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Cognitive function is a vital component of healthy aging. However, whether a persistently high optimism benefits late-life cognitive function is debatable. The current study examined associations between high optimism status, perceived generativity, and cognitive functions across adulthood. Data were from waves 2 and 3 (2004–14) of the Midlife in the United States study. We used structural equation modeling to examine whether participants' (N = 2,205; Mage = 65 ± 11) persistent high optimism predicts better cognitive functions over time, compared to high optimism at only one time-point or not at all while controlling for covariates; we also examined whether individuals' perceived generativity mediates the above association. The findings revealed that persistent high optimism was significantly associated with better episodic memory and executive function. Further, perceived generativity positively mediated the association between persistent high optimism and episodic memory. Future research should examine mechanisms for potential aspects of high optimism and perceived generativity on late-life cognitive performances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although it is well established that moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) buffers against declines in cognitive health, less is known about the benefits of light physical activity (LPA). Research on the role of LPA is crucial to advancing behavioral interventions to improve late life health outcomes, including cognitive functioning, because this form of physical activity remains more feasible and amenable to change in old age. Our study examined the extent to which increases in LPA frequency protected against longitudinal declines in cognitive functioning and whether such a relationship becomes pronounced in old age when opportunities for MVPA are typically reduced. We analyzed 9-year data from the national Midlife in the United States Study (n = 2,229; Mage = 56 years, range = 33–83; 56% female) using autoregressive models that assessed whether change in LPA frequency predicted corresponding changes in episodic memory and executive functioning in middle and later adulthood. Increases in LPA frequency predicted less decline in episodic memory (β = 0.06, p =.004) and executive functioning (β = 0.14, p <.001) over the 9-year follow-up period, even when controlling for moderate and vigorous physical activity. Effect sizes for moderate and vigorous physical activity were less than half that observed for LPA. Moderation models showed that, for episodic memory, the benefits of increases in LPA frequency were more pronounced at older ages. Findings suggest that increases in LPA over extended periods of time may help slow age-related cognitive declines, particularly in later life when opportunities for MVPA are often diminished. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intentional forgetting of unwanted information is a crucial cognitive function that is often studied with directed forgetting (DF) procedure, whereby cuing some study materials with Forget (F) instruction impairs their memory compared to cuing with Remember (R) instruction. This study investigates how the nature of information (verbal or pictorial), its semantic significance (meaningful or meaningless), and the degree of prior episodic familiarity influence DF. Before the DF phase, stimuli were familiarised by pre-exposing them 0, 2, or 6 times in a prior preview phase. Finally, memory for all items was assessed with old/new recognition test. Experiment 1 employed words, Experiment 2 utilised fractal images, Experiment 3 featured both meaningful and meaningless object images, and Experiment 4 used words and nonwords. Our results indicate that materials that produced better memory performance are not always harder to intentionally forget. Previewed items showed reduced DF compared to non-previewed items regardless of the nature of information, and meaningless stimuli are challenging to intentionally forget regardless of their degrees of familiarisation unless they are meaningless verbal materials. Collectively, the results highlight the importance of joint consideration of the stimulus format, its meaningfulness, and its episodic familiarity in understanding conditions that interact with intentional forgetting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Narrative identity – how individuals narrate their lived and remembered past – is usually assessed via independent rater coding, but new methods relying on self-report have been introduced. To test the assumption that different methods assess aspects of the same underlying construct, studies measuring similar components of narrative identity with different methods are needed. However, such studies are surprisingly rare. To begin to fill this gap, the present study compared the narrative variables, temporal coherence, causal coherence, and thematic coherence, measured via rater coding of participants' self-generated narratives of the remembered past and via subscales of the self-report measure Awareness of Narrative Identity Questionnaire (ANIQ). The results showed that the ANIQ subscales did not correlate significantly with their corresponding rater-coded dimension, and that the ANIQ subscales were generally unrelated to the other rater-coded dimensions. Furthermore, an exploratory factor analysis demonstrated that the ANIQ subscales loaded together on a factor that did not include any rater-coded variables. The findings suggest that the narrative variables share little empirical overlap when assessed via the ANIQ and rater coding of self-generated narratives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dementia affects multiple aspects of cognitive functioning, including working memory and executive functioning. Memory self-efficacy (MSE) has previously been related to episodic memory performance and to executive functioning, but little research has examined the relations between MSE and working memory. United States older adults (N = 197) were recruited via MTurk to complete an MSE questionnaire before completing a digit span working memory task. Hierarchical regression results revealed that the model accounted for a significant amount of variance in working memory performance after statistically controlling for several covariates, F(11, 179) = 4.94, p <.001, adjusted R2 =.19. MSE explained a large and unique portion of variance (B = 1.02, SE = 0.17, p <.001). Based on our findings, one's beliefs about their memory are positively associated with their working memory performance. These novel findings provide support for neuropsychologists to consider using MSE measures and utilizing MSE interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives Mounting evidence suggests that the protective effects of one's own higher socioeconomic status (SES) on health are diminished among minoritized racial/ethnic groups in the United States. This study extends this area of research to childhood SES and cognition in middle and later life, focusing on the protective effects of higher parental education among non-Hispanic Black and White adults. Methods Harmonizing data from individuals ages 50 and older across the Health and Retirement Study, the Study of Midlife in the United States, and the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project, we examine whether associations between parental education and two measures of cognition (episodic memory and global cognition) are moderated by racialized identity (non-Hispanic White or Black) using a random-effects individual participant data meta-analysis approach. Results Findings indicated a small, but robust, protective effect of higher parental education on both episodic memory and global cognition among adults identified as White. Among adults identified as Black, there was no association between parental education and either cognitive outcome. Discussion This study provides evidence that the protective effect of higher parental education on cognition is not the same across racialized populations, consistent with the theory of Minority Diminished Returns. As scholars continue calls for life-course-oriented efforts to reduce racialized cognitive disparities, it is important to consider early-life risk and protective factors in the context of racism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have been associated with worse cognitive health in older adulthood. This study aimed to extend findings on the specificity, persistence, and pathways of associations between two ACEs and cognition by using a comprehensive neuropsychological battery and a time-lagged mediation design. Method: Participants were 3304 older adults in the Health and Retirement Study Harmonized Cognitive Assessment Protocol. Participants retrospectively reported whether they were exposed to parental substance abuse or experienced parental physical abuse before age 18. Factor scores derived from a battery of 13 neuropsychological tests indexed cognitive domains of episodic memory, executive functioning, processing speed, language, and visuospatial function. Structural equation models examined self-reported years of education and stroke as mediators, controlling for sociodemographics and childhood socioeconomic status. Results: Parental substance abuse in childhood was associated with worse later-life cognitive function across all domains, in part via pathways involving educational attainment and stroke. Parental physical abuse was associated with worse cognitive outcomes via stroke independent of education. Conclusions: This national longitudinal study in the United States provides evidence for broad and persistent indirect associations between two ACEs and cognitive aging via differential pathways involving educational attainment and stroke. Future research should examine additional ACEs and mechanisms as well as moderators of these associations to better understand points of intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flashbulb memories (FBMs) refer to vivid and long-lasting autobiographical memories for the circumstances in which people learned of a shocking and consequential public event. A cross-national study across eleven countries aimed to investigate FBM formation following the first COVID-19 case news in each country and test the effect of pandemic-related variables on FBM. Participants had detailed memories of the date and others present when they heard the news, and had partially detailed memories of the place, activity, and news source. China had the highest FBM specificity. All countries considered the COVID-19 emergency as highly significant at both the individual and global level. The Classification and Regression Tree Analysis revealed that FBM specificity might be influenced by participants' age, subjective severity (assessment of COVID-19 impact in each country and relative to others), residing in an area with stringent COVID-19 protection measures, and expecting the pandemic effects. Hierarchical regression models demonstrated that age and subjective severity negatively predicted FBM specificity, whereas sex, pandemic impact expectedness, and rehearsal showed positive associations in the total sample. Subjective severity negatively affected FBM specificity in Turkey, whereas pandemic impact expectedness positively influenced FBM specificity in China and negatively in Denmark. