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Influence of young adult cognitive ability and additional education on later-life cognition
William S Kremen, Asad Beck, Jeremy A Elman, Daniel E Gustavson, Chandra A Reynolds, Xin M Tu, Mark E Sanderson-Cimino, Matthew S Panizzon et al.. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2019-01-22
Topic: Brain imaging, connectivity and assessment
How and when education improves cognitive capacity is an issue of profound societal importance. Education and later-life education-related factors, such as occupational complexity and engagement in cognitive-intellectual activities, are frequently considered indices of cognitive reserve, but whether their effects are truly causal remains unclear. In this study, after accounting for general cognitive ability (GCA) at an average age of 20 y, additional education, occupational complexity, or engagement in cognitive-intellectual activities accounted for little variance in late midlife cognitive functioning in men age 56-66 (n = 1009). Age 20 GCA accounted for 40% of variance in the same measure in late midlife and approximately 10% of variance in each of seven cognitive domains. The other factors each accounted for <1% of the variance in cognitive outcomes. The impact of these other factors likely reflects reverse causation-namely, downstream effects of early adult GCA. Supporting that idea, age 20 GCA, but not education, was associated with late midlife cortical surface area (n = 367). In our view, the most parsimonious explanation of our results, a meta-analysis of the impact of education, and epidemiologic studies of the Flynn effect is that intellectual capacity gains due to education plateau in late adolescence/early adulthood. Longitudinal studies with multiple cognitive assessments before completion of education would be needed to confirm this speculation. If cognitive gains reach an asymptote by early adulthood, then strengthening cognitive reserve and reducing later-life cognitive decline and dementia risk may really begin with improving educational quality and access in childhood and adolescence.
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APA 7th
Kremen, W. S., Beck, A., Elman, J. A., Gustavson, D. E., Reynolds, C. A., Tu, X. M., et al. (2019). Influence of young adult cognitive ability and additional education on later-life cognition. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1811537116
Vancouver
Kremen WS, Beck A, Elman JA, Gustavson DE, Reynolds CA, Tu XM, et al. Influence of young adult cognitive ability and additional education on later-life cognition. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2019. doi:10.1073/pnas.1811537116. PMID: 30670647.
BibTeX
@article{kremen2019-30670647,
author = {Kremen, William S and Beck, Asad and Elman, Jeremy A and Gustavson, Daniel E and Reynolds, Chandra A and Tu, Xin M and Sanderson-Cimino, Mark E and Panizzon, Matthew S and others},
title = {{Influence of young adult cognitive ability and additional education on later-life cognition}},
journal = {Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America},
year = {2019},
doi = {10.1073/pnas.1811537116},
pmid = {30670647},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1811537116}
}
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Key findings
- Supporting that idea, age 20 GCA, but not education, was associated with late midlife cortical surface area (n = 367).
- In our view, the most parsimonious explanation of our results, a meta-analysis of the impact of education, and epidemiologic studies of the Flynn effect is that intellectual capacity gains due to education plateau in late adolescence/early adulthood.
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Study details
- Study designmeta-analysis
- Participants1,009
- Evidence strengthHigh
How this study scored 79/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal, and it is a meta-analysis pooling many studies. Scored zero for effect reported because the record does not state it. We have no data on journal's citation record, times cited, citations per year, impact for its field and year, cited by studies here, still being cited, senior author's track record, institution's track record, multicenter collaboration and free to read, so those were left out: it earned 44 of the 56 points we could judge it on, which is 79 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America) |
| Journal's citation record | — / 4 | No journal record from OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Study design | 12 / 12 | A meta-analysis pooling many studies |
| Strength of evidence | 5 / 5 | Rated “high” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 2 / 5 | 2019 — within 10 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 3 / 4 | 1,009 participants |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 3 / 3 | Studied in people (participant count stated) |
| Randomized / blinded | 0 / 2 | A review of other studies — randomization is not credited here |
| Times cited | — / 7 | No citation count (not found in OpenAlex) — left out of this score |
| Citations per year | — / 5 | No citation count or no year — left out of this score |
| Impact for its field and year | — / 6 | No field-weighted citation impact (OpenAlex has none yet) — left out of this score |
| Cited by studies here | — / 6 | Not yet checked against this library's citation graph — left out of this score |
| Still being cited | — / 4 | No yearly citation counts — left out of this score |
| Senior author's track record | — / 4 | Senior author's record not available — left out of this score |
| Institution's track record | — / 3 | No institution listed in OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Multicenter collaboration | — / 3 | Institutions not listed — left out of this score |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 30670647) |
| Free to read | — / 2 | Access not recorded — left out of this score |
| Points | 44 / 56 | Scored on 10 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 44 of the 56 points we could judge it on is 79 out of 100. |
| Total | 79 / 100 | — |
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