Cognitive Reserve

Cognitive gains and cognitive deficits play a decisive role with respect to cognitive development in old age. Cognitive deficits significantly influence occupational integration among older employees as well as independence in every day life among elderly people. The clinical picture of “mild cognitive impairment” is a very frequent condition, affecting about 30 % of young-old subjects. However, such kind of cognitive impairments do not directly result from neurobiological changes but are modified by numerous risk- and protective factors. These interactions are frequently described within the theoretical framework of cognitive reserve and are believed to be associated with many heterogeneous factors such as school education, socioeconomic state and genetic polymorphisms.

Interactions between different markers of cognitive reserve have not been studied sufficiently so far. This subproject thus focuses on two different aims: 1. the confirmation of important risk- and protective factors within the Interdisciplinary Longitudinal Study of Adult Development and Aging (ILSE) in Germany; 2. the investigation of interactions between different dimensions of cognitive reserve.

The first step will be a comparison between healthy subjects and those who developed mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer’s disease with respect to their aging development by identifying risk- and protective factors. In this context socio-structural, neurobiological and personality factors will be considered. The second step will focus on the analysis of interactions between these variables.

C. Sattler, M. Pohlmann, J. Schröder

Abstracts

• Sattler C., Jilg H., Toro P., Schröder J. (2009). Physical activity as a protective factor in a prospective ageing study in Germany. In: Frank Schneider und Michael Grözinger (Hrsg.). Psychische Erkrankungen in der Lebensspanne - Abstractband zum DGPPN Kongress 2009, 25. - 28. November 2009 in Berlin. Deutsche Gesellschaft für Psychiatrie, Psychotherapie und Nervenheilkunde, 2009. p.257.DOI 10.3287/dgppn.2009.1

• Sattler C., Toro P., Schröder J. (2009). Cognitive leisure activity as a protective factor in a prospective ageing study in Germany. In: Frank Schneider und Michael Grözinger (Hrsg.). Psychische Erkrankungen in der Lebensspanne - Abstractband zum DGPPN Kongress 2009, 25. - 28. November 2009 in Berlin. Deutsche Gesellschaft für Psychiatrie, Psychotherapie und Nervenheilkunde, 2009. p.516. DOI 10.3287/dgppn.2009.1       

• Toro P., Schönknecht P., Pantel J., Kruse A., Schröder J. (2008) Verlauf der leichten kognitiven Beeinträchtigung in der Interdisziplinären Längsschnittstudie des Erwachsenenalters (ILSE). Der Nervenarzt 79 (4): 263.