“There is a need to better understand how modifiable environmental exposures may be associated with cognitive aging.” “Most studies on cognitive ageing look at financial hardship at only a single point in time,” Dr. Wels said. The findings showed that repeated exposure to low income or financial hardship was associated with lower scores on tests of processing speed and verbal memory by midlife. When the researchers looked at how brain volume changed over a roughly two-year follow-up period, they found no broad, direct effect of financial hardship. Persistent financial adversity and cognitive aging: a life course investigation.