Cognitive Ageing Flashcards
Why study cognitive ageing?
Largest proportion of older adults ever in uk
Economic benefits
Medical & technological advances
What are symptoms of healthy ageing?
Sometimes forgetting which word to use
Losing things from time to time
Missing a monthly payment occasionally
What are some symptoms of MCI and dementia and how do they affect diagnosis?
Difficulty coming up with words (MCI)
Losing things often (Both)
Forgetting to go to important events (Both)
Overlap of symptoms make diagnosis harder
When does age-related cognitive decline begin?
Different aspects slow at different times
Memory & processing speed - mid 30s
Reasoning & Spatial visualisation - mid 20s
What is the importance of establishing when decline begins?
Determining when to target interventions
Focus on age-related research on correct period of life
Establishing causes of decline (Menopause, retirement)
Quantifying trajectory of ageing
Predicting implications of ageing
How does memory change as we age
Semantic - improves
Episodic - declines
Associative - declines
Working - declines
What is prospective memory?
Memory for future events
2 components of recall of something to be done and retreival of what needs doing
What are the types of PM
Event based
Time based
What is the age-prospective memory paradox?
Older people better at naturalistic tasks
Worse at lab based
Older outperformed young on many time based tasks
What can help explain the paradox?
Older adults more likely to use cues
They know memory is poor - self-aware
Develop reliance on external cues and habits to compensate
Lead more structured lives
What is Ihle et al (2012) and what did they find?
Naturalistic study where OA & YA list plans for next day and rated importance
Told experimenter if they did it
Older better at doing tasks than younger - age difference smaller for important tasks, bigger for less important
How does the N-back task show WM decline?
Gajewski et al (2018)
20-40 (young) had faster reaction times than old (61-80_ and middle (41-60)
What is the impact of WM decline?
May have difficulty navigating websites, learning new technology, multitasking and planning
What is Stacey et al (2024) and what did they find?
Compared OA & YA memory of health info in different modalities & compare performance on cognitive task
Memory task was same, OA worse at visual processing, WM and task switching. OA better at vocab
What is processing speech theory (Salthouse, 1996)?
Limited time mechanism - operations executed too slowly to complete in available time, delays mean subsequent tasks less efficient
Simultaneity mechanism - simple tasks slowed (building blocks for complex), they delay complex. Complexity effect - age differences are greater for more complex tasks, slower processing makes it harder to integrate info
What is salthouses (2003) explanations for crystallised intelligence?
General knowledge increases up till 40-50 then declines
Tasks supported by general knowledge can show smaller age deficits
How can vocabulary tests be used for ageing?
Older outperform younger
More for multiple choice than production
Partly due to education & due to old tests
How do Hseih & Chen show the decline in attention and EF?
Cross sectional & longitudinal data from 20-78yrs with follow up
Decline in alerting, stopping and WM
Improvement in conflict control and cued task switching
How is inhibitory control affected?
Stoop test
Inhibition of response and conflict resolution
RT longer for OA - processing speed
Stroop effect larger in old adults
Can training improve cognition?
Improved memory confidence, short term gains with low generalisability
Transfer effects - near transfer (close related increase) & far transfer
What is the cognitive reserve hypothesis?
People develop reserve of thinking abilities during lives to protect against loses with ageing - develop resilience
Factors like education, occupation, engaging in mental stimulation help maintain cognitive function
What was Stacey et al (2021) and what did they find?
Ages completed cognitive test, WM, vocab, task switching and eye tracking (go/ no go) and EEG resting state
OA deficits in WM & inhibitory control but excelled in vocab
OA poorer eye movement accuracy & slower RT & lower peak alpha frequency (moderate speed, at rest)
What is PFC theory of ageing?
EF driven by PFC
Age related deficits explained by disproportionate age related decline in PFC
Older adults greater decline in PFC compared to other regions
Poorer at task influenced by lesions to PFC
What are some alternative explanations for memory decline?
Hippocampus deteriorates
Hormones & proteins repairing brain cells decline with age
Older people have decreased blood flow to brain, impairing memory & changing cog skills
How does white matter affect processing speed?
White matter = projections coated in myelin to ensure efficient communication
Breakdown of myelin reduces efficiency of communication
What did Badham (2024) show in their review?
Age related cognitive deficits in OA smaller over time
Benefit form environmental advantages to cognition (education)
Implications for cognitive ageing research and definitions of MCI & dementia may need to be revised
What are difficulties studying cognitive aging?
Self-selecting ppts
Defining younger & older
Older more influenced by task instruction
More diverse sample needed
Naturalistic vs lab studies
