Description (task duration: 2.5 minutes): Participants have to decide whether two number strings that are either 3, 6, or 9 digits in length, have identical digits or different digits. The task is divided into 3 separate sets; a set is comprised only of 3-digits, 6-digits, or 9-digits comparisons (ie., a set doesn’t contain a mix of different string lengths).  Subjects are given 45 seconds for each set to try to complete as many comparisons as they can.  The number correctly completed for 3-, 6-, and 9-item strings, as well as total correct, is available. Higher scores are better.

Primary Reference:

Salthouse T. A., Babcock R. L. (1991). Decomposing adult age differences in working memory. Developmental Psychology, 27, 763-776.

Development of Cross-culturally Appropriate Measures

Hedden, T., Park, D. C., Nisbett, R., Ji, LJ, Jing, Q., & Jiao, S. (2002). Cultural variation in verbal versus spatial neuropsychological function across the life span. Neuropsychology, 16, 65-73. 

Description (Task Duration: 1.5 minutes): Participants are shown nine geometric symbols that are each assigned to a digit from 1 to 9. They are then presented with randomized digits and asked to draw the corresponding symbol below each digit as quickly as possible for 90 seconds.

Primary Reference:

Wechsler, D., (1997). WAIS-III: Administration and scoring manual: Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale. San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corporation.

Description (task duration: 1.5 minutes): Participants are shown two pictures side-by-side and are asked to discern whether the pictures are the same or different. If the pictures are the same, the participant presses the “Yes” button. If the pictures are not the same, the participant presses the “No” button. The participant is instructed to only use their index finger on their dominant hand to press either button. Participants’ raw score is the number of 130 items correct in an 85-second period. The items are designed to be simple to most purely measure processing speed. Higher scores reflect faster speeds of processing.

Caution: Participants in DLBS Wave 2 performed the NIH Toolbox Pattern Comparison Speed Test on a desktop computer, whereas, participants in DLBS Wave 3 performed the task on an ipad.  NIH toolbox provides a computed score to equate the different platforms (desktop and ipad) used.  For additional details, we refer you to the the NIH Toolbox website: https://www.healthmeasures.net/explore-measurement-systems/nih-toolbox/obtain-and-administer-measures.

Primary Reference:

Gershon RC, Wagster MV, Hendrie HC, Fox NA, Cook KF, Nowinsky CJ. NIH Toolbox for Assessment of Neurological and Behavioral Function. Neurology. 2013; 80: S1-S92.

Software Reference:

NIH Toolbox for the iPad test ver. 2.1

https://nihtoolbox.force.com/s/article/nih-toolbox-scoring-and-interpretation-guide

Speed of Processing Ability Construct: Key to Names and Data Structure in Data Set

