The Revised Observed Tasks of Daily Living (OTDL-R), a performance-based test of everyday problem solving, was administered to a sample of community-dwelling older adults. The OTDL-R included nine tasks, representing medication use, telephone use, and financial management. The OTDL-R had a desirable range of difficulty and satisfactory internal consistency and showed a relatively invariant pattern of relations between measured tasks and the underlying latent dimensions they represent across White and non-White subsamples. The OTDL-R also correlated significantly with age, education, self-rated health, a paper-and-pencil measure of everyday problem solving, and measures of basic cognitive functioning. Thus, the OTDL-R is a reliable and valid objective measure of everyday problem solving that has great practical utility for assessing performance in diverse populations.

Results demonstrate the importance of MCI as a clinical entity that not only predicts progression to dementia, but also predicts functional declines in activities that are key to autonomy and quality of life. MCI classification guidelines should allow for functional changes in MCI, and clinicians should monitor for such changes. Preservation of function may serve as a meaningful outcome for intervention efforts.

Address correspondence to Richard N. Jones, ScD, Senior Research Associate, Hebrew Rehabilitation Center for Aged, Research and Training Institute, 1200 Centre Street, Boston, MA 02131, USA. jones@mail.hrca.harvard.edu. A preliminary version of this study was presented at the 54th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Gerontological Society of America, November 16, 2001, Chicago, Illinois. The ACTIVE study (Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly) is a multisite collaborative cognitive intervention trial. The National Institute on Aging Scientific Coordinator at the time of award was Jared Jobe, and current is Daniel Berch. The National Institute on Nursing Research Scientific Coordinator at the time of award was Mary Levek, and is now Karin Helmers. Sharon Tennstedt is the principal investigator at the coordinating center, New England Research Institutes, Watertown, Massachusetts (AG14282). The principal investigators and field sites include Karlene Ball, University of Alabama at Birmingham (AG14289); Michael Marsiske, Institute on Aging, University of Florida, Gainesville (AG14276); John Morris, Hebrew Rehabilitation Center for Aged Research and Training Institute, Boston (NR04507); George Rebok, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health (AG14260); and Sherry Willis, Penn State University, Gerontology Center (AG14263). David Smith was the principal investigator at Indiana University School of Medicine, Regenstrief Institute, Indianapolis (NR04508), at the time of initial award, currently Fred Unverzagt is the principal investigator. NIH Public Access Author ManuscriptExp Aging Res. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2010 July 23. NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author ManuscriptThe objective of this study was to model recall and learning on the Auditory Verbal Learning Test using latent growth curve techniques. Participants were older adults recruited for the ACTIVE cognitive intervention pilot. A series of nested models revealed that an approximately logarithmic growth curve model provided optimal fit to the data. Although recall and learning factors were statistically uncorrelated, a fitted multivariate model suggested that initial recall was significantly associated with demographic characteristics but unrelated to health factors and cognitive abilities. Individual differences in learning were related to race/ethnicity, speed of processing, verbal knowledge, and global cognitive function level. These results suggest that failing to recognize initial recall and learning as distinct constructs clouds the interpretation of supraspan memory tasks.The Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT) is one of the oldest and most widely used tests of memory functioning (Boake, 2000;Rey, 1964). The AVLT measures many aspects of memory for words, including immediate memory span (initial recall), learning, and retention following an intrusion (Lezak, 1995). The continued relevance of the AVLT is reflected in the availability of norms for various population...

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