"Provides a unique perspective. I am particularly impressed with the sections on innovative design and methods to investigate cognitive aging and the integrative perspectives. None of the existing texts covers this material to the same level."
—Donna J. La Voie, Saint Louis University
"The emphasis on integrating the literature with theoretical and methodological innovations could have a far-reaching impact on the field."
—Deb McGinnis, Oakland University
The Handbook of Cognitive Aging: Interdisciplinary Perspectives clarifies the differences in patterns and processes of cognitive aging. Along with a comprehensive review of current research, editors Scott M. Hofer and Duane F. Alwin provide a solid foundation for building a multidisciplinary agenda that will stimulate further rigorous research into these complex factors.
Key Features
- Gathers the widest possible range of perspectives by including cognitive aging experts in various disciplines while maintaining a degree of unity across chapters
- Examines the limitations of the extant literature, particularly in research design and measurement, and offers new suggestions to guide future research
- Highlights the broad scope of the field with topics ranging from demography to development to neuroscience, offering the most complete coverage available on cognitive aging
Scott M. Hofer is Professor of Human Development and Family Sciences and Director, Psychosocial Core, Center for Healthy Aging Research at the Oregon State University. He received his Ph.D. in Psychology from University of Southern California in 1994 and held postdoctoral positions at the University of Manchester and the Center for Developmental and Health Genetics at the Pennsylvania State University. His research examines the role of aging and health on changes in cognitive functioning, in interaction with demographic and psychosocial influences, and on statistical analysis and design issues for understanding developmental and aging processes. He collaborates with national and international researchers on longitudinal studies on aging and is associate investigator on research networks in Australia, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. He is currently leading the development of an international collaborative network for the Integrative Analysis of Longitudinal Studies on Aging (IALSA).
Duane F. Alwin is the Tracy Winfree and Ted H. McCourtney Professor of Sociology and Demography at The Pennsylvania State University, where he currently directs the Center on Population Health and Aging, an National Institute on Aging-funded Demography of Aging center. He received a PhD in sociology and educational psychology from the University of Wisconsin in 1972. He is currently Chair of the Section on Aging and the Life Course of the American Sociological Association. His research interests include a wide range of phenomena concerned with aging and the life course, and he is best known for his innovative work on the connections among human development, social structure, demography, and social change. His research has received continuous support from the National Institute on Aging since 1983. His current scholarship focuses on the implications of population processes for research on cognitive aging, as well as on the linkage between social structures and health inequalities. He has published extensively on these and related topics and is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards, grants, and special university honors.
