This article focuses on everyday cognitive competence as a critical as
pect of functional health. Everyday cognitive competence is defined as
the ability to perform adequately those cognitively complex tasks con
sidered essential for living on one's own in this society. A major cha
llenge for those involved in assessment and judgment of competence is
to define the critical domains of functional abilities associated with
living independently. Prior research on the instrumental activities o
f daily living (IADLs) may be particularly useful. Findings from our r
esearch on a measure assessing everyday cognitive competence within ea
ch of the IADL domains are presented. Elderly persons' performance on
the measure of everyday cognition relate to behavioral observations of
those subjects performing similar activities in their home and to sel
f and spousal IADL ratings. Seven-year longitudinal data indicate that
there is relatively modest decline in performance on cognitively comp
lex everyday tasks during the 60s, but that steeper patterns of normat
ive decline are found in the late 70s and 80s.