Verbal and visuospatial executive functions in healthy elderly: The impact of education and frequency of reading and writing

Objective To assess the predictive role of education and frequency of reading and writing habits (FRWH) on the cognitive flexibility, inhibition and planning abilities of healthy elderly individuals. Methods Fifty-seven healthy adults aged between 60 and 75 years with 2 to 23 years of formal education were assessed as to the frequency with which they read and wrote different types of text, as well as their number of years of formal education. Executive functions were evaluated using the Hayling Test and the Modified Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (MWCST). Results Weak to moderate positive correlations were found between education, FRWH and the number of categories completed in the MWCST, while negative correlations were identified between these variables and the number of perseverative and non-perseverative errors on the task. Only the FRWH was significantly correlated with the number of failures to maintain set. Speed and accuracy on the Hayling Test were only correlated with participant education. Both education and FRWH significantly predicted performance on the MWCST, and the combination of these two variables had a greater predictive impact on performance on this task than either of the two variables alone. Variability in scores on the Hayling Test was best accounted for by participant education. Conclusion In this sample of elderly subjects, cognitive flexibility was sufficiently preserved to allow for adequate performance on verbal tasks, but may have benefitted from the additional stimulation provided by regular reading and writing habits and by formal education in the performance of more complex non-verbal tasks.