Chapter Twenty-Four

Late Adulthood:Cognitive Development

PowerPoints prepared by Cathie Robertson, Grossmont CollegeRevised by Jenni Fauchier, Metropolitan Community College

Changes in Information Processing

• Schaie’s study found decline in all 5 primary mental abilities– verbal meaning– spatial orientation– inductive reasoning– number ability– word fluency

Input: Sensing and Perceiving

• With age it takes longer for information to register in sensory register—holds incoming sensory information for a split second after it is received– small reductions in sensitivity and power

• sensory receptors (eyes, ears, etc.) now less acute

• deficits can be compensated for if person is aware of reduction

Input: Sensing and Perceiving, cont.

• However, for information to reach perception, must cross sensory threshold– senses must pick up relevant sensations– this is where significant decline occurs

• problem becomes serious because it is insidious– person is unaware of things not seen or heard– after time may miss substantial amount of information

Working Memory

• Working, or Short-Term Memory – processing component through which

current, conscious mental activity occurs

• Two Interrelated Functions– serves as temporary information storage– processes information held in mind

Working Memory, cont.

• Older adults: smaller working memory capacity than younger adults– multitasking especially difficult; focusing helps

to compensate

• Explanations for Decline– inability to screen out distractions and inhibit

irrelevant thoughts– decline in total mental energy

Long-Term Memory

• Knowledge Base– long-term storehouse of information and memories– evidence suggests memory for vocabulary remains

unimpaired and can increase with age– areas of expertise relatively unimpaired

• Source amnesia—forgetting who or what was source of fact, idea, or conversation– increasingly common in late adulthood

Control Processes• Part of the information-processing system

that regulates analysis and flow of information– e.g., selective attention, retrieval strategies, storage

mechanisms, logical analysis

• Older adults unable to gather and consider all data relevant to logical analysis and decision making– rather, they rely on prior knowledge, rule-of-thumb,

general principles

Control Processes, cont.

• Use of retrieval strategies also declines with age– possible to learn better retrieval

strategies, but does not overcome age-related problems in memory and control

Explicit and Implicit Memory

• Explicit memory—involves facts, definitions, data, concepts, etc. – learned consciously through deliberate repetition

and review– because of rehearsal, usually easily retrieved

• Implicit memory—information that is an unconscious or automatic memory such as habits, emotional responses, routines– contents not deliberately memorized

Resistance

• Rather than direct result of aging, decline may be result of – refusal to guess– deliberate choice– resistance to change– reluctance to use memory aids

Reasons for Age-Related Changes

• Causes of declines in cognitive functioning – primary aging– secondary aging– ageism

•either reflected in self-perception•or embedded in way scientists measure

cognition

Primary Aging• Brain Slowdown

– reduced production of neurotransmitters that allow nerve impulses to jump across synapse from one neuron to another

– decrease in total volume of neural fluid– decrease in speed of cerebral blood flow– slower pace of activation of various parts of cortex

• Slowdown may affect learning new material, but the types of thinking not involving speed are less affected

Compensation

• Strategies of Older Adults – employ memory tricks– use written reminders– allow for more time to solve problems– repeat confusing instructions

• Older adults slower but not less accurate than younger adults

Terminal Decline

• Overall slowdown of cognitive abilities in days or months before death– marked loss of intellectual power– results not from age—rather from being close to

death

• Change in cognitive ability and increased depression often precede visible worsening of health

Secondary Aging

• Several diseases impair cognition among aging– dementia, hypertension, diabetes,

arteriosclerosis, and diseases affecting lungs

• Lifestyle habits contribute to these diseases– poor eating, smoking, lack of exercise

Secondary Aging, cont.

• Brain deterioration due to poor lifestyle habits can be halted by– improved nutrition and exercise– various drugs, e.g., long-term use of anti-

inflammatory steroids– aspirin and ibuprofen

Attitudes of the Elderly

• Influence of Expectations and Stereotyping– people aged 50–70 overestimate their

early adulthood memory skills, which can lead to loss of confidence that impairs present memory

– confidence in memory skills also eroded when others interpret hesitancy as sign of impaired memory

