Aging Class Exam #2

Cognition
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Terms in this set (46)
Cognition
-Aas "a combination of mental processes that includes the ability to learn new things, intuition, judgment, language, and remembering"
Information Processing
- In cognition, a framework suggesting that once a person has received stimulation from the environment, this stimulation (information) must pass through several distinct processing stages before a response occurs.
Storage
- How information is represented (organized) and kept (stored)
- Where or how it is "filed"
Information processing model
- Our ability to process information is ambiguous to a computer
- More information --> longer time and more resources needed to process
- EX) computer is slower when downloading or saving big files
Encoding
- Processing of giving meaning to information and entering it into the memory system
- Creating a "file" for new information
- Older adults do not always use effective learning strategies on their own, but can learn to do so
Retrieval
- Getting information back out of memory
- Finding and taking out the correct "file"
- Older adults use fewer and less effective retrieval strategies
Working Memory
- Involves holding information in mind and simultaneously manipulating the information
- Working memory performance decreases with age
Long Term Memory
- The ability to remember extensive amounts of information over time
Semantic Memory
- Acquired work knowledge, such as the meaning of words and facts
- EX) knowledge which restaurants are in old town
- Age related changes in semantic memory
- From age 35-50, semantic memory improves
After age 65, semantic memory shows little age related decline
Episodic Memory
- Recollection of specific events or things that occurred at a certain point in time (personally- relevant)
- EX) remembering the details from the last time you went to old town
- Age related changes in episodic memory
- Episodic memory is stable until around 55-60 tears of age
- After 65 years of age, episodic memory declines more dramatically
Age differences are most pronounced when encoding (learning) new information
Implicit Memory- Retrieval of information without conscious or intentional recollection - EX) "It takes two to tango"Procedural Memory- A type of implicit memory related to remembering how to do something - Older adults do more poorly on implicit memory tasks with learning sequences (i.e., a lot of steps to learn), but do as well on tasks requiring them to learn spatial contextsProspective Memory- Remembering to remember (or do) something in the future - Two types (Event based and Time based)Event Based- Remembering to do something when an event occurs - EX) remembering to buy milk when one gets to the grocery storeTime Based- Remembering to do something after a fixed amount of time or at a specific time - EX) remembering to take one's medication at 8:00amSource Memory- The ability to remember the source of a familiar event and the ability to determine if an event was imagined or actually experienced - EX) that guy at the party really looks really familiar - Source memory declines steeply across adulthoodFalse Memory- When one remembers items or events that did not occur - Older adults may be more likely to have false memory - May be due to greater difficulty with source (context) memory - May also be due to greater reliance on automatic processingAutobiographical Memory- Involves remembering information and events from one's own lifeReminiscence Bump- The number of recalled memories peaks in early adulthood - May be due to critical self-information years in early adulthoodFlashbulb Memory- Memories for personally significant positive or negative events, or highly unexpected events - EX) September 11, 2001 attack, assassination of JFK or MLK Jr.Metamemory- knowledge about how memory works and our assessment of our own memory performancePsychometric Intelligence- Intelligence is what intelligence tests measure (IQ tests) - Perspectives differ on whether they assume a single underlying "g" factor explains all types of intelligence - Tasks are presented under standardized conditions and scored according to normed guidelinesFluid Intelligence- In the psychometric approach to cognition, those skills that are independent of acculturated influences, that allow one to solve problems or process information in new ways, and that decline in late life. - How well can a person apply their skills? - Object assembly (jigsaw puzzle) - Digit symbol (match symbols with number) - Picture Arrangement (arrange order to tell story) - Novel problem solving - Effortful and attention demandingCrystallized Intelligence- In the psychometric tradition, the knowledge derived from formal institutional settings (homes, schools, work) that retains relatively high stability across the life span. - How much info does a person know? - Information ("jeopardy") - Vocabulary (explain word definition) - Digit span (repeat digit strings) - Acquired knowledge - Partially automaticFlynn