L2/3 - Cognitive Changes Flashcards
What is “successful ageing”?
Being able to do what you want as you age and being happy
not about living as long as possible - if you have dimentia you will have a miserable last few years.
What is the prevalence for dementia in elderly?
45%
Everyone will get dimentia if they get old enough
True or false
False
45% prevalence
Who is Jeanne Calment?
Aged 122
does not have dimentia, challenges assumption we will all get it
What is the biggest fear for people as they age?
They will get dementia.
What is meant by we use “different language” for cognitive failure when we are old or young?
When we are young we say: “I was busy” or “I was tired so I couldn’t remember”
When we are old we use more sinister explanations: “Seniors moment”, “I’m losing it” etc
What are the three interactions that influence how we age?
Biological
Psychological
Social
What types of attributions do we make for cognitive failure?
Expectations
Environmental Demands
Self-efficacy
What effects does the expectation of “cognitive decline” have on our cognition as we age?
If we think we will lose our memory, we are unlikely to try to fix it when it begins to deteriorate
This leads toa circular effect and the cognitive decline becomes self-fulfilling.
Cognitive decline is common as we age and should not be followed up
True or false
False
May have other causal effects and should be checked
What is the general decrement principle
important for exam
Irreversible decrements inevitably associated with ageing as a consequence of biological degeneration.
Distinguished between pathological and normal (maturational) cognitive ageing
In the general decrement principle, what is biological degeneration?
The belief that as we age our biology deteriorates and it is inevitable
evidence is reduction in blood supply, speed of mental processing, how fast people can do things, interconnections between nerve cells become less rich etc.
Does modern evidence suggest that biological degeneration is true?
What is the evidence for this?
No
Mice could live 50% longer and be more youthful + cognitive active with an ‘enriched’ environment
e.g. exercise, youthful look, can form new connections
We now think that people degenerate slower than previously imagined.
Why did we believe this at first in comparison to now?
Methodology of previous studies looked at older v younger and did comparrison
They assumed all factors were age related - however other factors were at play
Longitudinal studies showed that we can resist ageing better
What is the issue of longitudinal studies
They “underestimate change” because of the type of people who sign up and keep coming back
those who get sick or die don’t come back for repeat analysis
What is differential decline?
Some things but not others deteriorate with age and others get better
What is increased heterogeneity in ageing?
As we get older individuals become more diverse in their character and personality
What are the two hall-marks of cognitive ageing?
Differential decline
Increased heterogeneity
Do people become more similar or is there an increase in individual differences as people age?
Increase in individual differences
What is the classic ageing pattern?
important for exam
Differential Decline
Decrease in: perceptual-motor ability, spatial abilities, abstract reasoning and tasks that involve the integration of new information
Stability or increase in: verbal abilities and general knowledge
What is Horn-Cattel’s distinction between fluid and crystallised general intelligence?
At what stage in life do they increase or decrease?
Fluid intelligence reflects neurophysiological status of the individual:
– increase until early adulthood and thereafter decline
Crystallised intelligence, accumulation of knowledge over time:
stable or increases throughout adulthood, at least until the seventh decade.
What type of memory is most susceptible to ageing?
STM, Working memory or LTM?
Working memory
- e.g. a quiz where you need to hold a certain amount of numbers in your memory*
- LTM and STM (7+-2) don’t show a great age effect*
What happens to people long term memory (LTM) as they age?
Their memory for detail over time declines
They remember the gist rather than the specific details
What types of LTM are most and least susceptible to change as we age?
Most effected: Episodic memory
(source memory also- type of episodic - the person who told it to you)
Least effected: Procedural, Semantic
What are the two types of studies that we use for measuring ageing?
Cross-sectional
Longitudinal
What impact does using one methodology over the other have when looking at ageing data?
Why is this?
Longitudinal studies show later age of onset and less severe rates of decline
For longitudinal, this is due to selective attrition
Due to people who drop out or return for the studies is not random
For Cross-sectional, this may be due to cohort effects
differences between generations
What are cohort effects?
Differences between generations
Are cohort effects getting bigger or smaller?
Why?
Smaller
difference between grandparents and parents is bigger than difference between us and parents
Becauseof increases in educational opportunities, nutrition, improved health care
Do individuals typically age at similar rates?
No
There is heterogeneity in ageing in all aspects
Why is there a streotype that most old people are similar?
Group trends on cognitive tests can make large individual differences in performance
makes elderly people look more similar, when in fact young people more similar
What type of factors contribute to ageing?
Individual, lifestyle and environmental factors
What are some predictors for ageing?