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cognitive function is an important component of healthy ageing. However, it is unclear whether relaxation/meditation practices provide cognitive benefits, particularly in midlife and early late life. Meditative practices are associated with higher self‐esteem, and self‐esteem serves as a general protective factor for many health outcomes. The current study examines associations between meditation practice, self‐esteem, and change over 10 years in midlife cognitive performance. Methods: Data were from waves 2 (2003–2004) and 3 (2013–2014) of the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study. We used structural equation modelling to examine whether persistent meditation practice at both waves or episodic practice at one wave is associated with better cognitive function over 10 years, compared to no meditation practice, while controlling for prior cognitive function and covariates (baseline socio‐demographics, health, and functional status). Additionally, we assessed if self‐esteem mediates the above associations. Results: We included 2168 individuals (Mage = 65 ± 11). After controlling for covariates, the findings revealed that persistent meditation practice in both waves was associated with significantly less decline in episodic memory; however, no such effects were found for executive function. Further, although participants' higher self‐esteem was significantly associated with less decline in executive function and episodic memory, it did not mediate the associations between meditation practice and cognitive functions. Conclusions: While both persistent meditation practice and self‐esteem have associations with cognitive outcomes for middle‐aged and older adults in MIDUS, self‐esteem as a mediator was not supported. Thus, future investigations should examine mechanisms that underlie these protective factors on cognitive performances across adulthood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives Although chronic stress is a risk factor for poor age-related cognitive health, there is limited research that has examined how cumulative stress across the lifespan affects cognitive aging. There may also be resilience factors that minimize the effects of cumulative stress on cognitive health. Engaging in a healthy lifestyle is protective against cognitive decline and may therefore interact with cumulative stress to buffer the stress–cognition relationship. The objective of the current study was to examine the moderating role of a healthy lifestyle, comprised of physical activity, social engagement, and sleep quality, in the relationship between cumulative stress exposure (CSE) and baseline and change in cognitive performance (global cognition, episodic memory, executive function) over 9 years among 1,297 older adults in the Midlife in the United States cohort (M age = 69.0 ± 6.4, 57.8% female). Methods CSE and healthy lifestyle behaviors were indexed using self-reported questionnaires at baseline, and cognitive function was assessed using a battery of standardized neuropsychological tests at baseline and follow-up. Results Controlling for age, sex, education, race, marital status, employment status, hypertension, diabetes, and depression, higher CSE was associated with poorer baseline performance and slower decline over time in global cognition and executive function, but not episodic memory. A healthy lifestyle did not significantly moderate the relationship between cumulative stress and cognitive function. Exploratory analyses showed a significant cumulative stress–cognition relationship among females only. Discussion This study lends support for a lifespan model of cognitive aging and suggests that the cognitive health consequences of stress extend beyond immediate timescales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. We evaluated the association of household food insecurity (FI) with cognition in youth and young adults with type 1 diabetes (T1D) or type 2 diabetes (T2D). Design. In this cross-sectional study, age-adjusted scores for composite fluid cognition, and sub-domain scores for receptive language and inhibitory control and attention, were stratified by diabetes type using linear regression, with FI in the past year as the predictor, controlling for covariates. Tests for processing speed, inhibitory control/attention, working memory, episodic memory, and cognitive flexibility were administered to measure the composite fluid cognition score. The NIHT-CB Picture Vocabulary Test was used to assess the crystallized cognition score, and rapid identification of congruent versus noncongruent items was used to assess inhibitory control and attention score. Setting. The SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth study is representative of five U.S. states. Participants. Included 1,574 youth and young adults with T1D or T2D, mean age of 21 years, mean diabetes duration of 11 years, 51% were non-Hispanic white, and 47% had higher HbA1c levels (>9% HbA1c). Results. Approximately 18% of the 1,240 participants with T1D and 31% of the 334 with T2D experienced FI. The food-insecure group with T1D had a lower composite fluid cognition score (β = −2.5, 95% confidence interval (CI) = −4.8, −0.1) and a lower crystallized cognition score (β = −3.4, CI = −5.6, −1.3) than food-secure peers. Findings were attenuated to non-significance after adjustment for demographics. Among T2D participants, no associations were observed. In participants with T1D, effect modification by glycemic levels was found in the association between FI and composite fluid cognition score but adjustment for socioeconomic characteristics attenuated the interaction (p = 0.0531). Conclusions. Food-insecure youth and young adults with T1D or T2D did not have different cognition compared to those who were food-secure after adjustment for confounders. Longitudinal research is needed to further understand relations amongst these factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives The objective of this study was to examine associations between music engagement and episodic memory for more than 12 years in a nationally representative sample of middle- and older-aged adults in the United States. Methods This study is based on a secondary analysis of data from a sample (N = 5,021) of cognitively normal adults from the Health and Retirement Study (2006–2018). Episodic memory was measured by immediate and delayed recall tasks. Music engagement was classified as none, passive (i.e. listening to music), active (i.e. singing and/or playing an instrument), or both (i.e. listening to music and singing or playing an instrument). Results Compared with those with no music engagement, respondents who reported both passive and active engagement performed 0.258 points better at baseline on episodic memory tasks. This group also performed better across time with scores that declined by 0.043 points fewer per study visit. Additionally, compared to those with no music engagement, participants with passive music engagement had scores that declined by 0.023 points fewer per visit. There were no significant differences in performance at baseline for those with passive or active music engagement, or across time for those with active engagement. Discussion The results of this study suggest that engaging in both passive and active music engagement may be superior to engaging with music only passively or actively and that engaging in music both ways may be able to protect against age-related declines in episodic memory. Future research should examine whether community-based music engagement interventions can affect this trajectory of decline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the cultural memory of the Armenian genocide archived, to a major extent, in non-digitized form. In the initial decades following the genocide, the memory of the crimes committed against Armenians in 1915 was almost non-existent in the public space of America. Monuments, demonstrations, state, and international resolutions, and other instruments of memorialization did not materialize until the 1960s when, as a result of worldwide Armenian mobilization ahead of the 50th anniversary, traces of genocide remembrance were gradually brought to life. Analyzing two Armenian newspapers from the United States – Hairenik Weekly (HW) and The Armenian Mirror-Spectator (AMS) – this paper reveals how Armenians recollected the genocide in the decades preceding the emergence of subsequent lieux de mémoire. What evoked their memories before 1965? And how did narratives change over time, eventually leading to the "exteriorization of Armenian memory"? The case of the Armenian genocide shows that memories of a traumatic event can quickly penetrate the cultural sphere, but remain closed for longer in the narrow framework of a specific community. This had consequences, including an almost complete lack of representation of the genocide in the public domain – one that would be designed by Armenians for non-Armenians. The process of meaning-making (traced through editorials from the two Armenian-American newspapers) influenced a gradual bridging of the representation gap in the American public space, beginning in 1965. