A battery of 29 reliable, valid, and repeatable cognitive and psychomotor paper-and-pencil tests, each purporting to measure a specific construct, will be used to assess performance of 48 older males and females in three separate age groups (55-60, 65-70, 75-80 years). A group of 16 men and women aged 25 to 35 will serve as the control. This battery will be divided into three sub-batteries; they will be given on three separate weeks. Each test of a basic ability will be analyzed separately across a total of five days and fifteen trials, with three trials being given each day. Test time for each sub-battery by trial will be approximately 33 minutes.The potential for technological innovation lies with each test having 15 alternative forms that can be used to determine problem-solving strategies, learning curves, and stable performance scores within and between subjects of these six age/sex groups across a spectrum of 23 cognitive and four psychomotor basic abilities. In addition, these scores can be factor analyzed to determine a valid structure of performance that would allow for the development of a battery of tests oriented to older samples of the population.National Institute on Aging (NIA)
