Final Chapter 18: Cognitive Development in Late Adulthood

Multidimensionality and multidirectionality of cognitive funcitoning

• Cognitive mechanics

• Cognitive pragmatics

• Processing speed

• Attention

• Memory

• Executive function

• Decision making

• Metacognition

• Mindfulness

• Wisdom

Cognitive mechanics

Hardware of the mind, reflecting the neurophysiological architecture of the brain

• Decline with age: begin as soon as early midlife

• Fluid mechanics

Speed and accuracy of the processes involved in

• Sensory input

• Visual memory

• Motor memory

• Discrimination

• Comparison

• Categorization

Cognitive pragmatics

Culture-based “software programs” of the mind

• Continue improving into old age

• Crystalized pragmatics

Components of cognitive pramatics

• Reading and writing skills

• Language comprehension

• Educational qualifications

• Professional skills

• Self understanding and life skills that help master or cope with challenges

Processing speed

Decline in processing speed in older adults

• Decline in neural connectivity

• Changes in dopamine

• Breakdown in myelin

Importance of speed

Ability of older adults to continue to safely drive a vehicle

• Intensity aerobic training was more effective than moderate-intensity aerobic training or resistance training in improving older adults’ processing speed

What helps with speed

• High intensity aerobic training

• Cognitive game training

Attention

Greater distractibility means less able to ignore distracting information compared to young adults

Less effective neural functioning in frontal and parietal lobes

Activities to improve attention

• Mindfulness meditation: goal-directed attention improved

• Game-based training: improved older adults’ selective attention

• Executive attention training: improved the selective attention and divided attention of older adults

Divided attention

Concentrating on more than one activity at the same time

• Ok for easy task, less adept for more difficult task

• E.g., cooking and talking at the same time

Sustained attention (vigilance)

Focused and extended engagement with an aspect of the environment

• Simple vigilance=same as young adults

• Complex vigilance task = performance drops

Explicit memory 

Facts and experiences that individuals consciously know and can state (e.g., recounting the events in a movie you have seen)

• Declines as the person ages

Implicit memory

Without conscious recollection; it involves skills and routine procedures that are performed automatically (e.g., driving a car)

• Less likely to be adversely affected by aging

Episodic memory

Retention of information about the where and when of life’s happenings

• e.g., colors of walls in your bedroom when you were a child)

• younger adults are better in this

Autobiographical memories

Stored as episodic

Reminiscence bump

• adults remember more events from the second and third decades of their lives than from other decades (more positive)

Semantic memory

Person’s knowledge about the world

• Fields of expertise, general academic knowledge of the sort learned in school, “everyday knowledge” 

• Independent of an individual’s personal identity with the past

• Takes longer to retrieve but they can remember it

Tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) phenomenon

Individuals can’t quite retrieve familiar information but have the feeling that they should be able to retrieve it

Working memory

Declines due to less efficient inhibition, higher distractability, training can improve fluid intelligence

Source memory

Ability to remember where one learned something

• Who told you that joke? That story?

• Lyn Hasher: “…As people get older, they get more selective in how they use their resources”

Prospective memory

Remembering to do something in the future

• E.g., when to take medicine, keeping appointments

• Declines with age

• Deficits occur more often on tasks that are time-based than event-based

• Real-life settings: older adults’ better than younger adults’

Summary of memory

Declines: Explicit,, episodic, working

NOT DECLINE: semantic, implicit 

• Decline in perceptual speed= decline with memory

• Successful aging: reduce decline ad adapting

• Tips: 

  • Compensation strategies: routinely writing appointments on calendar

  • Elaboration & self-referencing strategies

Executive function

Managing one’s thoughts to engage in goal-directed behavior & exercise self-control

• Involves working memory, cognitive inhibition, cognitive flexibility

Prefrontal cortex

Shrinks in old age

• Decrease in working memory and other cognitive activities

Executive function decrease in ability in

Cognitive flexibility: Switching back and forth between tasks

Cognitive inhibition: inhibiting dominant or automatic responses

Decision making

• Preserved rather well in older adults

• Older adults perform well in decisions

  • That are not constrained by time pressure

  • When the decision is meaningful for them

  • When it does not involve high risk

Metacognition

Knowledge about their thinking

• They often overestimate their memory problems

• Tend to get anxious about minor forgetfulness than younger adults

• They use their metacognitive knowledge to help combat the decline in memory skills. (ex. use organizational skills, reminders)

Mindfulness

Involves being alert, mentally present, cognitively flexible while going through life’s everyday activities and tasks.

