The Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 comprises surviving participants of the Scottish Mental Survey 1947 (SMS1947) who now live in the Lothian area of Scotland. Most subjects resided in Edinburgh city. On June 4th 1947 almost all people born in 1936 and attending school in Scotland were tested on a valid cognitive ability test. The mental test was a version of the Moray House Test No. 12, which was concurrently validated against the Terman-Merrill revision of the Binet Scales [51]. There were 70,805 people tested out of a possible 75,211 people born in 1936 in the total population. SMS1947 survivors were at an interesting age to study cognitive ageing: mostly just under 70 when recruited into the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936. The childhood cognitive ability data provide a rarely-available baseline from which to calculate actual, almost life-long cognitive changes. The objectives of the study, listed below, are as stated in the successful application for programme grant funding from the UK charity Research Into Ageing.
