A Longitudinal Twin Study of Cognition and Aging

描述（由申请人提供）：我们建议进行纵向研究 研究基因和环境因素如何影响 认知和适应性老化，以及基因和 环境因素可能会随着时间的推移而改变。我们将研究中年人 我们一直在研究的越南时代双胞胎登记处的受试者 过去12年我们将研究360对51岁的双胞胎， 在56岁的时候，总共有720对双胞胎样本（我们在美国的同事，C. 戴维斯同时提交了一份与我们相似的拨款申请在 我们的应用程序，我们正在申请资金，以收集数据，从360对在我们的 在波士顿的一个实验室和我们同事的申请中， 在他们位于萨克拉门托的实验室收集其他360对的数据。两 应用程序构成一个综合项目。） 基于认知和适应性老化的广泛概念模型，我们 具体目标是：1）描述标准年龄相关变化， 个体认知、健康和人格变量，使用经典的 双生子方法（单变量方法）; 2）阐明 在认知领域内以及认知和 非认知变量使用双变量、多变量和纵向 方法;和3）描述认知和 使用双胞胎对照的中晚期适应功能 approach.我们建议通过以下方式处理发展问题： 来自双胞胎队列的横断面数据; 2）认知和个性数据 以前从该样本中收集;以及3）未来纵向/队列 在当代数据收集中，我们将包括以下基因分型： APOE，人格特质和特征，有影响，以后 生活认知功能和幸福感（依恋、应对方式、积极 和负面情绪，约束，弹性），感官功能， 身体机能认知评估将包括广泛的 神经心理学成套测验，特别强调工作记忆， 额叶执行功能、情景记忆和处理速度。这个项目 将揭示生物学和社会心理学的动态相互作用 环境因素，造成与年龄相关的健康，认知， 和个性。在中年开始这个项目是特别有利的 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， 在基线时，“生命的”，但相对接近的时候，年龄相关的 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.