• Some studies (not all) found it mindfulness meditation training improves cognitive functioning in older adults

Wisdom

Expert knowledge about the practical aspects of life that permits excellent

judgment about important matter

• Involves exceptional insight into human development, good judgment, understanding of how to cope with difficult life problems

What ‘s linked with having Wisdom

Self-reflective exploratory processing of difficult life experiences (meaning making, personal growth)

• Supportive childhood , adolescent competence, emotional stability in young adults, generativity in middle adulthood

Integrative model of wisdom

Non cognitive + cognitive components

Expanded integrative model of wisdom

Non cognitive

• Being highly curious

• Openness to experience

• Concern for others

• Good emotion regulation

Cognitive component

1. Knowledge

• Knowledge about life

• Self knowledge (your strengths & weaknesses)

2. Metacognition

• Being clear with limitations of one’s own knowledge & power

• Know what you can/cannot control

3. Self reflection

• overcome self serving biases, gain self insight

Use it or lose it

Changes in cognitive activity patterns might result in disuse and consequent atrophy of cognitive skills

• Mental activities that likely benefit the maintenance of cognitive skills in older adults include reading or writing books, doing crossword puzzles, and going to lectures and concerts

Research suggests that mental exercise may

• Reduce cognitive decline

• Lower the likelihood of developing Alzheimer’s disease

Training cognitive skills

Cognitive retraining is possible to some degree

• Training can improve the cognitive skills of many older adults

• But there often is some loss in plasticity in late adulthood, especially in those who are 85 years and older

Cognitive vitality of older adults can be improved through cognitive and physical fitness training

Supplements

Ginkgo biloba (attention) and fish oil (omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids: ↓risk for cognitive decline)

Software based cognitive training games

Help improve cognitive functioning in older adults

• Effectiveness are often exaggerated

• Little evidence that it helps competent functioning in daily life

Mental healthafflictions

• Dementia

• Alzheimer disease

• Parkinson’s disease

Dementia

Global term for any neurological disorder in which primary symptoms involve a deterioration of mental functioning

• 23 % of women and 17 %of men 85 years and older are at risk for developing dementia

Alzheimer disease

Form of dementia that is characterized by a Gradual deterioration of memory, reasoning, language, and eventually, physical function

• Progressive & irreversible

• Alzheimer involves a deficiency in the brain messenger chemical acetylcholine (memory)

• Formation of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles (protein: tau)

Gender differences in Alzheimer's disease

Women are likely to develop Alzheimer disease because they live longer than men

Oxidative stress

Body’s antioxidant defenses don’t cope with free

radical attacks

Age and genes

Age: risk doubles every 5 years after age 65

• ApoE4 allele: predictor for late-onset Alzheimer’s disease (Female more)

• For early onset : Genes linked are APP , PSEN1, PSEN2 gene mutations

Early detection and drug treatment

Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) represents a transitional state between the cognitive changes of normal aging and very early

disease

• Not all with MCI develop Alzheimer disease

Drug treatment

Cholinerase inhibitors and other drugs slow the downward progression of the disease (increases acetylcholine levels in brain)

Caring for individuals with Alzheimer disease

• Family can be an important support system for the patient.

• Support is often emotionally and physically draining for the family

Respite care - Services that provide temporary relief for those who are caring for individuals with disabilities, illnesses, or the elderly

Parkinson’s disease

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

• Triggered by the degeneration of dopamine-producing neurons in the brain

• Treatment administering dopamine-agonists

Adjustment to retirement

Those who work have better physical and cognitive abilities than those who retire

• Increasing number of adults are beginning to reject the early retirement option

Older adults who adjust best to retirement

• Healthy

• Active and have adequate income

• Better educated 

• Have extended social networks and family

• Satisfied with lives before retiring

• Flexible and plan key factors

Common questions

• What am I going to do with my leisure time? 

• How am I going to be physically fit?

• What am I going to do socially?

• What am I going to do to keep my mind active?