Personality Moderates Intervention Effects on Cognitive Function: A 6-Week Conversation-Based Intervention

Abstract

Background and objectives: Social isolation is associated with a higher risk of dementia. We previously conducted and showed the efficacy of an intervention which uses conversation (the core component of social interactions) as a tool to enhance cognitive function. We now explore whether cognitive improvements through conversation-based intervention depend on an individual's personality.

Research design and methods: We reexamined data from a 6-week randomized controlled trial (ClinicalTrials.gov Number: NCT01571427) to determine whether conversation-based intervention effects were moderated by personality traits in 83 older adults (mean age = 80.51 years, 49 cognitively intact, 34 individuals with mild cognitive impairment). The intervention group participated in daily 30-min face-to-face semi-structured conversations with trained interviewers through a web-enabled system for 6 weeks. At baseline, psychosocial questionnaires and a neuropsychological battery were completed.

Results: Intervention group participants with high agreeableness, conscientiousness, and extraversion exhibited significant improvements in language-based executive function tasks beyond changes in the control group (ps < .05). An opposite pattern for delayed recall memory and working memory tasks emerged among highly extraverted participants (ps < .05).

Discussion and implications: Our exploratory findings suggest the adaptive role of personality traits in conversation-based cognitive interventions may be limited to tasks incorporating a language component, and offer initial evidence for personalized approaches to cognitive health in late life.

Keywords: Clinical trial methods; Cognition; Intervention; Personality traits; Social engagement.

© The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Figures

Figure 1.

Study flow chart. BFI = Big Five Inventory; CDR = Clinical Dementia Rating.

Figure 2.

Intervention-related increase/decrease in category fluency performance among individuals with low (−1 SD) and high (+1 SD) conscientiousness. For individuals with relatively high conscientiousness, being in the intervention group was associated with a 3.52-point increase in category fluency performance beyond changes in the control group (b = 3.52, SE = 1.35, p < .05).

Figure 3.

Intervention-related increase/decrease in letter fluency performance among individuals with low (−1 SD) and high (+1 SD) extraversion. For individuals with relatively high extraversion, being in the intervention group was associated with a 5.77-point increase in letter fluency performance (b = 5.77, SE = 2.32, p < .05).