Engaging in cognitively stimulating activities and change in cognitive function: a cross-country analysis using SHARE

Andrea Cegolon and Andrew Jenkins
Additional contact information
Andrea Cegolon: Department of Political Science, Communication and International Relations, University of Macerata, and PhD candidate, University College London
Andrew Jenkins: Social Research Institute, University College London

No 21-15, DoQSS Working Papers from Quantitative Social Science - UCL Social Research Institute, University College London

Abstract: We examine the relationship between different types of cognitively stimulating activities (CSAs) and cognitive function in a sample of community-dwelling Europeans aged 50 and older. The data were drawn from the fourth, fifth and sixth waves of the Survey on Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). The cognitive activities analysed were: educational and training courses; reading books, newspapers and magazines; word or number games (such as crossword puzzles or Sudoku); and playing chess or cards. The cognitive function outcomes under investigation were memory and verbal fluency. Our longitudinal analysis of changes in cognitive abilities show that CSAs can constitute a potential source for the delay or reduction of cognitive decline, even after a short period - only 4 years - of engagement in such activities and regardless of one’s age.

Keywords: ageing; cognitive decline; memory; verbal fluency; cognitively stimulating activities (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I12 I21 J14 J26 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021-04-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-age, nep-hea and nep-neu
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://repec.ioe.ac.uk/REPEc/pdf/qsswp2115.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:qss:dqsswp:2115

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in DoQSS Working Papers from Quantitative Social Science - UCL Social Research Institute, University College London Quantitative Social Science, Social Research Institute, 55-59 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0NU. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Dr Neus Bover Fonts ().