Cognitive Reserve and its Association with Cognitive Abilities and the Big Five

The present study explored the concept of cognitive reserve by
using a testing-the-limits paradigm (Kliegl et al., 1989). 140
young (M = 22.8 years, range = 20-30) and 140 older (M = 67.3
years, range = 57-75) adults were provided with extensive retest
practice in the Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST) and a visual
search task. Cognitive abilities (fluid reasoning, memory,
attention) and personality dimensions (Big Five) served as
predictors of retest improvement (i.e., cognitive reserve). Latent
Growth Curve analyses demonstrated greater DSST improvement for the
young group, but similar visual search improvement for both age
groups, indicating age-independent cognitive reserve in visual
search. Improvement rates for both tasks were weakly correlated,
speaking rather for task-specific learning than for a general
cognitive reserve. Cognitive reserve was rather independent from
cognitive abilities and, with one exception, also from personality
dimensions. Implications for cognitive reserve in general and DSST
and visual search retest learning in particular are discussed.