Loneliness and social isolation are not associated with executive functioning in a cross-sectional study of cognitively healthy older adults

Katelyn S McVeigh; Matthias R Mehl; Angelina J Polsinelli; Suzanne A Moseley; David A Sbarra; Elizabeth L Glisky; Matthew D Grilli

doi:10.1080/13825585.2023.2270208

Loneliness and social isolation are not associated with executive functioning in a cross-sectional study of cognitively healthy older adults

Neuropsychol Dev Cogn B Aging Neuropsychol Cogn. 2023 Oct 22:1-18. doi: 10.1080/13825585.2023.2270208. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Katelyn S McVeigh¹, Matthias R Mehl², Angelina J Polsinelli^{3

4}, Suzanne A Moseley⁵, David A Sbarra⁶, Elizabeth L Glisky^{7

8}, Matthew D Grilli^{1

8

9}

Affiliations

¹ Human Memory Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.
² Naturalistic Observation of Social Interaction Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Tucson, AZ, USA.
³ Department of Neurology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA.
⁴ Indiana Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA.
⁵ Minnesota Epilepsy Group, St Paul, MN, USA.
⁶ Laboratory for Social Connectedness and Health, Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.
⁷ Aging and Cognition Laboratory, Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.
⁸ Evelyn F. McKnight Brain Institute, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.
⁹ Department of Neurology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.

PMID: 37865921
DOI: 10.1080/13825585.2023.2270208

Abstract

The literature on the relationship between social interaction and executive functions (EF) in older age is mixed, perhaps stemming from differences in EF measures and the conceptualization/measurement of social interaction. We investigated the relationship between social interaction and EF in 102 cognitively unimpaired older adults (ages 65-90). Participants received an EF battery to measure working memory, inhibition, shifting, and global EF. We measured loneliness subjectively through survey and social isolation objectively through naturalistic observation. Loneliness was not significantly related to any EF measure (p-values = .13-.65), nor was social isolation (p-values = .11-.69). Bayes factors indicated moderate to extremely strong evidence (BF₀₁ = 8.70 to BF₀₁ = 119.49) in support of no relationship.. Overall, these findings suggest that, among cognitively healthy older adults, there may not be a robust cross-sectional relationship between EF and subjective loneliness or objective social isolation.

Keywords: Loneliness; cross-sectional; executive functioning; older adults; social isolation.