How Culture Shapes the Measurement of Cognitive Aging: Lessons from the HCAP International Network
RCGD Fall 2026 Seminar Series with Lindsay Kobayashi
October 26, 2026
3:30 pm - 5:00 pm
ISR Thompson 6050
Sponsored by: Research Center for Group Dynamics, ISR
Contact Information: Matt Redding: mredding@umich.edu
Cross-national research on cognitive aging rests on the assumption that cognitive function and its social determinants hold the same meaning across diverse cultural contexts. However, human cognitive function does not always lend itself well to direct comparison across populations, as neuropsychological assessments often capture elements of culture, language, and literacy alongside true cognitive performance. This talk will examine theoretical and methodological approaches used to support cross-national comparisons of cognitive aging developed through the Harmonized Cognitive Assessment Protocol (HCAP) International Network. Over the past seven years, this network has expanded to include studies and teams in over 30 countries around the world, with innovations including the measurement of cognitive function across diverse cultural settings, statistical approaches to equate the measurement scales of adapted cognitive test items, and best practices for the comparative modeling of risk factor associations across populations. This talk will conclude with implications for future comparative research on healthy aging using harmonized data from around the world. Dr. Kobayashi's research focuses on the social epidemiology of cognitive aging from a global perspective. She investigates social and economic life course influences on cognitive aging, primarily using data from internationally harmonized longitudinal studies of aging, including older populations of the United States, England, India, China, Mexico, and South Africa. At the University of Michigan, she is a member of the Center for Social Epidemiology and Population Health (CSEPH), the Rogel Cancer Center, and the Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation. In recognition of her contributions to the social epidemiology of cognitive aging in rural South Africa, she is an Honorary Senior Researcher at the MRC/Wits Rural Health and Health Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt) at the University of the Witwatersrand.
