chapter 6

Question 1

Information-Processing Model

– The information-processing model is based on three assumptions:

Answer 1

Uses a computer metaphor to explain how people process stimuli (info enters brain, transformed, coded and stored permanently or temporarily)

– 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 processes.

Question 2

Sensory memory

Answer 2

– A brief and almost identical representation of the

stimuli that exists in the observable environment.

Question 3

attention
Functional Perspective:
Attentional control is linked to the

Answer 3

Functional Perspective: Attention is composed of separate dimensions serving different functions.
– Attentional control is linked to the parieto-frontal lobes.

Question 4

Speed of Processing

Answer 4

– How quickly and efficiently the early steps in information processing are completed
▪ Evidence including neuroimaging studies indicates age-related slowing depends on what adults are being asked to do (e.g., choosing which response to make)
▪ The amount of beta-amyloid protein in the central nervous system is related to the degree processing speed slows.

Question 5

divided attention

Answer 5

concerned how well people perform multiple tasks simultaneously

Question 6

• Processing Resources

Answer 6

The amount of attention one has to apply to a particular situation

Question 7

▪ Two possible reasons for decline in processing with age:

Answer 7

– Inhibitory loss: Older adults may have difficulty inhibiting the processing of irrelevant information.
» Emotionally supportive messages reduce distracting thoughts and improve performance on everyday tasks.
– Attentional changes: But older adults are not worse than younger adults at dividing attention, in general.
» Older adults are just as able to multitask but perform each task a bit more slowly.

Question 8

– Automatic Processing:

age difference?

Answer 8

places minimal demands on attentional capacity
▪ Gets information into the system largely without us being aware of it
▪ Performance on tasks that depend on automatic processes do not demonstrate significant age differences.

stop at a stop sign without thinking to much

no age difference

Question 9

– Effortful Processing:

age difference?

Answer 9

requires all of the available attentional capacity
▪ When there is effort and deliberate processing involved to remember the information, age differences emerge.

age diff

Question 10

Memory includes

Answer 10

encoding, storage, retrieval
encoding- getting info into memory system
storage: manner in which info is represented and kept in memory
retrieval: getting info back out of memory

Question 11

• Working Memory
Using that information to:
Rehearsal:

Answer 11

The active processes and structures involved in holding information in mind (mental scratchpad)
▪ Solve a problem
▪ Make a decision
▪ Learn new information
-Rehearsal: The process by which information is held in working memory (repeated times over and over or making connections)

Question 12

– Working memory capacity _____with age and seems to be related to declines in:

Answer 12

declines:
▪ storage capacity
▪ ability to allocate capacity to more than one task
▪ slower rates of information processing

Question 13

– Age-related declines are not universal, however they are greater:

Answer 13

▪ for spatial working memory than for verbal working memory, although there are declines in both.
▪ Greater working knowledge counterbalances declines in working memory in some situations.
▪ On more complex tasks relative to simpler ones

Question 14

• Implicit versus Explicit Memory

Answer 14

– Implicit memory (procedural memory)
▪ Retrieval of information without conscious or intentional recollection
▪ An example is a language task such as stem completion.
▪ Smaller age differences than explicit memory
ex: brush teeth
– Explicit memory (declarative)
▪ Intentional and conscious remembering of information that is learned at a specific point in time
▪ Performance on explicit memory tasks declines with age.

Question 15

• Long-Term Memory

recall vs, recognition

Answer 15

– The ability to remember extensive amounts of information from a few seconds, hours, or decades.
– Semantic Memory-increases and levels off
▪ Learning and remembering the meaning of words and concepts that are not tied to specific occurrences of events in time
– Episodic Memory- stable declines after 65
▪ Conscious recollection of information from a specific event or point in time
▪ Recall (remembering without hints) versus recognition (choosing from items)

Question 16

– Age Differences in Semantic Memory

Answer 16

▪ Semantic memory is relatively spared in normal aging.
▪ Changes can happen if it becomes hard to access and retrieve if the knowledge is not used and if adults are experiencing momentary retrieval failure (tip-of-the- tongue).