Health habits: smoking, alcohol abuse and
leading a sedentary life predictive of poor performance
Chronic conditions: sensory impairment,
hypertension, cardiovascular disease,
osteoporosis and arthritis impact negatively
Stronger association between health and fluid intelligence rather than crystallised ability
Typically, “if it is good for the heart it is good for the ____”
brain
What are the noncognitive variables that reduce the risk of decline
Absence of cardiovascular and other chronic diseases
Favourable environmental circumstance
Complex & intellectually stimulating activities
What are some psychological constructs that reduce the risk that you will get cognitive decline?
Flexible personality style at mid-life (if you need everything the way you want it, risk of decline)
Spouse with high cognitive status
Perceptual processing speed
Satisfaction with life accomplishments.
Why is “time to death” better than age for measuring life expectancy and when can we measure it?
People decline at different rates - when decline starts you can begin to measure “time to death”
What is the common symptom of dementia?
Progressive decline in cognitive functions
What is the most common form of dementia?
Alzheimer’s disease
50-60% of older people with dementia have Alzheimer’s disease
What’s the life expectancy for someone who has recieved a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s?
10 years.
however some have rapid decline and some have slower decline
What do we use to detect Alzheimer’s?
PET scans can see when changes are beginning
What is the pattern of impairment we see with people who have dementia?
Memory, orientation, judgment, problem solving, community affairs, home, personal care become effected.
What is the clinical dementia rating called?
What are its diagnoses?
Berg Clinical Dementia Rating
No dementia, questionable dementia, mild, moderate, severe
What is the difference between mild cognitive impairment and dementia?
Mild cognitive impairment: 5-20% of dementia people will get this but 50% will be the same 10 years later with some fully recovering
Dementia: Cognitive ability will gradually decline until you cannot function on your own
What does Altzheimer’s do to the brain physically?
Where does this happen?
Destroys and interrupts the functioning of neurons (brain cells)
There is a progressive thinning of the hippocampus and then spreads to cortex
What are the neurofibrillary tangles and deposits of amyloid plaques that contribute to Altzheimer’s?
Abnormalities in the neurochemistry at the synapse. There are sticky proteins in the brain that destroy nerve cells.
The amyloid plaques form first, they are sticky and have a protein store and has degenerate neuronal fragments that get stuck (as theyre sticky)
Its a problem with an enzyme that snips that precurses protein to produce amyloid in the wrong place and the toxic stuff that is left then clumps in the brain and is very sticky.
Following that you get these neurofibrillary tangles inside the cell
What is an amyloid and how is it related to Altzheimer’s?
Amyloid itself is important for growth and repair
Altzheimer’s happens because there is a problem in production by the precurses protein, which lead to amyloid plaques.
- Its a problem with an enzyme that snips that precurses protein to produce amyloid in the wrong place and the toxic stuff that is left then clumps in the brain and is very sticky.*
- Following that you get these neurofibrillary tangles inside the cell.*
What are tangles in the brain?
abnormally twisted fibres within neurons
How to tangles occur?
Tangles are formed because of the deposition of a protein called Tau (a problem with the protein)
– Tau is related to the support structure of the Axon, so it is important in the system but there is a problem there in the protein which leads to twisting and cell death in Altzhiemer’s.
Why does the hippocampus and cortex get ‘thinner’ in Altzheimers?
Plaques get destroyed by tangles and cell death
Plaques and tangles develop before or after symptoms of Altzheimer’s are noticable?
Before
The density of plaques and tangles aare related to the ____ of the disease
severity
more plaques and tangles = more severe
not necessarily clinical symptoms though
Are plaques and tangles found in a normal brain?
Yes
The two classic features of altzheimer’s that are found in the brain are?
Plaques and Tangles
What are the proposed links for why dementia happens?
(6 things)
- *1. Deficit or imbalance of neurochemicals**
- – Enzyme responsible for synthesis of acetylcholine, targeted by drug treatments*
2. Excessive accumulation of toxins in brain
– eg alluminium
3. Brain looses capacity to synthesize proteins
– Amyloid precursor protein snipped by enzymes,
may result in beta amyloid
4. Genetic Condition
20% familiar form
5. Head Injury
lets more toxins through and creates incresead production of beta-amyloid
6. Age/Gender
women more likely to get it
What happens to the brain when the amyloid doesn’t function properly?
What is this called?
Leads to a sticky protein that doesn’t allow neurotransmission
Called: beta-amyloid
What are the protective factors against dementia?
Education, physical, mental and social activity, non steroidal anti-inflammatory meds
All these significantly reduce chance of developing dementia
What influence does heart disease and stroke have on the risk of dementia?
Increased risk
What was Snowden’s nun study: school sisters of notre dame religious order and what did they find regarding dementia?
A group of nuns who donate their brains to science
Better educated women had not shown dementia
- one had the signs but did not show the symptoms*
- learning a language decreases chance of dementia*
