A team of researchers from the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain) has carried out a study to find out which indicators influence the improvement of cognitive reserve , that is, the cognitive and intellectual capacity that a person accumulates throughout his life through academic and cultural knowledge, reading, languages, hobbies … that lead to compensate the brain for the loss of its functions.
The cognitive reserve, which cannot be measured directly, can be calculated through certain indicators that increase its capacity and, therefore, protect against cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease, for example.
The study, which has been published in the journal Anales de Psicología , worked with a sample of 326 people over 50 years of age, 222 healthy and 104 with mild cognitive impairment . Throughout the study, the scientists measured their vocabulary level, years of schooling, the complexity of their work, and their reading habits. They also used the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale vocabulary subtest and the Peabody picture vocabulary test.
“We focus on the level of vocabulary, taking into account that it is considered an indicator of crystallized intelligence [the use of intellectual skills already learned]. What we wanted was to deepen its relationship with the cognitive reserve. With a regression analysis, we calculated the probability of deterioration depending on the level of vocabulary that the participants had ”, Cristina Lojo Seoane, co-author of the study, tells Sinc.
The results showed a higher prevalence of brain deterioration in the participants who obtained a lower score in their vocabulary level, which, according to the experts, is a key indicator that the higher the vocabulary level we have, the more protected we will be against cognitive deterioration .
