# The Role of Daily Social Interactions in Cognitive Decline and Impairment

> **NIH NIH R03** · PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY, THE · 2020 · $79,025

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ ABSTRACT
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the fifth-leading cause of death for those age 65 and older and imposes
substantial burden on patients, caregivers, and the health care system. It is critical to detect the cognitive
decline and transition to mild cognitive impairment (MCI) when early interventions and treatments against AD
could be most effective, and identify malleable risk factors in order to develop tailored preventive interventions.
Recent evidence suggests that social relationships may play a dual role as risk factors for cognitive decline
and MCI as well as indicators of these cognitive changes. However, most prior studies have relied on global
assessments of social relationships at a single time point and thus are unable to examine temporal ordering in
change in social relationships and cognitive function. The overall goal of this project is to use ‘real time’
ecological momentary assessments (EMAs) in naturalistic settings to better capture changes in daily social
interactions--the manifestation of social relationships in daily life--associated with cognitive decline, disentangle
the function of social interactions as indicators vs. risk factors for cognitive decline, and identify specific
features of daily social interactions (frequency, diversity in types of partners, quality) that best prospectively
predict short- and long-term cognitive decline. The proposed project will use data from a sample of 600 older
adults enrolled in the well-established Einstein Aging Study Program Project (EAS) to link daily social
interactions with cognitive function across different timescales ranging from days to years. Participants
complete 4 annual 14-day EMAs of social interactions and cognitive performance 5 times per day (a
measurement burst design), as well as annual clinic-based cognitive assessments and global social
relationships surveys. Aim 1 will examine whether changes in daily social interactions indicate cognitive decline
and impairment by testing whether individuals with vs. without MCI exhibit different patterns of daily social
interactions, cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Aim 2 will examine short-term and long-term predictive effects
of daily social interactions on cognitive decline and impairment. The approach is innovative in its use of
intensive longitudinal assessments of both daily social interactions and cognitive function and analytic
approaches that examine the temporal associations between daily social interactions and cognitive
performance across different timescales. This project is significant because it will improve our understanding of
dynamic associations between daily social interactions and cognitive function prior to the onset of AD. This
knowledge will facilitate identification of specific features of daily social interactions as indicators or risk factors
for cognitive decline and impairment, assisting in the early detection of the transition to MCI and development
of intervention programs t...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9952653
- **Project number:** 1R03AG067006-01
- **Recipient organization:** PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY, THE
- **Principal Investigator:** Ruixue Zhaoyang
- **Activity code:** R03 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $79,025
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-05-01 → 2022-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9952653

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9952653, The Role of Daily Social Interactions in Cognitive Decline and Impairment (1R03AG067006-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9952653. Licensed CC0.

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