Effect- Massive gains in IQ over the past 100 years (one SD from 1940's to 1990's) - Similar in most industrialized nations - More likely due to combination of: - Better nutrition and medicine - Better formal education - More cognitively challenging work life and integration of technology in daily lifeProblem Solving- How people figure out solutions to practical, everyday problems - Older adults are better at matching strategies to specific problem contexts (Blanchard-Fields, 2007)Decision Making- When making memory is needed ---> older adults do not perform as well - When experience and knowledge are needed ---> older adults are relevant expertise perform betterSunk-cost Fallacy- Decision-making bias whereby people tend to invest more future resources into a situation where a prior investment has been made (and cannot be retrieved)Sunk Cost- Resources have already been invested and you cannot get them backUltimatum Game- a behavioral economics exchange game that is played over numerous trials - An example of emotional decision making - It is irrational (from en economic perspective) to rest any monetary offers - Younger adults are more likely to react unfair offers compared to colder adultsCreativity- Ability to produce ideas or products that are - task appropriate - Novel - High in demandComponents of Creativity- Knowledge/Skills must be above a critical threshold - EX) you can't be a creative painter of you don't know how to hold a brush - Hard work and trainingAge Trajectories in Creativity- Chronological age matters less than age (experience) within the discipline - Highly creative individuals have a more pronounced early- career peak - There are early and late bloomersWisdom- The experience of having knowledge and good judgment that can be applied to circumstances that one has not personally experienced. - Ability to deal with important or difficult life matters - "Superior knowledge ", judgements and advice - Wise people are well-intentioned and have good virtue - Factual knowledge about life matters - Knowledge about how to solve life problemsDelirium- A temporary state of confusion that is often misdiagnosed as dementia. - Short term changes in cognition (memory) and disturbance of consciousness - Symptoms can be severe and look similar to dementia - Caused by: medical conditions (stroke), dug side effect, exposure to toxins - Can often be preventedDementias- A brain disease in which memory loss and disorientation are exhibited; a cluster of behaviors or characteristics (e.g., disorientation) common to many diagnostic entities. - Family diseases involving permanent damage to the brain and cognitive and behavioral deficits - Impaired awareness of self and surrounding, attention deficits, disorientation, and rapid changes in symptoms and their severity are characteristics of: - Dementia is characterized by behavioral and cognitive deficits that involve permanent damage to the brain.Kinds of Dementia- Vascular Dementia - Alzheimer's Disease - Frontotemporal Dementia - Parkinson's DiseaseVascular Dementia- Results from numerous small cerebral vascular accidents (CVAs or strokes) - May occur suddenly after CVAs - Symptoms differ between people (depends on brain area damaged)Alzheimer's Disease- Most common form of dementia, characterized by a higher than normal incidence of senile plaques and neurofibrillary tangles in brain tissue. - Most common form of progressive, degenerative, and fatal dementia - Definitive diagnosis occurs at autopsy (death)Brian changes in Alzheimers- Rapid cell death - Neurofibrillary tangles - Amyloid plaquesEarly stage/ Mid Alzheimer's- Some memory loss/cognitive deficits - Independent living possibleMid-stage of Alzheimer's Disease- Decline in mental and physical abilities - Changes in personality - Increasing dependenceLate Stage of Alzheimer's Disease- Complete loss of control over bodily function - Loss of personality - Complete dependenceFrontotemporal Dementia- Neuronal loss in the frontal and temporal lobes leading to people showing social, emotional and personality abnormalities but they may still be cognitively intactParkinson's Disease- Deterioration of dopamine-producing cells lead ot motor (movement) problems - Average age of diagnosis is in the early 60's - Involves: - Motor symptoms: slow walking, slow hand tremor, difficulty getting into and out of chairs - Other symptoms: difficulty with sense of smell, constipation, sleep disorders - Can be managed, but not curedDepression- Symptoms: - Dysphoria: feeling sad, "down" or "blue" - Anhedonia: Diminished interest or pleasure in activity - insomnia - Changes in appetite - Significant weight loss/gain - pain - Trouble breathing - Headaches - Fatigue - Sensory loss - Prevalence with age: - <5% of older adults living in community have depression - >13% of older adults who need home mental care have depression - >20% of older adults in nursing homes have depression - Treatment - Therapy - Medication (serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI), (tetracyclic antidepressants)