ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Med.
Sec. Geriatric Medicine
Self-perceived Loneliness on Cognitive functioning and on Self-perceived Cognitive abilities in Aging
Sonia Montemurro 1
Radu Valentin Camenita 1
Giulia Sebastianutto 1
Massimo Nucci 2
Sara Mondini 3,4
1. Universita degli Studi di Padova Dipartimento di Filosofia Sociologia Pedagogia e Psicologia Applicata, Padua, Italy
2. Universita degli Studi di Padova Dipartimento di Psicologia Generale, Padua, Italy
3. Dipartimento di Filosofia, Sociologia, Pedagogia e Psicologia Applicata (FISPPA); Human Inspired Technology - Research Centre HIT; 4Servizi Clinici Universitari Psicologici (SCUP) - Centro di Ateneo; 5Dipartimento di Psicologia dello Sviluppo e della Socializzazione (DPSS), Universita degli Studi di Padova, Padua, Italy
4. IRCCS Ospedale San Camillo, Venice, Italy
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Abstract
Loneliness in older adults is recognized as a psychosocial factor influencing cognitive performance. This study examines the impact of self-perceived loneliness both on actual cognitive performance and on individuals' self-perceived cognitive abilities. A sample of 510 healthy older adults (354 females) aged between 64 and 103 years (mean = 78.78±8.72) was studied. Participants' self-perceived loneliness was assessed on UCLA Loneliness Scale-3 (Hughes et al., 2004), their cognitive performance with the standardized cognitive screening GEMS (Global Examination of Mental State, Mondini et al., 2022) and their self-perceived cognitive efficiency with SMAC (Sclerosi Multipla Autovalutazione Cognitiva [Multiple Sclerosis cognitive self-evaluation]). Results showed that the higher the perceived loneliness, the worse the cognitive performance (B = -1.18; p < 0.001) and the lower the self-perceived cognitive efficiency (B = 2.48; p < 0.001). However, loneliness is associated with a tendency to underestimate one's own cognitive abilities also when performance is average (F = 9.75, p < 0.001). Loneliness in older adults should be regarded as highly impactful not only on cognitive performance but also on perception of one's own abilities. Indeed, even when cognitive efficiency is well preserved, loneliness leads to underestimation of personal cognitive resources. This result highlights the importance of considering psychosocial and self-perceived factors when investigating older individuals and their mental health.
Summary
Keywords
Aging, cognitive performance, Loneliness, Mental Health, self-perception
Received
15 October 2025
Accepted
11 February 2026
Copyright
© 2026 Montemurro, Camenita, Sebastianutto, Nucci and Mondini. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Sonia Montemurro
Disclaimer
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.