Aging and Memory Flashcards
Aging and Intelligence
- Fluid intelligence (ability to learn, assess, navigate new situations/problems) shows greater decline with age than crystallized intelligence (accumulated knowledge you can recall as needed)
Use It or Lose It
- Explains how neural circuits that are not actively engaged in performing tasks for an extended period of time begin to degrade
- When we do not use an area of our brain for a prolonged time, we lose the function that was once stored there
Memory Deficient
People experience memory deficient with advancing age, even when they have been highly educated and otherwise have good intellectual skills
Aging Does NOT Seem to Affect:
1) Memory of general knowledge (semantic memory) that was acquired long ago
2) Memory of personal events (episodic memory) that occurred long ago
Remote Memory vs New Memory
Aging affects new memory to a much greater extent, that it affects remote memory
Seven Sins of Memory
i) Transience
ii) Absent-mindedness
iii) Blocking
iv) Misattribution
v) Suggestibility
vi) Bias
vii) Persistence
Transience
Type: forgetting
Desc: accessibility of memory decreases over time
E.g. forget events that occurred long ago
Absent-mindedness
Type: inattention
Desc: forgetting caused by lapses in attention
E.g. forget where your phone is
Blocking
Type: forgetting
Desc: accessibility of information is temporarily blocked
E.g. tip of the tongue
Misattribution
Type: distortion
Desc: source of memory is confused
E.g. recalling a dream memory as a walking memory
Suggestibility
Type: distortion
Desc: false memories
E.g. result from leading questions
Bias
Type: Distortion
Desc: memories distorted by current belief system
E.g. align memories to current beliefs
Persistence
Type: intrusion
Desc: inability to forget undesirable memories
E.g. traumatic events
Midlife Crisis
a stage of uncertainty and indecision brought about by the realization that life is finite
ego integrity vs despair (Erikson)
Criticism of Midlife Crisis
Midlife crisis is not a widely observed phenomenon
People overestimate its prevalence due to cognitive errors such as confirmation bias and the availability heuristic
