Ch.4: Cognitive Changes, Intelligence and Wisdom Flashcards
Cognition is thinking and mental processes. These processes include: (6)
- Attention
- Memory (remembering)
- Language processing
- Decision making
- Problem solving
- Intelligence
Cognition
Information processing
Social cognition
Attitudes, attributions, group dynamics
The information processing model is based on three assumptions:
- People are active participants in the process
- Both quantitative and qualitative aspects of performance can be examined
- Information is processed through a series of hypothetical stages or stores
Information Processing framework
Sensory store –> Working memory –> Long-term memory (Episodic memory, Semantic memory, Procedural memory)
Sensory store
- Sensory store is where new, incoming information is first registered
- Memory details are dependent on how much attention is given to the stimuli
- If attention is given, then the info is passed to the next stage of memory
Working memory
- Working memory plays an active, critical, and central role in encoding, storage, and retrieval
- Limited capacity, about seven chunks
- storage and processing functions
- coordinating function
Example of a working memory task
Computational span
Long term memory
- the ability to remember extensive amounts of information from 20 seconds to a few hours to decades
Examples of long term memory (categories) (4)
- Explicit and implicit memory
- Episodic memory
- Semantic memory
- Procedural memory
Explicit memory
deliberately going into your memory and pulling out that information
Implicit memory
memory without awareness
not digging in
Episodic memory
- recalling information from a specific event or time
- like a personal diary
Semantic memory
- learning and remembering the meaning of words and concepts
- internal encyclopedia or dictionary
Procedural memory
- memory used unconsciously, motor memory, memory for processes
- it just comes to you; don’t have to think about it
Remote memory
- information that must be kept for a very long time
- also called tertiary memory
Autobiographical memory
- remembering information and events form one’s own life
- flashbulb memories
Flashbulb memories
- episodic because it happened in a moment in time
- also autobiographical because it happened to you
- they are also remote: from a long time ago
We see ___________ and ____________ differences in cognition when we compare older and younger adults
quantitative and qualitative
Positivity effect
- refers to a relative preference in older adults (compared to younger adults) for positive over negative material in cognitive processing
TRUE or FALSE
Older people are processing emotional info. differently than younger people
TRUE
Working memory capacity hypothesis
- cognitive basis of age differences in memory and language processing
- decline in working memory capacity is what’s making older people do worse in cognitive tasks
Age-variance can be accounted for by taking into account ____________ in working memory capacity
age differences
Digit span backwards have more working memory component than _____________
digit span forward
Older adults, presented with multiple tasks, do poorly compared to younger
TRUE or FALSE
TRUE
Evidence of age-related decline in working memory is not entirely clear, but there is evidence these differences relate to performance on _______________________
more complex cognitive tasks
Baddeley’s model of working memory
- is one of the most influential in the field
- Central executive, Phonological loop, Episodic buffer, Visuospatial sketchpad
These two concepts of the Baddeley’s model are modality-specific “slave systems”
Phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad
Phonological loop
from what you hear
Visuospatial sketchpad
from what you see
Episodic buffer
holds information from phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad
Central executive
- controls and coordinates the other three components of working memory (phonological loop, episodic buffer, visuospatial sketchpad)
- research suggests that the central executive is the aspect of working memory most vulnerable to age-related declines
- biggest problem for older people
Why is working memory decreasing?
Because of reduced speed
Speed Deficit Hypothesis
- decline in processing speed
- speed matters
- age-variance can be accounted for by taking into account decline in processing speed
Psychomotor speed
- amount of time taken to:
process a signal
prepare a response
execute that response
Ex: reaction time studies
Reaction time _____________(increases/decreases) with age
increases
Why is reaction time increasing with age?
- It reflects biological aging:
- Our neuronal transmission is slowing
- Loss of information between synapses
- Increase noise of nervous system
Speed Deficit hypothesis (Salthouse)
- idea that because you’re getting slower, that’s why you’re doing worse on these cognitive tasks
Reduction in CNS capacity -> Limited energy for cognitive processes -> Decreased working memory
There’s two mechanisms by which speed impacts our cognitive ability
- Limited time mechanism
- Simultaneity mechanism
Limited time mechanism
your cognitive operations are not just happening fast enough and there’s a limited amount of time
If you have limited amount of time, and you’re slow, you’re not gonna finish your mental processing in time. You’re not gonna be able to encode it in your long-term memory
Simultaneity mechanism
Lots of operations have to be happening at the same time.
And if some of them are happening too slowly, all of the information isn’t gonna be available at the same time.
Your cognitive performance output is impacted by your speed when there’s a ___________
time limit.
When there’s no time limit, then it wouldn’t impact you so much
Why else might reaction time increase and working memory decrease?
