Chapter
Twenty-Four
Late Adulthood:
Cognitive Development
PowerPoints prepared by Cathie Robertson, Grossmont College
Revised by Jenni Fauchier, Metropolitan Community College
Changes in Information
Processing
• Schaie’s study found decline in all
5 primary mental abilities
–
–
–
–
–
verbal meaning
spatial orientation
inductive reasoning
number ability
word fluency
Input: Sensing and Perceiving
• With age it takes longer for information
to register in sensory register—holds
incoming sensory information for a split
second after it is received
– small reductions in sensitivity and power
• sensory receptors (eyes, ears, etc.) now less acute
• deficits can be compensated for if person
is aware of reduction
Input: Sensing and Perceiving, cont.
• However, for information to reach
perception, must cross sensory threshold
– senses must pick up relevant sensations
– this is where significant decline occurs
• problem becomes serious because it is
insidious
– person is unaware of things not seen or heard
– after time may miss substantial amount of
information
Working Memory
• Working, or Short-Term Memory
– processing component through which
current, conscious mental activity occurs
• Two Interrelated Functions
– serves as temporary information storage
– processes information held in mind
Working Memory, cont.
• Older adults: smaller working
memory capacity than younger
adults
– multitasking especially difficult; focusing
helps to compensate
• Explanations for Decline
– inability to screen out distractions and
inhibit irrelevant thoughts
– decline in total mental energy
Long-Term Memory
• Knowledge Base
– long-term storehouse of information and memories
– evidence suggests memory for vocabulary remains
unimpaired and can increase with age
– areas of expertise relatively unimpaired
• Source amnesia—forgetting who or what
was source of fact, idea, or conversation
– increasingly common in late adulthood
Control Processes
• Part of the information-processing system
that regulates analysis and flow of
information
– e.g., selective attention, retrieval strategies, storage
mechanisms, logical analysis
• Older adults unable to gather and consider
all data relevant to logical analysis and
decision making
– rather, they rely on prior knowledge, rule-of-thumb,
general principles
Control Processes, cont.
• Use of retrieval strategies also
declines with age
– possible to learn better retrieval
strategies, but does not overcome agerelated problems in memory and control
Explicit and Implicit Memory
• Explicit memory—involves facts,
definitions, data, concepts, etc.
– learned consciously through deliberate repetition and
review
– because of rehearsal, usually easily retrieved
• Implicit memory—information that is an
unconscious or automatic memory such as
habits, emotional responses, routines
– contents not deliberately memorized
Resistance
• Rather than direct result of
aging, decline may be result of
–
–
–
–
refusal to guess
deliberate choice
resistance to change
reluctance to use memory aids
Reasons for Age-Related
Changes
• Causes of declines in cognitive
functioning
– primary aging
– secondary aging
– ageism
• either reflected in self-perception
• or embedded in way scientists
measure cognition
Primary Aging
• Brain Slowdown
– reduced production of neurotransmitters that
allow nerve impulses to jump across synapse from
one neuron to another
– decrease in total volume of neural fluid
– decrease in speed of cerebral blood flow
– slower pace of activation of various parts of
cortex
• Slowdown may affect learning new
material, but the types of thinking not
involving speed are less affected
Compensation
• Strategies of Older Adults
–
–
–
–
employ memory tricks
use written reminders
allow for more time to solve problems
repeat confusing instructions
• Older adults slower but not less
accurate than younger adults
Terminal Decline
• Overall slowdown of cognitive abilities in
days or months before death
– marked loss of intellectual power
– results not from age—rather from being close to
death
• Change in cognitive ability and increased
depression often precede visible
worsening of health
Secondary Aging
• Several diseases impair cognition
among aging
– dementia, hypertension, diabetes,
arteriosclerosis, and diseases affecting
lungs
• Lifestyle habits contribute to these
diseases
– poor eating, smoking, lack of exercise
Secondary Aging, cont.
