Download ppt - Chapter 19 Cognitive Development in Late Adulthood

Chapter 19

Cognitive Development in Late Adulthood

Black Hawk College Chapter 192

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The Multidimensional, Multidirectional Nature of Cognition Cognitive Mechanics Cognitive Pragmatics Sensory/Motor and Speed of

Processing Dimensions Memory Wisdom


Cognitive Mechanics The hardware of the mind; reflect the

neurophysiological architecture of the brain developed through evolution.

Involve the speed and accuracy of the processes involving sensory input, visual and motor memory, discrimination, comparison, and categorization.

Due to the strong influence of biology, heredity, and health on cognitive mechanics, their decline with age is likely.


Cognitive Pragmatics The culture-based software programs of the

mind. Include reading and writing skills, language

comprehension, educational qualifications, professional skills, and also the type of knowledge about the self and life skills that help us to master or cope with life.

Because of the strong influence of culture on cognitive pragmatics, their improvement into old age is possible.


Sensory/Motor and Speed of Processing Dimensions The speed of processing information declines

in late adulthood. There is, however, considerable individual

variation in this ability. It is not clear that this slowdown affects our

lives in substantial ways. Studies indicate we may engage in

compensatory behaviors, so as to not be hindered by the slowdown.


Memory Episodic Memory Semantic Memory Cognitive Resources: Working Memory

and Perceptual Speed Explicit and Implicit Memory Memory Beliefs Noncognitive Factors Conclusions about Memory and Aging


Episodic Memory The retention of information about the where

and when of life’s happenings. Younger adults have better episodic memory

than older adults, even though older adults think that they can remember older events better than more recent events.

Researchers have consistently found that in older adults the older the memory, the less accurate it is.


Semantic Memory A person’s knowledge about the world. It includes a person’s fields of expertise,

general academic knowledge of the sort learned in school, and “everyday knowledge.”

Semantic memory appears to be independent of an individual’s personal identity with the past.

For the most part, episodic memory declines more in older adults than semantic memory.


Cognitive Resources: Working Memory and Perceptual Speed Working memory is the concept currently

used to describe short-term memory as a place for mental work.

Perceptual speed is the ability to perform simple perceptual-motor tasks such as deciding whether pairs of two-digit or two-letter strings are the same or different.

Researchers have found declines in working memory and perceptual speed during the late adulthood years.


Explicit and Implicit Memory Explicit or declarative memory - memory of

facts and experiences that individuals consciously know and can state.

Implicit memory - memory without conscious recollection; it involves skills and routine procedures that are automatically performed.

Implicit memory is less likely to be adversely affected by aging than explicit memory.


Memory Beliefs Research shows that people’s beliefs about

memory play an important role in their actual memory.

What people tell themselves about their ability to remember matters.

Findings have shown a relationship between positive and negative beliefs about one’s memory and actual memory performance.


Noncognitive Factors Health, education, and SES can influence an

older adult’s performance on memory tasks. Positive aspects of these noncognitive factors

are associated less with memory decline; they do not eliminate it.

Researchers have found that using more everyday life memory tasks in their studies reduces age decrements in memory but does not eliminate them.


Conclusions about Memory and Aging Some, but not all, aspects of memory decline

in older adults. The decline occurs primarily in episodic and

working memory, not in semantic memory. A decline in perceptual speed is associated

with memory decline. Successful aging does not mean eliminating

memory decline, but reducing it and adapting to it.


Wisdom Expert knowledge about the practical

aspects of life that permits excellent judgement about important matters.

Focuses on life’s pragmatic concerns and human conditions.

Research shows no age differences in wisdom.


Wisdom Wisdom involves solving practical

problems. Research indicates that older adults are

quite competent in problem solving with regard to everyday types of situations.


Education: Links to Cognitive Functioning

More older adults are returning to college today to further their education.

Educational experiences are positively correlated with scores on intelligence tests and information processing tasks, such as memory.

Older adults seek more education to: remain competitive in the workforce learn about societal and technological changes enhance their self-discovery


Work: Links to Cognitive Functioning Successive generations have had work

experiences that include a stronger emphasis on cognitive-oriented labor.

The increased emphasis on information processing jobs likely enhances an individual’s intellectual abilities.


Work: Links to Cognitive Functioning One recent study linked substantive

complex work with higher intellectual functioning in older adults.

Exposure to complex environments increases intellectual functioning throughout the life course.


Health: Links to Cognitive Functioning In a recent study, physical health and

physical activity were positively related to cognitive performance in older adults.

