Sending Your Grandparents to University Increases Cognitive Reserve: The Tasmanian Healthy Brain Project

Abstract

Objective: Increasing an individual's level of cognitive reserve (CR) has been suggested as a nonphar-macological approach to reducing the risk for Alzheimer's disease. We examined changes in CR in olderadults participating over 4 years in the Tasmanian Healthy Brain Project. Method: A sample of 459 healthy older adults between 50 and 79 years of age underwent a comprehensive annual assessment of current CR, neuropsychological function, and psychosocial factors over a 4-year period. The interventiongroup of 359 older adults (M = 59.61 years, SD = 6.67) having completed a minimum of 12 months part-time university study were compared against a control reference group of 100 adults (M = 62.49 years, SD = 6.24) who did not engage in further education. Results: Growth mixture modeling demonstrated that 44.3% of the control sample showed no change in CR, whereas 92.5% of the furthereducation participants displayed a significant linear increase in CR over the 4 years of the study. These results indicate that older adults engaging in high-level mental stimulation display an increase in CR overa 4-year period. Conclusion: Increasing mental activity in older adulthood may be a viable strategy to improve cognitive function and offset cognitive decline associated with normal aging.