Abstract
Purpose: Understanding the cognitive abilities across various occupational backgrounds is deemed crucial, owing to the fact that the cognitive load imposed in each of the roles varies, thus there may be different levels of cognitive skills used in daily day-to-day activities. Also, it paves the way for the researchers to understand how an intellectually stimulating environment aids in better cognitive reserve or hinders cognitive decline. Method: A total of 60 participants aged between 30 to 50 years participated in the study. These participants were further divided into two broad groups, professional/technical workers and structural work occupations. These occupations were assessed for their complexity using the dictionary of occupation titles, with a focus on roles categorized as either complex or low-complex. Further, these groups were evaluated for their cognitive linguistic skills through tasks such as short-term memory, working memory, and long-term memory. Results: The findings of the study revealed individuals who were involved in highly complex job deemed to evince robust cognitive scores than others. Also, the researcher found long-term memory scores better than other cognitive domains in both groups. Conclusions: The study emphasizes that cognitive-linguistic processes can change over a person's lifetime and understanding the factors that support these abilities is crucial for cognitive health. The results revealed that professional complexity and type of occupation significantly influenced cognitive linguistic performance throughout life. The study contributes to the growing evidence that a stimulating work environment and cognitively engaging lifestyle are linked to better cognitive language abilities. These findings suggest that it is crucial to develop norms pertaining to each vocation in the assessment of cognitive linguistic abilities.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to express their gratitude to all the participants who took part in the study. They also wish to extend their thanks to the institute Father Muller College, Department of Speech and Hearing for giving the opportunity to conduct the study.
Recommended Citation
Puttanna D, Konda S, Al Harbi M. Understanding the Relationship Between Occupation and Cognitive Abilities: A Preliminary Study. The Internet Journal of Allied Health Sciences and Practice. 2025 Jul 28;23(3), Article 5.
