The authors present relevant data that open up new directions for those studying cognitive aging.

Part I. Adult Cognitive Abilities in the Laboratory and in Real-life Settings: Basic Theoretical and Methodological Issues; 1. Introduction to Part I: the how, when and why of studying everyday cognition David C. Rubin; Part IA. Systematic Approaches to Laboratory and Real-world Research: 2. Representative design and the quality of generalization Lewis Petrinovich; 3. The myth of external validity Douglas G. Mook; 4. Functional explanations of memory Darryl Bruce; 5. General systems theory: a rationale for the study of everyday memory Jan D. Sinnott; Part IB. Combining Laboratory and Real-world Research: 6. The laboratory and ecology: supplementary sources of data for memory research Harry P. Bahrick; 7. Issues of regularity and control: confessions of a regularity freak David C. Rubin; 8. Finding the bloody horse Alan Baddeley; 9. Some bad and some good reasons for studying memory and cognition in the wild Thomas K. Landauer; Part II. Cognition in Adulthood and Late Life: Findings in Real-life Settings: 10. Introduction to Part II: What do we know about the aging of cognitive abilities in everyday life? Leonard W. Poon; Part IIA. Everyday Cognitive Abilities: 11. Memory for prose: perspectives on the reader Joellen T. Hartley; 12. Prose processing in adulthood: the text, the reader and the task Bonnie J. F. Meyer and G. Elizabeth Rice; 13. Speech comprehension and memory through adulthood: the roles of time and strategy Elizabeth Lotz Stine, Arthur Wingfield and Leonard W. Poon; 14. The effects of aging on perceived and generated memories Gillian Cohen and Dorothy Faulkner; 15. Aging and word retrieval: naturalistic, clinical and laboratory data Nancy L. Bowles, Loraine K. Obler and Leonard W. Poon; 16. Acquisition and utilization of spatial information by elderly adults: implications for day-to-day situations Kathleen C. Kirasic; 17. Inner-city decay? Age changes in structure and process in recall of familiar topographical information Patrick Rabbitt; 18. The cognitive ecology of problem solving Alan A. Hartley; 19. Everyday problem solving: methodological issues, research findings and a model Nancy Wadsworth Denney; 20. Prospective/intentional memory and aging: memory as adaptive action Jan D. Sinnott; Part IIB. Concomitant Influences: 21. Motivation and aging Lawrence C. Perlmuter and Richard A. Monty; 22. Questionnaire research on metamemory and aging: issues of structure and function Roger A. Dixon; 23. The importance of awareness in memory aging John C. Cavanaugh; 24. Age and expertise: responding to Talland's challenge Neil Charness; 25. World-knowledge systems Cameron J. Camp; 26. Comments on aging memory and its everyday operations Donald H. Kausler; Part III. Cognitive Enhancement and Aging: Clinical and Educational Applications: 27. Introduction to Part III: approaches to practical applications Barbara A. Wilson and Leonard W. Poon; Part IIIA. Issues and Perspectives: 28. Varieties of memory compensation by older adults in episodic remembering Lars Bäckman; 29. Improvement with cognitive training: which old dogs learn what tricks? Sherry L. Willis; Part IIIB. Enhancement Approaches: 30. Planning practical memory training for the aged Robin L. West; 31. Mnemonics as modified for use by the elderly Jerome A. Yesavage, Danielle Lapp and Javaid I. Sheikh; Part IIIC. Designing Programs for Cognitive Rehabilitation: 32. Designing memory-therapy programs Barbara A. Wilson; 33. Management of memory problems in a hospital setting Nadina B. Lincoln; 34. Home-based cognitive rehabilitation with the elderly Nicholas J. Moffat; 35. Memory retraining: everyday needs and future prospects Herbert F. Crovitz; Indexes.