1 | Zajac, I. T., Cavuoto, P., & Bennett, L. (2015). The relationship between participation in brain-health activities and cognitive abilities in a high functioning sample of older Australian adults. Paper presented at the Australasian Society for Behavioural Health and Medicine, Perth, Western Australia. Suggested Citation

NUTRITION & HEALTH PROGRAM BRAIN-HEALTH ACTIVITIES AND COGNITIVE ABILITY IN HIGH FUNCTIONING OLDER AUSTRALIAN ADULTS Zajac, I. T., Cavuoto, P., & Bennett, L. (2015). The relationship between participation in brain-health activities and cognitive abilities in a high functioning sample of older Australian adults. Paper presented at the Australasian Society for Behavioural Health and Medicine, Perth, Western Australia.

Overview of Presentation Overview of Ageing Globally, and in Australia Ageing and Cognitive Decline Brain Training! Fact or Fad? Self-Report Brain-Health Activities & Cognitive Ability Conclusions 3 |

Global Ageing 4 |

Ageing in Australia: Historical & Future Distributions 5 |

Ageing & Cognitive Ability 6 | 86% of people said they were worried about getting older. More than half (54%) worried about losing their mind and memory. Fewer than this (39%) said they were anxious about being lonely Dept. Health Survey, UK, 2009

7 | Ageing & Cognitive Ability

Cognitive Decline Expressed in IQ Points 8 | Decline in cog function of ~1.5SD from 20 to 70 years of age. From ~50 years, change averages ~.30SD per life decade

Brain Training! Fact or Fad? The last decade or so has seen a significant increase in terms of Brain Training Brain Training taps into the anxieties of Baby Boomers Brain Training is enabled by modern technology (tablets, smart phones) Brain Training is a lucrative concept driven by those with a vested interest In 2012, the Luminosity App made USD $24Million Recent Meta-Analysis concluded the following: 9 |

Self-Report Brain-Health Activities & Cognitive Ability Purpose:  Cross-sectional study in order to explore the relationship between self-report Brain- Health activities and Cognitive Ability in ‘healthy’ older Adults Participants:  N=194 community dwelling older adults who were participating in a larger, longitudinal cognitive trial. Very ‘high-health’ status (e.g., exclusion criteria include metabolic disease, sleep apnoea, prior stroke, MMSE <24 etc... )  Mean age was 68 years (SD=5.2); 56% Female, 44% male. Brain Health Activities:  Cross-words, Puzzles, Studying Second Language, Reading, Brain Training Apps  Frequency of use & Duration of use also measured 10 |

CSIRO Cognitive Assessment Battery 11 | C-CAB FactorsGeneral Description Attention / Reaction Time Respond quickly & accurately to various stimuli Processing Speed Make decisions quickly about stimuli and respond accordingly Verbal Working Memory Remember & recall verbal stimuli over multiple trials Spatial Working Memory Remember & recall a spatial stimulus over multiple trials Reasoning Speed Quick decisions concerning spatial problems Recognition Memory Word & Face recognition after ~25 mins Memory Scanning Compare targets to preceding sets of stimuli Quality of Memory* Accuracy measure across memory tasks

Results: Brain Health Activities 12 |

Results: Brain Health Activities & Cognitive Function 13 |

Results: Brain Health Activities & Cognitive Function 14 |

Results: Brain Health Activities & Cognitive Function 15 |

Results: Duration & Frequency of Brain Health Activities 16 |

Results: Weekly Involvement in Brain-Health Activities 17 | Average Δ: g=.60

18 | Conclusions Reading was the most popular past-time which might be considered a positive ‘brain-health’ activity Participation in reading DID NOT relate positively to cognitive performance (quite the opposite, in fact...) Around half the sample reported they actively participate in crosswords and puzzles Use of crosswords & puzzles related positively to cognitive performance across a variety of cognitive constructs Relationships were robust after controlling for Age, Sex & SES Frequency BUT NOT duration of use was associated with better cognitive function

Conclusions 19 | Despite evidence of a relationship, the benefits are ‘small’ in statistical terms (~.30 to ~.50 SD units) However, this effect size is equivalent to 1 life-decade of change in cognitive function from 50 years of age This was a ‘high-functioning’, cognitively healthy sample  Given the restriction of range in this sample (i.e., participants are very similar to one another) the presence of these effects lends some credibility to the use-it or lose-it hypotheses of ageing Studies of this nature do not establish a causal relationship!  People who have better cognitive function may be more likely to frequently engage in these activities  Need better proxies for ‘baseline ability’ when undertaking epidemiological investigations like this

Thanks for listening! 20 |