Review lecture 24 chapter 24

2
1. Introduction
2. Fact or Fiction?
3. The Aging Brain
4. Information Processing After Age 65
5. Neurocognitive Disorders
6. New Cognitive Development
7. Closing Thoughts

Fact or Fiction? Fiction Fact
Cognitive Development
3
1. Compared with younger adults,
older adults use more parts of their brains.
2. As long as their vision and hearing remain
unchanged, older adults are no less efficient than
younger adults at inputting information.
3. The general symptoms associated with dementia are
essentially the same regardless of what causes the disorder.
4. Alzheimer’s disease is in many cases inherited.

4
Video:
Brain Development Animation:
Late Adulthood
THE AGING BRAIN

How can reduced auditory input in late adulthood affect cognition?
Sensing and Perceiving
Do you hear
interference?
Do you hear
interference?
Do you hear in
the ear ants?
5

Memory
OldYoung
Memory of Young and Old Adults
Recall of 10 words
(maximum score = 10)
Regarding 9/11,
soon after event
Regarding 9/11,
2 years later
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Memory for 5 specific details
(rated 0, 1, or 2; maximum score = 10)
Source: Kvavilashvili et al., 2010.
Score
6

control processes: The part of the information-processing
system that regulates the analysis and flow of information.
Control Processes
7Photo credits, left to right: Muellek Josef/Shutterstock; Fancy Collection/SuperStock; sébastien Baussais / Alamy

Neurocognitive Disorders: Irreversible loss of
intellectual functioning caused by organic brain
damage or disease.
Prevalence of Neurocognitive Disorders Among the Elderly, by Age, United States
Age All Dementia (%) Alzheimer’s Disease (%) Vascular Dementia (%)
70 – 79
80 – 89
90+
Overall (70+)
5
24.2
37.4
13.9
2.3
18.2
28.7
9.7
1
4.1
6.2
2.4
Source: Plassman et al., 2007
Do most elderly experience neurocognitive disorders?
8
NEUROCOGNITIVE DISORDERS

© Ocean/Corbis
Alzheimer’s Disease
How does Alzheimer’s disease progress, and with what symptoms?
Alzheimer (or Alzheimer’s) Disease (AD): The most common cause of
neurocognitive disorders.
11
Stage 1 Stage 2
Stage 3
Stage 4
Stage 5
 Forget recent events
 Forget new information,
particularly names of people
and places
 Generalized confusion
 Deficits in concentration and short-
term memory
 Speech becomes aimless and repetitive;
vocabulary becomes limited and words
get mixed up
 Personality traits become exaggerated
as rational thought disappears
 Full-time care is needed since sufferers cannot
care for themselves
 Communication not clear; ultimately talking stops
 Unable to recognize their closest loved ones
 Blank staring at TV or into space
 Unresponsive
 Identity and personality gone
 Recognizes no one
 Memory loss becomes
dangerous, causing accidents
or the person to go missing

10
Video:

11
Video:
Alzheimer’s Disease: A Family Case Study

Many Strokes
How does the progression of vascular dementia compare to the progression of
Alzheimer’s disease?
Intellect
Alzheimer
VaD
5 1510
Time (in years)
Vascular Dementia (VaD): A form of neurocognitive disorder
characterized by sporadic, and progressive, loss of intellectual
functioning. 15

What are some other neurocognitive disorders?
Frontal lobe disorders
Parkinson (or
Parkinson’s) disease Lewy body Other disorders
Deterioration of the
amygdala and frontal
lobes that may be the
cause of 15 percent of all
A chronic, progressive
disease that is
characterized by muscle
tremor and rigidity, and
sometimes neurocognitive
disorder; caused by a
reduction of dopamine
production in the brain.
Characterized by an
increase in Lewy body
cells in the brain.
Symptoms include
visual hallucinations,
momentary loss of
attention, falling,
and fainting.
Before age 65, people may
experience neurocognitive
disorder due to Huntington’s
disease, multiple sclerosis,
severe head injury, the last
stages of syphilis, AIDS, and
bovine spongiform
encephalitis (BSE, or mad
cow disease). Timing and
symptoms of each kind vary.
16Photo credits, left to right: iStockphoto/Thinkstock; Nancy Nehring/iStockphoto; iStockphoto/Thinkstock

Reversible Disorders
17
How do prescription drugs cause neurocognitive disorder-like problems?
polypharmacy: A situation in which elderly people are prescribed several medications,
and the various side effects and interactions can result in symptoms related to
Doctor
A
Doctor
B
Doctor
C

Aesthetic Sense and Creativity
What are some cognitive gains and accomplishments that occur in late adulthood?
Frank Lloyd Wright
completed the design
of New York City’s
Guggenheim Museum
at the age of 91.
When Anna Moses
(also called Grandma
Moses) was 80 years
old, she had her first
one-woman show at an
art gallery and
received international
recognition for her
unique “primitive
style.”
At age 80, Verdi
composed the opera
Falstaff.
At age 75,
Michelangelo painted
the Sistine Chapel.
18Photo credits, left to right: 360/Alamy; Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock; shang bo/Getty Images; Peter Barritt/Alamy
NEW COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

What is the purpose of reviewing one’s life during late adulthood?
life review: An examination of one’s own role in the history
of human life, engaged in by many elderly people.
19
The Life Review
Photo credits, left to right: Katrina Brown/Shutterstock; Assembly/Getty Images

Wisdom
What is the relationship between late adulthood and wisdom?
How do college students view
the old in terms of wisdom?
A survey of 3,435 college
students in 26 nations on every
continent, most of whom had
frequent contact with older
people, found that people in every
nation agreed that wisdom was a
characteristic of the elderly
(Löckenhoff et al., 2009).
17Photo credits: Top: Hemera/Thinkstock; Bottom: Muellek Josef/Shutterstock

Closing Thoughts
What are some of the less typical
changes and problems that can
affect older adult cognition?
How does cognition typically
change, for better and for worse,
with advancing age?
18

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