Typical intellectual engagement and cognition in the ninth decade of life: The Lothian Birth Cohort 1921

Investment traits-the tendency to seek out and engage in cognitive activity-might affect intellectual growth across the life span, specifically the development from fluid to crystallized intelligence. Here we explore how childhood IQ at age 11 years, IQ at age 79, and the investment trait Typical Intellectual Engagement (TIE) at age 81 affect the mean level and change in verbal fluency scores, used as an indicator of crystallized intelligence, across the ages 79, 83, and 87 in the Lothian Birth Cohort 1921 (maximum N = 569; Deary, Whiteman, Starr, Whalley, & Fox, 2004). A first latent growth model showed significant variance in the mean level of verbal fluency and significant decline in verbal fluency from age 79 to age 87. The rate of change was invariant across study participants in the Lothian Birth Cohort 1921. A second model found that IQ at age 11 significantly predicted IQ at age 79 (β = .66; p < .001), which in turn predicted verbal fluency and TIE in the ninth decade of life with standardized path parameters of .46 and .15 (p < .001), respectively. TIE had a significant association with verbal fluency (β = .14, p = .002); together, IQ at age 11 and 79 and TIE accounted for 25.5% of the variance in verbal fluency. A final model identified the TIE subfactor of intellectual curiosity as a significant mediator of the effect of IQ on verbal fluency; the TIE subfactors abstract thinking, reading, and problem solving showed no significant associations. In summary, TIE-in particular, intellectual curiosity-significantly mediated the effects of IQ on crystallized intelligence in old age. Because there was no significant between-subjects variance in verbal fluency trajectories in the current study, neither TIE nor IQ were associated with individual differences in cognitive decline. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Everyday cognition: age and intellectual ability correlates

The primary aim of this study was to examine the relationship between a new battery of everyday cognition measures, which assessed 4 cognitive abilities within 3 familiar real-world domains, and traditional psychometric tests of the same basic cognitive abilities. Several theoreticians have argued that everyday cognition measures are somewhat distinct from traditional cognitive assessment approaches, and the authors investigated this assertion correlationally in the present study. The sample consisted of 174 community-dwelling older adults from the Detroit metropolitan area, who had an average age of 73 years. Major results of the study showed that (a) each everyday cognitive test was strongly correlated with the basic cognitive abilities; (b) several basic abilities, as well as measures of domain-specific knowledge, predicted everyday cognitive performance; and (c) everyday and basic measures were similarly related to age. The results suggest that everyday cognition is not unrelated to traditional measures, nor is it less sensitive to age-related differences.     

Nonlinear blood pressure effects on cognition in old age: separating between-person and within-person associations

Midlife hypertension is associated with increased risk of cognitive impairment in later life. The association between blood pressure (BP) in older ages and cognition is less clear. In this study we provide estimates of between-person and within-person associations of BP and cognition in a population-based sample (N = 382) followed from age 70 across 12 occasions over 30 years. Between-person associations refer to how individual differences in BP relates to individual differences in cognition. Within-person associations refer to how individual and time specific changes in BP relate to variation in cognition. Hierarchical linear models were fitted to data from three cognitive measurements (verbal ability, spatial ability, and perceptual speed) while accounting for demographic and health-related covariates. We found consistent nonlinear between-person associations between diastolic BP (DBP) and cognition, such that both low (<75 mmHg) and high (>95 mmHg) pressure were associated with poorer cognition. Within-person decreases in systolic BP (SBP) and DBP were associated with decreases in perceptual speed. Notably, between-person and within-person estimates did not reveal similar associations, suggesting the need to separate the two effects in the analysis of associations between BP and cognition in old age.     

