ageing and cognition Flashcards
why is ageing cogntion important?
Shafto 2007- sig decline in grey matter- is this a result of age and decline or a sculpting to make space for specialist processing
- important as people are living longer (WHO)
protective sculpting view?
area 10 declines with age but not in scz so maybe it is protective trait (kawasaki 00)
shafto 07: more TOTs but maybe that is because of the frequency of the words – slip through different formations of the word production?
Tyler PET scans: show change of activation in insula for TOTs
measurement techniques are important! what are they?
cross sectional (cohort, chepa, fast easy, low dropout, selective attrition?), longitudinal (expensive, long, high drop out, under-estimate practise rates)
evidence of different measurement techniques?
Hedden and Gabrielli 04: give very different results (not for verbal or numberic but all toehr domains eg spatial orientation and perception)– Nyber 12; if it is adapted it also gives different results eg for practise effects and cogntive speed
Patrick Rabbitt 93:
doesn’t all go together: digit span gets shorter, but other aspects different at what age and sds increase- people differ more with age; abilities decline at different rates
Betula project
swedish longitudinal stdy; found episodic memory was fasted to decline (nilsson 97)
The participants of the project have been tested, interviewed and examined medically at five occasions over 20 years so far and studying mainly affects on memory, and look at maintenance techniques.
what reduces and what is sustained?
Salthouse 03: vocal INCREASES, reasoning, recall and pattern comparison all DECREASES at different rates; cross-word ability increases– consistent with RAbbitt93 (gc distinction)
why is here so much variability?
illness, strategies of learning, changes in plasticity from experience, physical/mental activity levels, genetic differences in mechs determining cortical atrophy e.g. does diabetes suppress cognition (rabbitt) Super agers (loveden 12)
physically what differences occur? Raz 2005/ Loveden 2012
Raz 2005: volumetric change in lateral pfc, visual cortex, HPC (MRI) and gender difference; men show steeper decline
Loveden 2012: training group; walk around virtual reality doing tasks (mental exercise) helps maintain HPC volume compared to normal
what are super agers? (loveden 12) and how does it happen?
same ability at 30 as 70; stern 2009: 1) brain reserve; predisposed to a ‘sturdy’ brain, 2) cognitive reserve: react to and compensate for aging differently; 3) ID manifestation differences- maintaining cognitive performance is correlated with it (persson 06/11)
what is the ‘ageing puzzle’ and what is the solution?
why don’t people decline completely? -salthouse 04
1) extra ability not captured in IQ tests (shallice and burgess)
2) learn to minimise cognitive and physical demands
3) adapt and change behaviour
4) greater gc means can work less hard to solve problems
5 ways to age well
1) Raise baseline IQ for decline (Nyberg 12- doesn’t maintain it at old age though)
2) CV activity; aids exec function and reduces tissue decline in brain
3) minimise chronic stress; reduce risk of alzheimers, reduce cortsol levels
4) brain-healthy diet: omega 3, vitamine 3 (slow alzheimers)
5) use it! complex lifetime occupation predicts higher performance, but effects reduce after retirement
Heim 1990: how is ageing experienced?
60-95; decreased physical confidence, more stoic (accepting of unpleasant situations), less tolerant of others and inconclusive about advice
Dwozdz and sousa-poza 09- u-shape of life satisfaction; peaks at 65 then declines and lower levels of perceived health
is there a genetic/bio component of ageing well?
Chamaro- Premuzie 2011: bio IQ over lifetime; MZ stable DZ decrease- genetic component
Lindenburg and Baltes 94: sensory functioning (visual and aud acuity) is strong long life predictor
