TY - JOUR
T1 - A multi-timescale, multi-method perspective on older adult neurocognitive adaptability
AU - Mulligan, Bryce P.
AU - Segalowitz, Sidney J.
AU - Hofer, Scott M.
AU - Smart, Colette M.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by Alzheimer Society Research Program/Pacific Alzheimer Research Foundation under Doctoral Award #1343. In memory of my all-time favourite older adult, and peg o’ my heart, Claudette Tuskovitch (1931–2019). Special thanks to the participants—unbounded sources of energy and inspiration. Technical assistance provided by Patrick Frisby and Corson Areshenkoff.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2020/5/18
Y1 - 2020/5/18
N2 - Objective: Ethical and economic values compel us to improve the screening, monitoring, and enhancement of older adult neurocognitive adaptability. Diverse contemporary theoretical and empirical perspectives highlight the multi-timescale, multi-mechanistic nature of neurocognitive adaptability. Still lacking are frameworks and methodologies that demonstrate this convergence to allow for new paradigms that harness the clinical utility of neurocognitive adaptability. Method: We present a multi-method, multi-timescale analysis of neurocognitive adaptability in a group of healthy, community-dwelling older adults from the Victoria, British Columbia region. Each participant completed a 96-trial computerized cognitive flexibility task at 4 to 6 separate laboratory visits spanning about a month. This captured within-person changes at the within-occasion and across-occasion levels (timescales of seconds and days/weeks, respectively). We used standardized clinical assessments of cognitive reserve (i.e., estimated premorbid function) and conscientiousness (a personality dimension) as cross-sectional (time-invariant) predictors in multi-level linear regression to illustrate between-person differences in within-person cognitive performance trajectories. Results: Reserve predicted cognitive performance differences at the timescale of seconds (within occasions) but did not relate to differences at the timescale of days/weeks (across occasions); in contrast, conscientiousness predicted cognitive performance differences at both timescales. Distinct processes operating within the same task (stimulus-classification vs. set-shifting) improved with practice at discrepant rates. Conclusions: Neurocognitive adaptability is underlain by multiple biopsychosocial mechanisms. Certain widely-used clinical indices (e.g., of reserve or conscientiousness) may estimate distinct types of neurocognitive adaptability relevant to maintaining functional independence into old age. Our methodology and theoretical framework assume that neurocognitive adaptability unfolds at multiple hierarchical scales of time.
AB - Objective: Ethical and economic values compel us to improve the screening, monitoring, and enhancement of older adult neurocognitive adaptability. Diverse contemporary theoretical and empirical perspectives highlight the multi-timescale, multi-mechanistic nature of neurocognitive adaptability. Still lacking are frameworks and methodologies that demonstrate this convergence to allow for new paradigms that harness the clinical utility of neurocognitive adaptability. Method: We present a multi-method, multi-timescale analysis of neurocognitive adaptability in a group of healthy, community-dwelling older adults from the Victoria, British Columbia region. Each participant completed a 96-trial computerized cognitive flexibility task at 4 to 6 separate laboratory visits spanning about a month. This captured within-person changes at the within-occasion and across-occasion levels (timescales of seconds and days/weeks, respectively). We used standardized clinical assessments of cognitive reserve (i.e., estimated premorbid function) and conscientiousness (a personality dimension) as cross-sectional (time-invariant) predictors in multi-level linear regression to illustrate between-person differences in within-person cognitive performance trajectories. Results: Reserve predicted cognitive performance differences at the timescale of seconds (within occasions) but did not relate to differences at the timescale of days/weeks (across occasions); in contrast, conscientiousness predicted cognitive performance differences at both timescales. Distinct processes operating within the same task (stimulus-classification vs. set-shifting) improved with practice at discrepant rates. Conclusions: Neurocognitive adaptability is underlain by multiple biopsychosocial mechanisms. Certain widely-used clinical indices (e.g., of reserve or conscientiousness) may estimate distinct types of neurocognitive adaptability relevant to maintaining functional independence into old age. Our methodology and theoretical framework assume that neurocognitive adaptability unfolds at multiple hierarchical scales of time.
KW - Neurocognitive adaptability
KW - cognitive training
KW - intensive measurement
KW - older adult
KW - practice effects
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U2 - 10.1080/13854046.2020.1723706
DO - 10.1080/13854046.2020.1723706
M3 - Article
C2 - 32052696
AN - SCOPUS:85079427122
VL - 34
SP - 643
EP - 677
JO - Clinical Neuropsychologist
JF - Clinical Neuropsychologist
SN - 1385-4046
IS - 4
ER -