Everyday cognition and mortality: performance differences and predictive utility of the Everyday Cognition Battery

In this article, the authors examine the relationship between everyday cognition and mortality. Data were initially collected in 1996-1997 from 171 community-dwelling older people ranging in age from 60 to 92 years old (M = 74 years, SD = 7.38). Participants completed the Everyday Cognition Battery (ECB; J. C. Allaire & M. Marsiske, 1999, 2002) as well as basic cognitive ability tests. Results indicated that participants who died since testing (n = 56) had performed significantly worse than did still-living participants on all measures. Additionally, performance on the ECB Knowledge Test was a significant predictor of death even after controlling for basic cognitive abilities, demographics, and self-rated health.