Positivity Helps Preserve and Recover Memory

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Here's good news for anyone worried about their aging brain: Studies have shown that almost half of people who develop mild cognitive impairment (MCI) are able to regain normal cognitive skills, although scientists don’t know why. Now, a new study from researchers at the Yale School of Public Health suggests that those who think positively about aging are more likely to preserve and recover their memory and other cognitive skills than those who think negatively about aging.

Mild cognitive impairment may be diagnosed when an older adult has more problems with thinking and memory than others their age, according to the National Institute on Aging. Those with physical and mental health disorders, such as diabetes and depression, are at higher risk of developing MCI than healthier adults the same age. And while it doesn’t happen to everyone with MCI, those with MCI are at higher risk of Alzheimer’s disease or a similar form of dementia than those who don’t develop MCI.

Because positive thinking had previously been shown to reduce stress caused by loss of cognitive skills and loss of self-confidence due to reduced cognition, the Yale researchers proposed that positive thinking could actually help recovery from MCI, especially in those who think positively about the aging process.

This study included 1,716 men and women aged 65 and older, with a mean age between 77 and 78 with no or some degree of MCI. The participants were divided into two groups: those with a positive aging attitude and those with a negative aging attitude, based on results of an Attitude Toward Aging assessment, (a sub-scale of the Philadelphia Geriatric Morale Scale). For instance, they were asked if they agree or disagree with the statement, “The older I get, the more useless I feel.” Such data was collected from each participant every two years, for 12 years, to test for changes in cognition and, ultimately, cognitive recovery. The timing of cognitive/memory recovery was based on the first advancement from MCI to normal cognition.

The results were significant: Those participants with positive aging beliefs, regardless of the severity of their MCI at baseline, had more than 30 percent greater chance of recovery than those with negative beliefs about aging. While some with negative age beliefs also recovered cognition, participants in the positive belief group who recovered reached that outcome two years sooner. Those participants who did not have MCI at baseline had a better chance of maintaining normal cognition longer.

Attitudes about aging are often drawn from an individual’s culture, the study authors point out. They believe that since positive aging beliefs can be modified and strengthened, it is possible to work with individuals who have negative aging beliefs so they, too, can have a better chance of more quickly recovering lost cognitive skills.