Psychological well-being in elderly adults with extraordinary episodic memory

Abstract

ObjectivesThe Northwestern University SuperAging Program studies a rare cohort of individuals over age 80 with episodic memory ability at least as good as middle-age adults to determine what factors contribute to their elite memory performance. As psychological well-being is positively correlated with cognitive performance in older adults, the present study examined whether aspects of psychological well-being distinguish cognitive SuperAgers from their cognitively average-for-age, same-age peers.MethodThirty-one SuperAgers and 19 cognitively average-for-age peers completed the Ryff 42-item Psychological Well-Being questionnaire, comprised of 6 subscales: Autonomy, Positive Relations with Others, Environmental Mastery, Personal Growth, Purpose in Life, and Self-Acceptance.ResultsThe groups did not differ on demographic factors, including estimated premorbid intelligence. Consistent with inclusion criteria, SuperAgers had better episodic memory scores. Compared to cognitively average-for-age peers, SuperAgers endorsed greater levels of Positive Relations with Others. The groups did not differ on other PWB-42 subscales.DiscussionWhile SuperAgers and their cognitively average-for-age peers reported similarly high levels of psychological well-being across multiple dimensions, SuperAgers endorsed greater levels of positive social relationships. This psychological feature could conceivably have a biological relationship to the greater thickness of the anterior cingulate gyrus and higher density of von Economo neurons previously reported in SuperAgers.

Cognitive trajectories and spectrum of neuropathology in SuperAgers: The first 10 cases

“…These themes align well with the suggested importance of participating in cognitively stimulating activities for maintaining cognitive health in older age (Festini, McDonough, & Park, 2016;Hultsch, Hertzog, Small, & Dixon, 1999;Park et al, 2014;Singh-Manoux, Richards, & Marmot, 2003;Wilson et al, 2002;Wilson, Scherr, Schneider, Tang, & Bennett, 2007). The descriptions of the participants are consistent with our recent report examining psychological wellbeing, where 31 SuperAgers endorsed higher "positive social relationships with others" compared to their similarly aged cognitively average peers (Cook Maher et al, 2017). While all SuperAging participants in this report showed IQ scores in the high average to superior range, formal education varied from 12 to 18 years.…”

SuperAging – společnost a lidé: úvod do problematiky

“…Mezi další patří učení se novým věcem a kladení si výzev znamenajících určitou námahu, pro jejichž dosažení je nutné překonat vlastní pohodlnost a zajeté koleje (Lindquist et al, 2016). Pro SuperAgera je více obvyklé mít pevnou sociální síť -přátele, k nimž má důvěru, že pomohou, pokud bude pomoc potřebovat (Cook Maher et al, 2017).…”

Neurobiological findings associated with high cognitive performance in older adults: a systematic review

“…From 4,457 potentially relevant citations retrieved from electronic databases and searches of reference lists, nine (0.2%) studies met the inclusion criteria ( Figure 1). There were three studies on neuroimaging (Harrison et al, 2012;Cook et al, 2017;Dekhtyar et al, 2017), two on histological analysis (Gefen et al, 2015;Janeczek et al, 2017), one on plasma metabolites (Mapstone et al, 2017), and two on neuropsychological profile (Gefen et al, 2014;Cook Maher et al, 2017). One study reported findings that had been previously published, provided another specific outcome, namely apolipoprotein E (ApoE) status (Rogalski et al, 2013) (Table 1).…”

“…Notably, high-performing older adults were described with different terms, namely "SuperAgers" (Harrison et al, 2012;Rogalski et al, 2013;Gefen et al, 2014;2015;Cook et al, 2017;Cook Maher et al, 2017;Janeczek et al, 2017), "Supernormals" (Mapstone et al, 2017), and "Optimal performers" (Dekhtyar et al, 2017). All definitions converged in classifying older adults according to their episodic memory performance.…”