Studying individual aging in an interindividual context: typical paths of age-related, dementia-related, and mortality-related cognitive development in old age.
This study has 2 objectives: (a) to explore typical paths of cognitive development associated with aging, terminal decline, and dementia and (b) to promote and illustrate an individual-oriented approach to the study of cognitive aging based on longitudinal panel data from a population-based sample (N = 500; age range-sub(T1)= 60-80, where T refers to time) tested at 3 occasions 5 years apart. Results document interindividual differences in multivariate patterns of change. Although cognitive changes generally covary, the present study indicates that subgroups of individuals develop along different paths characterized by selective changes in subsets of cognitive functions. Typical progression of dementia followed a developmental cascade from low declarative memory, via low functioning across all observed cognitive measures, to dementia diagnosis, and finally, death.
Lövdén
Martin
M
Center for Lifespan Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Lentzeallée 94, D-14195 Berlin, Germany. loevden@mpib-berlin.mpg.de
Bergman
Lars
L
Adolfsson
Rolf
R
Lindenberger
Ulman
U
Nilsson
Lars-Göran
LG
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D003071:Cognition; D003704:Dementia / Q000150:complications / Q000401:mortality* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results