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Research suggests that the death of a spouse has an adverse effect on a widow(er)'s cognition. However, little research has examined how the marital context before widowhood and gender influence this association. Guided by the social ambivalence and disease (SAD) model, this study examined the associations between spousal loss and cognition , with moderating effects of gender and pre-loss marital quality. Method: We analyzed a national longitudinal data, Midlife in the United States (MIDUS), specifically MIDUS 2 (2004-2005) and MIDUS 3 (2013-2014). The analytic sample consisted of (1) 146 participants who experienced the death of their spouse between MIDUS 2 and MIDUS 3 and (2) 144 age- and gender-matched comparison participants who did not lose their spouse during the period. Results: Adverse influence of widowhood on cognition was more pronounced among bereaved men than bereaved women. Widowed individuals whose relationships with their deceased spouse were ambivalent had poorer cognition than widowed individuals who had aversive relationships with their deceased spouse. Conclusion: Findings suggest that the influence of spousal death on cognitive functioning depends on gender and pre-loss marital quality, emphasizing the importance of considering pre-loss marital relationship and gender dynamics in developing efficient interventions for the widowed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People from the same country often hold shared, culturally-shaped memories about important events from that country's history, known as collective memories. Although empirical research has started to shed light on the properties of these memories, none has systematically examined the functions these memories. To what extent do collective memories serve functions? We hypothesised that collective memories serve functions for a collective similar to those that autobiographical memories serve for individuals—directive, identity, and social functions. We conducted two experiments using adapted versions of the Thinking About Life Experiences questionnaire (TALE) in which we asked people to rate the functions of their collective memories. Across both experiments, we found evidence that collective memories serve directive, identity, and social functions for the collective. These results suggest collective memories perform important roles in their collectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to assess the relationship between adult children's education and older parents' cognitive health, and the extent to which this relationship is moderated by parents' own socio-economic and marital statuses. Data using Waves 5 (2000) to 13 (2016) are drawn from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a nationally representative panel survey of individuals age 50 and above in the United States of America (USA). Older parents' cognitive functioning is measured using episodic memory from Waves 5–13. Adult children's education is measured using years of schooling, on average, for all adult children of a respondent. Analyses based on multilevel linear growth curve modelling reveal that parents with well-educated adult children report higher memory score over time compared to their counterparts whose children are not as well-educated. We also find that the positive effect of children's education on parents' cognitive health is moderated by parents' own education, though not by their income, occupation or marital status. Our work contributes to the growing body of research on the 'upward' flow of resources model that assesses the ways in which personal and social assets of the younger generation shape the health and wellbeing of the older generation. Our findings are particularly relevant to the USA given the enduring linkage between socio-economic status and health, and the limited social and economic protection for those of lower social status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective This study aimed to investigate the relationships between trajectories of change in self-reported hearing over eight years with subsequent effects on cognition, measured using episodic memory. Methods Data were drawn from 5 waves (2008–2016) of the English Longitudinal Study of England (ELSA) and the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), involving 4,875 individuals aged 50+ at the baseline in ELSA and 6,365 in HRS. The latent growth curve modelling was used to identify trajectories of hearing over eight years, and linear regression models were performed to investigate the relationship between hearing trajectory memberships and episodic memory scores, controlling for confounding factors. Results Five trajectories of hearing (stable very good, stable fair, poor to fair/good, good to fair, and very good to good) were retained in each study. Individuals whose hearing remains suboptimal and those whose hearing deteriorates within suboptimal levels throughout eight years have significantly poorer episodic memory scores at follow-up than those with stable very good hearing. Conversely, individuals whose hearing declines but is within an optimal category at baseline do not see significantly poorer episodic memory scores than those with consistently optimal hearing. There was no significant relationship between individuals whose hearing improved from suboptimal baseline levels to optimal by follow-up and memory in ELSA. However, analysis using HRS data shows a significant improvement for this trajectory group (−1.260, P  < 0.001). Conclusions Either stable fair or deterioration in hearing is associated with worse cognitive function, both stable good or improving hearing is associated with better cognitive function specifically episodic memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated how people think about their personal life and their country by testing how participants in the U.S. and China think about personal and collective events in the past and future. Using a fluency task, we replicated prior research in showing that participants in the U.S. had a positivity bias toward their personal future and a negativity bias toward their country's future. In contrast, participants in China did not display a positivity or negativity bias toward either their personal or collective future. This result suggests that the valence dissociation between personal and collective future thinking is not universal. Additionally, when people considered the past in addition to the future, they displayed similar valence patterns for both temporal periods, providing evidence that people think about the past and the future similarly. We suggest political and cultural differences (such as dialectical thought) as potential explanations for the differences between countries in future thinking and memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies on episodic future thinking (the capacity to simulate possible experiences in one's personal future) have ignored future thinking that extends beyond death. We here examined personal afterlife projections in comparison with autobiographical memories and future projections in Thai (Study 1) and American (Study 2) samples. Participants reported all three types of events and rated their characteristics. In both studies, the characteristics of afterlife events were rated lower than those of memories and future events. Participants who believed in the afterlife generally rated afterlife events higher than non-believers and those who were uncertain, although this effect was most pronounced in Study 2. The content of afterlife events followed religious beliefs in the afterlife, and the majority of afterlife events were expected to take place immediately after death. The findings show that afterlife thoughts demonstrate characteristics that are comparable to memories and episodic future thoughts, and are shaped by religious beliefs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes an archive consisting of literary memories obtained via interviews from one hundred contemporary readers of literature, sourced from a college town in the United States. The memories were summarized and studied in order to establish what readers tend to remember as important and/or impressive in their everyday reading of literature. The summaries include both quantitative and qualitative data, which are presented in brief extracts (tables) referring to facts such as recall of textual elements, circumstances of reading, and most remembered texts and authors. Characteristics of non-professional readers and their readings are thus observed according to three distinct sources of information: (a) the type of text they preferred; (b) the context of their reading; (c) the textual elements they found most memorable. All of these are considered in turn, including more specific discussion on topics of attachments to texts; the role of “classics”; and the readers’ paracanon. The study concludes with three main findings: (1) the participating American readers are shown to have rich and diverse memories of literary works, (2) which usually consist of coherent mental representations of the texts accompanied by some sort of episodic memory attaching them to their lived experience, (3) and these representations mostly involve unusual and incongruous characters and plot occurrences set against the ground of narrative content, which might imply that literature is used as a form of simulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives