Kathleen Stassen Berger

Part VIII

Chapter Twenty-Four

Late Adulthood: Cognitive Development

The Usual: Information Processing After Age 65 The impaired Dementia The Optimal: New Cognitive Development
Prepared by Madeleine Lacefield Tattoon, M.A.
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Late Adulthood: Cognitive Development

By the end of adulthood, physical impairment, reduced perception, decreased energy, and slower reactions take an increasing toll.
Late-adulthood cognition is too complex to be captured in a brief social conversation.

The Usual: Information Processing After Age 65

information-processing approach
breaking down cognition into the steps of
input (sensing) storage (memory) program (control process) output a perspective that compares human thinking processes, by analogy, to computer analysis of data, including sensory input, connections, stored memories, and output (Chapter 6)
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The Usual: Information Processing After Age 65

Sensing and Perceiving

stimuli becomes information, perceived by the mind, which must cross the sensory threshold
the person must be able to sense them, decline begins with age

The Usual: Information Processing After Age 65

Attention Deficits
sensory-input problemspeople miss information without realizing it cognition depends on perception, and perception depends on sensation one way to predict an older persons intellect may be to measure vision, hearing, or smell
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The Usual: Information Processing After Age 65

Interference
is thought to be a major impediment to effective and efficient cognition in the elderly reduced sensory input affects cognition by increasing the effects of interference

The Usual: Information Processing After Age 65

Memory
storage refers to memory in the information-processing model of cognition

The Usual: Information Processing After Age 65

Working memory
is the capacity to keep information in mind for a few seconds while processing it, evaluating, calculating, inferring, and so onworking memory functions as both a repository and a processor dual-task deficit
a situation in which a persons performance of one task is impeded by interference from the simultaneous performance of another task

The Usual: Information Processing After Age 65

Long-Term Memory
the knowledge base stored in memory
the component of the information processing system in which virtually limitless amounts of information can be stored indefinitely knowledge base
a body of knowledge in a particular area that makes it easier to master new information in that area
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The Usual: Information Processing After Age 65

Selective Memory
in areas not related to expertise, selective deficits in long-term memory appear

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The Usual: Information Processing After Age 65

Control Processes
that part of the information-processing system that regulates the analysis and flow of informationmemory and retrieval strategies, selective attention, and rules or strategies for problem solving are all useful control processes

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The Usual: Information Processing After Age 65

Analysis
an aspect of impaired analysis is that the elderly are more likely to stick to preconceived ideas rather than consider and change their minds

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The Usual: Information Processing After Age 65

Retrieval
another control process, the ability to recall the name of childhood acquaintance, worsens with age

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The Usual: Information Processing After Age 65

Reminding People of What They Know

priming
preparation that makes it easier to perform some action it is easier to retrieve an item from memory if we are given a clue about it beforehand

explicit memory
memory that is easy to retrieve on demand (as in a specific test), usually with words most explicit memory involves consciously learned words, data, and concepts

implicit memory
unconscious or automatic memory that is usually stored via habits, emotional responses, routine procedures, and various sensations
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The Usual: Information Processing After Age 65

Brain Slowdown
the elderly react more slowly than young adults
reduced production of neurotransmitters glutamate, acetylcholine, serotonin and dopaminethat allow a nerve impulse to jump across the synapse from one neuron to another

speed is crucial for many aspects of cognition, especially working memory, since information stays in working memory for only a short time
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The Usual: Information Processing After Age 65

Staying Healthy and Alert

secondary agingillness and conditions that affect one person but not another
secondary aging is a major reason for the remarkable variation in intellectual ability between one older person and another

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The Usual: Information Processing After Age 65

Ageism
cognitive decline is rooted not in the older persons body and brain but in the surrounding social contextcultural attitudes can lead directly to age differences in cognition

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The Usual: Information Processing After Age 65

