# Risk for Alzheimer's Disease and Cognitive Decline in Project TALENT

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA · 2020 · $326,787

## Abstract

RISK FOR ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE AND COGNITIVE DECLINE IN PROJECT TALENT
ABSTRACT [rev. June 15, 2016]
 Higher educational attainment is associated with preserved cognitive performance in older age and
reduced risk for Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and other dementias. The mechanisms underlying these
associations are unclear, but possible explanations include: direct protective effects of more education;
preserved capacity or enhanced functioning due to greater cognitive complexity of occupational and leisure
activities among people with more education; indirect effects via individual, family, or community-level
correlates of educational level; and genetic factors that contribute to both educational level and later-life
cognitive functioning. Distinguishing among these alternatives is critical for informing intervention programs to
prevent and delay the development of AD and to remediate age-related cognitive decline. These mechanisms
will be evaluated using the unique twin/sibling/schoolmate design of Project Talent (PT), a longitudinal study
begun in 1960 with a U.S. representative sample of 377,000 high school students who had detailed measures
of cognitive abilities, family and school characteristics, educational aspirations and vocational interests. The
sample includes 86,000 siblings in 42,000 families, including 2,300 sets of twins and triplets. The twins have
been recently located and surveyed (R01-AG043656, Pl: Prescott; Co-Pl: Lyter).
 Proposed aims are to: (1) locate Project Talent participants in a new follow-up sample of 2500 sibling
sets; (2) assess dementia outcomes and cognitive decline in the previously-recruited twin/sibling sample and in
the new sample of siblings; (3) combine this outcome information with data collected since 1960 to evaluate
the association between educational attainment and risk for dementia and later-life cognitive decline,
accounting for cognitive abilities assessed in adolescence; (4) evaluate alternative mechanisms for the
association of education with dementia and cognitive decline, including: (a) direct protective effects of higher
education: (b) protective effects of cognitive activities; (c) indirect association via early-life cognitive abilities;
and (d) indirect association via genetic, family and/or macroenvironmental factors; and (5) document and
archive the twin and sibling data for use by other researchers studying the antecedents of cognitive decline.
 Participants will be assessed with a contemporary battery of cognitive measures harmonized with several
of the original 1960 PT measures, allowing direct measurement of change across 1960 to 2017 on multiple
cognitive domains; use of adaptive testing to reduce participant burden; and assessment via mailed tablet
computers to facilitate measurement of memory and visuospatial abilities. This unique merger of within-family,
between-family, within-school and between-school designs controls for genetic and environmental factors that
are confounded in other co...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10149783
- **Project number:** 3R01AG056163-05S1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
- **Principal Investigator:** Carol Arlene Prescott
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $326,787
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2016-09-15 → 2023-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10149783

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10149783, Risk for Alzheimer's Disease and Cognitive Decline in Project TALENT (3R01AG056163-05S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10149783. Licensed CC0.

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