Self-perceived cognitive status in the CLSA: assessment and predictors

People’s feelings about their own cognitive performance can tell us a lot about their cognitive health, even if their performance on memory and other neuropsychological tasks is normal. Research has shown that people who express worry about cognitive decline are more likely to go on to develop cognitive impairment or dementia. However, much remains to be understood about which lifestyle and health factors might predict self-perceived memory decline, how best to assess it, and how it might be related to actual memory performance. This project will: (a) examine factors that predict whether people will go on to feel worried about their memory function; (b) look at the link between people’s own assessment of their memory function and how well they actually do on cognitive testing; and (c) use CLSA data, which we will combine with data from other large studies, to identify the questions that best measure self-perceived cognitive status.