To examine whether racial disparities are narrowing or widening with historical time among U.S. middle-aged and older adults, and test the extent to which educational attainment moderates racial disparities over historical time. Methods Multilevel models were applied to longitudinal data on middle-aged (ages 40–65) and older adults (ages 66 and older) from the Health and Retirement Study. Historical change was indexed as cohort or birth year. The outcomes of focus were depressive symptoms, episodic memory, health conditions, functional limitations, and self-rated health. Results Results revealed a differential pattern of racial disparities in historical change between midlife and old age. Across midlife and old age, on average, Blacks and Hispanics reported poorer levels of mental and physical health, compared with Whites. In midlife, racial disparities narrowed with historical time; later-born cohorts of Hispanics but not Whites reported fewer depressive symptoms than their earlier-born peers. Likewise, historical improvements in health were stronger among Hispanics and Blacks than Whites. Conversely, in old age, later-born cohorts across race consistently showed historical improvements in each of the outcomes examined. Regarding educational attainment, we observed little consistent evidence that health-promoting effects of educational attainment differ across race and cohort. Examining questions about heterogeneity, results revealed that in midlife and old age there was greater heterogeneity between race across each of the outcomes. Discussion Our discussion elaborates on reasons behind the documented racial differences in historical changes among U.S. middle-aged and older adults, and how the protective role of education is changing over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives While personal growth has been found to be associated with multiple aspects of health in adulthood, its associations with cognitive functioning have not been fully understood. The present study aimed to assess both directions of such longitudinal associations. Method Using data from the second wave (Time 1 [T1]) and third wave (Time 2 [T2]) of the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study (N = 4,206; mean age = 56.0 [standard deviation (SD) = 12.3]), a longitudinal measurement model containing latent variables of episodic memory and executive function was first constructed. Built on the measurement model, a cross-lagged panel model was analyzed to assess relationships between personal growth and the two areas of cognitive functioning, in which T1 personal growth predicted residualized changes in episodic memory and executive function, and T1 episodic memory and executive function predicted change in personal growth, controlling for covariates. Results T1 personal growth significantly predicted smaller decreases in episodic memory, whereas it did not predict change in executive function. T1 episodic memory, but not T1 executive function, significantly predicted smaller decreases in personal growth. Discussion The present findings were unique, particularly implying potential longitudinal reciprocity between personal growth and episodic memory. These findings and implications can inform future research aimed at exploring approaches to promoting personal growth and cognitive functioning among aging adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examine the association between glycemic control and cognition. Included subjects 2=60years who participated in the 2013 to 2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and completed one of the followings: Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease Word List (CERAD-WL), Animal Fluency (AF), Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST), and CERAD-Delayed Recall (CERAD-DR). Stratified participants into: No type 2 diabetes (T2[); N =557), Controlled T2D (N=41), Uncontrolled T2D (N= 120), and Untreated T2D (N=86). Multiple regression was used to examine the association between variables. After adjusting for demographics and cardiovascular risk factors, Uncontrolled T2D was associated with lower DSST (β= -3.164, p=.04), and Untreated T2D was associated with a trend for having lower CERAD-DR (β= -.496, p =.06) scores. T2D, independent of glycemic control, is associated with cognitive impairment and this relationship is influenced by modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives Although education is a key determinant of cognitive function, its role in determining Black–White disparities in cognitive function is unclear. This may be due, in part, to data limitations that have made it difficult to account for systemic educational inequities in the Jim Crow South experienced by older cohorts, including differences in the number of days Black students attended school compared to their White counterparts or Black peers in better-funded southern states. We determine if accounting for differential rates of school attendance across race, years, and states in the Jim Crow South better illuminates Black–White disparities in trajectories of cognitive function. Methods We linked historical state-level data on school attendance from the 1919/1920 to 1953/1954 Biennial Surveys of Education to the Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative, longitudinal study of U.S. adults older than age 50. We restricted our sample to Black and White older adults who attended school in the Jim Crow South and began primary school in/after 1919/1920 and completed primary/secondary school by 1953/1954 (n = 4,343). We used linear mixed models to estimate trajectories of total cognitive function, episodic memory, and working memory. Results Self-reported years of schooling explained 28%–33% of the Black–White disparity in level of cognitive function, episodic memory, and working memory. Duration of school, a measure that accounted for differential rates of school attendance, explained 41%–55% of the Black–White disparity in these outcomes. Discussion Our study highlights the importance of using a more refined measure of schooling for understanding the education–cognitive health relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acculturation to the mainstream culture and the settlement contexts could shape cognitive function of older immigrants. Guided by ecological theory, this study examines the interaction effect between individual acculturation and ecology of family on cognitive function among older Chinese Americans. Data were derived from the Population Study of Chinese Elderly in Chicago (n = 3,019). Family types included tight-knit (high solidarity and low conflicts), unobligated-ambivalent (high solidarity and conflicts), commanding-conflicted (low solidarity and high conflicts), and detached (low solidarity and low conflicts). Acculturation was measured via language ability, media use, and ethnic social relations. Cognitive function was evaluated by global cognition, episodic memory, working memory, processing speed, and mini-mental state examination. Multiple regression analyses and interaction terms were used. Older adults in the commanding-conflicted type had the lowest cognitive function. After controlling confounding variables, higher levels of acculturation (b = 0.009, SE = 0.003, p <.01) were associated with higher levels of global cognition. Acculturation buffered the negative impact of having a commanding-conflicted relationship with children on global cognition (b = 0.070, SE = 0.016, p <.001). Language ability, media use, and ethnic social relations played a unique role in the relationships between family types and cognitive domains. Acculturation to the dominant culture is identified as a cultural asset for cognitive function in older Chinese Americans. Social services could protect cognitive function of older immigrants in the commanding-conflicted type through enhancing cultural participation. Future research could test how affective and cognitive aspects of acculturation affect health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives Active lifestyles are related to higher levels of cognitive functioning. Fewer studies have examined the importance of engaging in different activities (activity variety) for cognitive functioning. Moreover, it is unclear whether activity variety in specific domains (i.e. cognitive, physical, or social) is important for cognitive health. The current study examined whether overall activity variety as well as variety in specific domains relate to cognitive functioning. Methods In Waves 2 and 3 of the Survey of Midlife Development in the United States, 3,337 adults reported their activity engagement and completed a cognitive battery. For longitudinal analyses, 2,049 participants were classified into 4 groups based on their rank ordering of activity variety across 9 years (remained high, increased, decreased, or remained low). Results Cross-sectional analyses revealed that overall activity variety was related to higher cognitive functioning over and above activity frequency; physical and social activity variety each contributed significantly and uniquely to this association. Longitudinal analyses revealed that those with consistently low overall activity variety at both waves had lower cognitive functioning at Wave 3 than those with high activity variety at either wave, after adjusting for cognitive functioning at Wave 2. Those with consistently high or increasing social activity variety had higher cognitive functioning at Wave 3 than participants with low activity variety at both waves. Discussion Findings suggest that activity variety, particularly in the social domain, is related to concurrent and future cognitive function across adulthood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Sleep behaviour is an important contributing factor in healthy human ageing and cognitive function. Previous studies have linked sleep deficiency with cognitive decline in older adults. However, there is need for more prospective investigations that focus on specific domains of cognitive function. The present study analysed cross‐sectional and prospective associations between self‐reported sleep and cognitive function in the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study. Weekday and weekend sleep duration and habitual sleep quality were obtained via questionnaire data. Brief Test of Adult Cognition by Telephone was conducted to assess overall cognitive function, as well as episodic memory and executive function. We found significant trend for both long weekday and weekend sleep (>8 hr) and lower episodic memory scores in the overall sample. Sex‐specific cross‐sectional analysis demonstrated men with longer weekend sleep duration have lower overall cognitive function scores, and a negative association between weekend sleep and episodic memory scores. Women demonstrated a positive association between weekend sleep duration and executive function scores. There was no prospective significance for overall or sex‐specific analysis. Our present results suggest that sleep duration may contribute to cognitive function, and future studies should include objective sleep measurements and focus on the potential cognitive benefits of improving sleep to further elucidate this association. