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Inspection time predicts individual differences in everyday functioning among elderly adults: testing discriminant
Tess Gregory1, Adelaide Callaghan, Ted Nettelbeck
1School of Psychology, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. tess.gregory@adelaide.edu.au
Aim:
Inspection time (IT) is a processing speed measure, recently investigated as a biomarker of ageing. This study examined whether earlier IT predicts subsequent problems in everyday functioning in community-dwelling elderly people.
Methods:
Participants completed IT at baseline, 6 months and 18 months. At 42 months, two groups of 15 elderly people matched for education and age (74-88 years) and selected for slower or faster baseline IT, completed a fourth estimate of IT and a practical assessment of everyday functioning (Timed Instrumental Activities of Daily Living - Adelaide).
Results:
At 42 months, the group with slower baseline IT had significantly poorer performance (slower completion, higher errors) on more than half of the everyday functioning tasks.
Conclusion:
Slower IT predicts difficulties up to 4 years later in everyday functioning of elderly adults, providing discriminant validation for IT as a biomarker for future changes.
