growing old

Question 1

changes in social-emotional aspects with age

Answer 1

living with limitations, smaller world, purpose in love

Question 2

dual aging

Answer 2

more older adults, increased longevity

Question 3

why doesn’t natural selection select for successful aging genes

Answer 3

doesn’t contribute to passing on our genes or successful adaptation

Question 4

illnesses that become more prevalent with age

Answer 4

cardiac/vascular diseases, brain (Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s), other (other internal organs, broken bones (hip), cancer, diabetes)

Question 5

changes in the circadian rhythm

Answer 5

flattening of the 24 hour rhythm, fewer hours of deep sleep, highest peak shifts from afternoon to morning, preference and increased need for naps

Question 6

how much % do people lose between 20 and 70

Answer 6

10

Question 7

which part of the brain is the last to mature in both ontogenesis and phylogenesis

Answer 7

prefrontal cortex - last in, first out

Question 8

what are the largest changes in the brain

Answer 8

prefrontal cortex and MTL (hippocampus)

Question 9

prefrontal cortex changes at a structural level

Answer 9

gray matter - reduction in the number of cells (due to cell death) or may be a sign of neuronal shrinkage
white matter - axonal abnormalities, slowed neurotransmission

Question 10

what is hemispheric asymmetry reduction

Answer 10

on tasks leading to unilateral prefrontal activity in young adults, older adults tend to show bilateral recruitment (might be compensatory activation or pathological changes such as hemispheric release from inhibition)

Question 11

changes in the emotion processing regions

Answer 11

the amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex are relatively spared - minimal atrophy

Question 12

cognitive aspects affected in aging

Answer 12

regulative functions, orienting, self-menagment ability, memory

Question 13

regulative functions

Answer 13

stability vs flexibility (switching between tasks, shielding of goals), working memory (updating relevant information), planning, impulse control

Question 14

orienting

Answer 14

3D space, temporal space, contextual space, autobiographical space

Question 15

self-management ability

Answer 15

taking initiative, investing (ensuring that you have enough hobbies to keep you active), positive frame of mind, variety, multi functionality, self-efficacy

Question 16

memory

Answer 16

failure to remember the right word, failure to remember the contextual details of an event

Question 17

domain-general theories of aging

Answer 17

based on the hypothesis that there is a shared ability that underlies all of the tasks on which older adults are impaired

Question 18

three domain general hypothesis of age-related declines

Answer 18

sensory deficits, inhibition, speed of processing

Question 19

sensory deficits theory

Answer 19

cognitive changes with aging may be attributed to changes in sensations, but possible that there is a common influence underlying both

Question 20

two lines of research in sensory deficit theory

Answer 20

older adult’s performance on cognitive tasks correlates strongly with their sensory abilities, in young adults cognitive impairments can arise when stimuli are degraded

Question 21

inhibition theory

Answer 21

cognitive deficits may relate to the inability to ignore irrelevant information in the environment while focusing attention on goal-relevant stimuli

Question 22

inhibition theory experiment

Answer 22

after reading “before going to bed, please turn off the stove”, older adults more likely to believe that the target word was light - garden path sentence

Question 23

speed of processing theory

Answer 23

older adults have a slower speed of processing - poorer encoding of information, reduced ability to store information

Question 24

domain specific theories of cognitive aging

Answer 24

propose that some age-related declines may not be explained by core deficits but by changes that have a larger impact on one area of cognition than on another

Question 25

word-finding difficulties manifestations

Answer 25

excessive use of pronouns, decreased accuracy and increased reaction time when naming, increased tip-of-the-tongue experience

Question 26

tip-of-the-tongue state

Answer 26

a person has access to a word’s meaning, but not to the phonological features of the word (accuracy of the phonological information also lower)

Question 27

summation of priming

Answer 27

good at generating words when there are lots of links converging - apple

Question 28

episodic memory

Answer 28

memory for the item perviously encountered and memory for contextual details in which the item was encountered

Question 29

what happens when older adults are given a strategy to use as they learn information

Answer 29

as good as younger adults - deficits in encoding

Question 30

cognitive aspects that don’t decline

Answer 30

creativity, language skills and capabilities, social skills

Question 31

how is emotional regulation after 60

Answer 31

better - lower rates of depression, good moods last longer, able to rebound more quickly from negative mood states, focus more on positive information, choose activities based on emotional fulfillment

Question 32

is memory for emotional information preserved

Answer 32

some aspects - more likely to remember contextual details if the event contains emotional relevance

Question 33

what improves with age

Answer 33

crystallized intelligence (defining words, answering questions related to general world knowledge, detecting spelling errors, carrying out skills related to jobs that they have held for many years) + pragmatic wisdom (what should be done in complex situations)

Question 34

what factors influence aging

Answer 34

nutrition and consumption patterns, physical exercise

Question 35

mild cognitive impairments what are

Answer 35

deficits don’t impair their ability to function in daily life but do exceed those that typically accompany healthy aging

Question 36

previous names for MCI

Answer 36

benign senescent forgetfulness, age-associated memory impairment

Question 37

criteria for MCI

Answer 37

subjective memory compliments, impairment in one area of cognition (1.5 sd below age norms), deficits aren’t severe enough

Question 38

autopsy for the first Alzheimer patient

Answer 38

intracellular neuritic plaques and extracellular neurofibrillary tangles

Question 39

how many cases of dementia are AD

Answer 39

2/3

Question 40

how is semantic memory with AD

Answer 40

relatively spared, deficits arise with progression of the disease - especially on word-finding tasks

Question 41

current research semantic memory AD

Answer 41

examining the extent to which the breakdown in semantic memory is due to changes in the structure of the memory networks or to difficulties retrieving the stored informaiton

Question 42

neural changes in AD

Answer 42

early - MTL most affected - hippocampus atrophy
amygdala - essential for enhancing individual’s memory for highly emotional events
the nucleus basalts - cell loss - acetylcholine transmission (isn’t just this - therapy with this hormone doesn’t solve it)
later - increased atrophy in the MTL, frontal lobe, temporal lobe
very late stages - most structures, sensory regions

Question 43

DSM IV for dementia

Answer 43

short term memory problems, cognitive problems in at least 1 other domain, serious enough so as to influence daily functioning, clear consciousness (no hallucinations)