Exploring Intraindividual Variability in Elders' Everyday Cognitive Performance

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Everyday cognition is defined as the ability to solve cognitively complex real-world problems (e.g., medication use, financial management, nutrition) that older adults may face in their everyday lives. To date research has looked at static assessments (i.e., single occasion of measurement) of everyday cognitive performance. However, to study everyday cognition or "cognition in context" it is important to understand not only how older adults perform at a single occasion but how performance may fluctuate from occasion to occasion over a short period of time. Intuitively, the ability to solve everyday problems consistently and predictably has critical adaptive value for older adults. Consequently, the proposed study seeks to merge two areas of cognitive aging research, everyday cognition and intraindividual variability, into a single study examining the dynamic short-term changes and correlates of fluctuations in elders' everyday cognitive competency, a domain with potentially high functional value. The study will be conducted using a racially heterogeneous sample of 200 community dwelling elders aged 65 years and older. After a baseline assessment, eligible participants will be complete a computer-administered daily test battery on 14 different days over a three week period. This daily battery will include a new measure of daily everyday cognition developed using preestablished measures of elders' everyday cognition, as well as measure of basic cognitive functioning. Broadly defined, the goal of the proposed investigation is to characterize the range of performance variation in older adults' everyday cognitive competency. Specifically, the study goals are: (1) Develop a measurement tool to assess elders' daily everyday cognitive functioning. (2) Evaluate the short term fluctuations in elders' everyday cognitive functioning, and determine the correlates of that variability. (3) Determine whether intraindividual variability in everyday cognition is associated with poorer overall everyday cognitive performance and poor instrumental functioning. (4) Identify the underlying factors (basic cognitive ability, affect, and health) that serve as risks and/or protective factors for variability in everyday cognition. The overarching goal of this study is to better understand how older adults solve everyday problems, and how their ability to do so might change from one day to the next.