Participation in recreation and cognitive activities as a predictor of cognitive performance of adults with/without Down syndrome

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Objective: The Cognitive Activity Theory suggests an association between participation in cognitive activities during midlife and cognitive functioning in the short term. We examined the impact of participation in cognitively stimulating activities conveyed during leisure activities on crystallized and fluid tests' performance among adults with intellectual disabilities (ID). Method: Adults (n = 32; chronological age = 25–55) with non-specific ID and with Down syndrome rated the frequency of their participation in leisure activities. Pursuits included more cognitively involving (reading, participating in academic courses) and less cognitively involving (cooking, dancing) activities. Three judges ranked activities according to their cognitive load on a 1 (few cognitive components) to 5 (many cognitive components) points scale. The findings indicate two new scales: cognitively stimulating activities and recreational stimulating activities. The crystallized battery included phonemic fluency, synonyms, idioms, and verbal metaphors. The fluid battery included the Homophone Meaning Generation Test, Metaphoric Triad Test, Novel Metaphors Test, and Trail Making Test. Results: Hierarchal regression with chronological and mental age, recreational, and cognitively stimulating activities indicated that participation in recreational activities contributed significantly to the explained variance of word fluency. Participation in cognitive activities contributed significantly to the explained variance of most of the crystallized and fluid tests. Conclusions: The findings support the Cognitive Activity Theory in populations with ID. The findings also support the Compensation Age Theory: not only endogenous factors (age, etiology, IQ level), but also exogenous factors such as life style determining the cognitive functioning of adults with ID. However, frequency and the cognitive load of the activities influenced their cognitive functioning.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)955-964
Number of pages10
JournalAging and Mental Health
Volume20
Issue number9
Early online date2 Jun 2015
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Sep 2016

Keywords

  • cognitive reserve
  • compensation
  • functioning
  • intellectual disability
  • leisure
  • life style

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Geriatrics and Gerontology
  • Psychiatry and Mental health
  • Gerontology
  • Phychiatric Mental Health

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