Intra-Individual Variability in Cognitive Performance Can Befuddle the Study of Cognitive Impairments and Decline

Using group-aggregated results and snapshot assessments of cognitive performance may prove problematic if the assessed construct shows substantial and rapid variation over time. To illustrate the significance of this issue, we analyzed cognitive performance data of ten older adults undergoing daily...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of Alzheimer's disease Vol. 85; no. 2; pp. 519 - 525
Main Authors Zdanowski, Szymon, Tieks, Alieke, Jeronimus, Bertus F., Zuidersma, Marij
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London, England SAGE Publications 01.01.2022
Subjects
Activities of Daily Living
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Cognition
Cognitive Dysfunction - diagnosis
Cognitive Dysfunction - etiology
Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted - methods
Female
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Neuropsychological Tests
reaction time
memory
cognition
working memory
Attention
intra-individual variability
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Summary:Using group-aggregated results and snapshot assessments of cognitive performance may prove problematic if the assessed construct shows substantial and rapid variation over time. To illustrate the significance of this issue, we analyzed cognitive performance data of ten older adults undergoing daily computerized cognitive assessments (CogState Brief Battery) for 36–93 days. In all cases, the day-to-day intra-individual variability was substantial when compared with group-level, between-person variability. This indicates that the results of studies using single snapshot assessments of cognitive functioning should be interpreted with caution. Additionally, group-aggregated measures of cognitive performance may not directly extrapolate to an individual.
ISSN:1387-2877
1875-8908
DOI:10.3233/JAD-210304