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. 2016 Jun;23(3):932-9.
doi: 10.3758/s13423-015-0910-8.

Continuity of cognitive change across adulthood

Timothy A Salthouse  1
Affiliations

Continuity of cognitive change across adulthood

Timothy A Salthouse. Psychon Bull Rev. 2016 Jun.

Abstract

Although cross-sectional (between-person) comparisons consistently reveal age-related cognitive declines beginning in early adulthood, significant declines in longitudinal (within-person) comparisons are often not apparent until age 60 or later. The latter results have led to inferences that cognitive change does not begin until late middle age. However, because mean change reflects a mixture of maturational and experiential influences whose contributions could vary with age, it is important to examine other properties of change before reaching conclusions about the relation of age to cognitive change. The present study was designed to examine measures of the stability, variability, and reliability of change, as well as correlations of changes in memory with changes in speed in 2,330 adults between 18 and 80 years of age. Despite substantial power to detect small effects, the absence of significant age differences in these properties suggests that cognitive change represents a qualitatively similar phenomenon across a large range of adulthood.

Keywords: Aging; Cognition and aging; Cognitive aging.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Mean (and standard error) of sample Digit Symbol Coding test in nationally representative samples in three different time periods.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Mean (and standard error) of composite memory scores on the first session of the first occasion (filled circles) and the second occasion (open circles).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Mean (and standard error) of composite speed scores on the first session of the fir occasion (filled circles) and the second occasion (open circles).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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