Active and healthy aging

Question 1

WHO active aging

Answer 1

Optimising opportunities for health to enhance quality of life. Social, economic, cultural, spiritual and civic affairs. Maintaining autonomy, independence and well being.

Question 2

Three problems

Answer 2

1. We have a discriptive model of mental aging but not theoretical understanding of what aging is
2. Discriptive model does not provide a plan of how to deal with it
3. Individual differences in aging. Don’t know what predicts them, and are amplified as we grow older

Question 3

Aspects that change

Answer 3

Social: vergrijzing

(neuro)biological: Cardiac/vascular diseases, broken bones, brain diseases, motor

Temperature: flattened rhythm, less deep sleep = reduced performance (best it morning)

Cognitive: Prefrontal goes first: executive / regulative core functions, memory etc.

Social emotional: Loneliness, living with limitations, smaller world, purpose in life

Question 4

Three clusters of prefrontal cortex (decline with age)

Answer 4

Stability vs flexibility: switching between tasks/mental sets and shielding of goals

Working memory: Updating of potentially relevant info, remember what to do when.

Action control / action override: resisting interference from competing action tendencies.

Question 5

Internal record (leans on prefrontal cortex and functions supported by it)

Answer 5

Notion of agency: who you are, where you are and why

Notion of time and continuity: where were you 15 min ago, what were you doing

Notion of context and surroundings: Continuity, appropriateness within context

Integration of ‘self’ : Coherent image of self, consistent across time