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Updated: Oct 11, 2025

Assessment of Age-related Changes in Cognitive Functions Using EmoCogMeter, a Novel Tablet-computer Based Approach
Published on: February 14, 2014
Intra-Individual Variability in Cognitive Performance Can Befuddle the Study of Cognitive Impairments and Decline
Szymon Zdanowski1, Alieke Tieks2, Bertus F Jeronimus3
1Department of Anaesthesiology and IntensiveTherapy, Faculty of Medicine, Medical University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland.
Abstract:
Using group-aggregated results and snapshot assessments of cognitive performance may prove problematic if the assessed construct shows substantial and rapid variation over time. To illustrate the significance of this issue, we analyzed cognitive performance data of ten older adults undergoing daily computerized cognitive assessments (CogState Brief Battery) for 36-93 days. In all cases, the day-to-day intra-individual variability was substantial when compared with group-level, between-person variability. This indicates that the results of studies using single snapshot assessments of cognitive functioning should be interpreted with caution. Additionally, group-aggregated measures of cognitive performance may not directly extrapolate to an individual.
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