BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) phenomenon refers to knowing the meaning of the desired information but being unable to produce the phonological information. This study induced the TOT phenomenon through a task involving naming famous people, compared and analyzed results by age, and examined the differences with effects from pathological aging [mild cognitive impairment (MCI)]. METHODS: Young (n=10), middle-aged (n=10), older (n=10), oldest (n=10), and MCI (n=10) subjects participated in this study. To examine TOT rate, rate of TOT response, voluntary TOT solution rate, and TOT solution rate after presenting syllabic cue, each group participated in the experiment through a task of naming famous people. RESULTS: First, as subject age increased, TOT rate (the number of TOTs divided by total trials) increased. There was no significant difference with pathological aging. Second, normal aging and pathological aging had no significant effect on the rate of TOT response (the number of each response type divided by total response types). Third, the voluntary TOT solution rate (the number of voluntary TOT solutions divided by total TOTs) on occurrence of the TOT phenomenon was very low. Fourth, the TOT solution rate (the number of TOT solutions after presenting syllabic cue divided by total TOTs) had a negative correlation to normal aging. In examining pathological aging, the TOT solution rate of the MCI group was significantly lower than normal oldest people. CONCLUSION: Normal aging and pathological aging showed differences regarding TOT rate and TOT solution rate when naming famous individuals. The results of this study could be helpful as a differential tool between normal and pathological aging.
Aging* ; Cues ; Mild Cognitive Impairment*

No abstract available.
Aging* ; Alzheimer Disease* ; Mild Cognitive Impairment*

Aging ; Health ; Humans ; Longevity

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to identify the effect of a multicomponent cognitive stimulation program (MCSP) on the improvement of older people's cognitive abilities. It also aimed to determine whether the effectiveness of the MCSP is related to age.METHODS: A one-group pretest-posttest design was used. The program was conducted once a week for 10 weeks. The Korean-Montreal Cognitive Assessment (K-MoCA) was used to measure cognitive functions before and after the MCSP. Participants included 37 people aged over 65 years with normal cognitive functions and living in I city. A paired t-test was used to compare K-MoCA scores before and after the MCSP, and a two-way analysis of variance was performed to confirm whether there is an interaction between the MCSP and age.RESULTS: It was found that the MCSP had a significant effect on improving cognitive functions (t = −5.15, p < .001). Regarding the subdomains, visuospatial/executive ability, recall, naming, and language ability showed significant effects; however, abstractive ability—which was not a focus of the program—showed no significant effect. There were differences in visuospatial/executive functions, language skills, and memory between the 65–79 years age group and the aged over 80 group. Further, regarding the relationship between the MCSP and age, it was found that their interaction was significant only with regard to visuospatial/executive ability.CONCLUSION: The MCSP helps to improve the cognitive functions of the elderly; however, its effect differs between the young-old group and the old-old group. Therefore, age should be considered when developing MCSPs.
Aged ; Aging ; Cognition ; Cognitive Therapy ; Female ; Humans ; Language ; Memory

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to examine the effects of the social engagement (size of the social networks, social support, social conflict) by relationship types (spouse, family and kin, and neighbor and friends) on the cognitive functions of older adults in rural communities. METHODS: The participants of this study were normal older adults who participated in the first wave of the Korean Social Life, Health and Aging Project. Five hundred two older adults (men 218, women 284) aged 60 and over (mean age=71.44±6.81) participated. We analyzed the effects of different types of social engagement on Mini-Mental State Examination for Dementia Screening (MMSE-DS) performance using hierarchical multiple regression analysis. RESULTS: The result showed that, after controlling for the education level and age, the social support from the spouse, the conflict with neighbors or friends, the number of neighbors or friends significantly predicted MMSE-DS scores. These three variables accounted for additional 5.2% of the total variance of MMSE-DS. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that social engagement (network size, support, conflict) is associated with cognitive function among older adults. However, social engagement in different types of social relationship may contribute differently to cognitive function of older adults.
Adult* ; Aging ; Cognition ; Cognitive Aging ; Cognitive Reserve ; Dementia ; Education ; Female ; Friends ; Humans ; Mass Screening ; Rural Population ; Spouses

