Recent Italian studies suggest lifelong cognitive reserve and positive emotional processing support language and working memory in adults over 65.
In September 2026, a report summarized two new studies from the Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati (SISSA) in Trieste, Italy. The research examined the cognitive and emotional factors associated with preserved cognitive performance in adults over 65. Conducted through the Age-It program, these studies highlight how lifelong mental habits influence language and working memory. The findings provide objective data on how intellectual and social experiences shape cognitive aging.
The studies were led by neuroscientist Raffaella Rumiati. The research team defined cognitive reserve as the mental resources accumulated across a lifetime. This reserve is built through education, professional experience and intellectually engaging leisure activities. The research was conducted as part of Age-It, an Italian research program focused on the social, biomedical and technological dimensions of aging.
The first study examined language skills and verbal fluency, and it was published in the journal Neuropsychology. Elisabetta Pisanu served as the first author of this language study. The research focused on the first 10 seconds of a word-retrieval task rather than relying only on a traditional one-minute test. The researchers considered this brief window especially informative because it captures rapid and relatively automatic word-retrieval processes.
These automatic processes are often the first to show subtle changes during cognitive aging. By isolating the initial seconds of the test, the research team could observe these early shifts more clearly. The findings suggest that age-related differences can appear very early in a word-retrieval task. However, those differences were substantially reduced among older adults with higher cognitive reserve.
The report says that older adults with higher cognitive reserve showed better language performance than their peers. Pisanu noted that their performance was actually comparable to that of younger adults in the study. She added that the first 10 seconds were sufficient to reveal effects associated with aging and cognitive reserve.
The language study also revealed that positive emotional valence was associated with easier word retrieval. Older participants reportedly retrieved words linked to positive emotions more easily than words linked to negative emotions. Pisanu pointed out that positive emotional associations may make words easier for older adults to retrieve. This benefit appears alongside the distinct contribution of cognitive reserve.
The second study focused on working memory and was published in Brain Sciences on July 8, 2026. Titled “Emotional Modulation of Working Memory in Older Adults: Dissociable Contributions of Cognitive Reserve and Emotional Intelligence,” the paper was authored by Stefania Lucia. Working memory refers to the ability to temporarily retain, process and use information while completing a task. It is a core component of daily executive function.
In this experiment, participants completed a working-memory task involving faces. They were asked in different conditions to attend either to the emotional expressions of the faces or to the apparent age of the faces. This design allowed the research team to separate how individuals process emotion from how they process visual age markers. The report says that higher cognitive reserve was associated with greater accuracy across task conditions.
This increased accuracy was present across conditions that differed in complexity and emotional content. The consistency of this accuracy suggests a robust underlying mental foundation. Lucia noted that cognitive reserve improved working-memory accuracy independently of the experimental condition. This pattern suggests that cognitive reserve supports the ability to maintain and manipulate information during a task.
Emotional intelligence appeared to play a different role from cognitive reserve. It was associated with how participants processed emotional information and with response speed in particular circumstances. One report stated that people with higher emotional intelligence took longer to respond to emotional stimuli. This was possibly because they devoted more attention and cognitive resources to processing those stimuli.
A separate report said that happy facial expressions were processed faster and more accurately than angry expressions. This was particularly true when stress was high or when emotion was relevant to the task.
These findings offer practical insights for older adults who want to protect their cognitive function. The research supports continuing mentally challenging activities rather than relying on passive consumption alone. Examples include intellectually demanding work, reading, cultural activities and challenging hobbies. Making these mental activities meaningful and varied can provide valuable forms of intellectual engagement.
Finding structured ways to stay engaged can be part of effective retirement and mental fitness planning. A structured routine helps replace the natural mental demands that a busy career once provided. It shifts the focus toward intentional intellectual growth.
Using language actively is another practical implication drawn from the research. Conversation, storytelling, writing and word games provide continuous opportunities to retrieve and organize words. Older adults value the ability to find words quickly in daily conversation. The studies indicate that lifelong cognitive reserve helps preserve this specific skill.
