CHP 18: COGNITIVE DEVT IN LATE ADULTHOOD

Cognitive Functioning in OA
-multidimensionality & multidirectionality
-education, work, health
-use it or lose it
-training cognitive skills
-cognitive neuroscience & aging
Language Devt
Works & Retirement
-work
-retirement
-adjustment in retirement
Mental Health
-depression
-dementia, alzheimers, other afflictions
-fear of victimisation, crime, elder maltreatment
Religion

Key terms
cognitive mechanics
cognitive pragmatics
selective attention
divided attention
sustained attention
episodic memory
semantic memory
explicit memory
implicit memory
source memory
prospective memory
wisdom
major depression
dementia
Alzheimers
Multi-infract dementia
Parkinson disease

COGNITIVE FUNCTIONING IN OLDER ADULTS

- Multidimensionality & Multidirectionality some dimensions might decline, others
might remain stable or improve
Cognitive Mechanics hardware of mind & reflect near physiological architecture
of brain developed via evolution
- Components: speed & accuracy of processes involved in sensory input, attention,
visual & motor memory, discrimination, comparison, and categorisation
- This likely DECLINES with aging bc of strong influence of biology, heredity,
health on cognitive mechanics
Cognitive Pragmatics culture-based software programs of the mind.
- includes: reading & writing skills, language comprehension, educational
qualifications, professional skills, & type of knowledge abt self & life skills
that help us to master/ cope with life.
- Improvement into old age is possible bc of strong influence of culture
Speed of Processing
- decline likely due to decline in functioning of brain & central nervous system
- Health & exercise may influence how much decline in processing speed occurs
Attention

- Selective attention focusing on a specific aspect of exp. that is relevant

while ignoring others that are irrelevant
OA are less adept at selective attention;
age differences are minimal who individuals are given sufficient practice
- Divided attention concentrating on more than one activity at the same time
The more difficult the competing tasks;the less effective OA divides attention
- Minimal or nonexistent age differences with easy tasks
Placing more demands on attention of OA = poor performance
- Sustained attention focused & extended engagement on something; aka vigilance
Performance dropped & less effective decision making, the more complex
vigilance task
Memory - it changes during aging but not all memory changes w age in same way
- Episodic memory retention of info abt where & when of lifes happenings
Aging linked to difficult in retrieval of episodic info, facts, events.
The older the memory, the less accurate it is.
- Semantic memory - persons knowledge abt world. (includes: persons field of
expertise, general academic knowledge learned in school, everyday knowledge
Independent of an persons personal identity with past
Takes longer to retrieve semantic info, but they usually can retrieve it.
- There is a usually a decline in retrieval of very specific info
Episodic
memory declines more than semantic memory

CHP 18: COGNITIVE DEVT IN LATE ADULTHOOD

Tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) Phenomenon common memory prob in OA; in which

individuals cant retrieve familiar info but has a feeling that they should be
able to retrieve it
- Cognitive Resources: Working Memory & Perceptual Speed
Working memory mental workbench that allows individuals to manipulate &
assemble info when making decisions, solving probs, comprehending written &
spoken language; linked to short-term memory but places more emphasis on memory
as a place for mental work
- Decline in working memory in OA focuses on their less efficient inhibition in
preventing irrelevant info from entering working memory & their increased
distractibility
Perceptual
Speed ability to perform simple perceptual-motor tasks

- Shows considerable decline in OA linked to decline in working memory

- Explicit & Implicit Memory
Explicit Memory aka declarative memory
- memory of facts & experiences that individuals consciously know & can state
Implicit Memory memory w/o conscious recollection
- involves skills & routines that are automatically performed
- Less likely to be affected by aging than explicit memory
- Source memory ability to remember where one learned something.
Failures in source memory increases with age; as people get older. they get
more selective in how they use their resources
- Prospective Memory remembering to do something in the future
in real life settings, OAs prospective memory is better than younger adults
- Beliefs, Expectations, and Feelings
OAs beliefs & expectancies abt memory play a role in actual memory
- OAs (+)/(-) beliefs/ expectancies abt memory skills are related to their
actual memory performance
Attitudes
& feelings matter