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Late-life exposure to ambient air pollution is a modifiable risk factor for dementia, but epidemiological studies have shown inconsistent evidence for cognitive decline. Air quality (AQ) improvement has been associated with improved cardiopulmonary health and decreased mortality, but to the best of our knowledge, no studies have examined the association with cognitive function. We examined whether AQ improvement was associated with slower rate of cognitive decline in older women aged 74 to 92 years. Methods and findings: We studied a cohort of 2,232 women residing in the 48 contiguous US states that were recruited from more than 40 study sites located in 24 states and Washington, DC from the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) Memory Study (WHIMS)-Epidemiology of Cognitive Health Outcomes (WHIMS-ECHO) study. They were predominantly non-Hispanic White women and were dementia free at baseline in 2008 to 2012. Measures of annual (2008 to 2018) cognitive function included the modified Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status (TICSm) and the telephone-based California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT). We used regionalized universal kriging models to estimate annual concentrations (1996 to 2012) of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) at residential locations. Estimates were aggregated to the 3-year average immediately preceding (recent exposure) and 10 years prior to (remote exposure) WHIMS-ECHO enrollment. Individual-level improved AQ was calculated as the reduction from remote to recent exposures. Linear mixed effect models were used to examine the associations between improved AQ and the rates of cognitive declines in TICSm and CVLT trajectories, adjusting for sociodemographic (age; geographic region; race/ethnicity; education; income; and employment), lifestyle (physical activity; smoking; and alcohol), and clinical characteristics (prior hormone use; hormone therapy assignment; depression; cardiovascular disease (CVD); hypercholesterolemia; hypertension; diabetes; and body mass index [BMI]). For both PM2.5 and NO2, AQ improved significantly over the 10 years before WHIMS-ECHO enrollment. During a median of 6.2 (interquartile range [IQR] = 5.0) years of follow-up, declines in both general cognitive status (β = −0.42/year, 95% CI: −0.44, −0.40) and episodic memory (β = −0.59/year, 95% CI: −0.64, −0.54) were observed. Greater AQ improvement was associated with slower decline in TICSm (βPM2.5improvement = 0.026 per year for improved PM2.5 by each IQR = 1.79 μg/m3 reduction, 95% CI: 0.001, 0.05; βNO2improvement = 0.034 per year for improved NO2 by each IQR = 3.92 parts per billion [ppb] reduction, 95% CI: 0.01, 0.06) and CVLT (βPM2.5 improvement = 0.070 per year for improved PM2.5 by each IQR = 1.79 μg/m3 reduction, 95% CI: 0.02, 0.12; βNO2improvement = 0.060 per year for improved NO2 by each IQR = 3.97 ppb reduction, 95% CI: 0.005, 0.12) after adjusting for covariates. The respective associations with TICSm and CVLT were equivalent to the slower decline rate found with 0.9 to 1.2 and1.4 to 1.6 years of younger age and did not significantly differ by age, region, education, Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) e4 genotypes, or cardiovascular risk factors. The main limitations of this study include measurement error in exposure estimates, potential unmeasured confounding, and limited generalizability. Conclusions: In this study, we found that greater improvement in long-term AQ in late life was associated with slower cognitive declines in older women. This novel observation strengthens the epidemiologic evidence of an association between air pollution and cognitive aging. Diana Younan and colleagues investigate whether air quality improvement is associated with rate of cognitive decline in community-dwelling older women in the United States. Author summary: Why was this study done?: Although studies have shown that late-life exposure to outdoor air pollution is a modifiable risk factor for dementia, the epidemiological evidence for cognitive decline has been inconsistent. Epidemiological studies have demonstrated that improved air quality (AQ) may decrease mortality and improve respiratory health, strengthening the evidence of a relationship between ambient air pollution and these health outcomes. To our knowledge, no previous studies have examined the potential benefit of slowing cognitive aging by AQ improvement. What did the researchers do and find?: Using a US cohort of 2,232 older women followed up to 20 years, we explored whether women living in locations with greater AQ improvement had slower decline in their cognitive function. AQ improvement was defined as the difference in air pollution levels over 2 time points that were 10 years apart. Living in locations with greater AQ improvement was associated with slower cognitive declines in older women, equivalent to women who were 0.9 to 1.6 years younger. The associations were similar across age groups, geographic region, education, Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) e4 genotypes, and cardiovascular risk factors. What do these findings mean?: These findings strengthen the contribution of outdoor air pollution on cognitive aging. These results highlight the potential benefits of reducing outdoor air pollution levels. Key study limitations include measurement error in exposure estimates, potential unmeasured confounders, and limited generalizability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The objective of this study was to determine how anxiety and/or depressive symptoms differentially affect specific cognitive domains over time in persons with subjective cognitive decline (SCD). Design: A longitudinal, observational study was conducted using data from the National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center‐Uniform Data Set. Mean follow‐up was 4.1 ± 2.4 years. Methods: Using information from a total of 1401 participants (age 74.0 ± 8.2 years), linear mixed‐effects regression models were used to assess longitudinal changes in global cognition, episodic memory, attention, language, and executive function by baseline psychological (anxiety [A] and/or depressive [D]) symptoms in individuals with SCD. Reference was the group having no symptoms (A−/D−). Findings: The A+/D− group was not associated with any cognitive changes. The A−/D+ group was associated with a greater decline in episodic memory and executive function. The A+/D+ group had a greater decline in attention. Changes in global cognition and language were not predicted by any psychological symptoms. Conclusions: Depressive symptoms predicted lower episodic memory and executive function. Clinical Relevance: Nurses need to pay attention to depressive symptoms in older adults with SCD because managing depressive symptoms may help protect against cognitive decline more typical of early Alzheimer's dementia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The majority of research on sleep and cognition has focused on mean markers of sleep across multiple nights; however, variable sleep patterns have become increasingly common in the modern era. The purpose of this study was to examine whether objective intraindividual variability in sleep quantity and quality are related to verbal and visuospatial learning and memory functioning in young adults. A total of 218 young adult college students were recruited from a university in the Eastern United States, among which 187 participants (70.6% female; mean age = 20.5, SD = 1.5) had complete actigraphy and cognitive performance data. Objective intraindividual means and variabilities of sleep quantity (total sleep time) and sleep quality (percent wake after sleep onset) were measured over a 1- to 2-week timeframe using wrist actigraphy. Verbal and visuospatial learning and memory were assessed using the International Shopping List and Groton Maze Learning tests of the Cogstate computerized test battery. Greater intraindividual variability in actigraphy-derived sleep quality was associated with poorer visuospatial learning and memory performance after controlling for mean sleep quality and visuomotor attention and processing speed (p s < 0.05). Actigraphic measures of sleep quantity were not related to any learning and memory measures. In young adults, intraindividual variability in objective sleep quality was significantly related to visuospatial learning and memory, over and above mean sleep quality. Given these associations, future studies should aim to identify modifiable lifestyle and environmental factors contributing to variable sleep quality. • Variable sleep quality was associated with worse visuospatial learning and memory. • Variable sleep patterns were assessed by the mean square of successive