Studies in Cognition and Personality

Cognitive Behaviors in Daily Life of Older Adults 

Sponsorship Type: National funding, Swiss National Science Foundation
Research Type: Human Subjects
Impact: National

Summary: This project examined the associations between open behaviors and cognitive engagement as well as neurotic behaviors and cognitive complaints in daily life of older adults.

Research shows a positive association between open behaviors and cognitive engagement as well as neurotic behaviors and cognitive complaints. Examples of cognitive engagement could be watching an educational movie, listening to a speech, or philosophizing about something while cognitive complaints include misplacing or losing objects, difficulty focusing on a task or following a conversation, or forgetting something such as a birthday or medication. But on a daily basis, do your personality behaviors effect your cognitive engagement and complaints? This study looked at the daily fluctuation of an individual's personality and the impact on their cognitive behaviors.

Check out the results in the research poster as well as the article published online in the Journal of Personality.

The Influence of Psychosocial, Lifestyle, and Health-Related Risk Factors on Cognitive Impairment and Dementia

Sponsorship Type: National funding, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, European Commission, Horizon2020
Research Type: Secondary Data Analysis
Impact: National

Summary: This project applied a machine learning approach to estimate the relative importance of 52 predictors for cognitive impairment and dementia in a large, population-representative sample of older adults.

Many risk factors have been identified which can predict cognitive impairment and dementia. However, few studies have tested them simultaneously for their relative importance from a single population-representative sample. This study used machine learning to analyze data from the Health and Retirement Study from the National Institute on Aging to evaluate the relative and combined influence of 52 risk factors for predicting cognitive impairment and dementia.

To view the results and further research recommendations, check out the research poster.

For more information on these studies, contact Dr. Damaris Aschwanden at damaris.aschwanden@med.fsu.edu.