Item Name

Abbreviation

Description

Measurement

Subject Number	S#	Subject identifier
Age Interval	AgeInterval	Age at wave recoded into 3-year intervals	20-100
Sex	Sex	Participant’s biological sex.	m = Male f = Female
Race	Race	Race that the participant self-identifies with.	1 = Asian American/ Pacific Islander 2 = Black/African American 3 = Multiracial 4 = Native American 5 = White/Caucasian 6 = Other 7 = Unknown
Ethnicity	Ethnicity	Ethnicity that the participant self-identifies with.	1=Hispanic/Latin(o/a) 0 = Non-Hispanic
Handedness Score	HandednessScore	Average score of participant hand preference while completing various tasks. Higher scores indicate preference for the right hand.	Score range: 0-4   0 = Always left 1 = Usually left 2 = No preference 3 = Usually right 4 = Always right
Mini-Mental State Exam Total	MMSE	Total # of items answered correctly.	Score range: 0-30
Cognitive Battery Wave 1-2 Interval	CogW1toW2	Interval between cognitive testing day 1 for waves 1-2.	# of Years
Cognitive Battery Wave 2-3 Interval	CogW2toW3	Interval between cognitive testing day 1 for waves 2-3.	# of Years
Cognitive Battery Wave 1-3 Interval	CogW1toW3	Interval between cognitive testing day 1 for waves 1-3.	# of Years
Take Home Wave 1-2 Interval	TakeHomeW1toW2	Interval between Take Home for waves 1-2.	# of Years
Take Home Wave 2-3 Interval	TakeHomeW2toW3	Interval between Take Home for waves 2-3.	# of Years
Take Home Wave 1-3 Interval	TakeHomeW1toW3	Interval between Take Home for waves 1-3.	# of Years
MRI Wave 1-2 Interval	MRIW1toW2	Interval between MRI scan for waves 1-2.	# of Years
MRI Wave 2-3 Interval	MRIW2toW3	Interval between MRI scan for waves 2-3.	# of Years
MRI Wave 1-3 Interval	MRIW1toW3	Interval between MRI scan for waves 1-3.	# of Years
Amyloid PET Wave 1-2 Interval	PETAmyW1toW2	Interval between amyloid PET scan for waves 1-2.	# of Years
Amyloid PET Wave 2-3 Interval	PETAmyW2toW3	Interval between amyloid PET scan for waves 2-3.	# of Years
Amyloid PET Wave 1-3 Interval	PETAmyW1toW3	Interval between amyloid PET scan for waves 1-3.	# of Years
Highest Level of Education Completed	EduComp5	This is an ordinal measure of participants’ self-reported highest level of education completed.	1 = Less than high school graduate  2 = High school graduate/GED  3 = Some college/trade/ technical/business school  4 = Bachelor’s degree  5 = Some graduate work  6 = Master’s degree  7 = MD/JD/PhD/other advanced degree
Education Estimated Years Capped	EduYrsEstCap5	This is a conversion of the participant’s self-reported highest level of education into a capped estimated number of years it would take to reach this highest level of education.   The “capped” comes into play when someone spend a longer time than usual for a certain degree but did not complete it. In short, someone with a lot of years of education but did not complete a degree will not score higher than someone who did complete the degree.	11 maximum = Less than High school 12 = High School 15 maximum = Some College 16 = Bachelor’s degree 20 maximum = Some Graduate Work 18 = Master’s degree 21 = MD/JD/PhD/ Advanced degree
Construct Name	ConstructName	Speed of Processing
Construct Number	ConstructNumber	Construct 1
Wave	Wave	Denotes the data collection wave. See individual differences data set for more detail, including testing date intervals.	1 = Wave 1 2 = Wave 2 3 = Wave 3
Has Data	HasData	1 = Yes, returned for wave 2 = No, did not return for wave
Number of Tasks in Construct	NumTasks	How many tasks make up the speed of processing construct	3 Tasks for Speed of Processing
Task 1—Digit Comparison	Task1 (column: AA)	1 = Has data 2 = Task data partial 3 = No task data
Digit Comparison 3	DigComp3_1	Total correct for 3-digit strings	Score Range: 0-64
Digit Comparison 6	DigComp6_1	Dependent Variable: total correct for 6-digit strings	Score Range: 0-64
Digit Comparison 9	DigComp9_1	Dependent Variable: total correct for 9-digit strings	Score Range: 0-64
Digit Comparison Total	DigCompTotal1	Dependent Variable: Total correct summed across T3, T6, and T9 trials	Score Range: 0-192
Task 2—Digit Symbol	Task2 (column: AF)	1 = Has data 2 = Task data partial 3 = No task data
Digit Symbol Total	DigSymTotal2	Number of items matched correctly in 90 sec	Score Range: 0-93
Task 3—NIH Toolbox Pattern Comparison Speed Test	Task3 (column: AH)	1 = Has data 2 = Task data partial 3 = No task data
NIH Toolbox Pattern Comparison Speed Test	NIHSpeedRaw3	The participant’s raw score is the number of items answered correctly in 85 seconds of response time, with a range of 0-130. This score is then converted to the NIH Toolbox normative standard scores.	Score Range: 0-130
NIH Toolbox Pattern Comparison Speed Test	NIHSpeedComp3	The computed score is a conversion between the desktop and iPad data present in wave 3.	Score Range: 0-130
NIH Toolbox Pattern Comparison Speed Test	NIHSpeedUn3	It compares the performance of the test-taker to those in the entire NIH Toolbox nationally representative normative sample, regardless of age or any other variable.	Normative Mean = 100, SD = 15
NIH Toolbox Pattern Comparison Speed Test	NIHSpeedAge3	This score compares the score of the test-taker to those in the NIH Toolbox nationally representative normative sample at the same age, where a score of 100 indicates performance that was at the national average for the test-taking participant’s age. Age-corrected standard scores were derived for adults (ages 18-85).	Mean = 100, Standard Deviation = 15
NIH Toolbox Pattern Comparison Speed Test	NIHSpeedPercent3	A Percentile represents the percentage of people nationally above whom the participant’s score ranks (the comparison group will be based on whichever normative score is used)	Percentile rank: 0-100
NIH Toolbox Pattern Comparison Speed Test	NIHSpeedFully3	This score compares the score of the test-taker to those in the NIH Toolbox nationally representative normative sample, while adjusting for key demographic variables (education, gender, and race/ethnicity) collected during the NIH Toolbox national norming study.	Mean = 50, Standard Deviation = 10