I'm very good at all of this. It's probably why I flourished after moving to Michigan knowing nobody there.
Experiential openness, or "Openness to Experience," is a personality trait defined by a person's willingness to embrace new experiences, explore new ideas, and be curious about the unknown. This trait is characterized by creativity, imagination, intellectual curiosity, and a tolerance for ambiguity, and it is one of the five core traits in the widely recognized Five-Factor Model of personality (OCEAN). People with high experiential openness are often innovative, adaptable, and flexible, while those with low scores prefer familiarity and routine.
Can Personality Protect Against Cognitive Decline in Aging?
ABSTRACT
Studies of neurocognition across the lifespan have demonstrated gradual declines among healthy adults in the domains of memory, problem-solving, sensory
processing, executive functioning, and processing speed. However, recent advances in the field of personality neuroscience have discovered significant
differences between and within individuals’ capacity to compensate for these differences, ultimately altering the degree and magnitude of neurocognitive
decline in the aging process.
Experiential Openness (EO), first proposed by Costa and McCrae in their five-factor model of personality has been found to be positively related to preserved
autobiographical memory recall and reminiscing activity. Additionally, Ihle, Zuber, Gouveia, et. al. found that EO adults engaged in more leisure time
activities which served to mediate smaller cognitive declines in executive functioning relative to their Experientially Closed (EC) counterparts.
The current study recruited an initial cohort of 220 well-educated and physically healthy adults aged 55-57 who volunteered to complete a total of six
one-hour neurocognitive testing sessions (i.e.once every five years) over a 25-year period. Participants initially completed the NEO Personality Inventory.
Cognitive testing included standardized measures of immediate and incidental memory as well as executive functioning.
Results reflected that EO participants demonstrated better preservation of executive functioning, incidental memory, and immediate memory functions
into late adulthood over their EC counterparts. Furthermore, although both personality groups eventually displayed cognitive decline into their late 70’s
and 80’s, EC personalities displayed steeper rates of decline (i.e. slope gradients) at younger ages.
T
hese findings mirror prior longitudinal and cross-sectional studies which employed a variety of different cognitive measures across varying testing ages
and lend support to the notion that personality differences may account for preserved differentiation and differential preservation of neurocognition among
non-demented persons. These findings suggest that personality traits which promote active and novel sensory engagement may necessarily stimulate
hippocampal neurogenesis in older adults through the formation of new neuronal pathways. Understanding and recognizing these individual differences
in critical areas of cognitive processing may prove essential to improving the functional capacities and quality of life for older persons.
*Corresponding author
David J Sperbeck, Ph.D. Fellow, National Academy of Neuropsychology, North Star Behavioral Health Hospital, 2530 Debarr Road, Anchorage,
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