The course of adult intellectual development.

A program of research is summarized that represents the author's lifelong efforts to understand the adult life course of intellectual abilities. The Seattle Longitudinal Study has assessed mental abilities in more than 5,000 adults and has followed some for as long as 35 yrs. Integrative findings are provided on patterns and magnitudes of age changes, cohort differences, factor structure of mental abilities, antecedents for individual differences in aging trajectories, and interventions designed to remediate cognitive aging efforts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"The Memory Functioning Questionnaire for assessment of memory complaints in adulthood and old age": Correction to Gilewski et al.

Reports an error in "The Memory Functioning Questionnaire for assessment of memory complaints in adulthood and old age" by Michael J. Gilewski, Elizabeth M. Zelinski and K. Warner Schaie (Psychology and Aging, 1990[Dec], Vol 5[4], 482-490). In the aforementioned article, the author note at the beginning of the article should have contained the following statement: "The Memory Functioning Questionnaire (MFQ) items that appear in the appendix at the end of this article were published previously in 'Memory Functioning Questionnaire (MFQ)' by Michael J. Gilewski and Elizabeth M. Zelinski (Psychopharmacology Bulletin, 1988, Vol. 24, No. 4, pp. 665-670). The current article reflects the construction validation, scoring, and interpretation of the MFQ more accurately than does the article that appeared in Psychopharmacology Bulletin." (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 1991-08788-001.) The results of psychometric analyses of the Metamemory Questionnaire (MQ) of E. M. Zelinski et al (1980), developed to evaluate perception of everyday memory functioning, are presented for a sample of 343 men and 435 women (aged 16-89 yrs). Exploratory factor analysis yielded 4 correlated factors (General Frequency of Forgetting, Retrospective Functioning, and Mnemonics Usage) that accounted for 36.7% of the variance in responses to the MQ. Factor structure was invariant across age groups (16-54 vs 55-89 yrs), 2 independent samples, and over 3 yrs. Because some of the original MQ scales did not load on the factors, only 64 of the original 92 items were retained for inclusion in the Memory Functioning Questionnaire (MFQ). Internal consistency of MFQ scores is high. The MFQ is therefore reliable for evaluating memory self-appraisals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stability and change in adult intelligence: I. Analysis of longitudinal covariance structures.

Examines 2 questions of central interest in adult intellectual development—the equivalence of psychometric tests' measurement properties at different ages and the stability of individual differences in intelligence over time. A series of longitudinal factor analyses was performed using the LISREL program to model longitudinal data from K. W. Schaie's (1979, 1983) Seattle Longitudinal Study with individuals aged 20–74 yrs. Ss studied included 162 in Sample 1 and 2,250 in Sample 2. Results indicate complete invariance in the loadings of 5 subtests of the Primary Mental Abilities battery on a general intelligence factor. Individual differences in general intelligence were highly stable over 14-yr epochs, with standardized factor correlations averaging about .9 between adjacent 7-yr testing intervals. Results indicate that most individuals in this relatively select longitudinal sample maintained their relative ordering in intelligence. (50 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"The relationship between advanced age and mental abilities": Erratum.

Reports an error in the original article by Charles R. Strother, K. Warner Schaie, and Paul Horst (Journal of Abnormal & Social Psychology, 1957[Sept], 55, 166-170. The cuts for Figs. 1 and 3 were erroneously transposed in printing. The graph labelled Fig. 1 is derived from the data shown in Table 4 and represents the corrected T-score values. The graph labelled Fig. 3 is derived from the data in Table 1 and shows the uncorrected values. (The following abstract of this article originally appeared in record 1959-03294-001). Scores on primary mental abilities, speed, memory, and motor rigidity were obtained from 50 college graduates ranging in age from 70 to 84 years. A cross sectional study demonstrates a differential decline in these abilities with advancing age. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Translations in gerontology: From lab to life: Intellectual functioning.

Examines research evidence of intellectual change as a function of age and concludes that the notion of a universal decline in adult intelligence is not supported. Qualitative differences in the approach of old adults to intellectual performance are attributed to motivational factors and inappropriately designed tasks. Social policy implications of these findings for the programing of adult education specified. It is suggested (a) that specific educational programs be designed to provide the sociocultural skills which today's aged have missed, (b) that variable retirement policies be adopted, and (c) that segregation based on age cohorts be reduced. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual differences in cross-sectional and 3-year longitudinal memory performance across the adult life span.

