I meant papers published in refereed journals ather than product self-promoting web sites.
I was not responding to your request. Just showing “Brain Train” site I bumped into while reorganizing my bookmarks.
I should have been more clear. I’m sure there are many factors that contribute to cognitive function. I was saying that among largely mental activities like reading fiction, playing music and doing puzzles, there’s good evidence that puzzles really move the needle.
As I said previously, Restak has written other books on the subject; I refer you to them.
You can also search the internet for “nuns puzzles cognition” to find a lot of material. They’ve been running a long study, and there are many interested parties viewing it from many perspectives.
My point was just that there’s good evidence that doing challenging puzzles every day is good for cognition, moreso than reading fiction.
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A recent paper from Frontiers in Pyschology, found using your search terms, reported that “The highest correlation coefficients for fitness and cognitive performance emerged for the group of nuns and monks.” Schott and Krull (2019) " Stability of Lifestyle Behavior – The Answer to Successful Cognitive Aging? A Comparison of Nuns, Monks, Master Athletes and Non-active Older Adults", Front. Psychol., Vol 10, Article 3389.
Not a mention of reading.
Another reported that “The association of mental activity with the risk of dementia was robust in observational studies but inconsistent in clinical trials.” Hui-Xin Wang, Weili Xu, Jin-Jing Pei (2012). “Leisure activities, cognition and dementia”. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Molecular Basis of Disease, Volume 1822, Issue 3, 2012, 482-491.
The research is perhaps not as clear cut as people believe.
And now I need that latte (actually a cappuccino) for caffeine’s vasodilator effect to enhance my cognitive function.
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