Neurocomputational modeling and empirical evidence suggest that losses in neuronal signaling fidelity cause senescent changes in behavior. We applied structural equation modeling to five-occasion 13-year longitudinal data from the Berlin Aging Study (n = 447; age range at t1 = 70–102 years) to test whether trial-to-trial reaction time variability in perceptual speed (identical pictures) antecedes and signals longitudinal decline in levels of performance on perceptual speed (digit letter and identical pictures) and ideational fluency (category fluency). Higher trial-to-trial variability preceded and predicted greater cognitive decline in perceptual speed and ideational fluency. We conclude that trial-to-trial variability signals impending decline in cognitive performance, and that theories of neurocognitive aging need to postulate developmental cascades between senescent changes in variability and central tendency. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Despite longitudinal stability in subjective well-being across adulthood, many adults perceive self-related change. This study was aimed at identifying differential subjective change profiles in life satisfaction rated for the present, the past, and the future and to examine their associations with sociodemographic variables and changes in adaptive functioning. The authors addressed this aim using Midlife in the United States survey data from 2 measurement occasions (N � 3,631; age at Time 1: 24–75). A cluster analysis was used to identify a continuous high subgroup and an incremental subgroup at both occasions. A 3rd subgroup was labeled present low at Time 1 and decremental at Time 2. Although the average pattern across individual variables suggested stability, up to 60 % of individuals fit profiles depicting perceived change, and some individuals changed subgroup membership over time. After controlling for sociodemographic characteristics, subgroups differed in level and change in biopsychosocial measures of adaptive functioning, with sense of control and social relationship quality showing stronger associations than personality and physical health. Results indicate that a person-centered approach to assessing life satisfaction provides a rich and dynamic picture of individual differences in subjective well-being across the adult life span.

Repeated assessments obtained over years can be used to measure individuals ’ developmental change, whereas repeated assessments obtained over a few weeks can be used to measure individuals ’ dynamic characteristics. Using data from a burst of measurement embedded in the Berlin Aging Study (BASE; Baltes & Mayer, 1999), we illustrate and examine how long-term changes in cognitive ability are related to short-term changes in cognitive performance, cardiovascular function, and emotional experience. Our findings suggest that “better ” cognitive aging over approximately13 years was associated with greater cognitive plasticity, less cardiovascular lability, and less emotional diversity over approximately 2 weeks at age 90 years. The study highlights the potential benefits of multi-time scale longitudinal designs for the study of individual function and development.

Research trying to uncover the true nature of faking is currently dominated by two competing modeling approaches. One approach views faking as the manifestation of distinct and qualitatively different response patterns. Typically, mixed Rasch models are used within this approach. The alternative approach views faking as a continuous and quantitative variable resulting from the inter-action between test taker personality and situational demands. Modeling techniques for this approach range from regression analyses to structural equation modeling. So far, there has been no study in which bothmodeling approaches have been appliedwithin one data set.More importantly, so far there has been no methodological model in which both views of faking could have been modeled simulta-neously.Within the present article such amodeling approach is introduced and applied to a data set of N 497 applicants. By combining factor mixture modeling with a latent change score model, it was possible to test both views of faking within the samemodel. Findings support the view of faking mainly as a continuous and quantitative variable. Theoretical implications are discussed. Keywords modeling faking, slight faking, extreme faking, midpoint and extreme point responding, response process Over the past decades, noncognitive measures have demonstrated their worth in predicting academic as well as job performance (e.g., Higgins, Peterson, Pihl, & Lee, 2007; Poropat, 2009). Oftentimes self-ratings are used to assess personality. However, these instruments are criticized for their

Psychological well-being and incident frailty in men and women Citation for published version:

Occupational activity and cognitive reserve: implications in terms of prevention of cognitive aging and Alzheimer’s disease

Context—Purpose in life is associated with a substantially reduced risk of Alzheimer disease (AD), but the neurobiologic basis of this protective effect remains unknown. Objective—To test the hypothesis that purpose in life reduces the deleterious effects of AD pathologic changes on cognition in advanced age. Design—A longitudinal, epidemiologic, clinicopathologic study of aging was conducted that included detailed annual clinical evaluations and brain autopsy. Participants—Two hundred forty-six community-based older persons from the Rush Memory and Aging Project participated. Main Outcome Measures—Purpose in life was assessed via structured interview, and cognitive function was evaluated annually and proximate to death. On postmortem examination, 3 indexes of AD pathologic features were quantified: global AD pathologic changes, amyloid, and tangles. The associations of disease pathologic changes and purpose in life with cognition were examined using linear regression and mixed models. Results—Purpose in life modified the association between the global measure of AD pathologic

Longitudinal data spanning 22 years, obtained from deceased participants of the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP; N 1,637; 70- to 100-year-olds), were used to examine if and how life satisfaction exhibits terminal decline at the end of life. Changes in life satisfaction were more strongly associated with distance to death than with distance from birth (chronological age). Multiphase growth models were used to identify a transition point about 4 years prior to death where the prototypical rate of decline in life satisfaction tripled from0.64 to1.94 T-score units per year. Further individual-level analyses suggest that individuals dying at older ages spend more years in the terminal periods of life satisfaction decline than individuals dying at earlier ages. Overall, the evidence suggests that late-life changes in aspects of well-being are driven by mortality-related mechanisms and characterized by terminal decline.

LIFE-SPAN psychological research has long been inter-ested in structural relations among intraindividual changes within and between domains of functioning (Baltes & Nesselroade, 1979; Magnusson & Cairns, 1996). Our study explores the developmental ordering of three central components of successful aging, namely indicators of per-ceived control, health, and social support. An extensive body of research has demonstrated that perceived control shows moderately strong cross-sectional relations with lev-els of health and social support (Krause, 2007; Lachman & Weaver, 1998; Rodin, 1986). Relatively little is known, however, about possible antecedent–consequent relations between levels of functioning and subsequent changes across the three domains. To examine the nature and corre-lates of such relations, we apply change score (CS) models to 9-year longitudinal data from two occasions of the na-tional Midlife in the United States survey (MIDUS). Specif-ically, we (a) empirically compare competing unidirectional and multidirectional accounts of across-domain associa-tions and (b) explore if and how changes in one domain are accompanied by changes in another domain and whether the strength of these relations differs with age, gender, and education.

This study examined competing substantive hypotheses about dynamic (i.e., time-ordered) links between memory and functional limitations in old age. We applied the Bivariate Dual Change Score Model to 13-year longitudinal data from the Asset and Health Dynamics Among the Oldest Old Study (AHEAD; N 6,990; ages 70 – 95). Results revealed that better memory predicted shallower increases in functional limitations. Little evidence was found for the opposite direction that functional limitations predict ensuing changes in memory. Spline models indicated that dynamic associations between memory and functional limitations were substantively similar between participants aged 70–79 and those aged 80–95. Potential covariates (gender, education, health conditions, and depressive symptoms) did not account for these differential lead–lag associations. Applying a multivariate approach, our results suggest that late-life developments in two key components of successful aging are intrinsically interrelated. Our discussion focuses on possible mechanisms why cognitive functioning may serve as a source of age-related changes in health both among the young-old and the old-old.