Deconstruction of Race and Education for Research on Cognitive Aging and Alzheimer's Disease
Monday, December 4, 2006
Presented By
Presented by the Psychology Section
Speaker: Jennifer Manly, Columbia University
Several studies have suggested that cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease occurs more frequently among ethnic minority elders. This presentation will provide a critical review of this work and discuss possible underlying reasons for these findings. The primary focus will be on neuropsychological assessment, which is a crucial aspect of dementia assessment. Cutting edge research will be discussed has helped to identify cultural and educational factors that affect not only test performance but also risk of cognitive decline and dementia. This research suggests that quality of education is a key factor in interpreting test performance of ethnically diverse elders, and that literacy is a strong predictor of cognitive decline and development of Alzheimer's disease.