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Cited by 53Cognitive Abilities and TestingAging and Gerontology ResearchRetirement, Disability, and Employment

Not your parents' test scores: Cohort reduces psychometric aging effects.

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Zelinski, Elizabeth M., Kennison, Robert F.·2007·Psychology and Aging
DOI 10.1037/0882-7974.22.3.546PMC PMC4169292
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Abstract

Increases over birth cohorts in psychometric abilities may impact effects of aging. Data from 2 cohorts of the Long Beach Longitudinal Study, matched on age but tested 16 years apart, were modeled over ages 55-87 to test the hypothesis that the more fluid abilities of reasoning, list and text recall, and space would show larger cohort differences than vocabulary. This hypothesis was confirmed. At age 74, average performance estimates for people from the more recently born cohort were equivalent to those of people from the older cohort when they were up to 15 years younger. This finding suggests that older adults may perform like much younger ones from the previous generation on fluid measures, indicating higher levels of abilities than expected. This result could have major implications for the expected productivity of an aging workforce as well as for the quality of life of future generations. However, cohort improvements did not mitigate age declines.

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  • The rate of cognitive aging from age 55 to 87 on reasoning, spatial abilities, and vocabulary showed minimal if any differences between age-matched cohorts born 1893-1923 and 1908-1940.

    “Zelinski and Kennison (2007) applied growth models to data from the Long Beach Longitudinal Study (LBLS) and reported that the rate of cognitive aging from age 55 to age 87 on measures of reasoning, spatial abilities, and vocabulary showed minimal if any differences between age-matched cohorts born 1893–1923 and those born 1908–1940.”

    From Cohort differences in cognitive aging and terminal decline in the Seattle Longitudinal Study. (2011) · cites this paper as Zelinski and Kennison (2007)

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Zelinski, E. M., & Kennison, R. F.
Affiliations
  • University of Southern California (US)
  • California State University Los Angeles (US)
ORCID
Zelinski, Elizabeth M.
Venue
Psychology and Aging
Publisher
American Psychological Association (APA)
Published
2007-09
Volume
22
Issue
3
Pages
546-557
ISSN
  • 0882-7974 (ISSN-L)
  • 1939-1498
DOI
10.1037/0882-7974.22.3.546
PMC
PMC4169292
OpenAlex
W1993776270
Cited by
53
References
2
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 3 · 2012: 3
FWCI
2.79
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Psychology and Aging (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
National Institute on Aging (R01 AG10569; T32 AG00037)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Abilities and Testing
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology › Aging and Gerontology Research
  • Social Sciences › Demography › Retirement, Disability, and Employment
Keywords
cohort effects, fluid intelligence, cognitive aging, older adults, vocabulary, reasoning, memory retrieval, spatial ability, aging workforce, intergenerational comparison
MeSH terms
Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Aging, Aptitude, California, Female, Health Surveys, Humans, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Middle Aged, Neuropsychological Tests, Parents, Psychometrics, Cohort Studies

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