PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
The number of Americans with Alzheimer’s disease-related dementias will nearly triple by 2060 without major
scientific advances in knowledge of modifiable factors that can be targeted using interventions. One modifiable
psychological resource linked to the preservation of cognitive functioning involves the beliefs people hold about
their ability to influence important outcomes in their lives (perceived control). However, little is known about how
(mechanistic pathways) perceived control protects against short-term and long-term declines in cognitive
functioning or whether its protective influence differs across populations that vary in risk of cognitive decline due
to disparities in socioeconomic resources. These critical knowledge gaps are due to limitations in prior research
that has largely focused on establishing main effect associations between perceived control and cognitive
functioning over either very brief (one-week) or very extended (multi-year) time windows. In this new investigator
application, we will address these problems using a real-world, contextual approach to systematically assess
how and under which conditions perceived control buffers against declines in cognition across multiple time-
scales (days, months, years). We will pursue the following specific aims: 1) identify the motivation, emotion, and
health behavior change processes that mediate the association between perceived control and multi-timescale
changes in cognitive functioning; 2) determine the extent to which the association between perceived control
and multi-timescale changes in cognitive functioning is more pronounced for middle-aged and older adults with
limited socioeconomic resources. We will pursue these aims using an innovative approach that generates new
micro-longitudinal data and also leverages pre-existing macro-longitudinal data. New micro-longitudinal data will
be collected on dynamic daily and monthly changes in perceived control, motivation, emotion, health behaviors,
and cognitive functioning in a regional sample of 200 middle-aged and older adults (4 weekly bursts over 1.5
years). Pre-existing macro-longitudinal data on 9-year changes in the same measures will be obtained from the
national Midlife in the United States study. This unique approach permits a systematic analysis of the mediated
(Aim 1) and moderated (Aim 2) pathways linking perceived control to changes in cognition that unfold over days,
months, and years. The proposed research will address the urgent need to identify modifiable psychological and
behavioral factors underlying socioeconomic disparities in cognitive aging and the timescales (days, months,
years) at which these factors have their strongest influence. This knowledge will inform evidence-based
approaches on when (at which timescale) it is most effective to target changes in psychobehavioral resources
to preserve cognitive functioning for populations at increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease-related dementias.
