No document available.
Abstract :
[en] Objective: According to the cognitive reserve hypothesis (Stern, 2009), individuals who have developed a high level of reserve should resist better to the effects of aging than individuals with lower cognitive reserve. In this study, we identified the factors of cognitive reserve that impact most memory performance in aging. Methods: 118 healthy older participants performed one yes/no recognition task and one 3-alternative forced-choice recognition task. For each recognized item, participants provided a Remember/Know/Guess judgment. Furthermore, participants completed a questionnaire assessing different aspects of cognitive reserve (level of education, occupation, physical, social, cultural and intellectual activities). We determined the moderators of cognitive reserve that explain a significant proportion of variance for each memory index through stepwise regression analyzes (p<0.05). Results: In the forced-choice test, the level of education explained positively the use of recollection and negatively the level of false alarms associated with familiarity. In the yes/no recognition task, the precision of recognition was explained positively by the physical activities. Recollection was positively explained by the physical activities and the level of education. Finally, the level of false alarms associated with familiarity was explained negatively by the level of education although the precision of the use of the familiarity is explained positively by physical activities. Conclusion: The more older adults were educated and/or were practicing physical activities, the better their recollection was. The impact of the moderators of the cognitive reserve is dependent on the format of the recognition task.
