BUSYNESS MAY NOT MATTER: ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN BUSYNESS, ACTIVITY ENGAGEMENT, AND COGNITION
2024
Busyness and Cognition in Older Adults
Sample size: 206
publication
Evidence: low
Author Information
Author(s): Allison Bielak
Primary Institution: Colorado State University
Hypothesis
Does the link between busyness and cognition replicate?
Conclusion
Greater busyness was not related to higher cognitive performance in older adults.
Supporting Evidence
- Busyness was not a significant predictor of processing speed, episodic memory, vocabulary, executive functioning, or reasoning.
- Busyness did significantly predict working memory.
- Stress about busyness did not interact with busyness for any cognitive domain.
- Busyness was weakly correlated with activity variety and frequency.
Takeaway
Being busy doesn't necessarily mean you're smarter; doing different activities might be more important for your brain.
Methodology
Adults aged 60–92 years completed questions related to busyness, stress, activity participation, and cognitive tests.
Limitations
The measure of busyness was simple and may not capture the complexity of activity engagement.
Participant Demographics
Adults aged 60–92 years with a mean age of 70.5.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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