Cognitive Development in Adulthood and Old Age

Cognitive Development in Cognitive Development in Adulthood and Old AgeAdulthood and Old Age

• Posada, M., y de la Fuente, J (2006 ). Memoria y atención. En C. Triadó y F. Villar (coords.) Psicología de la Vejez. Madrid: Alianza• Villar, F. (2006). Inteligencia y sabiduría. En C. Triadó y F. Villar (coords.) Psicología de la Vejez. Madrid: Alianza

IndexIndex

1. Psicometric Focus1. Methodical Problemas

2. Explanations for cognitive decline 3. Successful cognitive aging4. Information processing5. Postformal Thought6. Wisdom7. Creativity

PSICOMETRIC FOCUS: PSICOMETRIC FOCUS:

Methodical problems Methodical problems

1. Investigation design:

longitudinal or transverse

Selection of subjects

2. Familiarity with the work/objectives

3. Influence of speed

4. Tendency to be cautious:

Commission errors and omission errors

PSICOMETRIC FOCUS: PSICOMETRIC FOCUS:

Methodical problems Methodical problems

5. Motivational problems

6. The problem of working with means

Psicometric Focus:Psicometric Focus:

Investigation ResultsInvestigation Results

Transverse StudiesTransverse Studies

* Intelligence clearly diminishes with age: it increases until 20-30 years, stays stable and later descends in a slow and steady manner

* There are differences between abilities:

The punctuations in the manipulative scale decrease y in the verbal scale stay the same or decrease more slowly.

Psicometric Focus: Results of transverse Psicometric Focus: Results of transverse studiesstudies

Free memory (square)

or with clues (circle) Vocabulary Vocabulary

Figure 1.1: Measure of 301 adults, living in residencies, en various measures of processing speed, operative memory, free memory y with clues and vocabulary, throughout life. Adapted with the permission of Park and co.

Psicometric Focus: Results of transverse Psicometric Focus: Results of transverse studiesstudies

Digit-symbolPattern completionLetter comparison

ProcessingSpeed

Operative Memory

Calculation speedReading speedInverse digits

Psicometric Focus: Psicometric Focus:

Investigation resultsInvestigation results

Longitudinal StudiesLongitudinal Studies

* Have not detected decreases earlier than 60 years of age, and some capacities are preserved until 80 years of age.

* After 80-85 years, the decline can put daily functioning at risk.

* Some abilities improve

* There is possibly a methodological bias

Psicometric Focus: Psicometric Focus:

Investigation ResultsInvestigation Results

*Different trajectories for the fluid and crystallized intelligence fluida y para la inteligencia cristalizada

FLUID depends more on biological factores

CRYSTALLIZED more dependent on cultural factors

* Loss or terminal decline

Explanations for cognitive declineExplanations for cognitive decline

Hypotheses centered on the Hardware or StructureHypotheses centered on the Hardware or Structure

* Sickness (especially cardiovascular and arthritis) *Hypothesis of speed or peripheral slowing down

*Hypothesis of general slowing down

* Hypothesis of the reduction of resources: attention, working memory, mental energy…

Explanations for Cognitive DeclineExplanations for Cognitive Decline

Hypothesis centered on Software or System Hypothesis centered on Software or System functioningfunctioning

*Hypothesis of the lack of use (current and past intellectual stimulation)

*Hypothesis of insufficient strategies

* Hypothesis of contextual and generational changes

Successful Cognitive AgingSuccessful Cognitive Aging

According to Salthouse

Accomodation: Tendency to disconnect yourself gradually from activities that supercede your cognitive limitations and to focus on other activities

Compensation: The same efficiency is maintained by changing the manner of completing work

Reparation: Intervention or training to restore cognitive abilities to a previous level

Successful cognitive agingSuccessful cognitive aging

According to SalthouseAccording to Salthouse

Cognitive efficiency Cognitive efficiency can be maintained can be maintained with strategies that with strategies that maximize on strong maximize on strong points and minimize points and minimize on weak points. on weak points.


According to BaltesAccording to Baltes

Cognitive MechanicsBasic cognitive processesBiological and cerebral

Cognitive PragmaticsContextualized capacitiesFormal and Informal learning

Results of information processing


According to BaltesAccording to Baltes

Functional base: habitual functioning

Base Reserve: maximum efficiency potential

Development reserve: Maximum efficiency potential with help: instrumental or personal P

LAS

TIC

ITY

The reserve capacity decreases with age, although it only disappears completely with dementia. learning potentialProcessing information evaluates the Base Reserve and cognitive mechanics maximize the differences not so called upon in daily life

*Development of abilities and advanced knowledge in a professional activity or field

* Better sensibility to aspects relevant to a problem

* Better maintenance of information in the MLP

* Result of learning and practice

* Effectively getting close to problems and absence of transfer

* Cognitive functioning is stable in these areas, even though there are other intellectual losses cognitive pragmatics


Mastery or Being an ExpertMastery or Being an Expert


According to Baltes

Tom

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de V

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r, F

Tit

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.

