Christopher Hertzog - US grants

Age changes in psychometric intelligence are well documented, but the ways in which adults differ in the process of solving intelligence test items is poorly understood. The proposed research uses recently elaborated models of psychometric test performance from cognitive psychology (component models of intelligence) to study age differences in problem solving strategies and application of basic information processing skills to psychometric test problems. The goal is the development of an elaborated description of intelligence test performance in adult populations which may prove useful in measuring patterns and predictors of individual differences in intellectual change over the life span. The study emphasizes an individual differences perspective, and seeks to identify qualitatively different patterns of component-psychometric test relationships in different individuals. The research differentiates information processing speed in multiple skill components from other sources of individual differences in psychometric performance, and tests the hypothesis that individual differences in cognitive speed account for adult age differences in psychometric test scores.

Recently there has been increasing interest in exploring metamemory, defined as cognitions about one's own memory functions, and the relationship of such cognitions to actual memory performance in older adults. The proposed research examines metamemory and metamemory/performance relationships in an elderly population while carefully differentiating knowledge about one's own memory functions from beliefs of self-efficacy in memory demanding situations. The critical focus of the study is to determine the degree to which temporal lability in affective states and in perception of memorial self efficacy influence both measures of metamemory (including measures of memory knowledge), memory task performance and reports of memory failures in everyday life. The research design features a 100 occasion, two year intraindividual panel design analyzed by multivariate P-technique methods. This procedure permits a fine-grained assessment of temporal fluctuation in memory, metamemory and affective states. In addition, a large cross-sectional sample will be drawn to yield comparable information on interindividual covariation of the same variables. Taken together, these studies will provide unique information about the lability of traditional memory and metamemory measures while enabling a detailed examination of the link between states such as anxiety and depressive affect, perceptions and beliefs about personal self-efficacy and control in memory demanding situations, and memory task performance. Two of the hypotheses to be tested are: 1) short term fluctuations in affective state and perceived self efficacy covary with performance on standard word recognition and text recognition tasks and 2) widely used operational definitions of memory knowledge, e.g., task performance prediction, are strongly influenced by fluctuation in perceived self-efficacy and affective states in addition to any veridical knowledge of memory functions or capacity per se. Thus, the proposed research should make a useful contribution to our understanding of subject influences on metamemory and memory performance in adult populations.

Gerontologists have increasingly turned to examination of ecological aspects of memory, including study of memory in naturalistic settings. This research explores relationships between metamemory, defined as cognitions about one's own memory functions, and the relationship of such cognititons to actual memory performance in older adults. The proposed research examines metamemory and metamemory/memory performance relationships while (1) carefully differentiating knowledge about memory functions from beliefs of personal self- efficacy and (2) using multiple types of memory performance. In the last funding cycle, we examined metamemory relationships with text recall and free recall of a categorized word list. In this cycle we continue that approach while adding a new memory task more closely linked to everyday cognition: recognition memory for diary recorded daily life events. Another major feature of the proposed research is the collection of a short-term (two-year) longitudinal retest of individual who have previously participated in a cross-sectional study. The original study was designed to provide data on the convergent/discriminant validity of metamemory, memory performance, and related variables, including psychometric personality, general self-efficacy beliefs, affective states, and psychological well-being. The longitudinal retest will enable us to examine the both 1) short-term stability of levels of metamemory and memory performance and 2) the stability of individual differences in these constructs over a wide age range. The study also continues our work on within-person (intraindividual) fluctuation in metamemory, memory performance, and related psychological variables. Together, the short-term longitudinal retest and the intraindividual panel data will help determine the degree to which temporal lability in affective states covary with lability in memory self-efficacy beliefs and memory performance. An additional contribution of this research is the generation of 25 structurally equivalent texts for use in text comprehension and recall studies. These texts have already been constructed; the proposed research will test empirically whether they are equivalent, as judged both text recall performance and subjective estimates of similarity on multiple dimensions (e.g., concreteness).

