Impoverished environment, cognition, aging and dementia
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Karin M. Volkers
und
Erik J.A. Scherder
Abstract
Animals living in an impoverished environment, i.e., without the possibility of physical and social activity, perform worse on cognitive tests compared to animals in an enriched environment. The same cognitive difference is also observed in humans. However, it is not clear whether this difference is caused by a decrease in cognition due to an impoverished environment or an increase due to an enriched environment. This review discusses the impact of an impoverished environment on cognition in animal experimental studies and human experimental studies with community-dwelling and institutionalized older people. Results show that the cognitive functioning of old rats is more affected by an impoverished environment than young rats. Similarly, sedentary and lonely people (impoverished environment) have worse cognitive functioning and show a faster cognitive decline than physically and socially active people. Institutionalization further aggravates cognitive decline, probably due to the impoverished environment of nursing homes. In institutions, residents spend an unnecessary and excessive amount of time in bed; out of bed they show mainly sedentary or completely passive behavior. In conclusion, older people, especially those that have been institutionalized, have poor levels of physical and social activity, which in turn has a negative impact on cognitive functioning.
©2011 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston
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Artikel in diesem Heft
- Publisher’s Note
- Impoverished environment, cognition, aging and dementia
- When is adult hippocampal neurogenesis necessary for learning? Evidence from animal research
- Synapses, NMDA receptor activity and neuronal Aβ production in Alzheimer’s disease
- Cytokines and depression: findings, issues, and treatment implications
- BDNF-TrkB signalling in fear learning: from genetics to neural networks
- Role of the basolateral amygdala and NMDA receptors in higher-order conditioned fear
- Allosteric modulation of ATP-gated P2X receptor channels
- Current perspectives on potential role of albumin in neuroprotection
- Spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) as an animal model for ADHD: a short overview
