BASE-Publications:
Abstracts
Ghisletta, P., & Lindenberger, U.
(2005).
Exploring structural dynamics within and between sensory and
intellectual functioning in old and very old age: Longitudinal evidence from
the
Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of
age-heterogeneous samples have revealed correlational
links between and within intellectual, sensory, and sensorimotor
domains. Due to basic limitations of cross-sectional designs and a reluctance
to disentangle antecedent–consequent relations in longitudinal designs, the
functional significance and dynamics of these links have remained unclear. Advanced
structural equation models allow representing multivariate longitudinal changes
as a function of time-based and directed relations. We applied this methodology
to longitudinal data from the Berlin Aging Study (at inception total N = 516;
age range = 70–103 years) to explore the structural dynamics among perceptual
speed, verbal knowledge, close visual acuity, and distance visual acuity. We
found reliable, occasion-based, age-partialed latent
regression paths that influence longitudinal changes within and across
intellectual and sensory domains. We conclude that intellectual and sensory
domains are dynamically linked in old and very old age, and discuss
implications of this finding for theories of cognitive aging.