Chapter 15: Physical and cognitive dev in Late adulthood

Question 1

life span vs life expectancy

Answer 1

life span: upper boundary of life, max amount of years an ind can live (120 to 125)

Life expectancy: nbr of years that the avergae person born in a particular year will live

Question 2

Why can women expect to live longer than men

Answer 2

Social factors such as health attitudes, habits, lifestyles, and occupation are imp

Question 3

Why do men live less

Answer 3

Do to lifestyle

Question 4

What is the sex diff in longetivity influenced by

Answer 4

Biological factors: in virutally all species, females outlive males.

Question 5

What is the latino health paradox

Answer 5

Why do latinos live 1.2 years longer than non-latino whites despite having lower educational attainment and income levels.

Question 6

Factors that could explain the latino health paradox

Answer 6

• migration patterns
• strong connections with extended family (less lonely)
• lower rates of smoking

Question 7

What is compression to morbidity

Answer 7

means living a long, healthy life and experiencing illness or disability only for a short time at the very end of life. The goal is to delay diseases as much as possible, so people spend most of their life in good health.

Question 8

What are the biological theories of aging

Answer 8

• evolutionary
• cellular clock
• free-radical
• hormonal stress

Question 9

Whats the evolutionary theory of aging

Answer 9

It points out that natural selection has not eliminated harmful conditions and nonadaptive characteristics in older adults.

Why? because natural selection is linked to reproductive fitness, which is present only in earlier part of adulthood

Question 10

What is the cellular clock theory

Answer 10

Leonard Hayflick’s theory that cells can divide maximum of about 75 to 80 times. And that as we age our cells become less able to divide.

bcs every time a cell divides, the telomeres in the dna sequence get shorter and eventually and dramatically shorter and the cell can no longer reproduce.

Question 11

Why don’t we inject the enxyme telomerase into humans

Answer 11

Because although it does extend nromal cell life, its also present in approximately 90 percent of cancerous cells

Question 12

What’s the free radical theory

Answer 12

States that people age because cells metabolize energy, and the by-products include unstable oxygen molecules known as free radicals.
Free radicals ricochet around the cells, damaging dna and other cellular structures

Question 13

Whats the mitochondrial theory

Answer 13

Emphasizes the decay of mitochondria 9supplies energy for…) that is primarily due to oxidative damage and loss of critical miconutrients supplies by the cell.

Energy sensing and apoptosis (programmed cell death) are also key aspects of the theory.

Question 14

Whats the Sirtuin Theory

Answer 14

Sirtuins are a family of proteins that have been linked to longevity, regulation of mitochondria functioning, stress resistance, etc..

Question 15

What four sirtuins are involved in DNA repair and grater longevity

Answer 15

SIRT 1, 4, 6, 7

Question 16

What is the mTOR pathway Theory

Answer 16

mTOR pathway is a cellular pathway that involves the regulation of growth and metabolism, central role in life of cells, cellular router for growth

TOR= Target or Rapamycin

Question 17

What is rapamycin

Answer 17

its a naturally derived antibiotic and immune system supressant/modulator that was discovered.

Commonly used for preventing rejection of transplanted organs and bone marrow.

Question 18

Whats the hormonal stress theory

Answer 18

Argues that aging in the bodys hormonal system can lower resistance to stress and increase the likelihood of disease.

Normally when ppl experience stressors, their body responds by releasing hormones.
As people age, the hormones stimulated by stress remain at elevated levels longer than when ppl r younger.

Prolonged elevation of stress related hormones is associated with incr risk for diseases.

Question 19

When it comes to the brain and aging, what is discussed

Answer 19

• shrinking volume on brain structures and regions
• Changes in myelination and neural networks
  demyelination occurs with aging

Question 20

Where are the 2 brain regions where neurogenesis can happen

Answer 20

• hippocampus (memory)
• Olfactory bulb (smell)

Question 21

What happens to dendritic growth with aging

Answer 21

In ppl in their nineties, dendritic growth no long occured

Question 22

Lateralization and aging..

Answer 22

lateralization: specialization of function in one hemisph of the brain or the other.

Brain activity in the pfc is lateralized less in older adults than in younger when engaging in cog tasks

Question 23

What is the nun study

Answer 23

directed by David Snowdon
678 nuns agreed to donate their brains for research when they die

Question 24

What physical changes happen

Answer 24

• more wrinkles and age spots
• get shorter
• weight drops because we lose muscle
• move more slowly

Question 25

What about sensory development

Answer 25

• vision decline becomes more pronounced, eyes take longer to adjust, area of visual field becomes smaller
• depth perception declines : difficulty ti know how close/far/high/low they are.
• Hearing loss, inability to hear sounds softer than 25db
• dual sensory loss –> significant cognitive decline
• most lose some of their sense of smell or taste or both (more in smell than taste) - and starts around 60
• impaired touch
• Chronic pain: back pain, peripheral neuropathic pain, chronic joint pain

Question 26

What 3 disorders can impair the vision of older adults

Answer 26

• Cataracts: thickening of the lens of the eye = cloudy and distorted vision
• Glaucoma: damage to the optic nerve because of pressure created by buildup of fluid in eyes
• Macular degeneration: deterioration of the macula of the retina (Focal center of visual field). = unable to see whats right in front of them, better peripheral vision

Question 27

what 2 tings stop sexuality

Answer 27

• disease
• belief that old people are or should be asexual

Question 28

Whats the most common chronic disorder in late adulthood

Answer 28

Arthritis, followed by hypertension

Question 29

what is arthritis

Answer 29

inflammation of the joints + pain stiffness and movement problems.

Question 30

What is osteiporosis

Answer 30

Severe loss of bone tissue

Question 31

CR

Answer 31

Calorie restriction.
can incr life span

Question 32

How does attention change with aging

Answer 32

Selective attention decreases

Sustained attention is good and sometimes even better

Question 33

Memory and aging

Answer 33

• decline in explicit memory (memory of facts and experiences)
• Implicit memory (memory without conscious recollection) - less affected than explicit