Over the past twenty years the literature describing neuropsychological functioning in the elderly has expanded substantially. Studies have shown that with increasing age, neuropsychological capabilities tend to diminish. It is generally found that the ability to process new or unfamiliar information decreases with advancing age while we appear to maintain the ability to recall and utilize remotely learned information. It has also been reported that in some ability areas, age related decreases in functioning can be observed relatively early while others seem to resist decline until much later in life. It is agreed that significant neurocognitive changes occur in later life of some groups, but also that performance on neuropsychological tests of some ethnic minority groups in basically different than the usually studied middle class Caucasian groups. Unfortunately, there is little literature describing neuropsychological processes in African Americans, and less in elderly African Americans. This proposal is designed to characterize neuropsychological functioning in a sample of 300 elderly African American males and females across an age range of 55 to 85 years. The """"""""neurologically normal"""""""" subjects will be assessed on a broad range of neuropsychological measures included in an expanded and modified Halstead-Reitan neuropsychological battery and commonly used to assess neurobehavioral capacities in elderly in elderly patient populations. Included in the expanded battery are the California Verbal Learning test and the newly available Weschler Adult Intelligence Scale-III. The selected measures will also allow for direct comparison between the elderly African American sample and the norms developed from a study of younger African Americans. A subsample of 100 subprojects selected from across the age range will be retested one year later to enhance our knowledge of normal retest behavior, and of the process of age-related change. It is expected that the information gained from this study will demonstrate the importance of using minority-based norms in studying neurobehavioral phenomena in minority groups, and assist in clarifying some of the many age-related factors underlying neurocognitive change.
