| Autor: |
Colautti L; Department of Psychology, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, 20123 Milan, Italy., Borsa VM; Department of Human and Social Sciences, University of Bergamo, 24129 Bergamo, Italy., Fusi G; Department of Human and Social Sciences, University of Bergamo, 24129 Bergamo, Italy.; Department of Clinical and Experimental Sciences, University of Brescia, 25136 Brescia, Italy., Crepaldi M; Department of Human and Social Sciences, University of Bergamo, 24129 Bergamo, Italy., Palmiero M; Department of Communication Sciences, University of Teramo, 64100 Teramo, Italy., Garau F; Department of Pedagogy, Psychology, Philosophy, University of Cagliari, 09123 Cagliari, Italy., Bonfiglio NS; IRCCS Centro San Giovanni di Dio Fatebenefratelli, 25125 Brescia, Italy., Giannì J; Department of Human and Social Sciences, University of Bergamo, 24129 Bergamo, Italy., Rusconi ML; Department of Human and Social Sciences, University of Bergamo, 24129 Bergamo, Italy., Penna MP; Department of Pedagogy, Psychology, Philosophy, University of Cagliari, 09123 Cagliari, Italy., Rozzini L; Department of Clinical and Experimental Sciences, University of Brescia, 25136 Brescia, Italy., Antonietti A; Department of Psychology, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, 20123 Milan, Italy. |
| Abstrakt: |
Promoting active and successful aging has become crucial to improve quality of life in later adulthood and reduce the impact of cognitive decline. Increasing evidence suggested that the ability to think creatively (e.g., via divergent thinking), similar to cognitive reserve, could represent a beneficial factor against the negative effects of aging. However, there is still little evidence investigating the relationships between divergent thinking, cognitive functions, and cognitive reserve in late adulthood. The present study explored these relationships in a sample of 98 individuals ranging from 61 to 88 years old (mean age: 72.44 ± 6.35). Results showed that visual, but not verbal, divergent thinking was affected by aging. Interestingly, visual divergent thinking performance was predicted by both the cognitive component of crystallized intelligence and cognitive reserve. Only the crystallized component of intelligence was found to mediate the aging effect on visual divergent thinking performance. These results suggest that in later adulthood a potential shift strategy to prior knowledge and semantic components over executive and control components of cognition could underlie a preserved ability to think divergently and, plausibly, creatively. Limitations of the study and implications for successful aging are discussed. |
