The effectiveness of real-life cognitive and physical interventions on cognitive functioning in healthy older adults: A systematic review of the effects of education and training duration
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2-1-2025
Abstract
Physical and cognitive interventions are deemed the primary methods of improving cognitive functioning in healthy older adults. However, the effectiveness of these interventions is still debated. This systematic review, synthesised findings from the literature on four different types of interventions: physical activities, cognitive training, cognitive stimulation and a combined intervention. We searched six databases for each intervention category. Findings demonstrated that 65% of the studies across all intervention groups reported improvement in the experimental group following the intervention. Furthermore, memory, executive and global cognitive functions were the most reported improvements post-intervention. Additionally, participants with higher education benefited more from cognitive training (an intervention that targets a specific cognitive domain), while those with lower education gained more following cognitive stimulation (an intervention that targets general domains). Lastly, in sub-types of physical activity, cognitive stimulation and combined category, longer durations (more than 20 sessions) were associated with significant cognitive improvements. Conversely, in cognitive training, having less than 20 sessions led to significant results. Findings indicated an interaction of education and intervention duration with significant outcomes post-intervention. In conclusion, this review demonstrated the importance of intervention type, duration and education in understanding cognitive improvement post-intervention.
Keywords
ageing, cognitive intervention, cognitive stimulation, physical activity
Divisions
primarycare
Funders
Long-Term Research Grant Scheme (LRGS) of the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education (LRGS/1/2019/SYUC//1 (A))
Publication Title
Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being
Volume
17
Issue
1
Publisher
Wiley
Publisher Location
111 RIVER ST, HOBOKEN 07030-5774, NJ USA