K. Warner Schaie concluded that some diseases are linked to cognitive dropoffs, most likely due to the lifestyles of the individuals with diseases.


Health: Links to Cognitive Functioning Overeating, inactivity, and stress are

related to both physical and mental decay.

Walking or any other aerobic exercise appears to get blood and oxygen pumping to the brain, which may help people think more clearly.


The Terminal Drop Hypothesis The terminal drop hypothesis states that

death is preceded by a decrease in cognitive functioning over approximately a 5-year period prior to death.

Thus the negative findings for older adults in some investigations that compare older adults with younger adults may be due in part to age from death rather than simply age from birth.


Use It or Lose It Possibly changes in cognitive activity patterns

result in disuse and consequent atrophy of cognitive skills.

In the Victoria Longitudinal Study, when middle-aged and older adults participated in intellectually engaging activities it served to buffer them against cognitive decline.

The mental activities that likely benefit the maintenance of cognitive skills in older adults are reading books, doing crossword puzzles, and going to lectures and concerts.


Training Cognitive Skills

Two main conclusions from research in this area: There is plasticity, and training can improve the

cognitive skills of many older adults. There is some loss in plasticity in late adulthood.

Mnemonics can be used to improve older adults’ cognitive skills.

A recent study demonstrated that cognitive training helped to remediate cognitive decline in elderly adults and enhanced the performance of individuals who were not showing decline.


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Work

In men, good health, a strong psychological commitment to work, and a distaste for retirement were the most important characteristics related to continued employment into old age.

An increasing number of middle-aged and older adults are embarking on a second or third career.


Work

Working affords opportunities for productive activity, social interaction, and a positive identity.

Cognitive ability is one of the best predictors of job performance in the elderly.


Retirement in the United States

In a recent survey, 80% of baby boomers said that they expect to work during the retirement years.

This is primarily due to their desire to work for interest or enjoyment, followed by income, and the desire to start a business.

In 1986, Congress voted to ban mandatory retirement for all but a few occupations.

This enables older workers to decide on their own when to retire rather than be forced into it.


Retirement in Other Countries

In many European countries, officials have experimented with various financial inducements designed to reduce or control unemployment by encouraging the retirement of older workers.

However, in the Netherlands, there is an effort to recruit retired persons to reenter the workforce because of low unemployment in the country.


Adjustment to Retirement Older adults who are healthy, have

adequate income, are active, are better educated, and have extended social networks adjust better to retirement.

Cultivating interests and friends unrelated to work improves adaptation to retirement.


Adjustment to Retirement It is important to plan financially for

retirement, and to consider other areas of your life as well.

Individuals who retire involuntarily are more unhealthy, depressed, and poorly adjusted than those who retire voluntarily.


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The Nature of Mental Health in Older Adults

Mental disorders make individuals increasingly dependent on the help and care of others.

The cost of mental health disorders in older adults is estimated at more than $40 billion per year in the U.S.

Although mental disorders in older adults are a major concern, they do not have a higher incidence of mental disorders than younger adults.


Depression

Major depression is a mood disorder in which the individual is deeply unhappy, demoralized, self-derogatory, and bored.

The individual with major depression does not feel well, loses stamina easily, has a poor appetite, and is listless and unmotivated.

It can result in suicidal tendencies, as nearly 25% of individuals who commit suicide in the U.S. are 65 years of age or older.

Depression is a treatable condition.


Dementia

The Basics of DementiaAlzheimer’s DiseaseMulti-Infarct DementiaParkinson’s Disease


The Basics of Dementia Dementia is a global term for any

neurological disorder in which the primary symptoms involve a deterioration of mental functioning.

Individuals with dementia often lose the ability to care for themselves and may lose the ability to recognize familiar surroundings and people.


The Basics of Dementia Over seventy types or causes of

dementia have been identified. It is estimated that 20% of individuals

over the age of 80 have dementia.


Alzheimer’s Disease

About Alzheimer’s Disease Causes and Treatments Tangles and Plaques Early Detection of Alzheimer’s Disease Stages Caring for Individuals with Alzheimer’s

Disease


About Alzheimer’s Disease The most common form of dementia. It is a progressive, irreversible disorder that is

characterized by gradual deterioration of memory, reasoning, language, and eventually physical functioning.

As Alzheimer’s disease progresses, deterioration and shrinking of the brain occurs.

Approximately 2.5 million people over the age of 65 in the U.S. have Alzheimer’s disease.


Causes and Treatments Efforts to identify the cause of Alzheimer’s

have not yet been successful. What scientists now believe is that

Alzheimer’s disease is a complex unraveling of neural structure and function that likely involves many different molecular and cellular dimensions.