Anteceding conditions:

Development is essentially a process of selective adaptation

The limit of resources adds an additional adaptive pressure.

More pressure comes from the changes associated with the age in plasticity and availability of external and internal resources.

Processes:Selection – Identification of fields and direction of the process of change. Restriction of many behaviors and potential goals. Optimization – Better the means directed to the goals that are available. Search of favorable environments. Compensation – Adquire new external and internal means to achieve goals, due to: a)Lost means that were available earlierb)Contexts and adaptive fields have changed

Results: Maximization of wins and minimization of losses

Successful development or consecution of priority goals

Maintaining function

Recuperation of the los of select fieldsRegulation of loss (reorganization of function in inferior levels)

Information ProcessingInformation Processing

Declarative Memory

Information OutputAttentional processesAttentional processes

Information Processing: Information Processing: AttentionAttention

The reduction with age in the limited resource, necessary to process information, would reduce efficiency en cognitive processes.

Sustained AttentionSustained Attention

Not very affected with age. Seniors are less precise en vigilance tests since the beginning. This can diminish due to factors like the discriminability or the duration of stimuli.

Information Processing: Information Processing: AttentionAttention

Selective Attention Selective Attention

The ability to focus on important information without valuing the irrelevant aspects decreases with complex tests.

Divided Attention – Change of AttentionDivided Attention – Change of Attention

Deterioration with complex works in divided attention. Equal efficiency as young people, although they are slower, in changing attention. Practice can prevent this. Worse efficiency with inhibitory mechanisms

Information Processing: Information Processing: MemoryMemory

Some types of memory are affected bySome types of memory are affected byold age while others stay intact. old age while others stay intact.

Sensorial MemorySensorial Memory

The majority of studies are about visual iconic memory and indicate that despite changes in vision, the effects of aging are unimportant.

It is difficult to evaluate due to the complicated distinction between the role of the senses and that of the sensorial memory.

Information Processing: MemoryInformation Processing: Memory

Short-Term Memory and Operative MemoryShort-Term Memory and Operative Memory

Short-Term differences exist en experimental situations with tests that accentuate daily situations and in linguistic or visual experiments.

Bigger problems when the work is complicated (Operative Memory) enters the game of the executive center (attentional processes)

- Diminishment of the Operative memory capacity?


Secondary or Long-Term MemorySecondary or Long-Term MemoryExplicaciones de las pérdidas Explicaciones de las pérdidas (Light, 1991 en Pousada y de la Fuente, 2006)(Light, 1991 en Pousada y de la Fuente, 2006)

* Codification: * Codification: Have not found empirical evidence of the Have not found empirical evidence of the idea that seniors use a more superficial process than younger idea that seniors use a more superficial process than younger people. people.

* Recuperation: * Recuperation: Seniors show more difficulties en some Seniors show more difficulties en some works (word recall) and are similar in others (implicit works (word recall) and are similar in others (implicit memory, recognition, recall with clues) memory, recognition, recall with clues) the information is the information is available (equal capacity of *storage) but not accessible. available (equal capacity of *storage) but not accessible.


Episodic MemoryEpisodic Memory

* Empirical evidence of an important deterioration after 30-40 years > Short-Term Memory, procedural or semantic

* Few differences in the control of reality

* The same in the way the fluid intelligence manages new information: the events are unpredictable. Impossible to use routines or learned schemes to code them.

* The deficits are reduced with contextual helping information in the codification and recuperation.


Semantic MemorySemantic Memory

* Memory of dissociated facts of when and where. * Memory of dissociated facts of when and where.

* Scarce deterioriation with age, although there are some deficits: faults in finding words and forgetting names.

* Compensate these deficits with a better accumulated knowledge.

•Importance of the specificity of the material to remember: episodic= specificity semantic= no specificity

* Forgetting the source


Prospective MemoryProspective Memory* Remember to carry out planned actions

* Better results with older people in daily situations (More motivated? Better strategies?)

*In the lab:

* Older people better with external cues

*Younger better with internal cues


Other MemoriesOther Memories

Procedural MemoryProcedural Memory

Not affected with ageNot affected with age

Remote MemoryRemote Memory

Episodic or semantic?

The remember developed facts well, and from the period of 10-30 years of age.

