Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Cognitive Development During Adulthood

Cognitive Development During Adulthood

Cognitive development continues throughout adulthood, undergoing significant shifts across early, middle, and late stages. Individual transition occurs from adolescent idealism to pragmatic and adaptable thinking in early adulthood. During this period, individuals learn to integrate personal beliefs with the recognition that other perspectives are equally valid. Exposure to the complexities of modern society, diverse experiences, and higher education contribute to this adaptive thought process,...

Information Processing Approach

Information Processing Approach

The information-processing theory of cognitive development centers on fundamental mental processes, including attention, memory, and problem-solving skills. Researchers in this field examine how cognitive abilities, such as working memory, evolve and influence children's overall development. Studies indicate that children with stronger working memory tend to excel in reading comprehension, math, and problem-solving compared to peers with less efficient memory skills. Low working memory is also...

Cognitive Development During Adolescence

Cognitive Development During Adolescence

During adolescence, individuals experience significant cognitive development that enhances their understanding of others' emotions and thoughts, known as cognitive empathy. This period is marked by an increased ability to adapt to others' perspectives and a more nuanced understanding of others' mental states, a skill that is foundational for social problem-solving and conflict avoidance. The development of cognitive empathy relies heavily on the theory of mind — the recognition that people have...

Cross-Sectional Research

Cross-Sectional Research

In cross-sectional research, a researcher compares multiple segments of the population at the same time. If they were interested in people's dietary habits, the researcher might directly compare different groups of people by age. Instead of following a group of people for 20 years to see how their dietary habits changed from decade to decade, the researcher would study a group of 20-year-old individuals and compare them to a group of 30-year-old individuals and a group of 40-year-old...

Revisionist Views of Adolescent and Adult Cognition

Revisionist Views of Adolescent and Adult Cognition

A revisionist approach to Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development has brought new insights that challenge and reinterpret his established ideas. Piaget proposed that the formal operational stage, emerging in adolescence, represents the culmination of cognitive maturity. During this stage, individuals are said to develop abstract thinking, engage in systematic problem-solving, and show a form of egocentrism, believing others are as preoccupied with their behavior as they are themselves.

Pharmacodynamics in Geriatric Patients: Effects of Age

Pharmacodynamics in Geriatric Patients: Effects of Age

Age-related pharmacokinetic changes are extensively documented, but understanding age-related pharmacodynamic alterations is relatively limited. This knowledge gap can be partly attributed to the complexity of developing appropriate measures of drug responses compared to bioanalytical methods for determining drug concentrations.Most information regarding age-related differences in human pharmacodynamics originates from cross-sectional studies. However, these studies assume that observed mean...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Examining Gender Differences in Neurocognitive Functioning Across Adulthood.

Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society : JINS·2019

Same author

Attrition in Longitudinal Data is Primarily Selective with Respect to Level Rather than Rate of Change.

Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society : JINS·2019

Same author

Brain biomarkers and cognition across adulthood.

Human brain mapping·2019

Same author

Trajectories of normal cognitive aging.

Psychology and aging·2018

Same author

Why is cognitive change more negative with increased age?

Neuropsychology·2017

Same author

Comparable Consistency, Coherence, and Commonality of Measures of Cognitive Functioning Across Adulthood.

Assessment·2017

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 15, 2026

A Method for Investigating Age-related Differences in the Functional Connectivity of Cognitive Control Networks Associated with Dimensional Change Card Sort Performance

A Method for Investigating Age-related Differences in the Functional Connectivity of Cognitive Control Networks Associated with Dimensional Change Card Sort Performance

Published on: May 7, 2014

Within-cohort age-related differences in cognitive functioning.

Timothy A Salthouse¹

¹Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville 22904, USA. salthouse@virginia.edu

Psychological Science

|January 16, 2013

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Cognitive functioning is influenced by environmental changes over time. However, differences within birth cohorts are often as large as differences between cohorts, questioning the reliance on birth year alone.

More Related Videos

Assessment of Age-related Changes in Cognitive Functions Using EmoCogMeter, a Novel Tablet-computer Based Approach

Assessment of Age-related Changes in Cognitive Functions Using EmoCogMeter, a Novel Tablet-computer Based Approach

Published on: February 14, 2014

Highlighting and Reducing the Impact of Negative Aging Stereotypes During Older Adults' Cognitive Testing

Highlighting and Reducing the Impact of Negative Aging Stereotypes During Older Adults' Cognitive Testing

Published on: January 24, 2020

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: May 15, 2026

A Method for Investigating Age-related Differences in the Functional Connectivity of Cognitive Control Networks Associated with Dimensional Change Card Sort Performance

A Method for Investigating Age-related Differences in the Functional Connectivity of Cognitive Control Networks Associated with Dimensional Change Card Sort Performance

Published on: May 7, 2014

Assessment of Age-related Changes in Cognitive Functions Using EmoCogMeter, a Novel Tablet-computer Based Approach

Assessment of Age-related Changes in Cognitive Functions Using EmoCogMeter, a Novel Tablet-computer Based Approach

Published on: February 14, 2014

Highlighting and Reducing the Impact of Negative Aging Stereotypes During Older Adults' Cognitive Testing

Highlighting and Reducing the Impact of Negative Aging Stereotypes During Older Adults' Cognitive Testing

Published on: January 24, 2020

Area of Science:

Developmental psychology
Cognitive aging research
Human development

Background:

Cognitive functioning is known to be affected by environmental characteristics that evolve over time.
Developmental researchers often label these influences as cohort effects, using birth year to define cohort membership.
Age-related cognitive differences are frequently attributed primarily to cohort differences, expecting larger between-cohort than within-cohort variations.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the extent to which within-cohort differences in cognitive functioning across ages compare to between-cohort differences.
To evaluate the assumption that age-related cognitive differences are mainly due to cohort effects.
To question the established practice of using birth cohort as the sole proxy for environmental influences on cognitive development.

Main Methods:

Compared composite scores for five distinct cognitive abilities.
Analyzed data from individuals tested at various ages and in different years.
Examined differences in cognitive functioning both within and between birth cohorts.

Main Results:

Within-cohort differences in cognitive functioning across different ages were frequently as substantial as between-cohort differences.
The magnitude of age-related cognitive changes within a cohort was comparable to the differences observed between separate birth cohorts.
This finding challenges the notion that cohort effects, as defined by birth year, are the primary drivers of observed cognitive differences.

Conclusions:

The reliance on birth cohort as a proxy for temporal environmental influences on cognitive functioning warrants re-examination.
Within-cohort variability in cognitive development may be underestimated when solely focusing on between-cohort comparisons.
Future research should consider more nuanced approaches to capture the complex interplay between age, environment, and cognitive trajectories.