Three areas of research are proposed that systematically evaluate age- related differences in learning within a metacognitive framework. A central assumption of this framework is that people actively participate in memory- related tasks. While attempting to master new material, people (a) utilize their metamemorial knowledge about the task demands to select rehearsal strategies, (b) monitor on-going learning, and (c) utilize such monitoring to regulate various aspects of study. Long-term objectives include discovering how each of these aspects of on-going, self-directed learning both influence the rate of learning and mediate any age-related differences in learning. The proposed research entails three areas of related research studies. It involves multiple experimental tasks that employ variants of paired associate learning and recall. Most of the experiments employ extreme age groups (young vs. old) designs to evaluate age differences in leaning and recall. Research in Area 1 focuses on possible age differences in the ability to monitor various aspects of the memory system that have been shown to be important for the regulation of learning in younger adults. It will (a) test the hypothesis that older adults differ in their ability to monitor performance with reference to strategy effectiveness and (b) examine additional aspects of memory monitoring that are crucial for guiding learning, including especially different kinds of judgments of learning made during study of materials. Area 2 focuses on determining whether there are age differences in (a) spontaneous use of strategies, (b)effectiveness of strategy use, and (c) the time taken to implement such strategies. The proposed experiments will enable examination of production deficiency and mediational deficiency accounts of age differences in rate and level of associative learning. The final experiment in Area 2 evaluates the hypothesis that knowledge and beliefs about memory and learning strategies will be associated with spontaneous selection and effective use of mediational strategies. Area 3 will evaluate the degree to which individuals regulate their on-going learning by monitoring memory and strategy effectiveness. A central hypothesis is that older adults do not spontaneously initiate behaviors that will enhance their learning. A new experimental task will permit a test of the hypothesis that older adults can effectively monitor learning under explicit instructions to do so, but that they do not spontaneously implement a strategy of using monitoring to control and optimize the learning process. Outcomes obtained from all three areas have important theoretical implications for age differences in associative learning and will also provide valuable information on how to construct training and intervention programs to help older adults optimize learning in everyday situations.

DESCRIPTION (adapted from investigator's abstract): Four areas of research are proposed that systematically evaluate age-related differences in associative learning within a metacognitive framework. A central assumption of this framework is that people actively participate in learning new material by (1) utilizing their knowledge about cognitively demanding tasks to select rehearsal strategies, (2) monitoring on-going learning and performance, and (3) utilizing such monitoring to regulate control processes that govern learning and performance. Our long-term objectives include discovering how each of these aspects of self-directed learning influences the rate of learning and age differences in learning. The proposed research involves four separate areas of effort. In general, the proposed experiments involve the use of paired-associate learning and recall to study metacognition, strategies, and learning. Area 1 represents a critical step toward implementing knowledge about aging, metacognition, and strategy use gained in the last funding cycle in a new and unique training program for older adults that simultaneously restructures negative beliefs about age and learning, trains relevant strategies for learning, and trains the use of self-testing (a practical method for using monitoring to guide study) during learning. Area 2 builds on work completed or in progress indicating age-related sparing of the ability to monitor the cognitive system. The investigators focus on factors that influence both relative and absolute accuracy of monitoring, and evaluate age differences in spontaneous (uninstructed) strategy use. Area 3 directs attention to the nature of mediational strategies used during associative learning, extending work with new methods for measuring strategy self-reports developed in the last funded cycle to evaluate age differences in spontaneous (uninstructed) strategy use. Area 4 evaluates the utilization of monitoring to guide self-paced study of paired-associates, in part through the creation of new metacognitive judgements that should help to explain age differences already identified in the utilization of monitoring. Outcomes obtained from all four areas have important theoretical implications for age differences in associative learning and will also provide valuable information on how to construct training and interventions programs to help older adults optimize learning in everyday situations.

