Today’s Older Adults Are Cognitively Fitter Than Older Adults Were 20 Years Ago, but When and How They Decline Is No Different Than in the Past
Open accessAbstract
History-graded increases in older adults’ levels of cognitive performance are well documented, but little is known about historical shifts in within-person change: cognitive decline and onset of decline. We combined harmonized perceptual-motor speed data from independent samples recruited in 1990 and 2010 to obtain 2,008 age-matched longitudinal observations ( M = 78 years, 50% women) from 228 participants in the Berlin Aging Study (BASE) and 583 participants in the Berlin Aging Study II (BASE-II). We used nonlinear growth models that orthogonalized within- and between-person age effects and controlled for retest effects. At age 78, the later-born BASE-II cohort substantially outperformed the earlier-born BASE cohort ( d = 1.20; 25 years of age difference). Age trajectories, however, were parallel, and there was no evidence of cohort differences in the amount or rate of decline and the onset of decline. Cognitive functioning has shifted to higher levels, but cognitive decline in old age appears to proceed similarly as it did two decades ago.
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- Authors
- Gerstorf, D., Ram, N., Drewelies, J., Duezel, S., Eibich, P., Steinhagen-Thiessen, E., Liebig, S., Goebel, J., Demuth, I., Villringer, A., Wagner, G. G., Lindenberger, U., & Ghisletta, P.
- Affiliations
- German Institute for Economic Research (DE)
- Departments of Psychology and Communication, Stanford University
- Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (DE)
- Center for Lifespan Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany
- Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (DE)
- Department of Endocrinology and Metabolic Medicine at the Charite–Universitätsmedizin Berlin
- Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin (DE)
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences (DE)
- Max Planck Institute for Human Development (DE)
- University of Geneva (CH)
- Corresponding author
- Gerstorf, Denis
- ORCID
- Venue
- Psychological Science
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2022-10-25
- Volume
- 34
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 22-34
- ISSN
- 0956-7976 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-9280
- OpenAlex
- W4307220620
- Semantic Scholar
- adea152a58b96a78690727107d5fdd8275a66044
- Cited by
- 26
- References
- 40
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 6
- FWCI
- 6.13
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Psychological Science (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- edoc Publication server (Humboldt University of Berlin) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- bundesministerium für bildung und forschung (#01UW0808; #01GL1716A; and #01GL1716B, #16SV5536K, #16SV5537, #16SV5538, #16SV5837)
- bundesministerium für familie, senioren, frauen und jugend (1992–1998, 314-1722-102/9 & 314-1722-102/9a)
- Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences’ Research Group on Aging and Societal Development (1994 –1999)
- bundesministerium für forschung und technologie (1989 –1991, 13 TA 011 & 13 TA 011/A)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology › Aging and Gerontology Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Abilities and Testing
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research
- Keywords
- cognitive aging, cognitive decline, cohort differences, older adults
- MeSH terms
- Aged, Aging, Cognition, Female, Humans, Longitudinal Studies, Male
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