Journal of Aging Research

Lifestyle Factors and Cognitive Ageing


Publishing date
03 Aug 2012
Status
Published
Submission deadline
16 Mar 2012

Lead Editor

1Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology, Department of Psychology, The University of Edinburgh, Scotland EH8 9JZ, UK

2Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1570, USA

3Institute of Psychology, Humboldt University of Berlin, Rudower Chaussee 18, room 2'108, 12489 Berlin, Germany


Lifestyle Factors and Cognitive Ageing

Description

Cognitive abilities change with age. There are individual differences in the timing and trajectory of this change, and hence discovering factors that reduce, delay, or halt cognitive ageing is a research priority. Lifestyle factors, particularly those which are malleable across the life course, may be the most informative in the development of any possible cognitive intervention. Factors of interest include aspects of social, leisure, and physical activity; personality; social networks, support and relationships; diet and nutrition; occupational characteristics and exposures; health behaviours.

Efforts to identify lifestyle factors that are associated with cognitive ageing are complicated by a number of issues. A key concern is being able to distinguish between alternative explanations for a factor's association with cognitive ability. Does the factor lead to differential preservation, that is, does it actually predict subsequent cognitive change, or is the association the result of preserved differentiation, where individuals of a given cognitive ability level are more or less likely to have taken up the lifestyle in the first instance? It is important, though not straightforward, to differentiate between these alternatives given the implications for how the results can be interpreted, and thus used. For example, although leisure-time activities have been consistently associated with cognitive abilities, it remains unclear how much of this effect remains once prior cognitive ability can be accounted for.

Other issues to be addressed in terms of identifying lifestyle predictors of cognitive ageing include the length of followup required to detect cognitive change and possible effects of lifestyle factors, the overreliance on single markers of cognitive ability when this is the key outcome of interest, and whether there are different effects of lifestyle factors during distinct periods across the life course. Original research articles employing diverse methodologies and reviews which seek to examine any of these key issues, and others, are welcomed. No single study will be able to address them all, but the aim of the special issue is to stimulate discussion and further raise awareness of these issues. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

  • Examining multiple cognitive domains and how lifestyle factors might differentially affect these
  • Examining the effects of lifestyle factors from across the life course (young adulthood and midlife) on cognitive changes across this same period or through old age
  • Reports of intervention studies using the manipulation of any lifestyle factors
  • Comparison of the effect sizes on cognitive ageing from different lifestyle factors
  • Consideration of the differential preservation versus preserved differentiation debate and ways to address this empirically

Before submission authors should carefully read over the journal's Author Guidelines, which are located at http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jar/guidelines/. Prospective authors should submit an electronic copy of their complete manuscript through the journal Manuscript Tracking System at http://mts.hindawi.com/ according to the following timetable:


Articles

  • Special Issue
  • - Volume 2012
  • - Article ID 143595
  • - Editorial

Lifestyle Factors and Cognitive Ageing: Variation across Ability and Lifestyle Domains

Alan J. Gow | Allison A. M. Bielak | Denis Gerstorf
  • Special Issue
  • - Volume 2012
  • - Article ID 493598
  • - Research Article

Dynamic Associations of Change in Physical Activity and Change in Cognitive Function: Coordinated Analyses of Four Longitudinal Studies

Magnus Lindwall | Cynthia R. Cimino | ... | Andrea M. Piccinin
  • Special Issue
  • - Volume 2012
  • - Article ID 461592
  • - Research Article

Cognitively Stimulating Activities: Effects on Cognition across Four Studies with up to 21 Years of Longitudinal Data

Meghan B. Mitchell | Cynthia R. Cimino | ... | Andrea M. Piccinin
  • Special Issue
  • - Volume 2012
  • - Article ID 512714
  • - Research Article

Association of Social Engagement with Brain Volumes Assessed by Structural MRI

Bryan D. James | Thomas A. Glass | ... | Brian S. Schwartz
  • Special Issue
  • - Volume 2012
  • - Article ID 287438
  • - Research Article

Social Activity and Cognitive Functioning Over Time: A Coordinated Analysis of Four Longitudinal Studies

Cassandra L. Brown | Laura E. Gibbons | ... | Andrea M. Piccinin
  • Special Issue
  • - Volume 2012
  • - Article ID 304014
  • - Research Article

The Role of Lifestyle Behaviors on 20-Year Cognitive Decline

D. Cadar | H. Pikhart | ... | M. Richards
  • Special Issue
  • - Volume 2012
  • - Article ID 856048
  • - Research Article

Social Networks and Memory over 15 Years of Followup in a Cohort of Older Australians: Results from the Australian Longitudinal Study of Ageing

Lynne C. Giles | Kaarin J. Anstey | ... | Mary A. Luszcz
  • Special Issue
  • - Volume 2012
  • - Article ID 973121
  • - Research Article

Do Depressive Traits and Hostility Predict Age-Related Decline in General Intelligence?

Erik Lykke Mortensen | John Calvin Barefoot | Kirsten Avlund
  • Special Issue
  • - Volume 2012
  • - Article ID 435826
  • - Research Article

Neighborhood Influences on Late Life Cognition in the ACTIVE Study

Shannon M. Sisco | Michael Marsiske
  • Special Issue
  • - Volume 2012
  • - Article ID 416132
  • - Research Article

The Role of Education and Intellectual Activity on Cognition

Jeanine M. Parisi | George W. Rebok | ... | Michelle C. Carlson
Journal of Aging Research
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Acceptance rate7%
Submission to final decision112 days
Acceptance to publication20 days
CiteScore4.700
Journal Citation Indicator0.330
Impact Factor4.7
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