# Vascular and Behavioral Determinants of Superior Memory Performance from Continuous Monitoring of Everyday Activities

> **NIH NIH U19** · NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $512,057

## Abstract

ABSTRACT (Project 1)
Project 1 will leverage the SuperAging Consortium to test the supposition that SuperAgers have relatively
preserved physiologic and behavioral complexity, compared to Controls, in the domains of physical activity,
autonomic responsivity (e.g., blood pressure, heart rate), sleep, and social engagement. The number of people
80 years and older is expected to triple to ~ 426 million by the year 2050 making successful aging an essential
social and economic priority. Typical aging is associated with challenges responding dynamically to heightened
system demands (internal or external). This loss of responsiveness, and/or ability to stabilize the system, (framed
theoretically as a ‘loss’ of physiologic and behavioral ‘complexity’) accounts for a number of age-related declines
in neural connectivity, balance control, memory, among others. However, SuperAgers appear immune to some
age-related cognitive changes, and thus represent an ‘ideal’ aging target. Whilst SuperAgers self-report
increased physical activity and social engagement compared to their Controls, little is known about the actual
physiologic and behavioral differences that distinguish SuperAgers. This is a critical missing link in understanding
processes that underlie potential pathways to successful aging. The SuperAging Consortium offers a unique
opportunity to reveal this missing link, and importantly, to do so in a diverse cohort. Understanding how loss of
complexity manifests in everyday activities requires sensitive, multiple time-scale, measurements capable of
capturing dynamic and complex behaviors in a way not afforded by point-in-time and clinical assessments. We
will collect mechanoacoustic sensor recordings, during every day activities, over 24-hour time periods for two
weeks in both SuperAgers and their Controls co-enrolled with the Clinical/Imaging Core. Using multiscale entropy
approaches we will generate a ‘complexity’ score that captures the quality, quantity, range, and consistency of
physical activity, autonomic nervous system function, sleep, and social engagement behaviors within, and
across, days. In Aim 1, we will determine whether loss of complexity in physical activity and autonomic nervous
system (ANS) activity differentiates SuperAgers from Controls. In Aim 2, we will determine whether loss of
complexity in sleep quality and ANS activity during sleep differentiates SuperAgers from Controls. In Aim 3, we
will determine whether complexity in social engagement differentiates SuperAgers from Controls. We predict
that compared to their Controls, SuperAgers will demonstrate higher physical activity complexity and higher
autonomic function complexity reflecting greater overall levels and quality of physical activity; lower (i.e., better)
sleep complexity scores reflecting lower variability in sleep patterns; and higher social engagement complexity
scores suggesting they are more consistently engaged in verbal activities compared to typical agers. Projec...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10276527
- **Project number:** 1U19AG073153-01
- **Recipient organization:** NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Angela Christine Roberts
- **Activity code:** U19 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $512,057
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-09-30 → 2026-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10276527

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10276527, Vascular and Behavioral Determinants of Superior Memory Performance from Continuous Monitoring of Everyday Activities (1U19AG073153-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10276527. Licensed CC0.

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