CHAPTER 4 NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL AND EVERYDAY FUNCTIONALITY TESTS: A META-ANALYSIS Introduction In the previous chapter, the importance of examining the influence of SES, social participation, mental and physical exercise on cognitive and functional performance in the healthy spectrum of cognitive ageing was explored. It was also argued that the premise of cognitive vitality being strongly related to functional performance is an influential one both in the realm of science and in policy making, yet not as strongly supported by empirical evidence. The statistical meta-analyses of Martyr and Clare (2012) found a consistent but moderate relation between cognitive performance and everyday functioning in studies that examined patients with various forms of dementia. Royall et al. (2007) reviewed studies examining the cognitive and functional performance of older adults irrespective of their cognitive status (i.e., a mixed sample of studies examining cognitively intact or challenged by a disorder older adults), concluding that a small to moderate relation between them is reported. However, these two studies less informative study with regard to the healthy spectrum of cognitive ageing. That is, Martyr and study (2012) was restricted to participants Clare’s that suffered from an age-related neuropsychological disorder, and the Royall et al. (2007) review included both studies examining cognitively healthy older adults and studies that examined cognitively affected older adults (e.g., from dementia). Consequently, the findings and conclusions derived from these studies cannot be applied and generalized with confidence to cognitively healthy older adults, as the sample of examination was blended in terms of the cognitive status. In addition, the Royall et al. (2007) study plotted a graph with participants’ the correlation based effect sizes (i.e., Pearson correlations, standardized beta values, and R2) extracted from the studies reviewed. As Borenstein and colleagues (Borenstein, Hedges,
CHAPTER 4 NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL AND EVERYDAY FUNCTIONALITY TESTS: A META-ANALYSIS Introduction In the previous chapter, the importance of examining the influence of SES, social participation, mental and physical exercise on cognitive and functional performance in the healthy spectrum of cognitive ageing was explored. It was also argued that the premise of cognitive vitality being strongly related to functional performance is an influential one both in the realm of science and in policy making, yet not as strongly supported by empirical evidence. The statistical meta-analyses of Martyr and Clare (2012) found a consistent but moderate relation between cognitive performance and everyday functioning in studies that examined patients with various forms of dementia. Royall et al. (2007) reviewed studies examining the cognitive and functional performance of older adults irrespective of their cognitive status (i.e., a mixed sample of studies examining cognitively intact or challenged by a disorder older adults), concluding that a small to moderate relation between them is reported. However, these two studies less informative study with regard to the healthy spectrum of cognitive ageing. That is, Martyr and Clare’s study (2012) was restricted to participants that suffered from an age-related neuropsychological disorder, and the Royall et al. (2007) review included both studies examining cognitively healthy older adults and studies that examined cognitively affected older adults (e.g., from dementia). Consequently, the findings and conclusions derived from these studies cannot be applied and generalized with confidence to cognitively healthy older adults, as the sample of examination was blended in terms of the participants’ cognitive status. In addition, the Royall et al. (2007) study plotted a graph with the correlation based effect sizes (i.e., Pearson correlations, standardized beta values, and R2) extracted from the studies reviewed. As Borenstein and colleagues (Borenstein, Hedges,