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Vocabulary knowledge is used as a representative index of general intelligence, and is regarded as a marker for cognitive reserve in elderly people. However, vocabulary knowledge mainly depends on formal education, hence, it may not fully represent cognitive functioning in elderly people with poor educational backgrounds. Herein, we investigated whether vocabulary knowledge is a measure of general cognitive ability among normal elderly people with few years of formal education. METHODS: The association between vocabulary knowledge and general cognitive functioning was compared between 35 elderly females with very low educational attainment and 68 elderly females with higher education. RESULTS: The vocabulary knowledge was a significant predictor of general cognitive functioning in elderly individuals with more than primary education, even after controlling the effects of age and years of education. However, it was not a significant predictor of general cognitive functioning in elderly individuals with very low educational attainment. CONCLUSIONS: Vocabulary assessment was effective in estimating general cognitive functioning in elderly individuals who received ≥6 years of education. Our findings suggested that vocabulary knowledge may not be an effective proxy of premorbid intelligence or cognitive reserve in people who have not completed elementary schooling.
Aged* ; Cognitive Aging ; Cognitive Reserve ; Education ; Female ; Humans ; Intelligence ; Proxy ; Vocabulary*

The rapid increase of the elderly population has generated unprecedented social and cultural conflicts. One of the fundamental factors underlying these turbulences would be the traditional concept on aging and the elderly, which has been prevailed by the negative view as an irreversible and inevitable process. However, the recent researches have revealed that aging is a biological process not for death but for survival, suggesting a responsive and adaptive aspect of being aging. This revolutionary change in the concept on aging may provoke aconfident aspect of aging, leading to a more productive and active participation of the elderly in the community. Therefore, the traditional view on aging, as a functionally deteriorated and morphologically altered state of the organism, should be corrected. Based on this new concept, the policy and strategy for the future society should be replanned. Moreover, the elderly individuals should try to maintain the best condition toward the functional longevity without despair or discourage. In this article, I briefly introduce the novel hypothesis on aging, that is, "The Gate Theory of Aging", and discuss the replace vs restore principles for aging control.
Aged ; Aging* ; Biological Processes ; Humans ; Longevity*

Thoughts and concepts on successful aging were reviewed from psychological, biomedical and multi-dimensional points of view. Longevity, mental health, preservation of cognitive function, physical health and life satisfaction seem to constitute successful aging albeit we are not still at a full consensus about what successful aging is and about which of those domains is most important. A variety of factors are related to successful aging and some of them are thought to be modifiable while some are not. Lastly, many interventions for successful aging were discussed at both individual and social levels.
Aging* ; Cognition ; Consensus ; Longevity ; Mental Health

Thoughts and concepts on successful aging were reviewed from psychological, biomedical and multi-dimensional points of view. Longevity, mental health, preservation of cognitive function, physical health and life satisfaction seem to constitute successful aging albeit we are not still at a full consensus about what successful aging is and about which of those domains is most important. A variety of factors are related to successful aging and some of them are thought to be modifiable while some are not. Lastly, many interventions for successful aging were discussed at both individual and social levels.
Aging* ; Cognition ; Consensus ; Longevity ; Mental Health

There is no consensual definition of aging, at present. Aging is said to be all the changes of organism from its birth to death including maturation, development and adulthood and increase of probability of dying with time. And some scientists use senescence as the progressive accumulation of irreversible degenerative changes leading to loss of homeostasis and lack of adaptation to stress to differentiate from aging. Primary or normal aging process is conceptually considered to be universal changes with age, independent of environmental and lifestyle factors. And basic mechanism of intrinsic aging is still unknown. Secondary aging changes include the environmental and disease effects. It is not easy to distinguish normal aging from disease. Successful aging describes high physical, cognitive and social function with no disability and disease. Future research of aging toward successful aging involves study about basic me-chanism of aging with behavioral and societal changes, epidemiologic and clinical research about age related diseases and human longevity study. Identifying factors and interventions will lead to long and healthy human lifespan by delaying of aging process and prevention of disability and the age related diseases.
Aging* ; Homeostasis ; Humans ; Life Style ; Longevity ; Parturition