Accessing evidence-based memory and cognitive performance resources can help individuals evaluate their daily habits objectively. Regular verbal practice keeps the neural pathways associated with language robust and efficient.
The research also highlights the value of including emotionally rewarding experiences in a broader brain health routine. The findings suggest that emotional content can affect both language and working-memory performance. Lucia noted that when working-memory tasks involved emotional content, older adults appeared to become more efficient. While the precise meaning of that improvement depends on the task, maintaining positive social interactions remains a practical habit.
Older adults should treat accuracy, speed and word retrieval as different cognitive outcomes. Cognitive reserve was associated with better overall accuracy in the working-memory study. Meanwhile, emotional intelligence was linked to specific response characteristics under particular emotional conditions. Reviewing lifestyle and brain resilience strategies can help individuals understand how these different mental functions operate during normal aging.
While these results are encouraging, readers must view the findings with realistic expectations. The publicly available research summary does not report sample sizes for either study. It also lacks detailed participant demographics, effect sizes, confidence intervals or exact accuracy values. The available summary describes participants broadly as adults over 65 without providing a detailed age distribution.
The language study included a comparison to younger adults, but it did not provide the younger group’s sample size. This missing contextual data limits how broadly the medical community can apply the findings. Readers should view the results as initial insights requiring broader replication.
The findings are associations observed during cognitive experiments. They do not prove that obtaining more education, reading more or starting a new hobby will independently prevent cognitive decline. Cognitive reserve is a broad construct involving multiple lifetime factors. Therefore, the results should not be interpreted as showing that education alone determines later-life memory performance.
The research does not establish that a particular commercial brain-training program is superior. It focuses on the cumulative effect of lifelong habits rather than a specific short-term intervention. These cumulative habits reflect years of sustained mental effort.
The positive-emotion result concerns the retrieval or processing of emotionally valenced words in a controlled setting. It should not be expanded into a claim that maintaining a positive mood prevents dementia. Furthermore, emotional intelligence and positive emotional valence are not interchangeable concepts. The studies examined emotional intelligence in the working-memory experiment and the emotional valence of words in the language experiment.
The explanation that slower responses among people with higher emotional intelligence reflected deeper processing was presented as a likely interpretation. It was not presented as a proven mechanism.
These findings do not justify promising a younger brain or eliminating normal word-finding lapses. Normal lapses can occur with aging, stress, poor sleep or simple distraction. Persistent or worsening changes that affect finances, medication management, navigation or communication warrant discussion with a healthcare professional. Understanding the boundaries of these studies helps prevent unnecessary fear while promoting practical habits.
The two SISSA studies reinforce a broader research direction in the field of brain health. This direction treats cognitive aging as influenced not only by chronological age but also by accumulated life experiences. The report specifically links education, intellectually stimulating work and an active lifestyle with stronger verbal expression in adults over 65. The research is part of a wider effort to develop better methods for studying cognitive aging and preserving cognitive function.
These results align with the established concept of cognitive resilience. Lifelong mental stimulation may help people perform better even with expected age-related changes. Raffaella Rumiati described the findings as evidence that cognitive reserve and emotional skills may contribute to healthier and more efficient cognitive aging. The findings are relevant to several everyday abilities valued by older adults.
These abilities include finding words, holding information in mind and responding to emotionally meaningful material. While these studies do not establish that a particular activity reverses biological aging, they offer a balanced recommendation to maintain meaningful social and intellectual engagement. A proactive approach to brain health remains a sensible strategy for later life.
Loss of structure, learning opportunities or purpose after retirement often complicates how older adults maintain the mental engagement required for cognitive reserve. Determining which daily activities actually support language and working memory requires objective evidence, and FitBrainLab translates these complex studies to help you build a practical lifestyle routine without hype. Explore Resources
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