The proposed conference, to be held on April 19-21, 1990 in Morgantown, West Virginia, is the twelfth in a series on Life-Span Developmental Psychology that was previously published by Academic Press and is now being published by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. The conference will provide a unique integration of theoretical perspectives, methodology, and data on the mechanisms of everyday cognition across the life-span. This area is extremely important both scientifically and in relation to public health, especially as its findings will bear on the ability of health workers to assist frail elderly adults in their daily activities. In bringing together leading investigators in this area who have all committed themselves to participating in this conference, we seek to fulfill several specific aims. First, we seek a theoretical clarification of the distinction between, on the one hand, abstract (laboratory) cognition and academic intelligence and, on the other hand, everyday cognition and practical intelligence. A second objective is to share and facilitate the development of new methods for studying everyday cognition. A third objective is to focus more attention on the mechanisms as opposed to the mere description of everyday cognition. A fourth objective is to stimulate an integration of thinking on everyday cognition across the entire life-span as opposed to a limited age period. The principal and co-investigator for this application will chair the sessions at the conference and edit the book to be based on the conference. Each of the conference speakers will provide 50 minute presentations (followed by 25 minutes of open questioning) and will provide a chapter that is based upon the conference proceedings. Conference proceedings will also be made available through a journal article summary as was done for the last conference and through an executive summary of the proceedings that will be mailed free of charge to anyone requesting it.
