Biomedical subjects

Ulman Lindenberger

Publications and source records attributed to Ulman Lindenberger.

22 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

PubMed2002

Longitudinal selectivity in aging populations: separating mortality-associated versus experimental components in the Berlin Aging Study (BASE).

The authors examined 3.7-year selectivity in the Berlin Aging Study by comparing the T1 parent sample (N = 516) with the T3 sample (N = 206). Selectivity was partitioned into a mortality-associated component, reflecting the degree to which individuals still alive at T3 (T3 survivors, N = 313) differ from the T1 parent sample (N = 516) from which they originated, and an experimental component, reflecting the degree to which the T3 sample (N = 206) differed from T3 survivors (N = 313). Across 48 variables representing medical, sensorimotor, cognitive, personality-related, and socioeconomic domains, the mortality-associated component accounted for 64% of total selectivity, and the experimental component for 36% (0.18 vs 0.10 SD units; t = 7.20, p <.01). Except for age and intelligence, experimental selectivity effects regarding means and prevalence rates were generally small. Partitioning selectivity into mortality-associated and experimental components is a useful tool in the longitudinal study of aging populations.

Aged↗

PubMed2001

Aging cognition: from neuromodulation to representation.

Basic cognitive functions, such as the abilities to activate, represent, maintain, focus and process information, decline with age. A paradigm shift towards cross-level conceptions is needed in order to obtain an integrative understanding of cognitive aging phenomena that cuts across neural, information-processing, and behavioral levels. We review empirical data at these different levels, and computational theories proposed to enable their integration. A theoretical link is highlighted, relating deficient neuromodulation with noisy information processing, which might result in less distinctive cortical representations. These less distinctive representations might be implicated in working memory and attentional functions that underlie the behavioral manifestations of cognitive aging deficits.

Journal Article↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Age differences in executive functioning across the lifespan: the role of verbalization in task preparation.

Age-related changes in executive functioning across the lifespan were assessed in children (mean age=9.4 years), younger adults (mean age=21.5 years), and older adults (mean age=65.3 years). Executive functioning was investigated with a task-switching paradigm that permits the separation of two control components: to select and to switch between task sets. The specific aims of this study were (a) to determine developmental functions in both control components across the lifespan; and (b) to examine whether age-related changes in these components are influenced by verbal prompts during task preparation. The results revealed an inverted u-shaped developmental function for the ability to select between task sets but not for the ability to switch between task sets. In contrast to younger adults and children, older adults generally benefited from verbalizations during task preparation. Children, but not older adults, showed a facilitation of task execution when verbal prompts were task-compatible. Conversely, older adults, but not children, showed stronger interference when verbal prompts are task-incompatible. Our findings suggest that inner speech in an important modulator of developmental changes in executive functioning across the lifespan.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Static and dynamic longitudinal structural analyses of cognitive changes in old age.

BACKGROUND: Among the main data-analytical advances of recent decades are Latent Growth Models (LGM) and Multilevel Models (MLM) for the analysis of longitudinal data. OBJECTIVE: We discuss the relative advantages and disadvantages of the two analytical methods and offer some practical guidelines concerning the choice between LGM and MLM based on (a). completeness and balance of the data, (b). theoretical functional form of change examined, (c). examination of the error structure, (d). theoretical relations among differential level effects and differential change effects, and (e). role of time-invariant covariates. METHODS: To discuss LGM and MLM, we provide illustrations from applications to the Berlin Aging Study (BASE) and the Swiss Interdisciplinary Longitudinal Study on the Oldest Old (SWILSO-O). RESULTS: As predicted by two-component theories of lifespan cognition, performance on a vocabulary test (indicator of broad crystallized intelligence) did not decline over time, while scores on a digit letter test (indicator of broad fluid intelligence) decreased over 6 years. Differential level effects were obtained on both variables, while average and differential change effects were obtained only for the digit letter test. In a second set of analyses, we tested the error-free effect that a broad fluid intelligence indicator exerted on the latent yearly change in a broad crystallized intelligence indicator, and vice versa. In both data sets we obtained strong evidence for a more reliable effect of the fluid indicator on the change in the crystallized indicator. This evidence provided support for the dedifferentiation hypothesis of cognitive abilities in very old age. CONCLUSIONS: New insights into cognitive aging phenomena can be gained with proper applications of LGM and MLM. We posit that the choice between LGM and MLM and their specification rests on theoretical and empirical motives to be defined a priori.

Aging↗