Active lifestyle as a reflection of cognitive reserve: The Modified Cognitive Reserve Scale

Abstract

Cognitive reserve (CR) refers to individual differences in cognitive processing that can protect from and compensate for functional decline related to ageing or brain pathology. The CR theory postulates that attaining an active and cognitively stimulating lifestyle can accumulate CR. The Cognitive Reserve Scale (CRS) is a questionnaire that measures lifelong attainment in leisure activities. This cross-sectional study aimed to examine the usefulness, validity and reliability of a modified Finnish translation of the CRS, the Modified Cognitive Reserve Scale (mCRS). The mCRS consists of 20 questions concerning studying and information seeking, hobbies and social relationships during three age phases: young adulthood (18-35 years), adulthood (36-64 years) and late adulthood (!65 years). A group of 69 neurologically healthy adults aged 26-78 filled the mCRS and completed a neuropsychological test battery. We examined the internal consistency of the mCRS and associations between the mCRS, demographical variables and cognitive performance. The mCRS was normally distributed and showed satisfactory internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha 0.81). It was significantly associated with occupation (ԑ 2 ¼ 0.14) and education (rho ¼ 0.51) but not with age or gender. There were significant associations between the mCRS and verbal reasoning (rho ¼ .306), visual reasoning (r ¼ .319), learning (r ¼ .293) and inhibition (rho ¼ -.368). Our study suggests that the mCRS is a reliable and valid method to assess lifelong leisure activity. The mCRS is related to other factors that enhance CR, occupation and education, and associated with cognitive performance of healthy adults. It provides an easily administrable means to assess lifelong attainment in stimulating leisure activities.

Associations of cognitive reserve and psychological resilience with cognitive functioning in subjects with cerebral white matter hyperintensities

“…Items include topics in three categories: training and information, hobbies and social life. Examples include taking a course or speaking a non‐native language, playing games or a musical instrument and visiting relatives/friends/neighbours or volunteering [27]. There were a few sporadic missing responses, which were replaced by the subject's median response within the same age‐specific questionnaire.…”

“…Cognitive reserve was assessed using years of education and the modified Cognitive Reserve Scale (mCRS), a self-report questionnaire developed to determine lifetime involvement in cognitively stimulating activities [26,27]. The questionnaire has been shown to have high internal consistency and reliability [26,27]. It includes three age-specific versions, of which those intended for persons with 36-64 and ≥65 years of age were used.…”

Cognitive function is well preserved in a cohort of breast cancer survivors: Roles of cognitive reserve, resilience, and general health

“…We used the Modified Cognitive Reserve Scale (mCRS) [ 40 ] to measure cognitive reserve as lifelong attainment in leisure activities. This comprises 20 questions about studying and information-seeking, hobbies and social relationships.…”

The Lifetime of Experiences Questionnaire: Psychometric Properties and Relationships With Memory Function in an Iranian Elderly Sample

“…Older adults who have been actively involved in socially and cognitively stimulating activities throughout their lives withdraw gradually from these activities due to their physical problems. Ignoring this issue can lead to bias in assessing stimulating activities and affect their relationship with cognitive performance in late adulthood ( 21 ). Therefore, cross-sectional scales may not fully represent lifelong activities.…”