They remember autobiographical and remote public facts worse.

Implicit and Explicit MemoryImplicit and Explicit Memory

Explicit deteriorates more


Longitudinal Studies (Victoria y Betula)Longitudinal Studies (Victoria y Betula)

Semantic MemorySemantic Memory

Worsens with age. Young generations have worse efficiency, which can hide Worsens with age. Young generations have worse efficiency, which can hide the decline with age. the decline with age.

The differences between seniors and youth are due to education level, not The differences between seniors and youth are due to education level, not to age. to age.


Worse memory of names, faces and words, but not of texts.

Implicit Memory Implicit Memory preserved

Prospective MemoryProspective Memory: Worsens with age


Longitudinal StudiesLongitudinal StudiesDecrease in


Prospective MemoryProspective Memory

Preserve the capacities of

Divided AttentionDivided Attention


CONCLUSIONSCONCLUSIONS Changes related to age exist in memory and attention

MULTIDIRECCIONALITY: stability and decline that increase after 75 years

Important INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES

Information Processing: Information Processing: Role of educationRole of education

Lower education level Faster memory deterioration and lower verbal abilities

EDUCATION MEMORY

SOCIO-EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE HEALTHY HABITS

Information Processing: Information Processing: Role of educationRole of education

Cognitive ReserveCognitive Reserve

* Different neuronal circuits participate en the execution of the same work with or without education. *This is why dementia is detected later. *Formal education is less important than rich cognitive experience.

Models of stages: Models of stages: Postformal ThoughtPostformal Thought

* Criticisms of postformal thought as a goal of development

Decrements with age in the capacity to resolve formal work.

Formal works do not relate to daily problems.

Ignorance of contextual and emotional aspects.

Models of Stages: Models of Stages: Postformal ThoughtPostformal Thought

Caracteristics of postformal thought

Surges in the middle age with experience

Qualitatively different from formal: integrates logical and analitical reasoning with intuition

There is no uniform conception of postformal though

More interpretive and relativistic

Multicausality and multiple solutions

Models of Stages: Models of Stages: Postformal ThoughtPostformal Thought

Caracteristics of postformal thought

Admits contradiction as a basic aspect of reality

Dialectic reasoning: capacity to integrate contradictory information

Finds new problems

Is pragmatic and permits better resolving social dilemmas

Find the key elements of an ambiguous and poorly-defined problem

WisdomWisdom

• Forgotten and barely studied aspect of development

• Exceptional comprehension based in experience (cognitive pragmatics)

• Mastery en pragmatic themes of life (planning, control, vital or sensorial revision)

• Related to age

• Erikson (cognitive development – socio-emotional development)

WisdomWisdom

Criteria (Baltes)

1.Extensive declarative knowledge about life (know what)

2.Extensive practical knowledge about life (know how)

3.Understanding the life as a collection of interrelated contexts and changes throughout life

4.Cultural relativism although there are universal values

5.5.Metaknowledge Metaknowledge (fallibility, relativism, uncertainty)

WisdomWisdom

Responsible Factors

1.Context and favorable environments/experiences (cultural level, profession as an educator or directing others, …)

2.Experience in planning, management and vital revision as a resolution of problems, to be a mentor or advisor, motivation for human themes or an impulse to better and personal excellence

3.3. Personal disposition Personal disposition like creativity, intelligence, flexibility, open to new experiences

WisdomWisdom

Evaluated with moral dilemmas like the following:

“A good friend calls and says they are going to commit suicide: What should you do and take into account?”

Only 5% of people appear wise.

This percentage is maintained through generations (perhaps you are wise en aspects relative to your generation and moment in life)

The number of wise answers increases with clinical psychologists or when they are resolved en groups.

WisdomWisdom

Criticism of the Baltes Model and the Vision of Ardelt Baltes is too cognitive, 3 components are necessary1.1.Cognitive component Cognitive component similar to that of Baltes2.Reflexive component – to transcend your own point of view y take others into account, this requires self-consciousness 3.3.Affective component Affective component or to sympathize and love others, and to want common wellbeing

- Similar to Erikson’s idea of wisdom of integriy – related with self-esteem and wellbeing

Creativity

• Divergent thought – alternate solutions Divergent thought – alternate solutions

• Reaches the best level between 35-45 yearsReaches the best level between 35-45 years

• Different curves in distinct areas: Different curves in distinct areas:

• Math, physics, poetry at 20 yearsMath, physics, poetry at 20 years

• Philosophy , history, literature at 50 years Philosophy , history, literature at 50 years

* The song of the poet (El canto de cisne)* The song of the poet (El canto de cisne)

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Cognitive Development in Adulthood and Old Age