- Individuals w/ low anxiety & high self-efficacy re: memory skills in everyday
contexts had better memory performance
- Non-cognitive factors: health, education, and socioeconomic status
- Conclusions abt Memory & Aging
Decline occurs primarily in episodic & working memory
Decline in perceptual speed is assoc. w memory decline
Successful aging= reducing & adapting memory decline
Decision Making
- older adults presence decision making skills reasonable well although age-related
decrease in memory will impair decision making. However, OA performed well when
decision making is not constrained by time pressures & when the decision is
meaningful to them
Wisdom expert knowledge abt practical aspects of life that permits excellent
judgement abt important matters
- wisdom revealed OA engaged in higher-order reasoning in social conflicts than
younger adults
The higher order reasoning activities: multiple perspectives, allowance for
compromise, recognising limits of ones knowledge
- High levels of wisdom are rare it requires practice, experience, or complex
skills
- Time from of late adolescence & early adulthood is main age window for wisdom to
emerge
- Factors other than age are critical for wisdom to develop life exp., having
wisdom-enhancing mentors, contribute to higher levels of wisdom,
people high in wisdom have values that consider welfare of there than self
- Personality-Related factors (openness to exp, generativity, creativity) are
better predictors of wisdom than cognitive factors (intelligence)
- Practical knowledge abt realities of life is also needed for wisdom

CHP 18: COGNITIVE DEVT IN LATE ADULTHOOD

- Education, Work, and Health impt influences on cognitive functioning of OA

Education
Work
Health
- aerobic exercise improved memory & reasoning
- Mental health can influence cognitive functioning
- Terminal Decline changes in cognitive functioning may be linked more to
distance from death or cognition-related pathology than to distance from both

- inconsistency in speed of precession was an early marker of impeding death

- Use it or Lose it
those who engage in cognitive activities esp challenging ones have higher cognitive
functioning compared to those who don't

- Training Cognitive Skills

Training can improve cognitive skills of OA but there is some loss in plasticity in
late adulthood, esp in oldest-old (85 years and older)
Mindfulness involves generating new ideas, being open to new info, being aware of
multiple perspectives
Cognitive vitality of OA can be improves via cognitive & physical fitness training
- Cognitive Neuroscience and Aging
Cognitive Neuroscience studies links bet brain & cognitive functioning
- relies on brain imaging techniques (fMRI, PET, DTI)
Findings

- Neural circuits in specific regions of brains prefrontal cortex decline = poorer

performance on complex reasoning tasks, working memory, episodic memory tasks
- OA more likely to use both hemispheres of brain to compensate for aging declines
in attention, memory , and language
- Functioning of hippocampus declines
- Patterns of neural decline w aging are larger for retrieval than encoding
- OA show greater activity in frontal & parietal regions in tasks that require
cognitive control processes (ex. attention)
- Younger adults have better connectivity bet. brain regions
- An increasing # of cognitive & fitness training studies include brain imaging
techniques (fMRI) to assess results of such training on brain functioning
Neurocogntive scaffolding view of connections bet aging brain & cognition (Park &
Reuter-Lorenz)
- increased activation in prefrontal cortex w aging reflects an adaptive brain that
is compensating to the challenges of declining neural structures & function &
declines in carious aspects of cognition
- Scaffolding involves use of complementary neural circuits to protect cognitive
functioning in an aging brain

WORK & RETIREMENT

- Work
Characteristics related to continued employment in old age: good health, strong
psychological commitment to work, distant for retirement
- positively correlated to educational attainment & marriage to working wife
Those with high cognitive ability likely continue to work as OA & when they work in
substantively complex jobs, their intellectual functioning is enhanced
- Adjustment to Retirement
Retirement is a process, not an event.
OA that adjust well to retirement are: healthy, have adequate income, better
educated, have extended social network, active, satisfied w life before retiring
Key factor to good adjustment: Flexibility
- they need to be flexible & discover & pursue own interests. Cultivating interests
& friends unrelated to work improves adaptation to retirement
Planning
& then successfully carrying out plan are important aspects of adjusting