differences. • Mean actigraphy-derived sleep metrics were unrelated to learning and memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Older adults with bipolar disorder (BD) have increased dementia risk, but signs of dementia are difficult to detect in the context of pre-existing deficits inherent to BD.Objective: To identify the emergence of indicators of early dementia in BD.Methods: One hundred and fifty-nine non-demented adults with BD from the National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center (NACC) data repository underwent annual neuropsychological assessment up to 14 years (54.0 months average follow-up). Cognitive performance was examined longitudinally with linear mixed-effects models, and yearly differences between incident dementia cases and controls were examined in the six years prior to diagnosis.Results: Forty participants (25.2%) developed dementia over the follow-up period ('incident dementia cases'). Alzheimer's disease was the most common presumed etiology, though this was likely a result of sampling biases within NACC. Incident dementia cases showed declining trajectories in memory, language, and speeded attention two years prior to dementia onset.Conclusion: In a sample of BD patients enriched for Alzheimer's type dementia, prodromal dementia in BD can be detected up to two years before onset using the same cognitive tests used in psychiatrically-healthy older adults (i.e., measures of verbal recall and fluency). Cognition in the natural course of BD is generally stable, and impairment or marked decline on measures of verbal episodic memory or semantic retrieval may indicate an early neurodegenerative process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Older adults experience age‐related cognitive declines and often feel as if the severity of these declines is out of their control. Recent research suggests, though, that control beliefs may be related to less age‐related declines. The aim of the current study was to investigate cognitive domain‐specific control beliefs and the link between those cognitive control beliefs and cognitive functioning among a nationwide sample of adults (N = 3,670), as well as to explore whether cognitive control beliefs moderated the relationship between age and cognitive functioning. Method: The aims were addressed using data from the national Midlife in the United States study (MIDUS II). Cognitive functioning was assessed using the Brief Test of Adult Cognition by Telephone (BTACT), and cognitive control beliefs were assessed with the Personality in Intellectual Aging Contexts (PIC) Inventory Control Scales. Results: Regression analyses revealed that adults with higher control beliefs demonstrated better cognitive functioning. Moderation analyses indicated cognitive control beliefs moderated the relationship between age and executive functioning, but not the association between age and episodic memory. Conclusion: Results suggested that the relationship between age and executive functioning was weaker at high levels of cognitive control beliefs. Future research should establish the directionality of the effect between cognitive control beliefs and cognition and investigate the association between control beliefs and cognition in samples at higher risk for substantial cognitive decline, including the oldest‐old. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Low socioeconomic status (SES) in early and late life has been associated with lower late-life cognition. Less is known about how changes in SES from childhood to late life are associated with late-life cognition, especially among diverse populations of older adults.Methods: In a multi-ethnic sample (n = 1353) of older adults, we used linear regression to test associations of change in comprehensive measures of SES (financial, cultural, and social domains) from childhood to late life with semantic memory, episodic memory, and executive function. We tested whether the association between SES trajectory and late-life cognition differed by populations who resided in the U.S. during childhood or immigrated to the U.S. as adults.Results: Participants with low childhood/high late-life financial capital had better semantic memory (β = 0.18; 95% CI: 0.04, 0.32) versus those with low financial capital in both childhood and late life, regardless of childhood residence. We observed a significant interaction in the association of verbal episodic memory and cultural capital by childhood residence (p = 0.08). Participants with a foreign childhood residence had higher verbal episodic memory if they had low childhood/high late-life cultural capital (β = 0.32; 95% CI: 0.01, 0.63), but lower verbal episodic memory if they had high childhood/low late-life cultural capital (β = - 0.40; 95% CI: - 0.94, 0.13). Having high lifecourse social capital was associated with better verbal episodic memory scores among those with a U.S. childhood (β = 0.34; 95% CI: 0.14, 0.55), but lower verbal episodic memory among those with a foreign childhood (β = - 0.10; 95% CI: - 0.51, 0.31).Conclusions: High financial and cultural capital in late life is associated with better cognition, regardless of early childhood SES or childhood residence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Sex differences in the quality and prevalence of chronic pain are manifold, with women generally presenting higher incidence and severity. Uncovering chronic pain-related sex differences inform neural mechanisms and may lead to novel treatment routes. In a multicenter morphological study (total n = 374), we investigated whether the shape of subcortical regions would reflect sex differences in back pain. Given the hormone-dependent functions of the hippocampus, and its role in the transition to chronic pain, this region constituted our primary candidate. We found that the anterior part of the left hippocampus (alHP) presented outer deformation in women with chronic back pain (CBP), identified in CBP in the United States (n = 77 women vs n = 78 men) and validated in a Chinese data set (n = 29 women vs n = 58 men with CBP, in contrast to n = 53 female and n = 43 male healthy controls). Next, we examined this region in subacute back pain who persisted with back pain a year later (SBPp; n = 18 women vs n = 18 men) and in a subgroup with persistent back pain for 3 years. Weeks after onset of back pain, there was no deformation within alHP, but at 1 and 3 years women exhibited a trend for outer deformation. The alHP partly overlapped with the subiculum and entorhinal cortex, whose functional connectivity, in healthy subjects, was associated with emotional and episodic memory related terms (Neurosynth, reverse inference). These findings suggest that in women the alHP undergoes anatomical changes with pain persistence, highlighting sexually dimorphic involvement of emotional and episodic memory-related circuitry with chronic pain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A broad literature has explored racial disparities in cognitive aging. Research incorporating sociocultural factors would provide a more comprehensive understanding of minority aging. This study aims to investigate the role of family typology in cognition among U.S. Chinese immigrants. Data were derived from the Population Study of Chinese Elderly in Chicago (PINE). Family typology included tight-knit, unobligated ambivalent, commanding conflicted, and detached typologies. Cognition was evaluated by global cognition, episodic memory, working memory, executive function, and mini-mental state examination (MMSE). Linear and quantile regressions were used. Older adults with detached and commanding conflicted typologies reported lower global cognition than those with unobligated ambivalent typology. Detached, commanding conflicted, and tight-knit typologies were associated with poorer performance in episodic memory, working memory and MMSE than unobligated ambivalent typology, respectively. Social service providers could be aware of multifaceted family relationships when developing interventions for cognitive function and understand family typology as a whole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accumulating evidence suggests that lifetime trauma exposure is associated with adulthood cognitive functioning. However, the nature and extent of this relation have yet to be fully explored. We used multilevel modeling to examine trauma exposure and age at first trauma exposure as predictors of the level of and change in cognitive functioning over a 9-year period. Data were from the Midlife in the United States study, a national survey that began in 1995. Data regarding trauma exposure and age at first exposure were obtained from the 2004 wave, whereas cognitive data were obtained from the 2004 and 2013 waves. The analyses were conducted using data from the 2,471 participants (age range: 28-84 years) who had complete data on all variables from the 2004 wave. Lifetime trauma exposure predicted change in executive functioning (EF), B = -0.03, SE = 0.01, p = .015, 95% CI [-0.05, -0.01]; and episodic memory, B = -0.05, SE = 0.02, p = .023, 95% CI [-0.10, -0.01], such that individuals with more trauma exposure had more decline over 9 years. Age at first exposure also predicted change in EF, B = -0.002, SE = 0.00, p = .009, 95% CI [-0.004, -0.001], such that individuals who were first exposed to trauma later in life had greater EF decline than individuals whose first traumatic event occurred earlier in life. Delta pseudo- R2 values were moderate, ΔpseudoR2 = .17-.39. These findings identify trauma exposure as a risk factor for cognitive decline in adulthood and highlight the elevated risk associated with adulthood trauma exposure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Social engagement may be an important protective resource for cognitive aging. Some evidence suggests that time spent with friends may be more beneficial for cognition than time spent with family. Because maintaining friendships has been demonstrated to require more active maintenance and