COGNITIVE CHANGES WITH AGING

1
COGNITIVE CHANGES WITH AGING
2
Intelligence and Aging

• Intelligence
• the theoretical limit of an individuals
  performance
• Intelligence Quotient (IQ)
• an individuals relative abilities in making
  judgments, in comprehension, and in reasoning

3
A Three Dimensional Model of Intellect
Source J. P. Gulliford, The nature of human
intelligence (New York McGraw-Hill, 1967) and
J. P. Gulliford, Way beyond the IQ (Buffalo, NY
Creative Education Foundation, 1977). Reprinted
by permission of the author, McGraw-Hill, and the
Creative Education Foundation
4
Age-Related Changes in Intelligence

• Peak Performance varies by test
• Performance on timed tests declines
• Performance on non-timed test remains stable
  until the 80s
• People rarely decline in all five PMAs
• High scorers continue to do well even among
  oldest-old
• Declines in tests of fluid intelligence begin
  earlier than in crystallized intelligence

5
Factors that May Influence Intelligence in
Adulthood

• Biological/Structural changes in the brain
• Educational attainment
• Involvement in complex work
• Cardiovascular disease
• Hypertension
• Sensory deficits
• Occupational level
• Nutritional deficiencies

6
Proportion of Individuals Who Maintain Scores on
Multiple Abilities
Source Schale, K. W., the hazards of cognitive
aging. The Gerontologist, 1989, 29, 484-493.
Reprinted with permission.
7
The Process of Learning and Memory

• Learning
• The process by which new information is encoded
• Memory
• Secondary (long-term) memory
• permanent memory store
• Ionic and echoic memory
• Primary (working) memory
• Temporary stage of holding information

8
The Information Processing Model

• Information Processing Model
• a conceptual model of how learning and memory
  take place
• Aging appears to reduce the efficiency of
  processing information.
• Aging does not influence the storage capacity of
  memory.

9
Schematic Representation of the Information
Processing Model
10
Types of Memory
Episodic Memory
Explicit Memory
Flashbulb Memory
Implicit Memory
Procedural Memory
Semantic Memory
Source Memory
11
Factors that Affect Learning in Old Age

• The Importance of Attention
• Selective attention
• being able to focus on relevant information while
  ignoring irrelevant information
• Sustained attention
• keeping alert to focus on a specific stimulus
  over time
• Attentional control
• ability to allocate ones attention among
  multiple stimuli simultaneously

12
Age-Related Changes in Memory

• Types of retrieval
• Recall and Recognition
• Explanations of older adults difficulties with
  retrieving information
• Disuse theory
• the view that memory fades or is lost because one
  fails to use the information
• Interference theory
• the view that memory fades or is lost because of
  distractions experienced during learning

13
Age-Related Changes in Memory

• Tip-of-the-Tongue States (TOTs)
• difficulty retrieving names from secondary memory
  but often spontaneously recalled later
• Explanations of the increase of TOTs
• Decrement model
• Incremental knowledge gain

14
Improving Cognitive Abilities in Old Age

• Cognitive Retraining
• teaching research participants how to use various
  techniques to keep their minds active and
  maintain good memory skills
• Memory Mediators
• visual and verbal links between information to be
  memorized and information that is already in
  secondary memory

15
Wisdom and Creativity

• Wisdom
• Criteria of wise behavior
• Factual knowledge
• Procedural knowledge
• Lifespan contextualism
• Value relativism
• Managing uncertainty

• Creativity
• Ability to apply unique feasible solutions to
  new situations
• Measures of creativity
• Divergent thinking