Contributions of the individual differences approach to cognitive aging

Reviews three recent contributions of the individudal difference approach: (a) enhancing quality of measurement and investigating equivalence of meaning at difference ages; (b) facilitating the interpretation of measures by specifying how different cognitive measures are related to one another, and (c) distinguishing shared and unique age-related influences on target measures. Makes threee recommendations: (1) obtain multiple measures of the relevant construct instead of relying on a single measure and assuming a one-to-one correspondence between measure and construct; (2) administer a battery of cognitive tests representing major cognitive abilities in addition to the tasks of primary interest to allow general influences to be evaluated and distingushed from specific influences; and (3) employ larger samples of participants.