Our study explored the magnitude of practice effect in repeated administration of NP measures that tap different cognitive domains in normal elderly subjects (N = 122) between ages 57 and 85, who were evaluated over three annual testing probes. Results revealed that WAIS‐R PIQ, serial recall of words, WMS visual memory, and memory for logical passages (immediate and delayed) are likely to improve on the retest due to practice effect in individuals below age 75, whereas test‐retest changes in older people show a different pattern. Implications of age‐specific changes on retest for differential diagnosis of dementia in clinical practice were considered.

This study explored effect of age on encoding, retention, and retrieval components of memory functioning in a sample of 156 healthy, elderly subjects between the ages of 57 and 85, partitioned into four age groups. Memory assessment was based on subjects' performance on the RAVLT, which consisted of five free‐recall trials, recall after interference, and recognition trial. Significant group differences in recall were found on all five learning trials, whereas rates of learning, forgetting, and recognition did not differ for four age groups. In addition, primacy/recency effect was equally strong for all groups. Results suggest faulty retrieval mechanisms, whereas encoding and retention processes did not prove to be affected by aging.

This series of 4 studies describes the psychometric properties of the Neuropsychology Behavior and Affect Profile, which consists of 5 peer-rated scales (106 items) designed to measure personality change in brain-impaired individuals. Study 1 pertains to item derivation. Study 2 used relatives of 61 Ss identified as demented to determine the test's internal consistency. Results showed moderate levels of internal consistency across the 5 scales, with slightly higher coefficients (.6S-.82) obtained for present (vs. premorbid) emotional status. High test-retest reliability was demonstrated in Study 3 (intraclass correlation coefficients ranged from .92 to .99). Study 4 established discriminant validity; the instrument differentiated 61 demented Ss from 88 normal elderly controls on the basis of present behavioral affective style.

Reliability and validity of MMSE were explored in a sample of 122 healthy, community‐residing elderly volunteers between the ages of 57 and 85, who were tested with a battery of neuropsychological tests over three annual probes. Test‐retest reliability ranged between .45 and 50 over a 1‐year interval and was .38 over a 2‐year period. Change on the MMSE of more than 5 points over a 2‐year period was associated with a neurological disorder. Significant correlations were found with many neuropsychological measures, especially with a measure of verbal learning.

Previous studies have identified age as a risk factor for many neurologic disorders, and a "cerebral reserve" factor has been postulated to explain these findings. This study examined whether age represents a risk factor for HIV-1-related neuropsychological dysfunction. Subjects for study 1 were primarily asymptomatic seropositive (n = 1,066) and seronegative (n = 1,004) nonelderly male community volunteers who completed neuropsychological and reaction time measures. Data analyses revealed a significant effect for age on reaction time and timed neuropsychological measures, but no interaction between age and serostatus. Study 2, employing a similar neuropsychological battery, consisted of 76 seropositive men (29 over age 55) recruited from community outpatient clinics and 47 seronegative controls. We found serostatus and age to have main effects on a number of measures, but a trend for an effect of age-serostatus interaction on only one measure.