Perceived Control and Cognitive Aging: Pathways to Preserve Cognitive Functioning and Reduce Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease in Socioeconomically Diverse Populations

项目摘要/摘要 到2060年，患有阿尔茨海默病相关痴呆的美国人的数量将增加近两倍 在可通过干预措施瞄准的可改变因素的知识方面取得了科学进展。一个可修改的 与认知功能保持相关的心理资源涉及人们持有的信念 他们影响生活中重要结果的能力(感知控制)。然而，人们对此知之甚少。 (机械途径)感知控制保护认知能力不受短期和长期下降的影响 功能或其保护作用是否在认知功能衰退风险不同的人群中有所不同 社会经济资源的差距。这些关键的知识差距是由于先前研究的局限性造成的。 这在很大程度上集中在建立知觉控制和认知之间的主效应关联上 在非常短的时间窗口(一周)或非常长的时间窗口(多年)内运行。在这个新的调查员中 应用程序，我们将使用现实世界的情景方法来系统地评估这些问题 感知控制如何以及在哪些条件下缓冲了多个时间段中认知能力的下降 比例(日、月、年)。我们将追求以下具体目标：1)识别动机、情感和 健康行为改变过程在知觉控制与多时间尺度之间的联系中起中介作用 认知功能的变化；2)决定知觉控制之间的关联程度 认知功能的多时间尺度变化在中老年人中更为明显 有限的社会经济资源。我们将通过创新的方法实现这些目标，从而产生新的 微观纵向数据，并且还利用预先存在的宏观纵向数据。新的微观纵向数据将 收集感知控制、动机、情绪、健康行为的每日和每月动态变化， 对200名中老年人(每周4次发作超过1.5次)的地区样本的认知功能 年)。在相同措施下的9年变化的预先存在的宏观纵向数据将从 国家中年在美国的研究。这种独特的方法允许系统地分析被调解的 (目标1)和缓和(目标2)将感知控制与几天后展开的认知变化联系起来的通路， 几个月，几年。拟议的研究将解决确定可改变的心理和心理因素的迫切需要 认知老化的社会经济差异背后的行为因素和时间尺度(天，月， 这些因素具有最强影响力的年份)。这一知识将为基于证据的 关于何时(在哪个时间尺度)针对心理行为资源的改变是最有效的方法 以保护阿尔茨海默病相关痴呆风险增加人群的认知功能。

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT The number of Americans with Alzheimer’s disease-related dementias will nearly triple by 2060 without major scientific advances in knowledge of modifiable factors that can be targeted using interventions. One modifiable psychological resource linked to the preservation of cognitive functioning involves the beliefs people hold about their ability to influence important outcomes in their lives (perceived control). However, little is known about how (mechanistic pathways) perceived control protects against short-term and long-term declines in cognitive functioning or whether its protective influence differs across populations that vary in risk of cognitive decline due to disparities in socioeconomic resources. These critical knowledge gaps are due to limitations in prior research that has largely focused on establishing main effect associations between perceived control and cognitive functioning over either very brief (one-week) or very extended (multi-year) time windows. In this new investigator application, we will address these problems using a real-world, contextual approach to systematically assess how and under which conditions perceived control buffers against declines in cognition across multiple time- scales (days, months, years). We will pursue the following specific aims: 1) identify the motivation, emotion, and health behavior change processes that mediate the association between perceived control and multi-timescale changes in cognitive functioning; 2) determine the extent to which the association between perceived control and multi-timescale changes in cognitive functioning is more pronounced for middle-aged and older adults with limited socioeconomic resources. We will pursue these aims using an innovative approach that generates new micro-longitudinal data and also leverages pre-existing macro-longitudinal data. New micro-longitudinal data will be collected on dynamic daily and monthly changes in perceived control, motivation, emotion, health behaviors, and cognitive functioning in a regional sample of 200 middle-aged and older adults (4 weekly bursts over 1.5 years). Pre-existing macro-longitudinal data on 9-year changes in the same measures will be obtained from the national Midlife in the United States study. This unique approach permits a systematic analysis of the mediated (Aim 1) and moderated (Aim 2) pathways linking perceived control to changes in cognition that unfold over days, months, and years. The proposed research will address the urgent need to identify modifiable psychological and behavioral factors underlying socioeconomic disparities in cognitive aging and the timescales (days, months, years) at which these factors have their strongest influence. This knowledge will inform evidence-based approaches on when (at which timescale) it is most effective to target changes in psychobehavioral resources to preserve cognitive functioning for populations at increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease-related dementias.