engagement in shared activities, activity engagement may be one underlying pathway that explains the distinct associations between contact frequency with friends versus family and cognition. Methods: Using two waves of data from the national survey of Midlife in the United States (n = 3707, Mage = 55.80, 51% female at baseline), we examined longitudinal associations between contact frequency with friends and family, activity engagement (cognitive and physical activities), and cognition (episodic memory and executive functioning) to determine whether activity engagement mediates the relationship between contact frequency and cognition. Results: The longitudinal mediation model revealed that more frequent contact with friends, but not family, was associated with greater concurrent engagement in physical and cognitive activities, which were both associated with better episodic memory and executive functioning. Conclusion: These findings suggest that time spent with friends may promote both cognitively and physically stimulating activities that could help to preserve not only these social relationships but also cognitive functioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: By 2050, the prevalence of Alzheimer's disease (AD) in the United States is predicted to reach 13.8 million. Despite worldwide research efforts, a cure for AD has not been identified. Thus, it is critical to identify preventive strategies that can reduce the risk of or delay the onset of AD. Physical activity (PA) has potential in this regard. This randomized clinical trial aims to (a) test the causal relationship between PA and AD-associated cognitive function for persons with a family history of AD (FH+), (b) determine the moderating role of apolipoprotein epsilon 4 (APOE4) carrier status on cognition, and (c) assess cerebral structure, cerebral function, and putative biomarkers as mediators of the effects of PA on cognition.Methods: We are recruiting cognitively normal, middle aged (40-65 years) sedentary adults with FH+. Participants are randomly assigned to a 12-month PA intervention for 3 days/week or to a control group maintaining their normal lifestyle. Saliva samples are taken at pre-test to determine APOE genotype. At pre-, mid-, and post-tests, participants complete a series of cognitive tests to assess information-processing speed, verbal and visual episodic memory, constructional praxis, mnemonic discrimination, and higher-order executive functions. At pre- and post-tests, brain imaging and blood biomarkers are assessed.Discussion: We hypothesize that 1) the PA group will demonstrate improved cognition compared with controls; 2) PA-derived cognitive changes will be moderated by APOE4 status; and 3) PA-induced changes in neural and blood biomarkers will contribute to cognitive changes and differ as a function of APOE4 status. Our results may provide important insights into the potential of PA to preserve neurocognitive function in people with a heightened risk of AD due to FH+ and as moderated by APOE4 status. By using sophisticated analytic techniques to assess APOE as a moderator and neurobiological mechanisms as mediators across trajectories of cognitive change in response to PA, we will advance our understanding of the potential of PA in protecting against AD.Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03876314. Registered March 15, 2019. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: In the United States, racial and ethnic disparities in memory dysfunction and Alzheimer disease are evident even after accounting for many risk factors. Psychological factors, such as psychological well-being, perceived control, depressive symptoms, and negative affect, may influence memory dysfunction, and associations may differ by race and ethnicity. This study examined whether psychological factors are differentially associated with episodic memory trajectories across racial and ethnic groups in the United States.Methods/design: The National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS), is a US-representative, longitudinal study of Medicare-eligible adults 65+ years old. Analyses of 5 years of data, included a total of 9411 participants without dementia at baseline. Adjusting for relevant covariates, a linear mixed model estimated the associations between psychological predictors and a composite of immediate and delayed trials from a word list memory test.Results: More depressive symptoms (B = -0.02), lower psychological well-being (B = 0.03), and lower perceived control (B = 0.05) were independently associated with lower initial memory. Depressive symptoms were associated with faster rate of memory decline (B = -0.01). Black (B = -0.34) and Hispanic (B = -0.28) participants evidenced lower initial memory level than whites, but only Hispanic (B = -0.04) participants evidenced faster memory decline than whites. There were no significant interactions between the psychological variables and race and ethnicity.Conclusions: Results extend previous studies showing racial and ethnic disparities in episodic memory trajectories, and the longitudinal effects of depressive symptoms on episodic memory in US samples. Epidemiological studies of cognitive aging should incorporate more psychological factors clarify cognitive decline and disparities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little research has examined how the link between discrimination and cognitive health varies by where people live. This study investigates how living in non-urban versus urban areas in different regions in the United States moderates the discrimination-cognitive health link among older non-Hispanic Blacks. Data are from the 2012 and 2014 waves of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS; N = 2,347). Regression analyses indicate that experiencing more everyday discrimination is significantly associated with lower episodic memory when living in urban areas. Among non-Hispanic Blacks, the discrimination-episodic memory link does not significantly vary across U.S. regional contexts. Findings highlight variation in the association between everyday discrimination and cognitive health by where older non-Hispanic Blacks live. Results suggest the importance of socio-environmental factors in shaping how stressful experiences such as discrimination are linked to cognitive health in later life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neonatal encephalopathy due to hypoxia-ischemia (HI) leads to severe, life-long morbidities in thousands of neonates born in the USA and worldwide each year. Varying capacities of long-term episodic memory, verbal working memory, and learning can present without cerebral palsy and have been associated with the severity of neonatal encephalopathy sustained at birth. Among children who sustain a moderate degree of HI at birth, girls have larger hippocampal volumes compared to boys. Clinical studies indicate that female neonatal brains are more resistant to the effects of neonatal HI, resulting in better long-term cognitive outcomes compared to males with comparable brain injury. Our most recent mechanistic studies have addressed the origins and cellular basis of sex differences in hippocampal neuroprotection following neonatal HI-related brain injury and implicate estrogen receptor-α (ERα) in the neurotrophin receptor-mediated hippocampal neuroprotection in female mice. This review summarizes the recent findings on ERα-dependent, neurotrophin-mediated hippocampal neuroprotection and weighs the evidence that this mechanism plays an important role in preservation of long-term memory and learning following HI in females. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Memory may play a critical role in the ability to imagine events in the future. While most work on this relation has concerned episodic memory and simulated episodic events in the future, the current study examines how collective memories relate to imagination for the collective future. Two thousand American participants provided events for (1) America's origins, (2) normative events that all Americans should remember, and (3) events in America's future. Each event was rated for emotional valence. Whereas collective memories – particularly origin events – showed pronounced positivity biases, there was a negativity bias in collective future thought, indicating an implicit trajectory of decline in Americans' representations of their nation across time. Imagination for the social future may not be simulated based on the template of collective memories, but may rather relate to the past in a way that is mediated by cultural narrative schemata. