Why are there different age relations in cross-sectional and longitudinal comparisons of cognitive functioning?
Open accessAbstract
A major challenge for researchers interested in investigating relations between aging and cognitive functioning is distinguishing influences of aging from other determinants of cognitive performance. For example, cross-sectional comparisons may be distorted because people of different ages were born and grew up in different time periods, and longitudinal comparisons may be distorted because performance on a second occasion is influenced by the experience of performing the tests on the first occasion. One way in which these different types of influences might be investigated is with research designs involving comparisons of people of different ages from the same birth cohorts who are all tested for the first time in different years. Results from several recent studies using these types of designs suggest that the age trends in some cognitive abilities more closely resemble those from cross-sectional comparisons than those from longitudinal comparisons. These findings imply that a major reason for different age trends in longitudinal and cross-sectional comparisons of cognitive functioning is that the experience with the tests on the first occasion inflates scores on the second occasion in longitudinal studies.
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Salthouse (2014) notes that cross-sectional findings align closely with cognitive declines observed in quasi-longitudinal studies of Wechsler's scales.
“Importantly, Salthouse (2014) notes that these cross-sectional findings align closely with cognitive declines observed in “quasi-longitudinal” studies of Wechsler’s scales, which follow the changes in ability level of independent samples from the same cohorts (years of birth) over decades (Kaufman 1990, 2001; Lichtenberger and Kaufman 2013).”
From Cognitive Aging Revisited: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of the WAIS-5 (2025) · cites this paper as Salthouse 2014
The same findings have been observed in quasi-longitudinal investigations, where independent samples from the same age cohorts have been followed for a dozen or more years.
“The same findings have been observed in quasi-longitudinal investigations, where independent samples from the same age cohorts have been followed for a dozen or more years (Kaufman 1990, 2001; Lichtenberger and Kaufman 2013; Salthouse 2014).”
From Cognitive Aging Revisited: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of the WAIS-5 (2025) · cites this paper as Salthouse 2014
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Research works printed but not linked: 13
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Cognitive Aging Revisited: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of the WAIS-5
Winter, E. L., Dale, B. A., Maharjan, S., Lando, C. R., Larsen, C. M., Courville, T., & Kaufman, A. S. (2025) · Journal of Intelligence · doi:10.3390/jintelligence13070085 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
- Authors
- Salthouse, T. A.
- Affiliations
- University of Virginia (US)
- Corresponding author
- Salthouse, Timothy A.
- Venue
- Current Directions in Psychological Science
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2014-08
- Volume
- 23
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 252-256
- ISSN
- 0963-7214 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-8721
- PMC
- PMC4219741
- OpenAlex
- W2140982922
- Cited by
- 174
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 16 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 18 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 12 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 13 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 6
- FWCI
- 18.54
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Current Directions in Psychological Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute on Aging (R37AG024270)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Abilities and Testing
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology › Aging and Gerontology Research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research
- Keywords
- cognitive aging, birth cohort effects, test-taking experience, practice effects
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