The broad objective of the present proposal is to examine changes in memory functioning in later life. The research is based on the hypothesis that changes in memory performance may depend substantially on individual differences in the decline of information processing and intellectual ability components underlying the complex tasks typically used to measure memory. From this perspective, age-related declines in memory cannot be expected for all older adults, but only for those individuals who have experienced sufficient decline in the components necessary for successful task performance. The study is also designed to examine three potential mediators of this differential decline of processes and abilities. In particular, we are interested in examining whether memory is relatively spared from decline among individuals with (a) better self-reported health, (b)greater participation in cognitively demanding everyday activities, and (c) higher levels of self-efficacy in memory-demanding situations. The research is based on an ongoing longitudinal-sequential study of older adults. In the design plan, participants in each of the sequences are tested at three-year intervals, with new independent samples added at six-year intervals. To date, Sample 1 has been tested three times over 6 years (1986, n = 484; 1989, n = 330; 1992, n = 243). A fourth testing of this sample is scheduled in 1995. Sample 2 (n = 530) was tested for the first time in 1992-93. The present proposal is for the second testing of Sample 2 and the fifth testing of Sample 1. The test battery is designed to measure three broad groups of variables: (a) memory variables including indicators of episodic (word and text recall), semantic (fact recall) and implicit (stem completion) memory; (b)cognitive variables including experimentally-based information processing components (reaction time, perceptual speed, verbal processing speed, working memory), and psychometrically-based abilities (inductive reasoning, verbal fluency, vocabulary, reading comprehension); and (c) non-cognitive variables including health status, activity life style, metacognition, and aspects of personality. In sum, the proposed research is designed to examine: (a) the extent to which age-related changes in memory functioning result from a pattern of differential decline of component information processing and intellectual abilities, and (b) the extent to which patterns of cognitive change in adulthood are mediated by physical health, activity life style, and personal belief variables.
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