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Tranter, L. J., & Koutstaal, W. (2008). Age and flexible thinking: An experimental demonstration of the beneficial effects of increased cognitively stimulating activity on fluid intelligence in healthy older adults. Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, 15, 184-207. The disuse hypothesis of cognitive aging attributes decrements in fluid intelligence in older adults to reduced cognitively stimulating activity. This study experimentally tested the hypothesis that a period of increased mentally stimulating activities thus would enhance older adults' fluid intelligence performance. Participants (N = 44, mean age 67.82) were administered pre- and post-measures, including the fluid intelligence measure, Cattell's Culture Fair (CCF) test. Experimental participants engaged in diverse, novel, mentally stimulating activities for 10-12 weeks and were compared to a control condition. Results supported the hypothesis: the experimental group showed greater pre- to post-CCF gain than did controls (effect size d = .56), with a similar gain on a spatial-perceptual task (WAIS-R Blocks). Even brief periods of increased cognitive stimulation can improve older adults' problem solving and flexible thinking. KEY WORDS: disuse theory of cognitive aging; environmental enrichment; neuronal plasticity; fluid intelligence; successful aging; thinking BACK |
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