A study suggests that higher education may have minimal impact on cognitive abilities late in life. Education, occupational complexity, and later-life engagement in cognitive-intellectual activities are associated with cognitive reserve. However, the causal relationship between such factors and cognitive ability remains unclear. William Kremen, Carol Franz, and colleagues evaluated performance across seven cognitive domains in more than 1,000 men who served in the US military between 1965 and 1975, nearly 80% of whom reported no combat exposure. The Armed Forces Qualification Test, taken when participants were around 20 years of age, assessed young adult general cognitive ability (GCA). The authors found that GCA at age 20 was a stronger predictor of cognitive abilities at age 62 than education, occupational complexity, or engagement in cognitive-intellectual activities. On average, each of the latter three factors accounted for less than 1% of the variance in cognitive abilities at age 62 after controlling for GCA at age 20. GCA at age 20, but not education, was correlated with cortical surface area at age 62. According to the authors, although previous studies have found that education improves cognitive capacity through late adolescence, the results suggest that associations between later-life cognitive function and education may reflect reverse causation--individuals with higher intellectual capacity tend to attain higher education.
Article #18-11537: "Influence of young adult cognitive ability and additional education on later-life cognition," by William S. Kremen et al.
MEDIA CONTACT: William Kremen, University of California, San Diego, CA; tel: 858-822-2393, 858-232-4028; e-mail: wkremen@ucsd.edu; Carol Franz, University of California, San Diego, CA; tel: 858-822-1793, 530-219-8638; e-mail: cfranz@ucsd.edu
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