Live data from Hacker News

Puzzle-solving 'doesn't slow down mental decline in older people'

nhs.uk

31–40 of 111 posts

Re: Puzzle-solving 'doesn't slow down mental decline in older people'

#31
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Did you even read the article? Please edit such swipes or nasty tropes out of your comments here. This is in the site guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html . We're trying for a bit better than internet median in HN discussions.

Done. I wouldn't go as far as calling it a "swipe or nasty trope". The guideline just says to avoid this type of insinuations.

Thanks for the edit. It helps.

Re: Puzzle-solving 'doesn't slow down mental decline in older people'

#32
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Doesn't slow down mental decline"... They're not suggesting anything. They are summarizing the conclusion of the study which determined that intellectual engagement may not offset age related cognitive decline.

> Did you even read the article? Please edit such swipes or nasty tropes out of your comments here. This is in the site guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html . We're trying for a bit better than internet median in HN discussions.

[deleted]

Re: Puzzle-solving 'doesn't slow down mental decline in older people'

#33
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, a rate of drop-out like that would certainly make me doubtful of the results of the study. It seems reasonably likely that people dropped-out in a fashion that would be weighted in one way or another.

for sure.. but I expect the real results to be worse (though this is purely speculative on my part), as I can only imagine people with steeper intellectual decline being more likely to drop out

I immediately thought the same. Then I thought about for a bit longer and quickly came up with an equal number of reasons why participants experiencing more rapid mental decline might stick it out. Really no way to know.

Re: Puzzle-solving 'doesn't slow down mental decline in older people'

#34

Seems to me that even if it didn't slow down the "rate" of mental decline, starting from a higher point because of "brain training" for want of a better term would still be good, no?

Yes, but you don't really get to pick your starting point - in the study, cognitive function at age 11 predicted crossword puzzle use and eventual cognitive decline. So if you're fortunate enough to be sharp at age 11 (thanks to your genes, your parents, and your environment), then you're in great shape. But that's not a solution that can be applied to all of us.

Re: Puzzle-solving 'doesn't slow down mental decline in older people'

#35

But exercise does: https://www.news-medical.net/news/20160324/Exercise-slows-do...

In this study, they detect a correlation between exercise and mental ability, but it is not clear which one is the cause and which one is the effect. Perhaps people with very advanced mental decline can't follow any class of exercise. >> Our results suggest that moderate to intense exercise may help older people delay aging of the brain, but more research from randomized clinical trials comparing exercise programs to…

It could also be that factors present earlier in life influence exercise habits and cognitive decline on different time scales. For example, it's not a huge leap to imagine that some inborn deficit in neurotransmitter function could promote both of these outcomes without necessarily leading to any clinical diagnosis.

Re: Puzzle-solving 'doesn't slow down mental decline in older people'

#36
This is a nice study, and confirms earlier work by Tim Salthouse (University of Virginia [1]), looking at more than a thousand people (cross-sectionally), and evaluating their cognitive function and crossword puzzling activity. At every age, people who did more crossword puzzles had better cognitive activity - but the rate of cognitive decline was identical regardless of crossword puzzle use. This was interpreted (as in the current study) as showing that people who are sharper do more crossword puzzles - but doing crossword puzzles doesn't make a person shaper or change the rate at which a person becomes less sharp.

[1] PDF: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/5237/69252dd1d49cbd473844c0...

Re: Puzzle-solving 'doesn't slow down mental decline in older people'

#37
post #4

This is a fascinating share, if not for the results—"None of the measures of intellectual engagement was linked to the speed of decline of people's mental abilities over time"—but for the study itself. "Many people also dropped out of the study. Only 96 of the 498 people recruited took part in the last round of testing. The researchers lost touch with 13 people, while 57 people died and 332 declined to take part." Do…

>The researchers lost touch with 13 people, while 57 people died and 332 declined to take part."

This is one of the major downsides to longitudinal studies— people are unpredictable.

Re: Puzzle-solving 'doesn't slow down mental decline in older people'

#39
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, a rate of drop-out like that would certainly make me doubtful of the results of the study. It seems reasonably likely that people dropped-out in a fashion that would be weighted in one way or another.

for sure.. but I expect the real results to be worse (though this is purely speculative on my part), as I can only imagine people with steeper intellectual decline being more likely to drop out

Or people with less decline are more busy, have less motivation to stay in touch with a study that doesn't feel relevant since they're healthy?

Re: Puzzle-solving 'doesn't slow down mental decline in older people'

#40
post #33
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

for sure.. but I expect the real results to be worse (though this is purely speculative on my part), as I can only imagine people with steeper intellectual decline being more likely to drop out

I immediately thought the same. Then I thought about for a bit longer and quickly came up with an equal number of reasons why participants experiencing more rapid mental decline might stick it out. Really no way to know.

Maybe, but given the huge dropout rate I don't see how we can conclude anything from this study. Of course, that would also be true if it had reached the opposite conclusion.
Post reply on HN