Sex differences in cognition are stable over a 10-year period in adulthood and old age

Sex differences in declarative memory and visuospatial ability are robust in cross-sectional studies. The present longitudinal study examined whether sex differences in cognition were present over a 10-year period, and whether age modified the magnitude of sex differences. Tests assessing episodic and semantic memory, and visuospatial ability were administered to 625 nondemented adults (initially aged 35-80 years), participating in the population-based Betula study at two follow-up occasions. There was stability of sex differences across five age groups and over a 10-year period. Women performed at a higher level than men on episodic recall, face and verbal recognition, and semantic fluency, whereas men performed better than women on a task-assessing, visuospatial ability. Sex differences in cognitive functions are stable over a 10-year period and from 35 to 90 years of age.     

Typical intellectual engagement,Big Five personality traits,approaches to learning and cognitive ability predictors of academic performance

Background Both ability (measured by power tests) and non‐ability (measured by preference tests) individual difference measures predict academic school outcomes. These include fluid as well as crystalized intelligence, personality traits, and learning styles. This paper examines the incremental validity of five psychometric tests and the sex and age of pupils to predict their General Certificate in Secondary Education (GCSE) test results. Aims The aim was to determine how much variance ability and non‐ability tests can account for in predicting specific GCSE exam scores. Sample The sample comprised 212 British schoolchildren. Of these, 123 were females. Their mean age was 15.8 years (SD 0.98 years). Method Pupils completed three self‐report tests: the Neuroticism–Extroversion–Openness‐Five‐Factor Inventory (NEO‐FFI) which measures the ‘Big Five’ personality traits, ( Costa & McCrae, 1992 ); the Typical Intellectual Engagement Scale ( Goff & Ackerman, 1992 ) and a measure of learning style, the Study Process Questionnaire (SPQ; Biggs, 1987 ). They also completed two ability tests: the Wonderlic Personnel Test ( Wonderlic, 1992 ) a short measure of general intelligence and the General Knowledge Test ( Irving, Cammock, & Lynn, 2001 ) a measure of crystallized intelligence. Six months later they took their (10th grade) GCSE exams comprising four ‘core’ compulsory exams as well as a number of specific elective subjects. Results Correlational analysis suggested that intelligence was the best predictors of school results. Preference test measures accounted for relatively little variance. Regressions indicated that over 50% of the variance in school exams for English (Literature and Language) and Maths and Science combined could be accounted for by these individual difference factors. Conclusions Data from less than an hour's worth of testing pupils could predict school exam results 6 months later. These tests could, therefore, be used to reliably inform important decisions about how pupils are taught.     

Creativity in old age

Sixty elderly subjects (M = 72 years) were tested and interviewed to find out how they experience and come to terms with the advent of illness, aging, and death. The choice of test instruments was steered by the necessity to learn how our subjects handled their anxiety (the Meta‐Contrast Technique [MCT]); to operationally define the concept of self‐image (the Identification Test [IT]); and to illuminate the findings from the perspective of creativity (the Creative Functioning Test [CFT]). The results revealed creativity to be a key factor in aging. The attitude of creative individuals towards aging was less negative and their attitude to illness less defensive. On the whole, their self‐projections were not only more flexible but also more emotional. However, creativity is not uninfluenced by context, particularly when it is of medium strength. The results also revealed that the subliminal messages used in the IT to manipulate the projected self‐image were effective.     

老年人的智慧

智慧是个体在其人生经历中习得的一种德才一体的综合心理素质, 是成功老龄化的重要标志和毕生发展的理想终点。研究发现, 三维智慧量表、自我评估智慧量表、成人自我超越问卷等自陈式测量和柏林智慧范式、智慧推理等表现式测量对老年人智慧评估具有良好性能; 老年人智慧发展受到开放性、自我反思、情绪调节、人格成长等内在因素以及受教育程度、关键生活经历、社会环境等外在因素的交互影响; 毕生发展的智慧为老年人带来更高主观幸福感、生活满意度以及更少社会疏离感、孤独感和抑郁。未来应该开发多测度、整合的老年人智慧测评工具; 深入揭示老年人智慧的预测因素、影响后效及其内部作用机制; 进一步探索社区养老服务中老年人智慧的干预与培育策略。     

Alphabetizing in old age

Abstract: A long term, intensive analysis with a woman in old old age is reported. An attempt is made to answer the question, ‘What, in analytic work, is healing?’. The patient's previous classical Jungian work is contrasted with the author's developmental perspective. It is suggested that an enactment, representing what Neville Symington has called an analyst's act of freedom, was crucial in effecting a profound transformation in the patient's psyche.     