Stereotype Threat
does most harm when individuals internalize other peoples prejudices and react with helplessness
if the elderly fear losing their minds because they have internalized the idea that old age always bring dementia, that fear may become a stereotype threat, undermining normal thinking
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The Usual: Information Processing After Age 65

Ageism Among Scientist

scientists measure age differences in memory in the same way they studied memory in generalin laboratories these factors work against older adults, who tend to perform best in familiar settings

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The Usual: Information Processing After Age 65

Beyond Ageism

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The Impaired: Dementia

Loss of intellectual ability in elderly people has traditionally been called senility. the pathological loss of brain function is known as dementialiterally, out of mind, referring to severely impaired judgment
dementia
irreversible loss of intellectual functioning caused by organic brain damage or disease dementia becomes more common with age, but it is abnormal and pathological even in the very old
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The Impaired: Dementia

Alzheimers Disease (AD)
the most common cause of dementia, characterized by gradual deterioration of memory and personality and marked by the information of plaques of betaamyloid protein and tangles in the brain

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The Impaired: Dementia

Risk Factors for Alzheimers Disease
gender, ethnicity, and especially age affect a persons odds of developing Alzheimers disease women are at greater risk than men fewer East Asians than Europeans develop the disorder less common among those of African descent, but life expectancy is far lower in Africa than in any other continent and diagnosis of illness in late adulthood is less certain
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The Impaired: Dementia

Stages: From Confusion to Death
Alzheimers disease usually runs through a progressive course of five identifiable stages, beginning with forgetfulness and ending in death

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The Impaired: Dementia

Stages: From Confusion to Death
stage 1 confused with normal aging stage 2 generalized confusiondeficits in concentration and short-term memory stage 3 memory loss becomes dangerous stage 4 full-time care stage 5 unresponsive, no longer talking

stages take 10 to 15 years

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The Impaired: Dementia

Many Strokes
the second most common cause of dementia is a stroke repeated brain damage leads to:
vascular dementia (VaD), also called multiinfarct dementia (MID)
a form of dementia characterized by sporadic, and progressive, loss of intellectual functioning caused by repeated infarcts, or temporary obstructions of blood vessels, which prevent sufficient blood from reaching the brain
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The Impaired: Dementia

Subcotical Dementias
forms of dementia that begin with impairments in motor ability (which is governed by the subcortex) and produce cognitive impairment in later stagesParkinsons disease, Huntingtons disease, and multiple sclerosis are subcortical dementias Parkinsons Disease
a chronic, progressive disease that is characterized by muscle tremor and rigidity, and sometimes dementia, caused by a reduction of dopamine production in the brain

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The Impaired: Dementia

Reversible Dementia
dementia caused by medication, inadequate nutrition, alcohol abuse, depression, or other mental illness can sometimes be reversed

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The Impaired: Dementia

Overmedication and Undernourishment
without considering interaction, many drugs commonly taken by the elderly slow down mental processes inadequate nutrition is connected to overmedication, many medications reduce absorption of vitamins

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The Impaired: Dementia

Psychological Illness
elderly people have a lower incidence of psychological disordersthe rate of anxiety, antisocial personality disorder, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and depression are lower after age 65

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The Impaired: Dementia

Prevention and Treatment
there is no cure or prevention for dementia many lifestyle factors that slow down senescence also delay the onset of dementia

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The Optimal: New Cognitive Development

older people are more interested than young in the arts, in children, and in human experiences the elderly are social witnesses to life aware of interdependent of the generations there are gains and losses at every stage of life

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The Optimal: New Cognitive Development

Aesthetic Sense and Creativity

elderly people seem to gain a greater appreciation of nature and aesthetic experience

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The Optimal: New Cognitive Development

The Life Review

an examination of ones own part in life, engaged in by many elderly people

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The Optimal: New Cognitive Development

Wisdom
a cognitive perspective characterized by a broad, practical, comprehensive approach to lifes problems, reflecting timeless truths rather than immediate expediencyseems to be more common in the elderly than in the young

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