In adulthood and midlife (Time Windows 3–5), greater engagement was associated with thicker right lateral orbitofrontal cortex and larger lingual volumes. No mediation or moderation by sex, education, or diagnosis was observed.
conclusionsChildhood and midlife emerge as sensitive periods linking multidomain engagement with later-life brain structure and cognition. The dNA framework provides a multidimensional, time-resolved model of resilience, illustrating how lifelong adaptive behaviors support neural integrity and cognitive health across aging and Alzheimer’s-disease risk.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.