• Brain deterioration due to poor
lifestyle habits can be halted by
– improved nutrition and exercise
– various drugs, e.g., long-term use of antiinflammatory steroids
– aspirin and ibuprofen
Attitudes of the Elderly
• Influence of Expectations and
Stereotyping
– people aged 50–70 overestimate their early
adulthood memory skills, which can lead to
loss of confidence that impairs present
memory
– confidence in memory skills also eroded
when others interpret hesitancy as sign of
impaired memory
Ageism in Research
• Laboratory research may favor
younger adults, rather than older
because
– older adults at intellectual best early in day at
home
• Experiments on memory biased toward
people used to being tested
– in school setting, young adults regularly memorize
information not immediately relevant to daily life
– older adults unpracticed at, and may be
suspicious of, exams
Beyond Ageism
• Laboratory research on memory
– uniformly reports some memory loss in late
adulthood
– but few older adults consider memory loss
significant handicap
• Compensate by using reminders
• the more realistic the circumstances, the
better older people remember
• supportive environments aid memory
Dementia
• Dementia—irreversible loss of intellectual
functioning caused by organic brain
disease
• Symptoms
– confusion and forgetfulness
• More common with age
• More than 70 diseases can cause dementia
• Difficult to diagnose
Alzheimer’s Disease
• Disorder characterized by proliferation
of plaques and tangles
– abnormalities in cerebral cortex that destroy brain
functioning
• Plagues formed from protein called B-amyloid
• Tangles are twisted mass of protein threads
within cells
Risk Factors for Alzheimer’s
• Gender, ethnicity, and especially
age affect odds of developing it
– women at greater risk than men
– more common in North America and
Europe than in Japan and China
– less common among Asian Americans
than European Americans
Risk Factors for Alzheimer’s, cont.
• Age is chief risk factor
– incidence rises from about 1 in 100 at age 65 to
1 in 5 over age 85
• Alzheimer’s is partly genetic
– ALZHS—variant of the ApoE gene (allele 4)—
increases risk
• in United States, 20 percent inherit
ApoE4 from one parent; thus, have a
50/50 chance of developing disease by
age 80
Risk Factors for Alzheimer’s, cont.
• Factors decreasing risk
– allele ApoE2 dissipates protein that
causes plaques
– lifestyle habits (e.g. physical exercise
and mental activity) said to be
protective
Stages: From Confusion
to Death
• Stage 1
– general forgetfulness
• Stage 2
– more general confusion
– noticeable differences in concentration
and short-term memory
– speech can be aimless or repetitive
Stages: From Confusion to Death, cont.
• Stage 3
– memory loss becomes truly dangerous
– no longer able to take care of own basic
needs
• Stage 4
– need for full-time care as cannot care for
self or respond normally
– occasionally irrationally angry or paranoid
Stages: From Confusion to Death, cont.
• Stage 5
– completely mute
– unable to respond with any action or
emotion
– death usually occurs 10 to 15 years
after onset
Many Strokes
• Vascular Dementia or Multi-Infarct
Dementia
– characterized by sporadic, progressive, loss
of intellectual functioning
– temporary obstruction of blood vessels
prevent sufficient supply of blood to brain;
commonly called a stroke, or ministroke
– common cause is arteriosclerosis
– different progression than that of
Alzheimer’s
Subcortical Dementias
• Begin with motor ability
impairments and later produce
cognitive impairment
• Parkinson’s disease most common
– degeneration of neurons in area of brain
that produces dopamine,
neurotransmitter essential to normal
brain functioning
• majority of newly diagnosed over 60
Subcortical Dementias, cont.
• Other Dementias
– Huntington’s disease
– multiple schlerosis
• Toxins and infectious agents can
cause dementia
– syphilis
– AIDS
– psychoactive drugs
Reversible Dementia
• From Overmedication
– drug management difficult for older
adults living at home who typically
consume 5 or more different drugs a day
• From Undernourishment
– can cause vitamin deficiencies which lead
to
• depression
• confusion
• cognitive decline
Psychological Illness
• Anxiety, antisocial personality and bipolar
disorders, schizophrenia, depression
– less common among the elderly
• higher mortality rates for people with those
illnesses
• illnesses themselves become less severe in later
life
• Mental illness can produce what seems like
dementia but is not
– e.g., depression, anxiety
– careful diagnosis can differentiate
New Cognitive Development
in Later Life
• Theorists believe older adults can develop
– new interests
– patterns of thought
– deeper wisdom
• Aesthetic Sense and Creativity
– many older people gain appreciation of nature and of
aesthetic experience
– as for people already creative, they generally continue
to be productive; often experiencing renewed
inspiration
The Life Review
• Many older people do a life review—the
examination of one’s own past life
– helps older people connect their own lives with the
future as they tell their stories to younger
generations
– renews links with past generations, as older people
remember ancestors
– process is more social than solitary
– crucial to self-worth that others recognize its
significance
Wisdom
• Are older people typically wiser?
• But first, what is wisdom?
– broad, practical, comprehensive approach to life’s
problems, reflecting timeless truths
– expertise in life fundamentals, permitting
exceptional insight and judgment in complex and
uncertain matters
• Research found little correlation
between wisdom and age, although
attributes like humor, perspective,
altruism may increase