Question 17

recall test

recognition

Answer 17

people are asked to remember info

-selecting previously learned info from among several items ex: MC test

Question 18

– Age Differences in Episodic Memory

Answer 18

▪ Older adults perform worse than younger adults on recall tests.
o Omit more information
o Include more intrusions
o Repeat more previously recalled items
▪ Less Difference with Recognition Tests
o Older adults are more likely to say they recognize items
that were never presented.
o Change in brain activity in the prefrontal cortex
▪ Autobiographical memory is more resistant to declining.

Question 19

• Age Differences in Encoding versus Retrieval

The spontaneous use of strategies during the learning of new information ______ with age.

Changes in the___________underlies the encoding declines.

Older adults tend to spontaneously use _____ retrieval strategies than younger adults.

Age-related_______ brain activity for retrieval to work around the normal changes occurring in information processin

Answer 19

– Encoding
o The spontaneous use of strategies during the learning of new information declines with age.
o Changes in the left lateral prefrontal cortex underlies the encoding declines.
– Retrieval
▪ Older adults tend to spontaneously use fewer retrieval strategies than younger adults.
▪ Age-related compensatory brain activity for retrieval to work around the normal changes occurring in information processin

Question 20

• Prospective Memory

Answer 20

– Remembering to perform a planned action in the future
– Differences between event-based and time-based future events
▪ Time-based remembering is more age related.

Question 21

• Autobiographical Memory-is a form of what kind of memory

– Flashbulb memories

Answer 21

– Involves remembering information and events from our own life
▪ It is a form of episodic memory.
– Flashbulb memories
▪ Vivid memories of very personal or emotional events, but these are often inaccurate
– Events experienced between 10 and 30 years of age are reported more often than those occurring in middle adulthood.

Question 22

• Source Memory

Answer 22

– The ability to remember the source of a familiar event and the ability to determine if an event was imagined or actually experienced
▪ Older adults are less accurate at many source-memory tasks.
▪ Older adults show overactivation of the prefrontal cortex when confronted with source memory tasks.

Question 23

• False Memory

Answer 23

memory errors
– When one remembers items or events that did not occur
▪ Older adults tend to be more susceptible to false memory issues than younger adults.

Question 24

4 Factors That Preserve Memory: Cognitive Reserve

Answer 24

– Exercise
▪ Physical exercise improves cognitive performance. – Multilingualism and Cognitive Functioning
▪ Research suggests that older adults who speak four or more languages had the best cognitive state.
– Semantic Memory in Service of Episodic Memory
▪ Older adults are better in episodic memory when they can use previously learned semantic information to support episodic knowledge.
– Negative Stereotypes and Memory Performance
▪ Older adults do worse on memory tasks if they believe that
age hampers memory ability.

Question 25

– Metamemory:

– Memory Monitoring:

Answer 25

– Metamemory: knowledge about how memory works and what we believe is true about it
– Memory Monitoring: awareness of what we are doing with our memory right now

Question 26

• Age Differences in Metamemory

Answer 26

– Older adults:
▪ seem to know less about how memory works than younger adults
▪ view memory as less stable
▪ expect that memory will deteriorate
▪ perceive they have less control over memory

Question 27

The Role of Memory Self-Efficacy

– Memory Self-efficacy:
• Age Differences in Memory Monitoring

Answer 27

– Memory Self-efficacy: the belief that one will be able to perform a specific task
▪ One may know a good deal about how memory works, but still believe they possess low ability to perform a specific memory task.
▪ Memory successes tend to bolster self-efficacy, and failures reduce one’s belief of memory competence.

• Age Differences in Memory Monitoring
– The ability to monitor one’s memory does not appear to decline with age.

Question 28

• Normal versus Abnormal Memory Aging

* Memory and Physical and Mental Health

Answer 28

– Distinguish by asking if changes disrupt a person’s ability to function in everyday life
▪ Such as repeatedly forgetting to turn off the stove ▪ Forgets the way home
– Telling the difference is often difficult.

– Damage to the brain can cause memory issues.
– Temporary global amnesia (TGA): Negative effects on cognitive functioning following concussion

Question 29

• Memory and Nutrition

Answer 29

– Several components in healthy diets are essential for well-functioning memory.
▪ Flavonoids may reverse age-related deficits in spatial memory.
▪ Iron has also been associated with better verbal memory.
▪ Vitamin B including 6 and 9 (folic acid)
– Serious decrements in memory may be caused by poor diet.