K. Warner Schaie, Ph.D.

118 Henderson Building
(814) 863-9735
kws@psu.edu

Seattle Longitudinal Study
180 Nickerson St., Suite 206
Seattle, WA 98109
(206) 281-4050

Research

My work has been focused primarily on the study of cognitive development from young adulthood to advanced old age as exemplified by the ongoing Seattle Longitudinal Study (http://geron.psu.edu/sls) which has been conducted since 1956. In that study we have investigated health, demographic, personality, and environmental factors that influence individual differences in successful cognitive aging. This study has also investigated family similarity in cognition, environmental factors, and health behaviors, and has included the long-term follow-up of cognitive training effects in older adults. Most recently we have collected neuropsychological and genetic data that may be relevant to the early detection of dementia. Our families studies are now being extended to a third generation.

I am also interested in developmental research methodology including applications of the age-cohort-period model to psychology and event-history (survival analysis) methods to issues of cognitive development in adulthood. My contributions to the testing literature include the Test of Behavioral Rigidity and the Schaie-Thurstone Test of Adult Mental Abilities. Earlier in my career I investigated the relationship of color and personality.

 Education

• University of California, Berkeley, B.A., 1952, Psychology
• University of Washington, Seattle, M.S., 1953, Psychology
• University of Washington, Seattle, Ph.D., 1956, Psychology