A Longitudinal Twin Study of Cognition and Aging

描述(申请人提供)：我们建议进行一项纵向研究 研究基因和环境因素对 认知和适应性衰老，以及基因和 环境因素可能会随着时间的推移而改变。我们将研究现在的中年人 来自越南时代双胞胎注册处的对象，我们一直在为 过去的12年里。我们将研究360对51岁的双胞胎和360对双胞胎 在56岁时，针对720对双胞胎的总样本(我们在加州大学的同事)。 -Davis正在同时提交一份与我们类似的拨款申请。在……里面 我们的应用程序我们正在申请资金，以从我们的360对 在波士顿的实验室和我们同事的申请中，他们要求拨款 从萨克拉门托实验室的其他360对数据中收集数据。两个人 应用程序构成一个综合项目。) 基于认知和适应性衰老的广泛概念模型，我们的 具体目标是：1)描述与年龄有关的规范性变化 个人认知、健康和个性变量使用经典的 孪生方法(单变量方法)；2)解释模式的基础 在认知领域内看到的相互关系以及认知和 使用双变量、多变量和纵向变量的非认知变量 方法；以及3)表征导致认知和精神障碍改变的风险因素 使用同卵双胞胎控制的中老年适应性功能 接近。我们建议通过以下方式解决发展问题：1) 来自双胞胎队列的横断面数据；2)认知和个性数据 以前从该样本收集的数据；以及3)未来的纵向/队列 当代数据收集中的顺序数据，我们将包括其基因分型 APOE、人格特征和对后世有影响的特征 生活认知功能和幸福感(依恋、应对方式、积极 和消极的情绪性、约束性、弹性)，感觉功能，以及 身体机能正常。认知评估将包括广泛的 神经心理测试组合，特别强调工作记忆和 额叶-执行功能、情景记忆和处理速度。这个项目 将阐明生物和心理社会之间的动态相互作用 与年龄相关的健康、认知、 和个性。在中年开始这个项目特别有利 用于研究成年人的衰老，使我们能够评估处于“黄金时期”的受试者 寿命“处于基线，但相对接近与年龄相关的时间 变化可能会变得更加突出。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): We propose to conduct a longitudinal study to investigate ways in which genes and environmental factors contribute to cognitive and adaptive aging, and how the relative influence of genes and environmental factors may change over time. We will study the now middle-aged subjects from the Vietnam Era Twin Registry who we have been studying for the past 12 years. We will study 360 pairs of twins at age 51 years and 360 pairs at age 56, for a total sample of 720 twin pairs (Our colleagues at the U. C. -Davis are concurrently submitting a grant application that parallels ours. In our application we are requesting funding to collect data from 360 pairs in our lab in Boston and in our colleagues' application, they are requesting funding to collect data from the other 360 pairs at their lab in Sacramento. The two applications comprise an integrated project.) Based on a broad, conceptual model of cognitive and adaptive aging, our Specific Aims are: 1) To characterize normative age-related changes in individual cognitive, health, and personality variables using the classical twin method (univariate approaches); 2) To explicate the bases of patterns of inter-relationships seen within the cognitive domain and between cognitive and non-cognitive variables using bivariate, multivariate, and longitudinal approaches; and 3) To characterize risk factors for change in cognitive and adaptive functioning during mid- and later-life using a co-twin control approach. We propose to address developmental issues by means of: 1) cross-sectional data from the twin cohorts; 2) cognitive and personality data collected previously from this sample; and 3) future longitudinal/cohort sequential data In contemporary data collection we will include genotyping for APOE, personality traits and characteristics that have implications for later life cognitive functioning and well-being (attachment, coping styles, positive and negative emotionality, constraint, resiliency), sensory functioning, and physical functioning. Cognitive assessment will consist of an extensive neuropsychological test battery with particular emphasis on working memory and frontal-executive function, episodic memory, and processing speed. This project will shed light on the dynamic interplay of biological and psychosocial environmental factors that create age-associated changes in health, cognition, and personality. Beginning the project in midlife is particularly advantageous for studying adult aging, enabling us to assess subjects who are in the "prime of life" at baseline, yet relatively close to the time when age-associated changes are likely to become more prominent.