Active Interventions for the Aging Mind

描述（由申请人提供）：大量具有相关性的社会和行为数据表明，在成年中后期深度参与社交和智力活动的个体，与年龄相关的正常认知能力下降以及痴呆症的发病会延迟。目前的项目名为“心灵的积极干预”，旨在提供第一个实验测试，以了解持续参与对成年晚期认知的影响。在 AIM 项目中，我们区分了生产性参与（通常在社交环境中需要持续激活认知资源（例如工作记忆、推理和长期记忆）的参与活动）和接受性参与（主要依赖于现有知识和社交互动的参与）。基于成功的试点计划，我们建议让老年人参加密集的生产性参与条件（例如，学习缝被子或使用数码摄影）、接受性参与条件（例如，参加休闲活动资源需求较低的主要社交项目）或控制条件（在家中进行低水平认知活动的等待名单或安慰剂控制）。除等候名单对照外，所有受试者将在 16 周内每周参与 15 小时的活动。我们将富有成效的参与组中的认知、情感和神经功能与其他条件进行对比，并假设在这段时间内持续参与智力和社交刺激的条件将有助于相对于等待名单控制的老年人的认知。此外，由于学习新技能和建立新的社交联系可能会永久影响参与者的日常行为，因此将在最初以及一年后评估参与的影响。将评估认知变化的行为和神经测量，从而提供对变化机制的深入了解。受试者将在认知功能的行为测试、通过结构成像测量大脑结构、通过功能神经成像测量大脑功能以及心理社会变量方面得到彻底的表征。AIM项目是第一个系统性尝试之一，旨在改变并随后持续测量老年人的生活方式，试图了解有助于成年晚期认知和神经活力的生活方式因素，就像我们了解有助于良好心血管健康的生活方式因素一样。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): There is a considerable amount of social and behavioral data that is correlational in nature suggesting that individuals who are deeply engaged in social and intellectual activities in mid and late adulthood show delays in normal age-related cognitive decline as well as in the onset of dementia. The present project entitled "Active Interventions for the Mind" is designed to provide one of the first experimental tests of the impact of sustained engagement on cognition in late adulthood. In the AIM project, we distinguish between productive engagement (engaging activities that require sustained activation of cognitive resources such as working memory, reasoning, and long-term memory, often in a social setting) and receptive engagement (engagement that relies primarily on existing knowledge and social interactions). Based on a successful pilot program, we propose to enroll older adults in intensive productive engagement conditions (e.g., learning to quilt or to use digital photography) a receptive engagement condition (e.g., participating in a primarily social program where leisure activities have low resource requirements), or control conditions (Wait-List or Placebo Control where low level cognitive activities are performed at home). All subjects except Wait-List controls will engage in activities 15 hours per week over a period of 16 weeks. We will contrast cognitive, affective and neural function in the productive engagement group with the other conditions, and hypothesize that sustained engagement in conditions that are both intellectually and socially stimulating over this time period will facilitate cognition in older adults relative to a wait-list control. Moreover, because learning a new skill and making new social contacts may permanently impact participants' daily behavior, the impact of the engagement will be assessed initially as well as a year later. Both behavioral and neural measures of cognitive change will be assessed, providing considerable insight into mechanisms of change. Subjects will be characterized thoroughly in terms of behavioral tests of cognitive function, measures of brain structure through structural imaging, and measures of brain function through functional neuroimaging, as well as in terms of psychosocial variables.. The AIM project represents one of the first systematic attempt to change and then measure older adults' lifestyle for a sustained period in an attempt to understand lifestyle factors that contribute to cognitive and neural vitality in late adulthood, much as we understand lifestyle factors that contribute to good cardiovascular health.