title: Age and flexible thinking: an experimental demonstration of the beneficial effects of increased cognitively stimulating activity on fluid intelligence in healthy older adults.
abstract: The disuse hypothesis of cognitive aging attributes decrements in fluid intelligence in older adults to reduced cognitively stimulating activity. This study experimentally tested the hypothesis that a period of increased mentally stimulating activities thus would enhance older adults' fluid intelligence performance. Participants (N=44, mean age 67.82) were administered pre- and post-test measures, including the fluid intelligence measure, Cattell's Culture Fair (CCF) test. Experimental participants engaged in diverse, novel, mentally stimulating activities for 10-12 weeks and were compared to a control condition. Results supported the hypothesis; the experimental group showed greater pre- to post-CCF gain than did controls (effect size d=0.56), with a similar gain on a spatial-perceptual task (WAIS-R Blocks). Even brief periods of increased cognitive stimulation can improve older adults' problem solving and flexible thinking.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Reading, Reading, UK.
authors.forename: Lesley J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Tranter
authors.forename: Wilma
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Koutstaal
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence / Q000502:physiology*; D007361:Intelligence Tests; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D013850:Thinking / Q000502:physiology*