The current study examined independent and interactive effects between Apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotype and two types of cognitively-stimulating lifestyle activities (CSLA)—integrated information processing (CSLA-II) and novel information processing (CSLA-NI)—on concurrent and longitudinal changes in cognition. Three-wave data across six years of follow-up from the Victoria Longitudinal Study (n = 278; ages 55–94) and linear mixed model analyses were used to characterize the effects of APOE genotype and participation in CSLA-II and CSLA-NI in four cognitive domains. Significant CSLA effects on cognition were observed. More frequent participation in challenging activities (i.e., CSLA-NI) was associated with higher baseline scores on word recall, fact recall, vocabulary and verbal fluency. Conversely, higher participation in less cognitively-challenging activities (i.e., CSLA-II) was associated with lower scores on fact recall and verbal fluency. No longitudinal CSLA-cognition effects were found. Two significant genetic effects were observed. First, APOE moderated CSLA-II and CSLA-NI associations with baseline verbal fluency and fact recall scores. Second, APOE ε4 non-carriers’ baseline performance were more likely to be moderated by CSLA participation, compared to APOE ε4 carriers. Our findings suggest APOE may be a “plasticity” gene that makes individuals more or less amenable to the influence of protective factors such as CSLA.

Objective This study estimates the effect of sequence on response precision and behavior in health valuation studies. Methods Time trade-off (TTO) and paired comparison responses from 6 health valuation studies—4 US, 1 Spanish, and 1 Dutch—were examined (22,225 respondents) to test whether task sequence influences response precision (e.g., rounding), response changes and median response times. Each study used a computer-based instrument that randomized task sequence among a national sample of adults, age 18 or older, from the general population. Results For both TTO and paired comparisons, median response times decreased with sequence (i.e., learning), but tended to flatten after the first 3 tasks. Although the paired comparison evidence demonstrated that sequence had no effect on response precision, the frequency of rounded TTO responses (to either 1-year or 5-year units) increased with sequence. Conclusion Based on these results, randomizing or reducing the number of paired comparison tasks does not appear to influence response precision; however, generalizability, practicality, and precautionary considerations remain. Overall, participants learned to respond efficiently within the first 3 tasks and did not resort to satisficing, but may have rounded their TTO responses.

BackgroundThe use of online surveys for data collection has increased exponentially, yet it is often unclear whether interview-based cognitive assessments (such as face-to-face or telephonic word recall tasks) can be adapted for use in application-based research settings.ObjectiveThe objective of the current study was to compare and characterize the results of online word recall tasks to those of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and determine the feasibility and reliability of incorporating word recall tasks into application-based cognitive assessments.MethodsThe results of the online immediate and delayed word recall assessment, included within the Women’s Health and Valuation (WHV) study, were compared to the results of the immediate and delayed recall tasks of Waves 5-11 (2000-2012) of the HRS.ResultsPerformance on the WHV immediate and delayed tasks demonstrated strong concordance with performance on the HRS tasks (ρc=.79, 95% CI 0.67-0.91), despite significant differences between study populations (P<.001) and study design. Sociodemographic characteristics and self-reported memory demonstrated similar relationships with performance on both the HRS and WHV tasks.ConclusionsThe key finding of this study is that the HRS word recall tasks performed similarly when used as an online cognitive assessment in the WHV. Online administration of cognitive tests, which has the potential to significantly reduce participant and administrative burden, should be considered in future research studies and health assessments.