Attention, concentration and memory tests

First results from the research module

The neuropsychological tests of the NAKO are established procedures for recording and researching changes in cognitive functions over the course of a person's life.

The term "cognitive" refers to human functions associated with perception, learning, remembering, thinking and knowledge. Cognitive abilities include attention, memory, learning, planning and orientation.

Cognitive functions were examined in the baseline study from 2014 to 2018 and in the second study from 2018 to 2024.  

NAKO researchers analysed the information from the attention, concentration and memory tests of the first 96,401 participants in the baseline study and published the results in the journal "The World Journal of Biological Psychiatry". 

 Some of the findings are:

• Lower cognitive function was associated with increasing age and male gender.
• EA higher level of education has been associated with better cognitive function.
• Traumatic experiences in childhood can have a negative impact on cognitive abilities.
• Moderate to severe anxiety and depressive symptoms and a history of stroke were associated with lower cognitive function. However, memory performance was less affected by the events. 

The results of the NAKO thus confirm findings from earlier, smaller studies and therefore the validity of the results. Several further analyses, which include the data of all 204,000 participants from the baseline study, are currently underway or being planned.

Originalpublikationen
Kleineidam L, Stark M, Riedel-Heller SG, et al. The assessment of cognitive function in the German National Cohort (NAKO) - Associations of demographics and psychiatric symptoms with cognitive test performance. World J Biol Psychiatry. 2023;24(10):909-923. doi:10.1080/15622975.2021.2011408

Rodriguez, F. S., Röhr, S., Dragano, N. et al. Low income, being without employment, and living alone: how they are associated with cognitive functioning—Results from the German national cohort (NAKO). 2024 Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/13825585.2024.2438825