Working and ageing - Cedefop - Europa

CHAPTER 5
Cognitive ageing in older workers and its impact on lifelong learning 99
medical challenges, it is possible they are more reluctant to participate in
lifelong learning due to emotional unavailability. Experimental evidence for this
hypothesis remains elusive; however Aldwin et al. (1996) found that 43% of
older workers (aged 43-54) reported job-related problems that cause stress.
Cognitive training through lifelong learning in the professional environment
could increase the cognitive reserve (Stern, 2009) by maintaining or improving
cognitive abilities thought to deteriorate with age. Complex job demands, which
require cognitive training in the occupational environment, could potentially be
beneficial for compensating for age-related cognitive decline (Andel et al., 2005;
Bosma et al., 2003; Shimamura et al., 1995). Recently, Gajewski et al. (2010)
explored this hypothesis by comparing the cognitive performance of older (aged
48-58) and younger workers (aged 18-30) employed either on an assembly line
or in quality protection, maintenance and service at a big manufacturing
company. Job demands of the groups differed significantly in daily job
requirements and complexity. All participants were assessed on working
memory, task switching and error processing. Their results indicated that older
workers on the assembly line showed worse reaction times and increased error
rates in complex memory load conditions than those working in non-assembly
services. No differences were found in the low working memory load conditions
indicating that the more the cognitive load the less successful compensation
mechanisms in older workers with repetitive non-challenging jobs. Moreover,
error rates of older workers working in non-assembly services were in some
cases lower than those of the younger groups.
Most studies agree that older workers benefit from lifelong learning and
complex job demands by increasing their cognitive functioning and reducing
age-related deficits (Hansson et al., 1997; Schooler et al., 1999). Challenging
job demands can potentially protect older workers from cognitive impairments
and this effect appears to be independent of general intellectual ability (Bosma
et al., 2003). In a longitudinal study with 1 036 participants, Potter et al. (2008)
found there was an interaction between job demands and general intellectual
ability: workers who scored lower on intelligence scales in their early adulthood,
were benefiting more from intellectually demanding jobs. This finding was
independent of other factors such as years of education and gender.
Participating in intellectually stimulating activities during the life span
predicts cognitive decline in older adults. The notion of ʻuse it or loseʼ seems
to be reliably supported by cross-sectional and longitudinal studies.
Continuous involvement of adults in intellectually challenging activities
increases plasticity of the brain and affects the structure and function of
cortical and subcortical areas positively. Behavioural data support the