Causes and Treatments The disease involves a deficiency in

acetylcholine, which plays an important role in memory.

The main drug used to treat Alzheimer’s disease works by blocking chemicals that ordinarily cut acetylcholine apart.


Tangles and Plaques Tangles - tied bundles of protein that impair

the functioning of neurons. Plaques - deposits that accumulate in the

brain’s blood vessels. Tangle and plaque formation are a normal

part of aging; however, they are much more pervasive in Alzheimer’s patients.

Alzheimer’s disease may have a genetic basis in some individuals.


Early Detection of Alzheimer’s Disease Brain scans such as an MRI (magnetic

resonance imaging) can detect changes in the brain that are fairly typical of early Alzheimer’s disease even before symptoms develop.

Certain spinal fluids give reasonably good clues of early signals of Alzheimer’s disease.

Recently a sophisticated urine test called the neural thread protein has predicted the occurrence of Alzheimer’s in some individuals 2 years before the symptoms appear.


Stages There is a predictable, progressive decline in

physical, cognitive, and social functioning when individuals have Alzheimer’s disease.

Once diagnosed, most patients live approximately 8 years.

They progress from early problems of memory loss and declining intellectual function to later stages in which hospitalization in a near vegetative state ensues.


Caring for Individuals with Alzheimer’s Disease Psychologists believe the family can be an

important support system for Alzheimer’s patients.

However, family support can have costs for the family, who can become emotionally drained by the extensive care required for a person with Alzheimer’s disease.

Depression has been reported in 50% of family caregivers for Alzheimer’s patients.

Respite care has been developed to help people who care for Alzheimer’s patients.


Multi-Infarct Dementia Involves a sporadic and progressive loss of

intellectual functioning caused by repeated temporary obstruction of blood flow in cerebral arteries.

The result is a series of mini-strokes which the individual usually recovers from quickly.

Symptoms include confusion, slurring of speech, writing impairment, and numbness on one side of the face, arm, or leg.

Approximately 35-50% of people who have these attacks will have a major stroke within 5 years unless the underlying problems are treated.


Parkinson’s Disease Parkinson’s disease is a chronic,

progressive disease characterized by muscle tremors, slowing of movement, and partial facial paralysis.

It is triggered by degeneration of dopamine-producing neurons in the brain.


Parkinson’s Disease Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that is

necessary for normal brain functioning. Why the degeneration of the production

of dopamine occurs is not known. A drug called l-dopa is the main

treatment of Parkinson’s disease.


Fear of Victimization and Crime Some of the physical decline and

limitations that characterize development in late adulthood contribute to a sense of vulnerability and fear among older adults.

Almost one-fourth of older adults say they have a basic fear of being the victim of a crime.


Fear of Victimization and Crime They are, however, less likely than

younger adults to be the victim of a crime.

Fear of crime may become a deterrent to travel, attendance at social events, and the pursuit of an active lifestyle.


Elder Maltreatment

Elder maltreatment is primarily carried out by family members.

The perpetrators are most likely to be male spouses.

It can involve neglect or physical abuse. Elderly women also are more likely to

experience property damage and robbery. In these cases, though, the perpetrator is most

likely to be a young male unrelated to the victim.


Meeting the Mental Health Needs of Older Adults Some common mechanisms of change that improve

the mental health of older adults are: fostering a sense of control, self-efficacy, and hope establishing a relationship with a helper providing or elucidating a sense of meaning promoting educative activities and development of skills

Psychologists must be encouraged to include more older adults in their client lists.

The elderly must be convinced that they can benefit from therapy.

Mental health care must be made affordable.


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Religious Involvement Older women have been found to have a

stronger interest in religion than older men. Individuals over 65 have reported being more

likely than younger people to claim religious faith as the most significant influence in their lives, that they try to put religious faith into practice, and that they attend religious services.

Older adults have also been found to have a stronger interest in spirituality and to pray more than younger adults.


Benefits of Religious Involvement In one study of 836 older persons, religious

practices and religious feelings were associated with a sense of well-being, especially for those over 75.

Another study revealed that older adults’ self-esteem was highest when they had a strong religious commitment.

Religion can help older adults face impending death, find and maintain a sense of meaningfulness and significance in life, and accept inevitable losses of old age.


Religion and Longevity A recent study showed that individuals who

said they rarely or never prayed had about a 50% greater risk of dying during the 6-year study compared with their counterparts who prayed or meditated at least once a month.

Possibly the lower incidence of death in these individuals occurred because prayer and meditation reduce stress and dampen the body’s production of stress hormones.