A psychology researcher is arguing that the commonly used Activities of Daily Living questionnaire doesn’t go far enough in establishing true functional independence in older adults.

Rachel Wu, Ph.D., an assistant professor of psychology at the University of California-Riverside, writes in a new paper that low expectations set by the ADL questionnaire and its companion instrumental activities questionnaire may be contributing to cognitive decline in healthy older adults.

“Aging research has often overlooked an important factor for long-term functional independence in a constantly changing environment: adaptation for growth via learning new skills,” Wu said.

Maintaining independence may be more challenging to seniors with the advent of technologies such as online banking and ride-sharing apps.

“If the older adult has been consistently learning and adapting up until that point, she likely will be more able to navigate this test of functional independence,” Wu said.

She advocates expanding the range of functional independence from the lower end of ADL/IADL standards to the higher end of mastering new real-world skills.