Education is essential for cognitive health throughout life Date: 10 August 2020 Source: Summary by the Association of Psychological Sciences: New research shows that education offers little or no protection against the onset of cognitive decline later in life. The authors conclude that improving the conditions governing development in the first decades of life has great potential to improve cognitive skills at an early age and reduce the public health burden associated with ageing cognitive abilities and dementia. In contrast, more advanced individuals achieve, on average, higher levels of cognitive function in school at an early and middle age, so that the first effects of aging cognitive function are less evident from the outset and more serious impairment occurs later than would have been possible. “The percentage of cognitive decline associated with age varies from person to person, but these individual differences have little to do with school performance,” says lead author Martin Løwden, who previously worked at the Karolinska Institute and Stockholm University in Sweden and now at the University of Gothenburg. “The total amount of formal education that people receive is related to their average level of cognitive function in adulthood,” says Elliot M. This conclusion disproves the old assumption that formal education provides significant protection against cognitive aging from childhood to early adulthood. “Education is crucial for cognitive health throughout life. ScienceDaily”. Throughout adulthood, cognitive function is, on average, higher in people with more years of study than in people with less experience. This report stresses the importance of formal education for cognitive development throughout childhood, adolescence and early adulthood. However, it can improve cognitive abilities that people develop earlier in life and can delay the onset of age-related dementia, affecting a person’s ability to take care of themselves. Instead, the authors conclude that people who have made greater progress in school tend to decline from higher levels of peak cognitive function. A new PSPI report assesses the results of these earlier studies to better understand how school performance affects both the level and changes in cognitive function in old age and dementia. While some uncertainties remain after analysis, the authors note that there is no doubt a more complete picture of the relationship between education and cognitive ageing. Education is essential for cognitive health throughout life.
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