Browsing by Subject "cognitive ability"

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    Impact of Volunteering on Cognitive Decline of the Elderly
    (Elsevier, 2018-11) Gupta, Sumedha; Economics, School of Liberal Arts
    Cognitive decline among the elderly imposes a large welfare and health care cost on the individual as well as society. Little however is known about factors that can mitigate cognitive decline. Using seven waves of the Health and Retirement Study and a fixed effects – instrumental variable methodology, this study estimates the effects of volunteering on old age cognitive decline. Although cognitive decline is an inevitable aspect of aging, our results suggest that volunteering participation significantly forestalls its progress among individuals aged 60 years and older.
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    Projected Retained Ability Score (PRAS): A New Methodology for Quantifying Absolute Change in Norm-Based Psychological Test Scores Over Time
    (Sage, 2019) Kronenberger, William G.; Harrington, Magdalena; Yee, Karen S.; Psychiatry, School of Medicine
    A limitation of norm-based ability test scores is that they can only be used to evaluate relative change (compared with change in the norm sample), as opposed to absolute (raw) change in performance from Time 1 to Time 2. To address this limitation, a novel method (Projected Retained Ability Score [PRAS]) was developed to characterize absolute change in norm-based ability test scores. The PRAS method was applied to Differential Ability Scales®–Second Edition (DAS-II) General Conceptual Ability (GCA) scores in three cases of children with the neurodegenerative condition mucopolysaccharidosis type II (MPS II) who were assessed at two visits, 16 to 23 months apart. Although all three cases showed declines in norm-based GCA scores, the PRAS method revealed differences in absolute change in performance. The PRAS method allows for differentiation of slower-than-average improvement or stabilization versus deterioration of cognitive ability when norm-based scores decline from Time 1 to Time 2.