Reports individual differences analyses of performance on list and prose memory tasks for 250 men and 258 women (aged 55–84 yrs). Being retested, higher reasoning and vocabulary scores, and female gender predicted better prose recall and list recognition performance. For list recall, retest status, age, years of schooling, and gender, as well as reasoning and vocabulary, were reliable independent predictors. After 3 yrs, 106 men and 121 women returned for a retest. Analysis of individual differences in 3-yr performance indicated that, once Time 1 performance had been partialed, individual change could be predicted by age or reasoning, but neither variable uniquely accounted for change. Analysis of data of individuals who experienced considerable decline or improvement in 3-yr scores indicated that decline was consistently associated with advanced age. Ramifications for theoretical models in memory research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age difference patterns of psychometric intelligence in adulthood: Generalizability within and across ability domains.

Cross-sectional data from the 5th wave (1984) of the Seattle Longitudinal Study are reported with regard to the generalizability of age differences in psychometric intelligence within and across ability domains. Ss were 1,628 community-dwelling individuals drawn from a Pacific Northwest HMO. Age difference patterns of 9 groups with mean ages from 29 to 88 yrs are examined for the ability domains of verbal ability, spatial orientation, inductive reasoning, numeric ability, verbal memory, and perceptual speed. Each ability is marked by 3 or 4 observed variables. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Multilevel structural validation of Leary's interpersonal diagnosis system.

Interpersonal Check List (ICL) ratings and TAT protocols were obtained from 150 university sorority women, constituting 14 groups who rated themselves, rated 5 others within their group, and were rated by 5 others within their group. Independent factor analyses of self-rating (Level II ICL), public impact (Level I ICL), and TAT (Level III) octant scores were rotated to maximum similarity. Three roughly orthogonal factors, 2 bipolar and 1 monopolar, were extracted at each level. Factor loading plots of Factors I and II (the bipolar factors) yielded a circular array roughly conforming to T. Leary's (1957) circumplex model at Level I ICL, Level II ICL, and the "best-fit" matrix, but not at Level III TAT. Factors I, II, and III were congruent across Levels I and II ICL, whereas only Factors I and II matched all 3 levels. Support for the Leary model was fairly strong for Levels I and II ICL and modest for Level III TAT. Cross-level octant correlations were significant but modest across Levels I and II ICL. All such correlations involving Level III TAT were insignificant. Although generally similar dimensions were measured at different levels, octant scores were not necessarily interchangeable across levels. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some faith helps to see the forest: A final comment on the Horn and Donaldson myth of the Baltes-Schaie position on adult intelligence.

Comments on the ongoing debate between J. L. Horn and G. Donaldson (1977) and P. B. Baltes and K. W. Schaie (see record 1977-07920-001) concerning intellectual decline in adulthood. The empirical rationale and substance of the Baltes-Schaie position is discussed, and the reader is encouraged to go to the original sources to decide whose interpretation is more in tune with the facts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cohort differences in cognitive aging and terminal decline in the Seattle Longitudinal Study.

Life span researchers have long been interested in how and why fundamental aspects of human ontogeny differ between cohorts of people who have lived through different historical epochs. When examined at the same age, later born cohorts are often cognitively and physically fitter than earlier born cohorts. Less is known, however, about cohort differences in the rate of cognitive aging and if, at the very end of life, pervasive mortality-related processes overshadow and minimize cohort differences. We used data on 5 primary mental abilities from the Seattle Longitudinal Study (Schaie, 2005) to compare both age-related and mortality-related changes between earlier born cohorts (1886–1913) and later born cohorts (1914–1948). Our models covary for several individual and cohort differences in central indicators of life expectancy, education, health, and gender. Age-related growth models corroborate and extend earlier findings by documenting level differences at age 70 of up to 0.50 SD and less steep rates of cognitive aging on all abilities between 50 and 80 years of age favoring the later born cohort. In contrast, mortality-related models provide limited support for positive cohort differences. The later born cohort showed steeper mortality-related declines. We discuss possible reasons why often reported positive secular trends in age-related processes may not generalize to the vulnerable segment of the population that is close to death and suggest routes for further inquiry. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)