Domain-specific changes in everyday cognition: Associations with diagnosis change and gray matter volume change

Declines in everyday cognitive functioning are a common occurrence in late life. The present study sought to understand how informant-rated everyday cognitive abilities related to memory, language, spatial skills, planning, organization, and divided attention-as measured by the Everyday Cognition (ECog) scale-change over time in a diverse sample of older adults.

Participants (N = 891) from the University of California Davis Alzheimer's Disease Research Center longitudinal cohort (M_age = 76.1, SD_age = 7.4) were followed for an average of 4.4 years with annual ECog assessments. Multilevel beta regression was used to model ECog scores as a function of time, cognitive domain, diagnosis change, and-in a neuroimaging subsample (N = 264)-cross-sectional and longitudinal total gray matter and hippocampus volume.

ECog domains changed at different rates when modeled as a function of diagnosis change; differences in domain were most apparent in the stable mild cognitive impairment (MCI)-to-MCI and MCI-to-dementia conversion groups. By contrast, ECog domains changed at the same rate when modeled as a function of baseline gray matter volume and longitudinal gray matter volume change, corresponding to other research suggesting that cognitive domains change at relatively uniform rates over time. In separate models, total gray matter and hippocampus atrophy were salient predictors of ECog score changes. At baseline, hippocampus volume was the strongest predictor of ECog intercepts.

Although some caution is warranted interpreting score changes due to floor and ceiling effects, the ECog appears sensitive to underlying gray matter atrophy and change in clinical disease severity when used longitudinally. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).