This study evaluated the influence of the frequency of reading and writing habits (RWH) associated with education on the performance of adults in brief neuropsychological tasks. A sample of 489 Brazilian subjects, composed of 71% women, aged 21-80 years, with 2-23 years of formal education, was evaluated by the Brazilian Brief Neuropsychological Assessment Battery NEUPSILIN. This battery was developed to briefly examine orientation, attention, perception, memory, arithmetic abilities, language, praxis, and executive functions, in the context of Brazilian culture. Education was measured by years of study in teaching institutions, and the frequency of RWH was measured by a scale for specific reading and writing items. Six groups were composed by a combination of the variables education and frequency of RWH. One-way analysis of variance indicated significant differences between groups in the attention, memory, arithmetic abilities, language, constructional praxis, problem solving and verbal fluency tasks of NEUPSILIN. Results pointed to the relevance of the frequency of RWH to performance in attention, working memory, executive functions, and language tasks. Cognitive stimulation after the formal education period is essential for less educated individuals, and frequency of RWH may promote an improvement in cognitive development, as verified by neuropsychological tests.