chapter 15 notecards Flashcards
some apparent decrements in cognitive aging result from ______________
weaknesses in the research itself
___________ on 5 mental abilities showed the typical drop after mid-30s, similar to previous studies
cross sectional comparisons
_________ for those abilities revealed modest gains in midlife, sustained in the 50s and early 60s, after which performance decreased gradually
longitudinal trends
_________ are largely responsible for this difference
in ________, each new generation experienced better health and education than the one before it, so each generation has better supports than the generation before it
cohort effects
skills that depend on accumulated knowledge and experience, good judgment, and mastery of social conventions
largely influenced by culture
measured on intelligence tests by performance on vocabulary, general info, verbal comprehension, and logical reasoning
crystallized intelligence
depends more heavily on basic information-processing skills – ability to detect relationships among visual stimuli, speed of analyzing information, and capacity of working memory
fluid intelligence
crystallized intelligence ________ through middle adulthood
fluid intelligence begins to __________
increases steadily
decline in the 20s
_________ show greater decrements than ________
fluid
crystallized
some theorists believe that a general slowing of ___________ underlies nearly all age related declines in cognitive performance
central nervous system functioning
Reasons why fluid intelligence (basic information processing skills) declines earlier, but crystallized abilities gain and then stabilize
The decrease in basic processing speed and capacity, while substantial after age 45, may not be great enough to affect many well-practiced performances until quite late in life
Adults can often ________ for cognitive limitations by drawing on their _________
As people discover that they are no longer as good as they once were at certain tasks, they _________shifting to activities that depend less on cognitive efficiency and more on ___________
Ex. The basketball player becomes a coach and the once quick-witted salesperson becomes a manager
compensate
cognitive strengths
accommodate
accumulated knowledge
name given to the trend for IQ scores to increase with each new generation
flynn effect
– as neurons in the brain die, breaks in neural networks occur
The brain adapts by forming bypasses – new synaptic connections that go around the breaks but are less efficient
neural network view
suggests that older adults experience greater loss of information as it moves through the cognitive system
As a result, the whole system must slow down to inspect and interpret the information
Ex. Imagine making a photocopy, then using it to make another copy, each subsequent copy is less clear
Similarly, with each step of thinking, information degrades, the older the adult, the more exaggerated this effect
information loss view
predicts adults’ performance on many tests of complex abilities
The slower their reaction time, the lower their scores on memory, reasoning, and problem-solving tasks
Relationships are greater for fluid than crystallized-ability items
This suggests that processing speed contributes broadly to ______ in cognitive functioning
processing speed
decline
processing speed is a ________ of the skill with which older adults perform complex, ______ in every day life
weak predictor
familiar tasks
