Aging and Late-Life Terminal Decline in Perceptual Speed

This article reports on a study undertaken to examine individual changes in perceptual speed in old age as a conditional function of aging and terminal decline. Alternative time-structured models were evaluated in a Swedish population-based, age-homogeneous sample (n = 764) of individuals assessed at ages 70, 75, 79, 85, 88, 90, 92, 95, 97, and 99. The authors found that modeling time as proximity to death accounted better for the heterogeneity of individual changes than an age-based time structure. The data showed that time-to-death was a significant predictor of individual differences in rates of change in the age-based model. In both the age-based and death-based time-structured models, accelerated changes prior to time of death were observed and provide support for the terminal-decline hypothesis. The authors conclude with a discussion of health-related factors and other sources of causal heterogeneity of aging-related change.

• Authors:
  • Thorvaldsson, Valgeir
  • Hofer, Scott M
  • Johansson, Boo
• Publication Date: 2006

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 196-203
• Serial:
  • European Psychologist
  • Volume: 11
  • Issue Number: 3
  • Publisher: Hogrefe & Huber

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Aged; Aging (Biology); Cognition; Cognitive impairment; Perception
• Uncontrolled Terms: Mortality
• Geographic Terms: Sweden
• Subject Areas: Environment; Highways; Safety and Human Factors; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01084633
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jan 28 2008 8:10AM