The Senior Odyssey: A Test of the Engagement Hypothesis of Cognitive Aging

描述(由申请者提供)：投入假说表明，以社交和智力投入为标志的生活方式在一定程度上可以缓解与年龄相关的认知能力下降。根据这一观点，在面对定义不清的问题时需要做出选择和决策的情景会促进心理灵活性。假设环境为有效的解决方案提供奖励，并为自我指导的活动创造机会，复杂的环境继续促进资源分配用于智力活动，从而扩大可用于解决新问题的智力技能，并以各种方式增强认知和幸福感。然而，这一观点的证据主要是基于相关数据，这些数据可能会有其他解释，这使得人们不清楚参与是否会增强认知功能--或者更有智力能力的人是否更容易参与。有选择地训练认知和智力能力的培训研究(例如，Ball等人，2002年)被发现很少或根本不会对其他能力产生迁移；此外，对专门知识的研究(例如，Morrow等人，1994)表明经验的影响非常有限。目前的项目是一个翻译研究项目，它试图通过在六个月的时间里实验性地操纵生活方式的实质复杂性来弥合这两个文献。参与者将被随机分配到一个参与计划，在该计划中，受试者参与协作问题解决和识字活动(我们对实际复杂环境的操作)、纵横填字游戏/智力游戏控制或等待名单控制。参与体验是以为儿童和年轻人(一直到大学年龄)开发的现有项目--心灵的奥德赛为蓝本的；这种现有的社会结构提供了扩大规模的潜力，以便为老年人提供智力和社会刺激的机会。对认知(如速度、执行功能、流利性)、倾向性指标、自我调节有效性(如正念、自我效能感)和活动(如Hultsch活动量表、日间重构法)的前测和后测将使我们能够在一个可能已准备好转化为实践的背景下检验这种形式的参与可以增强认知功能和自我调节能力的假设。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The engagement hypothesis suggests that age-related declines in cognition may to some extent be mitigated by a lifestyle marked by social and intellectual engagement. According to this view, contexts that require choice and decision-making in the face of ill-defined problems promote mental flexibility. Assuming that the environment provides rewards for effective solutions and creates opportunities for self-directed activity, complex environments continue to promote the allocation of resources toward intellectual activity, thereby expanding the repertoire of intellectual skills available to solve new problems, and to augment cognition and well-being in a variety of ways. Evidence for this idea, however, is primarily based on correlational data, which is subject to other interpretations, making it unclear whether engagement enhances cognitive function - or whether more intellectually capable individuals are prone to engagement. Training studies (e.g., the ACTIVE trials, Ball et al., 2002), in which cognitive and intellectual abilities are selectively trained, have been found to produce little or no transfer to other abilities; furthermore, studies of expertise (e.g., Morrow et al., 1994) show very narrow effects of experience. The current project is a translational research program, which attempts to bridge these two literatures by experimentally manipulating the substantive complexity of lifestyle for a six-month period. Participants will be randomly assigned to a program of engagement in which subjects participate in collaborative problem solving and literacy activities (our operationalization of a substantively complex environment), to a crossword puzzle / brainteaser control, or to a wait-list control. The engagement experience is modeled on an existing program, Odyssey of the Mind, developed for children and young adults (through college-aged); this existing social structure offers potential for scaling up so as to afford opportunities for intellectual and social stimulation for elders. A pretest and posttest battery of cognitive (e.g., speed, executive functions, fluency), dispositional measures indicating, self-regulatory effectiveness (e.g., mindfulness, self-efficacy), and activity (e.g., Hultsch Activity Scale, Day Reconstruction Method) will allow us to test the hypothesis that this form of engagement can augment cognitive function and self-regulatory capacity, in a context which may find ready translation into practice.