Language comprehension in old age

Three experiments examined the effects of aging on comprehension of spoken language. Integrative and constructive aspects of comprehension showed much more marked age-related deficits than registration of surface meaning. Experiment 1 showed that old subjects had difficulty in making inferences based on presented facts. Experiment 2 revealed a similar deficit in old people's ability to detect anomalies in newly presented information by reference to prior everyday knowledge. And Experiment 3, which tested story recall, showed that old subjects were less well able to extract and retain gist information than younger subjects. These difficulties are interpreted as reflecting a limitation in processing capacity such that the demands of concurrently registering surface meaning and simultaneously carrying out integrative and constructive processes exceed capacity in old age.     

Inferential reasoning in old age

Two experiments examined the effects of aging on the kind of inferential reasoning required in comprehending discourse. In Experiment 1 old subjects made more errors than young subjects in solving logical problems framed in everyday language. Unlike the young subjects they had more difficulty when the problems were spoken than when they were written. Experiment 2 revealed that old subjects are inefficient at extracting implicit information during reading; they fail to generate bridging inferences to supply missing information, so that comprehension is restricted to explicitly stated information. The results show that verbal reasoning ability is impaired in old age and that this affects language comprehension in both listening and reading although the deficit is more marked in listening.     

Olfactory adaptation and recovery in old age

Four experiments are reported in which it is shown that elderly adults are more prone than young adults to olfactory adaptation and are slower to recover threshold sensitivity. The first three experiments differed in detail, but had in common an initial threshold determination for 1-butanol, a 30 s exposure to a concentration twenty-seven times threshold, followed by repeated presentation of the initial threshold level at various intervals after adaptation. In three experiments accuracy of forced-choice discrimination was poor immediately after adaptation but tended to improve with time, and considerably faster in the young than in the elderly. In the fourth experiment, groups of twenty-three elderly and twenty-five young subjects threshold-matched for pyridine were compared. The subjects participated in three sessions in which pyridine was infused into a test chamber at either 2.5, 1.25, or 0 L min-1 (sham session). At 2.5 L min-1 both groups were able to track the buildup of odor intensity during infusion and its decline after infusion. In contrast, at 1.25 L min-1 only the young were able to track odor intensity, even though the concentration rose above initial threshold levels.     

The fate of cognition in very old age: six-year longitudinal findings in the Berlin Aging Study (BASE)

The authors report full-information longitudinal age gradients in 4 intellectual abilities on the basis of 6-year longitudinal changes in 132 individuals (mean age at T1 = 78.27, age range = 70-100) from the Berlin Aging Study. Relative to the cross-sectional parent sample (N = 516, mean age at T1 = 84.92 years), this sample was positively selected because of differential mortality and experimental attrition. Perceptual speed, memory, and fluency declined with age. In contrast, knowledge remained stable up to age 90, with evidence for decline thereafter. Age gradients were more negative in old old (n = 66, mean age at T1 = 83.04) than in old (n = 66, mean age at T1 = 73.77) participants. Rates of decline did not differ reliably between men and women or between participants with high versus low life-history status. They conclude that intellectual development after age 70 varies by distance to death, age, and intellectual ability domain.     

Treating obsessive compulsive behavior and enhancing peer engagement in a preschooler with intellectual disability

Intellectual disability (ID) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impairments in cognitive and adaptive functioning in social, practical, or conceptual domains. Individuals with ID present with higher‐order repetitive behaviors such as a need for sameness, ritualistic, and compulsive behaviors. Often referred to as obsessive compulsive behaviors (OCBs), these behaviors increase in prevalence between 2 and 5 years of age. The present study evaluated an exposure‐based behavioral intervention for decreasing OCBs and concomitantly increasing play skills in a 4‐year‐old boy with mild ID in an inclusive preschool setting. Using a multiple baseline across behaviors design, the intervention was associated with a decrease in target behaviors and an increase in the duration of peer social engagement, with results maintained at 3‐week follow‐up. The intervention consisted of exposure and response prevention with function‐based components. Procedures including prompting and reinforcement were generalized to parent and teacher mediators. This study provides preliminary support for the use of an exposure‐based behavioral intervention to treat OCBs in children of preschool age with ID.     

