Decomposing age correlations on neuropsychological and cognitive variables

Individual differences associated with age and various neurological conditions are often found in many different neuropsychological and cognitive variables. These variables are frequently treated as though they were independent of one another, with the results interpreted in terms of effects on task-specific processes. However, an alternative perspective evaluates the breadth of the individual difference influences, and takes relations with other variables into account when considering effects on specific neurocognitive variables. This analytical procedure is illustrated in analyses of the WAIS-IV and WMS-IV standardization data, and of data from the Virginia Cognitive Aging Project.