Its goal was to bring together the latest, greatest in science research and expressive arts designed to ensure that baby-boomers and earlier generations have the cognitive stimulation and creative opportunities necessary to live a maximally stimulating and satisfying life.
All other factors including parental nurturance at all ages and cognitive stimulation at age eight – had no effect.
Not only are they more affluent than average, they also tend to give children lots of cognitive stimulation.
Farah found that the more cognitive stimulation a participant had had at the age of four, the thinner, and therefore more developed, their cortex.
Community-level intervention typically includes cognitive stimulation exercises, physical therapy, medication to prevent epileptic seizures and promoting access to education and livelihood services.
"It almost looks like whatever the normal developmental process is, has either accelerated or gone further in the kids with the better cognitive stimulation," she said.
Farah's results showed that the development of the cortex in late teens was closely correlated with a child's cognitive stimulation at the age of four.
This is particularly important for older adults in residential care settings, where day-to-day routines can be relatively unchanging and opportunities for cognitive stimulation may be limited.
While Dr. Fried said that many volunteers were probably looking to be active anyway, her study found significant improvement in physical activity, social interaction and cognitive stimulation.
In addition, the "Flynn effect" has been observed where IQ increases in the young over generations as nutrition and cognitive stimulation steadily improve.
A care home in Florence is pioneering the use of Robot-Era, a robot which helps with everything from daily cognitive stimulation activities and companionship to providing walking support for the home's 20 elderly residents.
