Abstract

Online social network sites provide possibilities to enhance social relationships and engage in cognitive activities for older adults. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between the use of one social network site, Facebook, and cognitive functions in older adults considering different dimensions of Facebook use together with different cognitive functions. Seventy healthy older adults completed the use of Facebook form, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, and Social Network Index. Their cognitive functions were measured with Digit Span Tasks, Free and Cued Selective Reminding Test, Letter and Category Fluency Tests, Stroop Test, Digit Symbol Substitution Test, and Trail Making Test (TMT-A and TMT-B). After controlling for age, gender, education level, we found that Facebook users performed better on TMT-A compared to non-users. Among Facebook users, the length of having an account, the network size, the daily duration of use, and the frequency of active and passive use correlated with cognitive performance after controlling offline sociality. These findings, which need confirmation by experimental and longitudinal studies, suggested that being connected to a larger network via more prolonged and active use of social media might be associated with higher cognitive functioning.

摘要

在线社交网站为老年人提供了增强社会关系和参与认知活动的可能性。本研究旨在调查一个社交网站 Facebook 的使用与老年人认知功能之间的关系，同时考虑 Facebook 使用的不同维度以及不同的认知功能。70 名健康的老年人完成了 Facebook 表格、感知社会支持多维量表和社交网络指数的使用。他们的认知功能通过数字跨度任务、自由和提示选择性提醒测试、字母和类别流畅性测试、Stroop 测试、数字符号替换测试和轨迹制作测试（TMT-A 和 TMT-B）进行测量。在控制了年龄、性别、受教育程度后，我们发现，与非用户相比，Facebook 用户在 TMT-A 上的表现更好。在 Facebook 用户中，拥有账户的时间长短、网络规模、每日使用时长以及主动和被动使用频率与控制线下社交后的认知表现相关。这些需要通过实验和纵向研究证实的发现表明，通过更长时间和更积极地使用社交媒体来连接到更大的网络可能与更高的认知功能有关。