well in retirement

CHP 18: COGNITIVE DEVT IN LATE ADULTHOOD

MENTAL HEALTH OA do not have higher incident of mental disorders than YA

- Depression
Major Depression aka common cold of mental disorders:
- mood disorder in which individual is deeply unhappy, demoralised, selfderogatory, and bored. The person does not feel well, loses stamina easily, poor
appetite, listless, & unmotivated
- less common in OA
- Depressive symptoms increase in oldest-old (85 years and older) increase is
assoc w higher percentage of women , more physical disability, more cognitive
impairment, low SES
- Most common predictors of depression in OA: poor health, disability, loss events,
low social support, insomnia
- Curtailment of daily activities (often followed by increase in self-critical
thinking) is common pathway to late-life depression
- Treatable combination of meds & psychotherapy; engagement in valued activities
& religious/spiritual involvement; life review/reminisce therapy
- can result in not only sadness but also suicidal tendencies
- Dementia global term for any neurological disorder in which primary symptoms
involve deterioration of mental functioning
often lose ability to care for selves & recognise familiar surroundings & people
- Alzheimers Disease form of dementia a progressive, irreversible brain disorder
characterised by a gradual deterioration of memory, reasoning, language, & eventually
physical function
Women are likely to develop this bc they live longer (longer life expectancy
increases # of yrs they can develop the disease)
Early onset (younger than 65 years of age) this is rare & gen. affects 30-60 yrs of
age
Late onset (65 years & older
Once destruction of brain tissue occurs, it is unlikely that effective treatment of
the disease will reverse the damage
involved deficiency in important brain chemical acetylcholine plays impt role in
memory
As disease progresses, brain shrinks & deteriorates
- deterioration is characterised by formation of amyloid plaques (dense deposits of
protein that accumulate in blood vessels) and neurofibrillary tangles (twisted
fibres that build up in neurons)
Oxidative stress may play a role in Alzheimers
- Oxidative stress occurs when bodys antioxidant defences dont cope with freeradical attacks and oxidation in the body
Age is an important risk factor & genes likely play a role
- apoliproprotein E (apoE), a gene which is linked to increasing presence of
plaques and tangles in brain
Early Detection & Alzheimers
- Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) represents transitional state bet cognitive
changes of normal aging and very early Alzheimers & other dementias
risk factor for Alzheimers
- If scans show that certain brain regions involved in memory are smaller than
those of individuals without memory impairment, the individual is likely to
progress to Alzheimers
Drug Treatment
- cholinerase inhibitors designed to improve memory & other cognitive functions
by increasing levels of acetylcholine in brain
- no drugs have been approved for treatment of MCI
Care
- Respite Care services that provide temporary relief for those who are caring
for individuals w disabilities, illnesses or elderly

CHP 18: COGNITIVE DEVT IN LATE ADULTHOOD

- Multi-Infract Dementia

sporadic & progressive loss of intellectual functioning

cause by repeated temporary obstruction of blood flow in cerebral arteries
result series of mini strokes
Infarct temporary obstruction of blood vessels
more common amon men with history of high blood pressure
Many recover from this, after each occurrence there is usually a quick recovery
although each succeeding occurrence is more damaging
Symptoms:
- confusion
- slurring of speech
- writing impairment
- numbness on one side of face, arm, or leg
exercise,
improved diet, appropriate drugs to slow/ stop progress of underlying

vascular disease
Parkinson Disease dementia chronic, progressive disease characterised by muscle
tremors, slowing of movement, partial face paralysis
triggered by degeneration of dopamine-producing neurons in brain
- Dopamine is a neurotransmitter necessary for normal brain function
Main
treatment: Drugs that enhance effect of Dopamine

- Dopamine agonists in earlier stages then L-Dopa (drug) which is converted by

brain into dopamine
Treatment:
Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) implantation of electrodes within the

brain; electrodes are them stimulated by a pacemaker-like device

FEAR OF VICTIMIZATION, CRIME, & ELDER MALTREATMENT

physical decline & limitation contribute to sense of vulnerability & fear
Older adults are most often abused by their spouses
OA can exp. institutional abuse mistreatment of OA in living facilities
RELIGION
provides important psychological needs, helping face impending death, find & maintain
sense of meaningfulness & significance in life, accept inevitable losses
It is possible that prayer & meditation lowers the incidence of death bc it reduces
stress & dampens bodys prod. of stress hormones (adrenaline)
decrease in stress hormones linkes to stronger immune system