No cross-sectional evidence for an increased relation of cognitive and sensory abilities in old age

Ihle, Andreas; Oris, Michel; Fagot, Delphine; Kliegel, Matthias · 2015 · OpenAlex-citations

DOI: 10.1080/13607863.2015.1109055

archive: archived pipeline: cataloged verified

Get this paper ↗ (DOI — opens at the source; we link to it, we don't host it)

Summary

This study investigates whether the relationships between cognitive and sensory abilities strengthen in old age, a phenomenon known as dedifferentiation. While some theories suggest that declining sensorimotor and neural efficiency causes cognitive processes to become more interrelated with sensory functions in later life, empirical evidence has been mixed. The authors aimed to clarify this by examining the size of these relations across a broad age range (65–101 years) and determining if patterns were linear or nonlinear. Additionally, the study tested whether general cognitive ability, educational level, and general health status moderated these relationships. The research utilized cross-sectional data from the Vivre-Leben-Vivere survey, comprising 2,812 cognitively healthy older adults in Switzerland. Cognitive abilities were assessed using psychometric tests for processing speed (Trail Making Test Part A), cognitive flexibility (Trail Making Test Part B), and verbal abilities (Mill Hill Vocabulary Scale). Sensory abilities (hearing and vision) were measured via self-reported Likert scales regarding the ability to follow conversations and read newspapers. The authors calculated bivariate correlations within 1-year age tranches and used weighted regression analyses to examine how the strength of these relations changed with age, controlling for sample size per tranche. Moderator analyses split the sample by high/low processing speed, education level, and health status. The results indicated that relations between different cognitive abilities were of medium to large size, whereas relations between cognitive and sensory abilities were small. Crucially, the study found no evidence that relations between cognitive and sensory abilities increased with age; these correlations remained stable across the lifespan. The only significant age-related change was a linear decrease in the correlation between processing speed and cognitive flexibility. This decrease was moderated by educational level, occurring only in individuals with high educational attainment, suggesting that higher cognitive reserve may maintain performance in both abilities until later age, after which differential decline leads to differentiation. No such increases in relations were observed for individuals with lower cognitive ability, education, or health status. The findings challenge the hypothesis of a generally increased relation between cognitive and sensory abilities in old age. Instead, the data support a model of stability or even further differentiation of abilities, likely driven by disparate age-related trajectories. The authors conclude that good functioning can be maintained in specific cognitive domains even as others decline, independent of general health or educational background. These results highlight the need for future longitudinal research to identify specific conditions under which dedifferentiation might occur and suggest that cognitive and sensory declines may follow partially independent developmental paths.

Provenance

The full processing record for this entry. Every stage of this paper's journey through the pipeline is logged — what ran, with which tool and model, how many attempts it took, and when it last completed.

Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-26; verification: verified.

Topics

Ranked by relevance to this paper. Hover a topic for its definition.

• age related perceptual decline