Transcript Physical and Cognitive Development

Chapter 8:
Late Adulthood
Module 8.2
Cognitive Development in
Late Adulthood
Discovering the Lifespan - Robert S. Feldman
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
IN LATE ADULTHOOD
Discovering the Lifespan - Robert S. Feldman
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
True or False?
Researchers no longer see
cognitive abilities of older people as
inevitably declining
Discovering the Lifespan - Robert S. Feldman
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Intelligence in Older People
Older Research Studies and Findings
• Notion that older people become less cognitively
adept initially arose from misinterpretations of
research evidence
• Problems
–
–
–
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Cohort effects
Reaction time components
Retesting effects
Subject attrition
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Discovering the Lifespan - Robert S. Feldman
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Recent Conclusions about Nature
of Intelligence in Older People
Schaie = Sequential methods
• Some abilities gradually decline; others stay
relatively steady
• No uniform pattern of age-related changes
across all intellectual abilities
• Acquired strategies remains steady and may
improve
441
Discovering the Lifespan - Robert S. Feldman
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Fluid and Crystal Intelligence
• Some abilities (fluid intelligence) decline,
starting at age 25
• Other abilities (crystallized intelligence)
stay steady or increase
• For some, there were cognitive declines in
all abilities by age 67
Discovering the Lifespan - Robert S. Feldman
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Environmental Factors
• Certain environmental and cultural factors are
related to greater or lesser degrees of intellectual
decline
• Lesser declines are associated with many factors
442
Discovering the Lifespan - Robert S. Feldman
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Exercising the Aging Brain
From Research to Practice
• Continued cognitive stimulation keeps
cognitive abilities sharp
• Training showed long-term effects
• Engaging in some form of mental workoutconsistently and continually increasing the
level of difficulty-is key to success
443
Discovering the Lifespan - Robert S. Feldman
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Review and Apply
REVIEW
• Although some intellectual abilities
gradually decline throughout adulthood,
starting at around age 25, others stay
relatively steady.
• The intellect retains considerable plasticity
and can be maintained with stimulation,
practice, and motivation.
444
Discovering the Lifespan - Robert S. Feldman
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Review and Apply
APPLY
• Do you think steady or increasing
crystallized intelligence can partially
or fully compensate for declines in
fluid intelligence. Why or why not?
444
Discovering the Lifespan - Robert S. Feldman
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
How does aging affect this?
• Think about what you have just learned
about memory.
• How might aging contribute to retroactive
and proactive interference?
• What development information about
aging might support your response?
Discovering the Lifespan - Robert S. Feldman
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Memory: Remembrance of
Things Past – and Present
• Episodic memory: specific life
experiences; impacted by age
• Semantic memory: general knowledge &
facts, unimpacted by age
• Implicit memories (unconscious)procedural and rules, unimpacted by age
• Short-term memory: more impacted by
age
444
Discovering the Lifespan - Robert S. Feldman
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
An Opposing View…Salthouse
• Rate of true, underlying cognitive decline in late
adulthood is unaffected by mental exercise
• Some people—the kind who have consistently
engaged throughout their lives in high levels of
mental activity such as completing crossword
puzzles—enter late adulthood with a “cognitive
reserve”
445
Discovering the Lifespan - Robert S. Feldman
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
An Opposing View…Salthouse
• This cognitive reserve allows them to continue to
perform at relatively high mental levels, even
though underlying declines are actually
happening.
• His hypothesis is controversial, though, and
most developmentalists accept the hypothesis
that mental exercise is beneficial
445
Discovering the Lifespan - Robert S. Feldman
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Decline and Stability
• Age-related memory declines are limited
primarily to episodic memories
• Semantic memories and implicit memories
are largely unaffected by age
444
Discovering the Lifespan - Robert S. Feldman
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Once upon a time
• Autobiographical memory
• Pollyanna principle
• Recall of material that "fits" current selfview
• Particular periods of life are remembered
more easily than others
445
Discovering the Lifespan - Robert S. Feldman
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Explaining Memory Changes in
Old Age
Explanations for apparent changes in
memory among older people tend to focus
on three main categories
• Environmental factors
• Information processing deficits
• Biological factors
445
Discovering the Lifespan - Robert S. Feldman
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Environmental Factors
• Certain environmental and cultural factors
are related to greater or lesser degrees of
intellectual decline
• Lesser declines are associated with many
factors
445
Discovering the Lifespan - Robert S. Feldman
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Information-Processing Deficits
• Inability to inhibit irrelevant information and
thoughts declines
• Speed of processing declines
• Attention declines
• Less efficient retrieval methods
445
Discovering the Lifespan - Robert S. Feldman
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Biological Factors
• Brain and body deterioration
– Especially frontal lobes
• Continuation of education in old age
– Can improve cognitive skills
445
Discovering the Lifespan - Robert S. Feldman
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
It’s Never Too Late…
• Popularity of programs such as Elderhostel is part of a
growing trend among older people
• Retired people have time to pursue further education
• Many public colleges encourage senior citizens to enroll
in classes by providing them with free tuition
• Older adults often have no trouble maintaining their
standing in rigorous college classes
• Professors and other students generally find presence of
older people real educational benefit
446
Discovering the Lifespan - Robert S. Feldman
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Review and Apply
REVIEW
• Declines in memory affect mainly episodic
memories and short-term memory.
• Explanations of memory changes in old
age have focused on environmental
factors, information processing declines,
and biological factors.
446
Discovering the Lifespan - Robert S. Feldman
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Review and Apply
APPLY
• How might cultural factors, such as
the esteem in which a society holds
its older members, work to affect an
older person’s memory performance?
446
Discovering the Lifespan - Robert S. Feldman
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.