[unreadable] DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): A critical issue regarding aging and cognition concerns the impact of strategic behavior as a cause of age differences in cognitive performance. Can the influence of strategies be identified in conjunction with the role of age-related changes in basic information processing mechanisms - such as a slowing in rates of associative learning or slowing in information processing speed? To what extent do age differences in strategic behavior in cognitive tasks produce, enhance, or reduce estimates of age changes in basic cognitive mechanisms taken from standard cognitive tasks? Although it is clear that age differences in cognitive strategies do not determine (i.e., completely account for) age differences in cognitive task performance (Light, 1996; Salthouse, 1991 ) they can play an important role in affecting age differences in performance on several classes of complex cognitive tasks (Dunlosky & Hertzog, 2001; Lemaire & Arnaud, 2002; Kausler, 1994; Rogers, Hertzog, & Fisk, 2000). The proposed research will clarify the influence of strategic factors on age differences in skill acquisition. We have adopted the noun-pair learning (NP) task (Ackerman & Woltz, 1994) to assess how quickly individuals switch from a slower form of controlled processing (visual search, or scanning, of an array to find target word pairs) to more fluent performance based on memory-retrieval (made possible by repeated exposure to the same pairings). Initial work with this task demonstrated that a substantial proportion of older adults do not rely on retrieval from memory to make rapid judgments in the NP task (Rogers & Gilbert, 1997; Rogers et al., 2000), opting instead to stay with the slower but effective strategy of scanning the array of possible answers. We have previously shown that both older and younger adults learn new associations and utilize this learning to guide skilled performance in the NP task (Touron & Hertzog, in press; Touron & Hertzog, 2003). A critical feature of our approach is collecting trial by trial strategy reports as well as online recognition memory probes, which allow us to track the way in which associative learning at the level of specific items leads to changes in strategic behavior for each person. Using this approach, we have shown that older adults are reluctant to rely on a memory retrieval strategy despite adequate noun-pair learning (item knowledge), and that this reluctance contributes to age differences in rates of skill acquisition. Persistent scanning behavior cannot be fully explained by deficient noun-pair learning - the shift toward retrieval is also influenced by age differences in strategy choice. A number of competing explanations for age differences in strategy choice are available, including: cognitive abilities, personality characteristics, metacognitive beliefs, performance monitoring, or the mental task model. The proposed research will consider these alternative mechanisms for and influences on older adults' retrieval reluctance. Our specific aims are to: (1) conduct an extensive individual differences study that evaluates the relationship of strategic choice to (a) background abilities, such as perceptual speed, associative memory, and fluid intelligence and (b) personal characteristics, including conservatism, conscientiousness, impulsivity, memory self-concept, and online monitoring of the accessibility of item knowledge; (2) assess age and individual differences in online metacognition, including differences in the experience of or access to a fast feeling-of-knowing as well as differences in updating of knowledge for latency differences across strategies.; (3) test the flexibility of initial response criteria and strategy preferences, by experimentally manipulating instructional sets, reward contingencies, and response deadlines; and (4) check the generality of these effects by extending to a separate skill acquisition task. Our goals are to demonstrate that older adults' skill acquisition behavior is governed both by age-related information processing constraints as well as by volition and strategic choice, to evaluate the role of that strategic behavior which impedes rates of learning in older adults can be overcome through intervention. [unreadable] [unreadable]

[unreadable] DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of the Georgia Tech research-training program is to provide an excellent academic context for training predoctoral and postdoctoral students for research in Cogntive Aging. Because of the importance of cognitive aging to understanding adult development and aging, a better understanding of the relationship among various cognitive processes and aging is needed. The current program provides research training in this important area. The core faculty at Georgia Tech provides expertise in a diverse set of domains in Cognitive Aging, including memory, language, problem solving, attention, skill learning, human factors, individual differences, metacognition, social cognition, neuropsychology and neuroscience of cognition and aging, and developmental methodology. [unreadable] [unreadable] Trainees are exposed to core courses in cognitive and developmental psychology, specialty courses and seminars in cognitive aging, weekly research seminars, colloquia with visiting scientists, and a strong curriculum in methodology. The program has been funded for fifteen years. During that period twenty-two predoctoral and eleven postdoctoral trainees have been supported. The same level of training support is requested in this renewal application: five predoctoral trainees and two postdoctoral trainees. Since the last competitive application in 1997, the Cognitive Aging program at Georgia Tech has lost two core faculty members, but these faculty have been replaced increasing the breadth of the program. In addition, seven new faculty have become consultant faculty in the training program with ten-consultant faculty in total available to students as mentors. [unreadable] [unreadable]

