The DOI matches its Crossref record; 85 of the 85 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Mental Exercise and Mental Aging: Evaluating the Validity of the “Use It or Lose It” Hypothesis
Abstract
It is widely believed that keeping mentally active will prevent age-related mental decline. The primary prediction of this mental-exercise hypothesis is that the rate of age-related decline in measures of cognitive functioning will be less pronounced for people who are more mentally active, or, equivalently, that the cognitive differences among people who vary in level of mental activity will be greater with increased age. Although many training studies, and comparisons involving experts, people in specific occupations, and people whose mental activity levels are determined by their self-reports, have found a positive relation between level of activity and level of cognitive functioning, very few studies have found an interactive effect of age and mental activity on measures of cognitive functioning. Despite the current lack of empirical evidence for the idea that the rate of mental aging is moderated by amount of mental activity, there may be personal benefits to assuming that the mental-exercise hypothesis is true.
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In the citing paper
“The relevance of intervention studies for the cognitive-enrichment hypothesis has also been called into question because maintenance is rarely assessed beyond 1 or 2 years following the end of the intervention (e.g., Salthouse, 2006).”
From Enrichment Effects on Adult Cognitive Development: Can the Functional Capacity of Older Adults Be Preserved and Enhanced? (2008) · cites this paper as Salthouse, 2006
In the citing paper
“Salthouse (2006) found Age -Activity interactions in his cross-sectional data set for verbal ability, consistent with acculturation and knowledge-acquisition effects.”
From Enrichment Effects on Adult Cognitive Development: Can the Functional Capacity of Older Adults Be Preserved and Enhanced? (2008) · cites this paper as Salthouse, 2006
In the citing paper
“In particular, Salthouse (2006) did not cite the kinds of longitudinal studies reviewed in this monograph that have produced evidence favoring the enrichment hypothesis.”
From Enrichment Effects on Adult Cognitive Development: Can the Functional Capacity of Older Adults Be Preserved and Enhanced? (2008) · cites this paper as Salthouse (2006)
In the citing paper
“Salthouse's critique was based primarily on the construct validity of Schooler's measures of cognition (see Schooler, 2007).”
From Enrichment Effects on Adult Cognitive Development: Can the Functional Capacity of Older Adults Be Preserved and Enhanced? (2008) · cites this paper as Salthouse (2006)
In the citing paper
“there are interesting measurement issues with these self-reports, because frequency estimation is a fallible process and the multiple-item scales do not encourage the kind of thoughtful reconstruction that maximizes validity of the self-reports (e.g., Jobe & Mingay, 1991).”
From Enrichment Effects on Adult Cognitive Development: Can the Functional Capacity of Older Adults Be Preserved and Enhanced? (2008) · cites this paper as Salthouse (2006)
In the citing paper
“Salthouse (2006) based his conclusions on his own cross-sectional data with self-report measures of different types of intellectually stimulating activities.”
From Enrichment Effects on Adult Cognitive Development: Can the Functional Capacity of Older Adults Be Preserved and Enhanced? (2008) · cites this paper as Salthouse (2006)
In the citing paper
“It is also useful to remember that the criterion of Age -Activity interactions advocated by Salthouse (2006) may not be necessary to produce important cognitive-enrichment effects for intellectually stimulating activities.”
From Enrichment Effects on Adult Cognitive Development: Can the Functional Capacity of Older Adults Be Preserved and Enhanced? (2008) · cites this paper as Salthouse (2006)
In the citing paper
“We certainly agree with Salthouse (2006) that more evidence is needed to cement the case for enrichment effects”
From Enrichment Effects on Adult Cognitive Development: Can the Functional Capacity of Older Adults Be Preserved and Enhanced? (2008) · cites this paper as Salthouse (2006)
In the citing paper
“Salthouse (2006) has claimed that one can only evaluate the benefits of mental-exercise-program interventions with verylong-term follow-up studies that show sustained and continuing benefits; one should not overgeneralize from positive results in short-term interventions.”
From Enrichment Effects on Adult Cognitive Development: Can the Functional Capacity of Older Adults Be Preserved and Enhanced? (2008) · cites this paper as Salthouse, 2006
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Metadata
- Authors
- Salthouse, T. A.
- Affiliations
- University of Virginia (US)
- Corresponding author
- Salthouse, Timothy A.
- Venue
- Perspectives on Psychological Science
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2006-03
- Volume
- 1
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 68-87
- ISSN
- 1745-6916 (ISSN-L)
- 1745-6924
- OpenAlex
- W2164018083
- Cited by
- 679
- References
- 85
- Citations by year
- 2026: 16 · 2025: 49 · 2024: 32 · 2023: 34 · 2022: 34 · 2021: 37 · 2020: 33 · 2019: 38 · 2018: 39 · 2017: 37 · 2016: 39 · 2015: 30 · 2014: 36 · 2013: 34 · 2012: 37
- FWCI
- 32.92
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Perspectives on Psychological Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Aging and Gerontology Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Abilities and Testing
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research
- Keywords
- mental exercise, cognitive aging, age-related cognitive decline, cognitive training, mental activity, cognitive function
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