Cognitive functioning (2)

Editor's Notes

• #3: Cognitive Functioning Middle adult years: some cognitive abilities improve /some slow down a bitacquired knowledge & skills compensate for losses & help solve problems in area of expertise more efficiently than younger adults doDenny’s Model:age –related changes follow a typical curveheight of curve varies depending on the amount an individual “exercises” some ability or skillexercise – physical/mental exercise; extent specific task was performed before, exercised abilities have a high peakunexercised abilities usually have a lower peakexercised abilities- everyday memory tasks -recalling details(newspaper article) unexercised abilities-memory tests-memorizing listsabilities that are exercised more fully have a higher peakthere is a degree of improvement possible for any given skill; it is the gap between the curvesadult -max level w/optimum exercise declines with age-fighting against the basic decay curve of agingSelective Optimization with Compensation:process of balancing the gains & losses associated with agingmanage demands of competing tasksoptimize skills they believe can be improved by exercising them use compensating strategies to offset the effects of agingSelection: occurs when a middle-aged adult reduces distractions to more efficiently carry out a cognitive taskOptimization: involved when middle-aged adults work to improve their physical fitness or expand their knowledgeCompensation: takes many forms-the development of organizational strategies; using an agenda to keep track of important dates; to offset memory declines   
• #4: The medial temporal lobe (the inner part of the temporal lobe, near the divide between the left and right hemispheres) in particular is thought to be involved indeclarative and episodic memory. Deep inside the medial temporal lobe is the region of the brain known as the limbic system, which includes thehippocampus, the amygdala, the cingulategyrus, the thalamus, thehypothalamus, the epithalamus, the mammillary body and other organs, many of which are of particular relevance to the processing of memory.The hippocampus, for example, is essential for memory function, particularly the transference from short- to long-term memory and control of spatial memory and behaviour. The amygdala also performs a primary role in the processing and memory of emotional reactions and social and sexual behaviour, as well as regulating the sense of smell.Another sub-cortical systems (inside the cerebral cortex) which is essential to memory function is the basal ganglia system, particularly the striatum (orneostriatum) which is important in the formation and retrieval of procedural memory.
• #9: Lack Of Mental Exercise tends to be correlated with declines in memory and cognitive skillsMajor deficits are not found until between the ages of 60 – 65It is very difficult to draw conclusions about memory function in middle age because studies of age differences in adult memory rarely include meddle aged people. Typically researchers compare very young adults such as college students to adults in their 60’s and 70’s. When the two groups are found to differ. Psychologists often infer that middle aged adults performance falls somewhere between the two. In other words they assume that memory function declines steadily in linear fashion across the adult years an assumption that may not be true.One thing developmentalists do know about memory is that the subjective experience Forgetfulness clearly increases with age. We think that we are getting forgetful when in fact it may be the memory demands of middle aged adults everyday lives are greater than those of young adults. We have to remember that working memory is limited and the more you try to remember at one time the more you will forget.Working memory is the ability to hold information in our current focus of attention while completing some sort of necessary cognitive processing task. We use our working memory when we concentrate on remembering a phone number while struggling to find something to write it down on.There seem to be some real differences in the memory performance of young and middle aged adults. For example visual memory the ability to remember an object you have see for just a few seconds, declines in middle age Furthermore the more complex the visual stimulus and the longer the interval between presentation and recall the greater the differenceRemembering lists or passages decline but not until around age 55 - in contrast recognition of words and texts appears to remain stable throughout adulthood. Such findings suggest that there are age differences in working memory. Research examining short term memory capacity at various ages shows that it remains very stable throughout early, middle and late adulthood. What changes apparently is the ability to make efficient use of available capacity
• #10: Remembering lists or passages decline but not until around age 55 - in contrast recognition of words and texts appears to remain stable throughout adulthood. Such findings suggest that there are age differences in working memory. Research examining short term memory capacity at various ages shows that it remains very stable throughout early, middle and late adulthood. What changes apparently is the ability to make efficient use of available capacityMiddle aged adults are very proficient at overcoming episodic memory limitations by using reminders or cues to help themselves remember information. The tendency to use cues may exist because middle aged adults, in contract to those who are older continue to have a high sense of self efficacy with respect to memory. In other words they believe their efforts will make a difference so they active ely work to improve their memories. This effect is strengthened when the person perceives themselves as belonging to a positive aging stereotype category such as those who are self accepting, fun loving, sociable and independent
• #11: An example of this is verbal vocabulary or more precisely performance on vocabulary tests doesn’t begin to decline until about age 65. And the use it or lose it dictum seems to hold true for cognitive abilities. That is adults who engage in intellectually challenging activities show fewer losses in cognitive skills than those who do not.Because of the accumulated effects of many years of using some cognitive skills and the development of a large body of relevant information in long term memory. Researchers have found that middle aged and younger adults take different approaches to learning from expository text. Younger adults focus on creating a word for word representation of the text in their memories. By contrast middle aged adults pay more attention to overarching themes than to details.A study in which researchers asked adults of various ages to read a dstory and them to recall it immediately afterward, in writing, yielded support for this hypothesis.
• #12: The results showed that the 24-35s, or young group, took more actions and made more decisions. They asked for more information to an excessive point and it was an overload. They had a great diversity of action. 45-55 or the middle team, just asked the right amount of questions. They didn't ask too much to overload their system but just enough to make decisions. 65-75 or the older team, was the contrast. They did not perform as well in any task. The ability to apply creativity at complex problems is in the middle level years. Research shows that you are more creative and productive at the times when you're the busiest, scientists studied a group of author's that produced many works, they found that their best works were released in their 40s.
• #14: The hippocampus is the part of the brain that is involved in memory forming, organizing, and storing. It is a limbic system structure that is particularly important in forming new memories and connecting emotions and senses, such as smell and sound, to memories. The hippocampus is a horseshoe shaped paired structure, with one hippocampus located in the left brain hemisphere and the other in the right hemisphere. The hippocampus acts as a memory indexer by sending memories out to the appropriate part of the cerebral hemisphere for long-term storage and retrieving them when necessary.