Developmental Psychology Commons^™

The Effect Of Sensory Impairment On Cognitive Functioning And Functional Status In Octogenarians And Centenarians, Annalise Marie Rahman

Wayne State University Theses

Two theories predominate to explain the covariation of cognitive and sensory functions across the lifespan: The Common Cause hypothesis and the Sensory Deprivation hypothesis. It was hypothesized that the Common Cause hypothesis better accounted for the these relationships. This hypothesis was assessed by examining the associations between sensory functioning, cognitive functioning, functional status, and motor functioning in samples of octogenarians (n = 80) and centenarians (n = 244) drawn from the Georgia Centenarian Study, Phase 3, Project 3. Special attention was given to cross-sensory-modality associations. Hierarchical regressions were also utilized to determine whether inclusion of either measured or self-reported sensory …