- focus on attention
only the stuff that we pay attention to goes into our working memory
Inhibitory deficit hypothesis
Cognitive basis:
- age variance can be accounted for by taking into account age differences in inhibition
- another reason RT increases
Attention requires both __________ and ___________
activation and inhibition
If you have limited resources for inhibition or if you don’t inhibit very well, what happens to reaction time?
RT increases
Memory requires both ___________________ and ___________________
inhibit relevant information and remove unnecessary information from your sight of consciousness
Accumulation of “mental clutter” leads to
working memory deficits
Older adults have sensory deficits which can limit what makes it into their ______________
sensory store
Sensory deficit hypothesis
Cognitive basis:
- age variance can be accounted for by taking into account age differences in sensory processing
Increased need to allocate resources (attentional processing) to supplement decreased sensory signal. This then takes away from processing higher up
Social cognitive basis
internalizing negative old age stereotypes compromises performance
Age stereotypes are ________________, ______________, and _______________
multifaceted, positive, and negative
Why do age stereotypes matter?
- Age stereotypes impact longevity, cardiovascular health, hearing
- also cognitive performance
People with more positive stereotypes about aging years before had better cardiovascular health?
Explain
They are more likely to take care of themselves if they have positive belief about aging
In childhood, stereotypes are known and define the self as “_______________”
not old
In adulthood, age bias creates an interpersonal climate that reinforces age stereotyping.
Explain
- we treat older people differently because they are old. And because of that, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy and that older person act even more old
In older adulthood stereotype, there is internalization. What does internalization mean?
you become “boxed-in” by age stereotypes
You internalize them and then when you activate them, they impact your performance
Piaget said that people think differently at different ________
ages
We make appraisals or attributions of older adults’ competence when we observe them perform __________
tasks
Age-based double standard
-operating when a person considers an older person’s failure in memory to be more serious than a memory failure observed in a young adult
Elderspeak/Patronizing talk
- includes slow speech, simple vocabulary, careful enunciation, a demeaning emotional tone, and superficial conversation
- activates stereotypes
Implicit stereotyping
- activation of strong stereotypes considered to be automatic but also non-conscious, making it more likely that they will influence behavior without being aware of it.
Stereotype threat
- an evoked fear if being judged in accordance with a negative stereotype about a group of which you belong
Stereotype lift
- occurs when a privileged group is motivated to perform after exposure to an unflattering stereotype of a less advantaged group
Levy (1996) examined the impact of internalizing age stereotypes on the memory performance of older adults. He used the _________________ technique
subliminal priming
Results: older adults exposed to negative primes did worse on the second memory test than on the first memory test
In aging and long-term memory, there’s multidirectionality. What does this mean?
Some things are declining, staying the same, or improving
Abilities that decline with age (in terms of long-term memory)
- Episodic memory- where you park your car
- Source memory
- False memory- old people have more false memory
- Tip-of-the-tongue (names)- older adults have more tip of the tongue
- Prospective memory- checking cookies in the oven every few minutes
Abilities that do not decline with age (in terms of long-term memory)
- Flashbulb memory- vivid
- Semantic memory- internal encyclopedia
- Procedural memory- people with dementia can sing “happy birthday”
- Implicit memory
- Autobiographical memory (“reminiscence bump”)- memory about your own life
Memory is also related to health-related behaviors in middle and later adulthood such as:
- Cigarette smoking- poorer memory among smokers and former smokers
- Consumption of fish- lower rate of cognitive decline in fish eaters
- Exercise- positive benefits of aerobic exercise and strength training
- Metabolic factors- lower levels of IGF-1 associated with poorer memory
- Dietary intake of vitamins B12, B6, and folate homocysteine, flavonoids including chocolate (+ve), or meat(-ve)
- Emotions- stress and depression can interfere with memory performance
- Sleep is related to better memory but only in young adults
- No benefits of gingko biloba
Vocabulary tends to maintain or accumulate over the lifespan, due to increased ____________ knowledge
semantic
There are some age related declines in language ability such as: (3)
- Word-finding difficulty- also known as “tip-of-the-tongue”, is one of the most common age-related changes
- Complexity of sentences- also seems to decline, which is believed to be related to a decline in working memory
- Elderspeak- is a stereotyped way of speaking to older adults, akin to “baby talk”, which involves slow speaking, exaggerated intonation, simplified vocabulary and grammar, and a higher pitch
Factors that contribute to decline in language and aging
- Slower reading rate- gonna impact your comprehension
- Changes in hearing and speech perception- mishearing something
- Slowing of cognitive functions- impact reading comprehension
- Retrieval deficits
- Simpler grammatical structures
- Working memory deficits- you might lose track what people are talking about
- Poorer inhibition
Factors that contribute to preservation in language and aging
- Semantic memory is retained or greater
- Able to get the “gist” of a story
- No problem with paralinguistic elements of speech- pitch, volume, intonation
- Activate the right hemisphere more- able to use it more and compensate
- Greater experience with language
- More cognitive complexity- more experience
Social elements of language involve the Communication Predicament Model
Age-related changes-> Elderspeak -> Further declines
Appearance and physical changes that lead young to treat person as “old” (age-related changes)
Infantilizing and patronizing speech (“honey”, “dear”, “cute”) (Elderspeak)
Lack of stimulation from being treated as dependent child (Further declines)
Communication with older adults to avoid stereotypes
- Pay attention to “individual” clues
- Be aware of your stereotypes
- Do not let stereotypes guide your communication with older interlocutors
This model of intelligence has had tremendous influence over the study of intelligence.
