Conference on Advanced Psychometric Methods in Cognitive Aging Research

描述（由申请人提供）：老年人的正常和病理性认知功能受到老年人群快速增长的刺激，引起了强烈的科学兴趣。随着年龄的增长，衰弱性疾病如阿尔茨海默病的患病率越来越高，这导致需要用于测量这些疾病的影响的临床和研究方法，并且认知测试在疾病状态和进展的诊断和监测中起着重要作用。日益增加的人口多样性为准确测量认知带来了特殊挑战。大多数用于临床和研究的认知神经心理学测试都是使用世纪上半叶的心理测量方法开发的。测量理论和方法有了很大的进步，特别是项目反应理论（IRT）和相关方法，这可能对认知测量、研究设计和认知变量分析产生重要影响。该系列会议旨在促进现代心理测量方法在与衰老疾病相关的认知衰退研究中的应用。具体目标是：1）使认知老化的发展中和成熟的研究人员接触现代心理测量技术，2）使心理测量理论专家接触认知老化研究的实践和理论问题，3）鼓励在这些会议期间根据研究人员，心理测量师和统计学家的互动制作手稿。迄今为止，我们已经成功地举行了三次年度会议，这一经验有助于我们制定计划举行的一系列会议的计划。会议的形式将包括认知老化和应用心理测量理论专家的教学演示，心理测量和统计分析方法的演示，最重要的是，使用真实的数据的实践经验。这种内容和形式不仅适合于鼓励经验丰富的研究人员的教育和合作，而且也为研究生，博士后研究员和具有这些兴趣的初级教师提供了非常有效的学习环境。第一届年会的主要目标将是解决测量问题，可以提高认知测试的能力，以检测阿尔茨海默病和脑血管疾病的影响。在随后的几年里，主题将集中在认知储备，规范老化，大脑结构和认知之间的关系，以及测量偏差在人口统计学上不同的群体。与前几年一样，将非常重视围绕对真实的数据进行科学分析而组织的工作组，我们计划在传统的学术渠道（例如，向同行评审的科学期刊提交手稿）和通过年度科学会议的专题讨论会传播这些研讨会产生的信息。老年痴呆症，如阿尔茨海默氏病，是通过对记忆、语言、计划和组织以及推理等认知能力的削弱作用来定义的。现代心理测量方法有望改善认知测量，以提高早期诊断能力，并推动老年人认知功能下降机制和治疗方法的研究。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): There is intense scientific interest in normal and pathological cognitive functioning in older adults that has been stimulated by the rapid increase in the older segment of the population. The increasing prevalence with advancing age of debilitating diseases like Alzheimer's disease has led to a need for clinical and research methods for measurement of effects of these diseases, and cognitive tests play a major role in diagnosis and monitoring of disease status and progression. Increasing demographic diversity creates special challenges for accurate measurement of cognition. Most neuropsychological tests of cognition that are in clinical and research use were developed using psychometric methods from the first half of the 20th century. There have been substantial advances in measurement theory and methodology, notably item response theory (IRT) and associated methods, that could have an important impact on the measurement of cognition, study design, and analysis of cognitive variables. This conference series is designed to promote the application of modern psychometric methods in research on cognitive decline associated with diseases of aging. Specific goals are: 1) to expose developing and established researchers in cognitive aging to modern psychometric techniques, 2) to expose experts in psychometric theory to the practical and theoretical concerns of cognitive aging research, and 3) encourage production of manuscripts based on the interactions of researchers, psychometricians, and statisticians during these conferences. We have had three successful annual conferences to date, and this experience has helped to shape our plans for the planned series of conferences. The format of the conferences will include didactic presentations by experts in cognitive aging and applied psychometric theory, demonstrations of psychometric and statistical analytic methods, and most importantly, hands-on experience using real data. This content and format is not only appropriate for encouraging education and collaboration of seasoned researchers but has also been an extremely effective learning environment for graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and junior faculty with these interests. The main objectives of the first annual conference will be to address measurement issues that can enhance ability of cognitive tests to detect effects of Alzheimer and cerebrovascular disease. In subsequent years, the topics will focus on cognitive reserve, normative aging, the relationship between brain structure and cognition, and measurement bias in demographically diverse groups. As in previous years, there will be a heavy emphasis on workgroups organized around scientific analyses of real data, and we plan to disseminate the information resulting from these workshops in both traditional academic outlets (e.g. submission of manuscripts for peer reviewed scientific journals) and through symposia at annual scientific conferences. Dementing illnesses of aging like Alzheimer's disease are defined by their debilitating effects on cognitive abilities like memory, language, planning and organization, and reasoning. Modern psychometric methods have promise to improve measurement of cognition to enhance ability for early diagnosis and advance research on mechanisms and treatments of cognitive decline in older persons.