Cognitive_Aging_Surprenant_Neath.ppt.ppt

Cognitive aging refers to the natural decline in cognitive abilities as people grow older. This process involves changes in areas such as memory, attention, problem-solving, and processing speed. While some aspects of cognition, like vocabulary and general knowledge, tend to remain stable or even improve with age, others, particularly those related to fluid intelligence (quick thinking, reasoning, and learning new information), tend to decline.

Key factors influencing cognitive aging include genetics, lifestyle, physical health, and mental stimulation. Conditions like Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia represent more severe forms of cognitive decline, but not all cognitive aging leads to such conditions. Regular physical exercise, a healthy diet, social engagement, and mental activities like puzzles or learning new skills can help slow cognitive decline.

Understanding cognitive aging is important for promoting mental well-being and maintaining quality of life as people age. Research in this area often focuses on how to preserve cognitive functions and delay the onset of age-related cognitive impairments.

1. Cognitive Aging
Based on Information in:
Surprenant, A.M. & Neath, I.
in Wilmoth & Ferraro,
Gerontology: Perspectives
& Issues

2. “…the entire person needs to be considered
in order to develop a comprehensive theory
of cognitive aging” (p. 89).

3. Cognitive Aging Includes:
Memory
Attention
Language
Intelligence
Brain changes
“everyday functioning in familiar
environments”

4. Approaches to Studying Cognitive
Aging
Micro (Experimental)
Macro (Psychometric)
Simulation Modeling

5. Micro (Experimental) Approaches
Focus: “…describing specific tasks &
processes that differ as a fx of age.
Strategy: ID a subtask that can be timed;
present it as a decision-making task and time
the outcome.
Design: Experimental with Age as the
independent variable & Time as the
dependent variable

6. Macro (Psychometric) Approaches
Focus: “…a broad range of cognitive
processing abilities that vary with age.”
Design: Correlation or Psychometric
techniques.
Goal: To identify commonalities—i.e., “…
fundamental cognitive abilities” that differ
with age.

7. Simulation Modeling: A recent middle
ground approach
The Advantage: Better deals with the
complexity of the effects of aging on
cognition—many factors, multiples
interactions among them.

8. Study Designs: Cross-sectional
“…the performance of a group of individuals
from one age range is compared to that of a
group from another age range.”
Easiest to do, but ignores uncontrolled
covariates, e.g. cohort effects, motivation,
health status

9. Study Designs: Longitudinal
Follows individuals over time, testing them
repeatedly—e.g., The Nuns’ Study; HRS
“…allows researchers to estimate individual changes
in particular abilities rather than inferring changes
based on group differences
Very costly!!!

10. Meta-Analysis
“…a tool for combining results from multiple
experiments…to determine the true size of
an effect.”

11. So—What Do We “Know”
About:

12. Perceptual Deficits
“Both visual & Auditory processing abilities decline
substantially as a fx of increasing age.”
–Presbycusis-1/3 of 0ver-70 adults
–Understanding speech in noise
–“I can’t hear as fast as you talk.”
–Light sensitivity; visual acuity; color vision; contrast
sensitivity.
–Possible Results: Limitation in activity & social function

13. Memory
A Matter of Great Concern; “…significant
correlations between estimated memory
ability and reports of depression.”
“Older adults perform worse than younger
adults on memory tests in which there are
few environmental cues.” Thus:….

14. Old people compared to younger--
Worse on Recall tests; Equivalent on
recognition
Worse on Explicit than Implicit tasks
Worse on tasks requiring active information
manipulation and only slightly worse on
measures of simple memory span

15. Prospective Memory—remembering to
perform some action @ some future
time
Types: Time-based tasks; Event-based tasks
Comparison: O.A. less well on time-based;
no differences in event-based.
Generalization: “Environmental support”
is important for maintaining max cog. Fx.

16. What About
Intelligence?

17. Primary Mental Abilities (PMA’s)
Mathematical reasoning
Word fluency and appropriate usage
Verbal meaning/vocabulary level
Inductive reasoning
Spatial relations
Verbal memory (ability to retain/recall info)
Perceptual speed

18. Types of Intelligence?
Fluid: “tasks that involve quick thinking, info
manipulation, activities involving allocation
and reallocation of attention—rely mainly on
fluid intelligence.
E.g.: tests of memory, spatial relations,
abstract & inductive reasoning, free recall,
mental calculations

19. Crystallized: “tasks that tap well-learned
stills, language, & retrieval of well-learned
material rely more on crystallized
intelligence.
E.g.: verbal meaning, word association,
social judgement, number skills

20. Differences with aging?
–Decreases—Fluid Intelligence
–No Decreases (actually some increases)—
Crystallized Intelligence (Salthouse, et al)

21. Explanation? Some Alternatives:
1) Slowed processing speed
2) Lack of inhibitory control
3) Perceptual processing resources (working
memory capacity) reduction
4) Perceptual processing efficiency reduction

22. Slowed processing speed:
–Usually measured by reaction times.
–Salthouse argues that decreases in speed
underlie most of the “age-related” declines in cog.
Fxing.
–If so, the question becomes: What causes the
slowing?

23. Inhibition and Control:
–In short, performance deficits are due to a
difficulty in inhibiting irrelevant information—which
leads to:
–Increased interference &
–Reduced processing resources.

24. “…the processing account (ala Craik, et al—
mid 80’s) better explains the pattern of data
found in research on cognitive aging” (p. 98)
The Structuralist Tradition vs.
The Processing Approach

25. Structuralist Tradition:
Purpose of the science of Psych:
–to analyze & describe basic elements of cognition
&
–Discover how they work
–

26. Structuralist, cont’d
Development: a process of maturation of
structures in childhood and
Deterioration in late adulthood
Concept: “a partitioning of cognition”.

27. The Processing Approach—Craik ‘86
Argues in terms of PROCESSES rather than
structures.
Interactional in nature.
Environment Environment
@ encoding @ retrieval
x x
x x
x x
xThe x
x Individual

28. The combination of the person, the task, and
the environment are all needed to explain
age-related changes in memory.

29. Declining Sensory Abilities as a
Fx of Aging
“ It is possible that speed in processing slows
because basic input processes result in
impoverished input that then take more time
to identify and interpret.”
Causality? There is a ‘chicken & egg’
problem

30. Biological Aspects of the Aging Brain
Areas of the Aging Brain—smaller, but not
uniformly so.
Most change in frontal lobe

31. Can We Improve Cognitive Abilities?
It’s a mixed bag.
Fitness level and cognitive Fx? A highly
qualified “probably”.
P.M. Schwirian. 10/30/08