Studied by 0 people
Looks like no one added any tags here yet for you.
processing speed
amount of time it takes for an individual to analyse incoming information from the sense, formulate decisions and prepare a response on the basis of that analysis
reaction time
most basic measure of processing speed
what does researchers know with certainty about reaction time
reaction time for younger adults will be lower than when the individual is older
what are the 2 hypothesis that explain why reaction times slow as people age
general slowing hypothesis
age complexity hypothesis
general slowing hypothesis (GSH)
increase in reaction time that reflects a decline of information processing speed within the nervous system
age complexity hypothesis
proposes that through slowing of central processes in the nervous system, older adults perform more poorly as the tasks become more complex and their processing resources are more to their limit
what is the age complexity hypothesis reflected in
brinley plot
what is plotted against each other on the brinley plot
reaction times of older groups of adults plotted against the times of younger adults
what are older and young adults similar in on the brinley plot
similar performance when the tasks are relatively easy
what are older and young adults different in on the brinley plot
tasks that take longer for young adults to complete, older adults take even longer
what is the GSH consistent with
it is consistent with a large body of data on reaction time performance in adulthood
what does the GSH not identify
it does not identify any component of information processing as the cause for age differences in reaction time
what assumption does GSH have
assumption that the slowing reflects lack of efficiency in the central rather than the peripheral nervous system
attention
ability to focus or concentrate on a portion of experience while ignoring other features of that experience, to be able to shift focus and to be able to coordinate information from multiple sources
attention deficit disorder
people who may have difficulty learning new information or performing more than one task at a time
what are the 4 types of attentional tasks
visual search tasks
simple visual search
conjunction visual
sustained attention task
visual search tasks
requires the observer locate a specific target among a set of distractors
simple visual search
the target differs from the other stimuli by only one feature
conjunction visual search
the target differs from the distractors in more than one way
sustained attention task
participants must respond when they see a particular target appear out of a continuous stream of stimuli
what do researchers propose that simple visual search rely on
it relies on parallel processing
what is parallel processing
ability to scane the whole array at once just by looking for the one feature that matches the target
what are the age differences for simple visual search
both age groups perform at similarly high levels
what do researchers propose that conjunction search rely on
it relies on the more time consuming task of serial processing
why does conjunction search rely on more time consuming task of serial processing
because each stimulus must be examined in sequence to determine whether it has all the qualities of the target
the larger the number of stimuli to scan, the longer the participant will take to decide if target is present
what are the age differences for conjunction search
both age groups perform less efficiently than simple search tasks
but the cost to performance is higher for older adults
why is it harder for older adults for conjunction search
because they require more eye movments while processing the stimuli
what do older adults benefit from (2)
compared to younger adults, they benefit from background cues
they also benefit from training that gives them practice and guidance
what is the price ppl pay when multitasking
the quality of their performance
does the disadvantages of multitasking increase or decrease
it increases progressively in older age groups
inhibitory control
older adults having difficulty turning off one response while performing another
what test is good for testing inhibitory attention
stroop test
what do people with good inhibitory control do in the stroop test
they can state the colour name without being distracted by colour of letters
what are the age differences in sustained attention task
older adults have more difficulty than younger adults
why is it harder for older adults for sustained attention task
because they take longer to shift their focus from trial to trial
what can older adults remember in attention tasks
they can remember the location of an item presented in a visual display and may be even more efficient in this task than younger adults despite being processing information slower
how else can attention be preserved in older adults
practicing can help activate different areas of the brain that can improve their performance
what are the 2 theories of attention and aging
attentional resources theory
inhibitory deficit hypothesis
attentional resources theory (ART)
regards attention as a process reflecting the allocation of cognitive resources
idea that when we focus on an bject, we must dedicate a certain proportion of our mental operations
according to the ART, older adults..
