Effects of body mass index and education on verbal and nonverbal memory

We previously reported that higher education protects against executive dysfunction related to higher body mass index (BMI) in younger, but not older, adults. We now extend the previous analyses to verbal and nonverbal memory. Fifty-nine healthy, dementia-free community-dwelling adults ranging in age from 18 to 81 years completed the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test – Revised (HVLT-R) and the Brief Visuospatial Memory Test – Revised (BVMT-R). Self-reported years of education served as a proxy for cognitive reserve. We found that more highly educated individuals maintained their BVMT-R immediate recall performance across the range of BMI, but in less educated individuals, higher BMI was associated with worse performance. Our findings suggest that education may play a protective role against BMI-related nonverbal learning deficits, similar to previous reports for verbal memory and executive functioning. Results highlight the importance of considering educational background when determining the risk for BMI-related cognitive impairment in clinical settings.