Many psychologists today believe that this model of intelligence is the most comprehensive and empirically supported psychometric theory of the structure of cognitive abilities to date
Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) Model of Intelligence
Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) Model of Intelligence
- In the first striatum, Carroll identified narrow abilities (roughly 70 in number) including Verbal Comprehension, Verbal Fluency, Number, Spatial Visualization, Inductive Reasoning, Memory, and Perceptual Speed
- The middle striatum included broad abilities (about 8 in number) such as Learning, Retrieval Ability, Seediness, Visual Perception, Fluid Intelligence, Crystallized Intelligence, and the Production of Ideas
- The third striatum consisted of ‘General Factor’ (g) as identified by Spearman
Classic aging pattern
- sees a faster decline in fluid intelligence
- increase & then levelling off in crystalized intelligence
Fluid reasoning (Gf)
- use of deliberate and controlled mental operations that can be performed automatically
How specific abilities are measured: deductive reasoning, inductive reasoning, Piagetian reasoning, speed of reasoning
Comprehension knowledge (Gc) / Crystallized intelligence
- knowledge of a culture that individuals gain through acculturation
How specific abilities are measured: language development, general information, vocabulary, foreign language knowledge
What are the 5 Primary Mental Abilities tested in intelligence?
- Verbal meaning: recognize and understand words
- Number: apply numerical concepts
- Word fluency: retrieve events from long-term memory (how fast your brain is working)
- Inductive reasoning: identify regularities and infer rules (you have to figure out what the rule is)
- Spatial orientation: reason about geometric forms
Which primary mental abilities have least decrease with age? Have most decrease?
least decrease= verbal meaning
most decrease= word fluency
Later-born cohorts had higher scores on all abilities except __________ and had lower rates of decline
number
Factors that can affect intelligence scores in older adults
- Lifestyle: smoking, no use of alcohol, lack of exercise, low fruits and vegetables related lower scores
- Health conditions: arthritis, cancer, osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and stroke related to lower scores
Terminal drop- there is a rapid decline in cognitive function immediately prior to death - Personality: better performance among those open to new experiences, thoughts, and feelings; less anxious
- Gender: Men>Women on numerical skill, generalized knowledge, and spatial; Women decline earlier on fluid and men on crystallized
- Brain activation: lower brain activation, especially in frontal lobe, related to more rapid decline in intelligence with age
- SES: greater decline among lower SES, less stimulating jobs (brain is not stimulated enough)
Is Wisdom creativity?
NO
According to Paul Baltes, what is wisdom?
Wise people can solve real-life problems
_________ is good judgment and advice in important but uncertain areas of life.
Wisdom
According to Berlin Wisdom as expert knowledge. What does this mean?
Knowing things about life
Berlin Wisdom Paradigm
- Factual knowledge in fundamental pragmatics of life= wise people know stuff
- Procedural knowledge in fundamental pragmatics of life= wise people know how things work, how to do things
- Knowledge which considers relativism of values and goals= wise people appreciate that different people have different values and different goals
- Knowledge which considers uncertainties of life= wise people have a backup plan
- Knowledge in contexts of life and societal change= wise people understand the role of different cultures
Does wisdom come with age?
Most research shows no association between age and wise answers
- evidence of wisdom in adults of all ages
- older adults among the top performers though= paradox of aging
Key predictor is having life experience with type of problem given
Myth: Intelligence declines with age
Reality: there are a number of dimensions to intelligence. Fluid abilities decrease gradually throughout adulthood. Crystallized abilities increase through the 60s and show a decrease only after that point
Myth: Wisdom comes with age
False
Reality: There is no strong association between age and wisdom. Wisdom ma be more strongly associated with experience than age
TRUE or FALSE
Old people usually take longer to learn something new
TRUE
TRUE or FALSE
Older people tend to react slower than younger people
TRUE
Myth: My memory is going to go when I get older
Reality: more complex answer, depends on the kind/use of memory
- compensation
- training
- lots of things we can do to improve cognitive reserve