they have greater difficulty on attentional tasks because they have less energy available for cognitive operations
inhibitory deficit hypothesis (IDH)
suggests that aging reduces the individual’s ability to inhibit or tune our irrelevant information
what does IDH imply
it implies that middle aged and older adults perform best when they have few distractions
what is one of the potential source of distraction
their concern over how they are performing may cause them to perform more poorly
the more they worry, the less able they are to concentrate on task
what do ppl who are more worried about aging of their cognitive abilities engage in
identity accommodation, process that contribute to power performance
what did more recent research suggest about IDH
that older adults are not entirely disadvantaged
how are older adults not disadvantaged for IDH (3)
they can benefit from practice
by activating their frontal lobes in a compensatory manner
if stimuli is presented in two modalities - capable of showing results similar to young adults
what can the deficits shown by older adults be explained by
their life time’s accumulation of knowledge
as they have more experience, they have more information to sort through when making a decision
rates for car crash
drivers who are age 70 and older have higher crash rates than middle aged drivers but these rates are lower than younger drivers
why do older adults do that make them avoid many car crashes (5)
ability to self regulate behaviours
avoid driving at night
self limit their driving if they become aware of limitations in their cognitive functioning
more concerned about unsafe drivers on the road
decade of experience
why are the number of older drivers continuing to grow
increased longevity of the baby boomer generation
research study on attitudes towards driving
older adults with attitudes that are more negative are more likely to restrict their driving
relationship between perceived health and self regulation of driving
older adults in poorer health have more negative attitudes towards driving and makes them more likely to self regulate their driving
working memory
keeps information temporarily avaliable and active in consciousness
what task is commonly used to test working memory
n back task
default network
circuit in the brain that is active when the brain is at rest while processing internal stimuli
what happens in tasks that involves working memory
other areas become activated and the default network becomes deactivated
what contributes to the age related changes in memory
the ability to deactivate the default network may contribute to poorer working memory performance
instead of focusing on information that needs to be remembered, they use their cognitive resources on inwardly oriented stimuli
which 5 components of long term memory declines with age
episodic memory
source memory
false memory
retrieval failure
prospective memory
which 4 components of long term memory does not declines with age
semantic memory
flashbulb memory
implicit memory
procedural memory
LTM
memory of past events held for long periods of time
episodic memory
long term memory for events
what do research suggests for episodic memory
it declines with age both in encoding and retrieving memory
age related damage to white matter may be associated with memory changes in these regions
scaffolding theory
older adults being able to recruit alternate neural circuits as needed by tasks to make up for losses somewhere else in the brain
working memory may decline but these declines can be circumvent by bringing compensatory mechanisms
remote memory
involves recall of information from the distant past
what is the myth that is not supported in remote memory
myth that older ppl can remember information from years ago better than recent information but no data supported
autobiographical memory
recall of information from own past
exception for remote memory
reminiscence bump
many ppl seem to experience a reminiscence bump of clear memories from ages 10 to 30 years
effect that is strong for happy memory
believe that these memories are preserved because they are central to identify
what happens to remote memories that are not personally relevant
they fade with the passage of time
flashbulb memory
recall of information and distinction events that stand out from other memories
what happens when older adults form flashbulb memory
the emotional meaning that makes them distinct can enhance their ability to recall the events
semantic memory
ability to recall word meanings and facts
no declines in normal older adults
procedural memory
recall of actions involved in a task
no decline and holds up well with age
what were the results on older adults and procedural memory (2)
not only did they show significant improvement in performance over a series of trials, they retained memory for the tasks for as long as two years with no decline in performance
they performed as well as younger adults
implicit memory
information that people acquire without the intention
is not affected by aging process
source memory
recall of where or how an individual acquires information
age differences in source memory
older adults seem to have difficulty on source memory tasks when asked to judge where they saw an item on previous occasion
what are older adults more susceptible to for source memory
false or illusory memories
what might the age differences in source memory be due to
the tendency for older adults to form more global memories, the gists which leaves them open to false memories
how can older adults overcome their susceptibility to false memory
using prompts can help serve to strengthen memory
prospective memory
recall of events to be performed in the future
declines with age
what are the age differences in prospective memory
older adults appear to have more prospective memory slips than younger adults
how can the difficulties in prospective memory affect older individual
impact their quality of life
retrieval induced forgetting
unable to remember information that you knew at one time
what are the age differences in retrieval induced forgetting
older adults are more susceptible than younger adults
what did the evidence on brain imaging from the retrieval induced forgetting suggest
area of the brain used for phonological production is subject to age related neural declines and might explain retrieval failure in older adults
what is one important influence on retrieval failure
frequency at which information is typically drawn upon for everyday use
when older adults must search through their large storage of names, it takes more time and effort and might not be able to produce a correct answer
what else plays a role on the influence on retrieval failure
education may help buffer against some of the face naming deficits associated with aging
what does the identity process model predict
predicts that concern about memory loss can lead to identity accommodation that turns into a self fulfilling prophecy
what did evidence suggest about middle aged adults and age related changes in memory
they were highly sensitive to age related changes in memory
memory self efficacy
form of self efficacy that refers to the confidence you have in your memory
how does having memory self efficacy affect performance
affects how well you perform as ppl who are less confidence will lead to a downwards decline
what did the longitudinal research on self efficacy show
individuals who had the belief that their memory had declined, showed poorer memory performance over the course of the study
what influence's an older individual’s identity and self efficacy
social attitudes towards aging
more likely to experience stereotype threat
what did the research on stereotype threat suggest
suggests that the older person’s self identification as old contributed to lower memory test score due to older adults being stereotyped as having poorer memories
why is it difficult to overcome stereotype threat
difficult to resist the essentialist views of aging as involving inevitable memory decline
how does identification with negative images of aging interferes with memory performances in older adults
lowering their feelings of self efficacy
they become les able to take advantage of strategies, systematic procedures designed to enhance memory
when is the stereotype threat more pronounced
more pronounced when stereotype threat is invoked prior to the retrieval phase of memory rather than prior to encoding
true or false, ppl vary in the way they respond to stereotype threat
true, sometimes older participants are the least affect by stereotype threat
what happens if older adults are encouraged to view aging from a positive perspective
their memory performance is enhanced, even in those who feel negatively about getting older
memory controllability
beliefs about the effects of the aging process on memory w
Note 
Flashcard (132)