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): There is increasing evidence that older adults display a greater sensitivity to problem solving contexts and select problem-solving and emotion regulation strategies accordingly. In this competing renewal we propose eight studies that will further document this pattern, explore underlying mechanisms, and assess the adaptive consequences. We have accumulated evidence that this age-related pattern of responding is most evident in interpersonal and emotionally-charged problems. In these situations, older adults used passive emotion regulation strategies in combination with proactive strategies, whereas young and middle-aged adults focused more on proactive strategies. We suggest that this differential pattern of everyday problem solving in older adults is adaptive and reflects growing evidence that older adults are more effective in emotion regulation. In the first study we will conduct a time-sampling analysis of naturally occurring emotional and physiological outcomes that occur in association with problem solving and emotion-regulation strategy use including the role discrete emotions and personal goals play in strategy selection. The next four studies will focus on age differences in the fit between goals and strategy use. First we will examine age differences in problem solving goals. The next three studies will relate personal goals to everyday problem solving strategies taking an idiographic approach, and two studies experimentally manipulating goal orientation (future time perspective and social versus instrumental goals) to determine if goals are an important driving mechanism behind age-related differences in problem-solving strategy use. Finally, a third set of three studies will explore the idea that older adults'penchant for emotion regulation is motivated by the increased importance of emotions and the ability to regulate them. In addition, what are benefits and costs of this goal focus? We will use converging methods to assess emotion regulation strategy use as well as psychological and physiological emotional reactivity.

The Planning Grants for Engineering Research Centers competition was run as a pilot solicitation within the ERC program. Planning grants are not required as part of the full ERC competition, but intended to build capacity among teams to plan for convergent, center-scale engineering research.

This planning grant to establish an Engineering Research Center brings together researchers from Iowa State University, Arizona State University, Georgia Tech, and University of California Irvine to study how engineering technologies can be used to improve the everyday functioning of older U.S. adults as they age. Older adults represent the fastest-growing demographic group, which is creating urgent and largely unmet needs for affordable services, technologies, and environmental support infrastructure for these citizens to age optimally. Our engineering approach will have a high societal impact by meeting the needs of older adults and better preparing individuals, families, and communities for optimal and affordable aging. Our proposed approach will integrate concepts and ideas from engineering, life sciences, computational sciences, and social sciences to provide affordable solutions to the scientific and societal challenges associated with aging. The planning grant activities will enable us to expand research capacity in this area by connecting with a broad range of stakeholders and industry. Our educational and outreach activities will produce diverse, creative, responsible, entrepreneurial, and globally engaged leaders. All these activities will lead to an improved fundamental understanding of the most important needs of aging in place and help create a new research paradigm with engaged stakeholders to provide transformative and affordable solutions to optimal aging and reduce growing healthcare costs.

Our proposed approach will integrate convergent research, education, and technology transfer programs focused on novel sensor and network technology integrated with Internet of Things data fusion, designer materials for delivery, and cognitive competence and enhanced everyday functioning. Together with our industrial and innovation partners, we will transform the design and manufacture of aging-centric technologies and lead to rapid commercialization by a systems-approach encompassing scientific, social, and behavioral considerations from the earliest stages of conceptualization. The planning grant activities will help us to: (i) expand research capacity in this research area; (ii) integrate new education, outreach, and technology transfer activities across the partner institutions; (iii) engage a broad group of stakeholders and industrial partners; (iv) strategize on team formation and effective leadership/management; and (v) design and implement a national survey of older adults to further guide our research vision. All of these planning grant activities will lead to the development of the full complement of skills needed to successfully address this complex societal challenge and build effective relationships with a diverse stakeholder community.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

Project Summary This project seeks to develop and validate a novel approach to training everyday memory functioning in older adults. The approach (1) trains people to use simple but effective memory skills that have broad applicability in everyday life and (2) shapes a set of skills and habits of mind that will increase the likelihood of effective use of skills and memory aids. It is based on a metacognitive perspective on self-regulation in cognitively demanding situations and informed by recent theories about how suboptimal habit patterns can be altered. The approach has not yet been used in an everyday memory intervention in high-functioning, community-dwelling older adults. The proposed research validates ecological momentary assessment methods to get actual behavioral measures of forgetting in everyday life. It then uses these procedures in a randomized experiment that contrasts the everyday memory intervention group with a traditional memory-strategy training group. The hypothesis is that the everyday memory training intervention will reduce everyday memory errors and memory complaints, whereas the memory strategy training will alter strategy use and memory performance, with little cross-over effect. The hypothesized pattern will establish the explicit benefits of our everyday memory intervention procedures and demonstrate the limitation of standard memory training for that purpose.