COGNITION
Memory Enhancement in Older Adults
“18”
Cross-sectional Studies: Cohort
Effects
Testing people of various ages
at the same point in time
using standardized tests
Standardized Testing
Longitudinal Studies
The same people are studied over a span of time
Intelligence Types
1. Fluid intelligence
information processing and
memory
2. Crystallized intelligence
information people have
learned through experience
and that they can apply in
problem-solving situations
Fluid vs Crystallized Development
Cognitive Decline and Aging
Normal Aging is associated with
progressive functional losses in
 Perception
 Cognition
 Memory
Age-Related Cognitive Decline
(ARCD)
 Non-pathological losses in




cognitive function
Nearly universal aspect of
aging
Negatively impacts quality
of life
May begin as early as 30
Tends to slowly worsen
steadily with age
Brain Plasticity
 The brain’s lifelong
capacity for physical and
functional change
 Enables experience to
induce learning
throughout life
Plasticity Processes
 Inherently Competitive
 Will always be a
“winner” and a “loser”
 Plastic changes with
negative consequences
are just as common as
those with positive
outcomes
Causes of ARCD
A combination of
1. Physical changes in the
aging brain
2. Brain plasticity with
negative consequences
Memory Enhancement Study in
Healthy Older Adults
“Because the brain retains a
lifelong capacity for
plasticity and adaptive
reorganization, dimensions
of negative reorganization
should be at least partially
reversible through the use of
an appropriately designed
training program”
Brain Plasticity Research Study
The adult brain
 is adaptive at any age
 has a lifelong capacity to
refine the spacial or
temporal features of sensory
inputs or of movements
Video Clips
Exercise Your Brain - Dr Sanjay Gupta
Art Kramer- Beckman Institute (3:56)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPD7HwH5pvo&feature=related
Brain plasticity and strength training movements
Super Body, Super Brain (1:55)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ml1rjIMjB3o
How MRI works (1:31)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9E1GoWhSlho&feature=related
How fMRI works (0:22)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVht8AMknfc
Art Kramer- Beckman Institute (detailed) (8:46)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o98aYKPAs34
Ron White and 6 year-old (5:03)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAJkv-l_t_A
Link
 A Harvard Psychiatrist Explains Zombie Neurobiology
http://io9.com/5286145/a-harvard-psychiatrist-explains-zombieneurobiology
Discussion Questions
1. Can increases in crystallized intelligence
compensate partially or fully for declines
in fluid intelligence in older adults?
Discussion Questions
2. What types of activities can
people do to maintain or
increase intelligence in
adulthood?