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cognitive impairment is associated with various chronic diseases, including mobility limitation and early mortality. Thus, evaluating changes in cognition is of paramount public health interest. The purpose of this study was to evaluate secular trends in cognitive function among a representative sample of the U.S. older adult population. Data from the 1999–2000, 2001–2002, 2011–2012, and 2013–2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey were utilized to identify an aggregate sample of adults 60+ years of age. The sample size across the four respective cycles was 1417, 1558, 1422, and 1592. Three cognitive assessments were employed, including the CERAD Word Learning subset (Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's disease), the Animal Fluency test, and the Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST). For the entire sample and several subpopulations, DSST scores increased from 1999 to 2012 and then decreased in the 2013 to 2014 cycle. For all CERAD trials, there was evidence of increased CERAD performance from 2011–2012 to 2013–2014. No secular trends were observed for the Animal Fluency task across these cycles. Select cognitive parameters appear to be improving among U.S. older adults. Future work is needed to further explore secular trends in cognitive sustainability, and, as evidenced by our present study, cognitive enrichment over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To test whether hearing aid use alters cognitive trajectories in older adults. Design: US population‐based longitudinal cohort study Setting: Data were drawn from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), which measured cognitive performance repeatedly every 2 years over 18 years (1996–2014). Participants: Adults aged 50 and older who who took part in a minimum of 3 waves of the HRS and used hearing aids for the first time between Waves 4 and 11 (N=2,040). Measurements: Cognitive outcomes were based on episodic memory scores determined according to the sum of immediate and delayed recall of 10 words. Results: Hearing aid use was positively associated with episodic memory scores (β=1.53, p<.001). Decline in episodic memory scores was slower after (β=–0.02, p<.001) than before using hearing aids (β=–0.1, p<.001). These results were robust to adjustment for multiple confounders and to attrition, as accounted for using a joint model. Conclusions: Hearing aids may have a mitigating effect on trajectories of cognitive decline in later life. Providing hearing aids or other rehabilitative services for hearing impairment much earlier in the course of hearing impairment may stem the worldwide rise of dementia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To examine associations between characteristics of drinking events and the quantity of alcohol consumed by adolescents in the United States.Methods: Analyses relied on 2011-2015 data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). The study sample included 8110 adolescents, ages 12-17years old, who drank alcohol in the past 30days. A logistic regression model, weighted for national estimation, was constructed to examine factors associated with heavy episodic drinking (HED; 5+ drinks for males, 4+ drinks for females) during the underage drinker's most recent drinking event. These models were adjusted for study year and individual characteristics, including past year drinking frequency, age of drinking onset, and demographic variables.Results: Buying alcohol off-premise or from another person and being given alcohol from non-parent social sources were associated with greater odds of HED compared to being given alcohol by one of their parents. Drinking alcohol at someone else's house or multiple locations were associated with heavier alcohol consumption compared to drinking at one's own home. Being older and an earlier age of alcohol onset were associated with greater odds of HED.Conclusions: This study identifies contextual factors associated with HED by adolescents. Compared to global association studies, the findings from these event-specific analyses provide strong evidence of the environmental conditions that contribute to HED in American adolescents. Although no level of alcohol consumption is safe for adolescents, knowledge of event-level risk factors can inform targeted interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Virtual reality-based neuropsychological assessments proffer the potential to address the limited ecological validity of pen-and-paper measures of memory. New method To investigate the construct validity of a newly developed virtual reality-based multiple errands task, the Virtual Environment Grocery Store (VEGS), two studies were performed. Comparison with existing method(s) In Study 1, we explored construct validity via comparison of traditional neuropsychological measures of memory and executive functioning with a low distraction condition of the VEGS. In Study 2, a new sample was used to compare traditional neuropsychological measures of memory and executive functioning with a high distraction condition of the VEGS. Results Performances on the VEGS memory tasks (in Study 1: low distraction condition) and the traditional neuropsychological assessments of memory were positively correlated, indicating that memory for VEGS content was similar to memory for traditional paper-and-pencil measures. Again, in Study 2, performances on the VEGS memory tasks correlated with the traditional neuropsychological assessments of memory, indicating that memory for VEGS content was similar to memory for traditional paper-and-pencil measures. As expected, though, the addition of distractors into the virtual environment resulted in significant correlations with traditional measures of inhibitory control. Conclusions The VEGS has the advantage over traditional measures of providing objective measurement of individual components of memory in simulations of everyday activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study seeks to examine the relationships between physical activity (PA), cognitive activity, and cognitive function for the purpose of developing future brain-fitness programs. A sample of 2,305 participants (age = 50–84, mean age: 63.1 years) was selected from the Midlife in the United States longitudinal study for analysis. The strength of the associations between the dependent variables (episodic memory and executive functions) and independent variables (three domains of PA and cognitive activity) were determined by hierarchical regression. Episodic memory regressed positively on leisure-time PA (LPA) and cognitive activity. Executive functions regressed positively on LPA and Cognitive activity, but negatively on job-related PA (JPA). The interaction effect (JPA × Cognitive activity) was nonsignificant. Community-dwelling participants are encouraged to engage in more LPA and cognitive activity to increase brain fitness. Further research may explore the distinctive effects of JPA. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: Many studies have evaluated the stress-cognition association, but few have captured the cumulative nature of stress or distinguished the influences of stressors occurring in childhood versus adulthood. Using a lifecourse approach, we investigated whether cumulative stress exposures are associated with poorer cognitive function and faster cognitive decline., Methods: We used data from the Midlife Development in the United States Study (N = 3,954, mean baseline age: 56 years). We fit marginal structural generalized estimating equations models to estimate the difference in baseline cognitive function per SD increment in the continuous stressor score, and, separately, between persons in each life course stressor profile and those who did not experience high stress in either childhood or adulthood. We also characterized differences in cognitive decline across levels of stress exposures., Results: Higher cumulative stress exposure was associated with lower executive function (difference per SD in continuous stressor score = -0.12 SD units, 95% CI = -0.16, -0.08) and episodic memory (difference = -0.09 SD units, 95% CI = -0.13, -0.05). Baseline executive function and episodic memory were lower among those with high stress only in childhood, only in adulthood, and both, than among those without high stress in childhood or adulthood. There was little evidence that rate of change in executive function and episodic memory differed across levels of cumulative stress exposures., Conclusions: These findings offer support to the hypothesis that stress exposures, accumulated over the life course, worsen cognitive performance, but limited support for the hypothesis that these exposures promote cognitive decline., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Limited research is available on the relationship between social stress and risk of declining cognition. We sought to examine whether social stress has adverse effects on risk of declining episodic memory and executive functioning in aging individuals. We used data from the MIDUS study, a national probability sample of non-institutionalized, English speaking respondents aged 25-74 living in the 48 contiguous states of the United States. The initial wave (1995) included 4963 non-institutionalized adults aged 32-84 (M = 55, SD = 12.4). We used an analytic sample from MIDUS-II (1996/1997) and MIDUS-III (2013) (n = 1821). The dependent variables are episodic memory and executive functioning, which were assessed with the Brief Test for Cognition (BTACT). The independent variables were social stress variables (subjective social status, family and marital stress, work stress and discrimination). To evaluate episodic memory and executive functioning changes over a time period of 10 years, we estimated adjusted linear regression models. Women report significantly lower subjective social status and more discrimination stress than men across all age groups. Controlling for education and income, age, and baseline episodic memory and executive functioning, lower subjective social status had additional adverse effects on declines in episodic memory in men and women. Marital risk had adverse effects on episodic memory in men but not in women. Daily discrimination had adverse effects on executive functioning on all individuals. Public health strategies should focus on reducing social stress in a socio-ecological perspective. Especially, subjective social status and discrimination stress might be a target for prevention efforts., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

Eighty 4- to 9-year-old children answered factual knowledge questions in math, science and social studies during one-on-one interviews. Children indicated whether they had known or guessed each answer, and whether they (a) remembered the moment they learned the answer (episodic response) or (b) did not remember. For episodic responses, children provided memory narratives of learning episodes. One third of children's responses identified a learning episode. There was a developmental trend in which older children were more episodic than younger children, and when children knew and provided correct answers, there was a gender difference in which females were more episodic than males. Developmental and gender differences in the characteristics of memory narratives were also apparent. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]