Conference on Advanced Psychometric Methods in Cognitive Aging Research

描述(申请人提供)：人们对老年人的正常和病理性认知功能有浓厚的科学兴趣，这是由于老年人口的快速增长所刺激的。随着年龄的增长，阿尔茨海默病等衰弱疾病的患病率越来越高，这就需要临床和研究方法来衡量这些疾病的影响，而认知测试在诊断和监测疾病状态和进展方面发挥着重要作用。日益增加的人口多样性给准确测量认知能力带来了特殊的挑战。大多数临床和研究中使用的认知神经心理学测试都是从20世纪上半叶开始使用心理测量学方法开发的。测量理论和方法已经取得了实质性的进展，特别是项目反应理论(IRT)和相关方法，这可能会对认知测量、研究设计和认知变量的分析产生重要影响。这一系列会议旨在促进现代心理测量学方法在与老年病相关的认知衰退研究中的应用。具体目标是：1)让认知老化方面的发展中和成熟的研究人员接触到现代心理测量技术，2)让心理测量理论方面的专家了解认知老化研究的实践和理论问题，以及3)鼓励根据研究人员、心理测量学家和统计学家在这些会议期间的互动制作手稿。到目前为止，我们已经成功地举办了三次年度会议，这一经验帮助我们制定了计划中的一系列会议的计划。会议的形式将包括认知衰老和应用心理测量理论专家的说教报告，心理测量和统计分析方法的演示，以及最重要的，使用真实数据的实践经验。这种内容和形式不仅适合鼓励经验丰富的研究人员的教育和合作，而且对于具有这些兴趣的研究生、博士后研究员和初级教员来说，也是一个非常有效的学习环境。首届年会的主要目标将是解决测量问题，以增强认知测试检测阿尔茨海默氏症和脑血管疾病影响的能力。在接下来的几年里，这些主题将集中在认知储备、标准化老化、大脑结构和认知之间的关系，以及人口统计上不同群体的测量偏差。与往年一样，将非常重视围绕真实数据的科学分析组织的工作组，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)和年度科学会议的专题讨论会上传播这些讲习班产生的信息。老年痴呆症等老年性痴呆症的定义是，它们对记忆、语言、计划和组织以及推理等认知能力产生削弱作用。现代心理测量学方法有望改进认知测量，提高早期诊断能力，促进老年人认知衰退机制和治疗的研究。

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.