Ageism in Research• Laboratory research may favor younger

adults, rather than older because– older adults at intellectual best early in day at

home

• Experiments on memory biased toward people used to being tested– in school setting, young adults regularly memorize

information not immediately relevant to daily life– older adults unpracticed at, and may be suspicious

of, exams

Beyond Ageism

• Laboratory research on memory– uniformly reports some memory loss in late

adulthood– but few older adults consider memory loss

significant handicap•Compensate by using reminders•the more realistic the circumstances, the

better older people remember•supportive environments aid memory

Dementia

• Dementia—irreversible loss of intellectual functioning caused by organic brain disease

• Symptoms– confusion and forgetfulness

• More common with age• More than 70 diseases can cause dementia• Difficult to diagnose

Alzheimer’s Disease

• Disorder characterized by proliferation of plaques and tangles– abnormalities in cerebral cortex that destroy

brain functioning• Plagues formed from protein called B-amyloid• Tangles are twisted mass of protein threads

within cells

Risk Factors for Alzheimer’s

• Gender, ethnicity, and especially age affect odds of developing it– women at greater risk than men– more common in North America and

Europe than in Japan and China– less common among Asian Americans

than European Americans

Risk Factors for Alzheimer’s, cont.

• Age is chief risk factor– incidence rises from about 1 in 100 at age 65 to

1 in 5 over age 85

• Alzheimer’s is partly genetic– ALZHS—variant of the ApoE gene (allele 4)—

increases risk

•in United States, 20 percent inherit ApoE4 from one parent; thus, have a 50/50 chance of developing disease by age 80

Risk Factors for Alzheimer’s, cont.

• Factors decreasing risk– allele ApoE2 dissipates protein

that causes plaques– lifestyle habits (e.g. physical

exercise and mental activity) said to be protective

Stages: From Confusion to Death

• Stage 1– general forgetfulness

• Stage 2– more general confusion– noticeable differences in

concentration and short-term memory– speech can be aimless or repetitive

Stages: From Confusion to Death, cont.

• Stage 3– memory loss becomes truly dangerous– no longer able to take care of own basic

needs

• Stage 4– need for full-time care as cannot care for

self or respond normally– occasionally irrationally angry or paranoid

Stages: From Confusion to Death, cont.

• Stage 5– completely mute– unable to respond with any action

or emotion– death usually occurs 10 to 15 years

after onset

Many Strokes

• Vascular Dementia or Multi-Infarct Dementia– characterized by sporadic, progressive, loss of

intellectual functioning– temporary obstruction of blood vessels

prevent sufficient supply of blood to brain; commonly called a stroke, or ministroke

– common cause is arteriosclerosis– different progression than that of Alzheimer’s

Subcortical Dementias

• Begin with motor ability impairments and later produce cognitive impairment

• Parkinson’s disease most common– degeneration of neurons in area of brain

that produces dopamine, neurotransmitter essential to normal brain functioning•majority of newly diagnosed over 60

Subcortical Dementias, cont.

• Other Dementias – Huntington’s disease – multiple schlerosis

• Toxins and infectious agents can cause dementia– syphilis– AIDS– psychoactive drugs

Reversible Dementia• From Overmedication

– drug management difficult for older adults living at home who typically consume 5 or more different drugs a day

• From Undernourishment– can cause vitamin deficiencies which lead to

• depression• confusion• cognitive decline

Psychological Illness• Anxiety, antisocial personality and bipolar

disorders, schizophrenia, depression– less common among the elderly

• higher mortality rates for people with those illnesses• illnesses themselves become less severe in later life

• Mental illness can produce what seems like dementia but is not– e.g., depression, anxiety– careful diagnosis can differentiate

New Cognitive Development in Later Life

• Theorists believe older adults can develop – new interests– patterns of thought– deeper wisdom

• Aesthetic Sense and Creativity– many older people gain appreciation of nature and of

aesthetic experience– as for people already creative, they generally

continue to be productive; often experiencing renewed inspiration

The Life Review

• Many older people do a life review—the examination of one’s own past life – helps older people connect their own lives with

the future as they tell their stories to younger generations

– renews links with past generations, as older people remember ancestors

– process is more social than solitary– crucial to self-worth that others recognize its

significance

Wisdom• Are older people typically wiser?• But first, what is wisdom?

– broad, practical, comprehensive approach to life’s problems, reflecting timeless truths

– expertise in life fundamentals, permitting exceptional insight and judgment in complex and uncertain matters

• Research found little correlation between wisdom and age, although attributes like humor, perspective, altruism may increase