While early-life adverse experiences have been linked to late-life cognitive decline, few studies have explored war exposure. Paradoxically, one study even indicated a late-life cognitive advantage of Show more
While early-life adverse experiences have been linked to late-life cognitive decline, few studies have explored war exposure. Paradoxically, one study even indicated a late-life cognitive advantage of early-childhood war exposure. In the present study, we explored these associations. We examined older adults exposed to World War II (1940-1944; Higher cognitive performance in language tasks predicted middle childhood, relative to early childhood, WWII-exposure group membership ( The present findings suggest that better cognitive performance and lower likelihood of MCI or dementia were associated with being exposed to significant hardships, such as war, during middle childhood, regardless of potentially confounding factors. Further studies are needed to shed light on this relationship. Show less