Physical health problems, depressive mood, and cortisol secretion in old age: buffer effects of health engagement control strategies.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the protective role played by control behaviors aimed at overcoming physical health problems (health engagement control strategies; HECS) in the associations between older adults' physical health problems, depressive mood, and diurnal cortisol secretion. It was expected that adaptive levels of HECS would buffer the adverse effects of physical health problems on depressive mood and diurnal cortisol secretion. DESIGN AND MEASURES: Physical health problems and HECS were measured in a cross-sectional sample of 215 community-dwelling older adults. In addition, participants' depressive mood and patterns of diurnal cortisol secretion were assessed across 3 days. RESULTS: The findings demonstrate that physical health problems predicted high levels of depressive mood and diurnal cortisol secretion, but only among older adults who reported low levels of HECS (and not among older adults who reported high levels of HECS). Moreover, depressive mood completely mediated the buffering effect of HECS on the association between physical health problems and cortisol secretion. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that adaptive levels of HECS represent a psychological mechanism that can protect older adults from experiencing the adverse emotional and biological consequences of physical health problems.     

The role of activity engagement in the relations between Openness/Intellect and cognition

The current project investigated why people with high levels of Openness/Intellect tend to have higher levels of cognitive functioning than people with lower levels of Openness/Intellect. We hypothesized that the positive relationship between Openness/Intellect and cognition might be attributable to more open people being more likely to engage in cognitively stimulating activities that are beneficial for cognitive functioning. Three conceptualizations of activity engagement based on: (a) self ratings of duration and intensity of engagement; (b) perceived routineness of one's activities; and (c) disposition to engage in cognitively stimulating activities, were investigated as possible mediators of the Openness/Intellect-cognition relations. Although several of the relevant simple correlations were of moderate size and statistically significant, we found little evidence that activity engagement mediated the relations between Openness/Intellect and cognition.     

Relation between cardiovascular and metabolic disease and cognition in very old age: cross-sectional and longitudinal findings from the berlin aging study.

This study documented findings on the relation between cognitive functioning (perceptual speed, memory, fluency, and knowledge) and cardiovascular and metabolic disease in a sample of very old adults (ages 70 and older), both cross-sectionally (n=516) and longitudinally (n=206) in a 4-year follow-up. After age, SES, sex, and dementia status were controlled for, 4 diagnoses were negatively associated with cognition: congestive heart failure, stroke, coronary heart disease, and diabetes mellitus, with a joint effect of 0.47 standard deviations. The impact of disease status was largest on perceptual speed and fluency, memory was impacted only by diabetes, and knowledge was not related to any somatic diagnosis. There was no differential decline in participants diagnosed with 1 of these 4 diseases and those who were not. The only cardiovascular risk factor associated with cognitive performance was alcohol consumption.     

Visual processing speed in old age

Mental speed is a common concept in theories of cognitive aging, but it is difficult to get measures of the speed of a particular psychological process that are not confounded by the speed of other processes. We used Bundesen’s (1990) Theory of Visual Attention (TVA) to obtain specific estimates of processing speed in the visual system controlled for the influence of response latency and individual variations of the perception threshold. A total of 33 non‐demented old people (69–87 years) were tested for the ability to recognize briefly presented letters. Performance was analyzed by the TVA model. Visual processing speed decreased approximately linearly with age and was on average halved from 70 to 85 years. Less dramatic aging effects were found for the perception threshold and the visual apprehension span. In the visual domain, cognitive aging seems to be most clearly related to reductions in processing speed.