Lecture 4

Question 1

What is fluid intelligence, and how does it change with age?

Answer 1

Fluid intelligence refers to the ability to think quickly, solve new problems, and adapt to new situations. It tends to decline with age.

Question 2

What is crystalized intelligence, and how does it change with age?

Answer 2

Crystalized intelligence includes accumulated knowledge and expertise, such as vocabulary and facts. It remains stable or can even increase with age, as older adults have more life experiences.

Question 3

What is the threshold in sensory processes?

Answer 3

The minimum level of a signal that your senses need to notice its presence

Question 4

How would you define sensitivity in sensory processes?

Answer 4

How easily your senses react to something. It’s the opposite of the threshold, which is about how strong the stimulus needs to be for you to notice it.

Question 5

What does the concept of signal detection take into account?

Answer 5

1) Sensitivity - How well your senses can detect signals
2) Decisional criteria - The rules or standards you use to decide whether a signal is present or not,

Question 6

What is conductive hearing loss, and what is its usual nature?

Answer 6

Conductive hearing loss is usually mechanical (physical structure or mechanics of the ear) in nature and affects all frequencies

Question 7

What is the cause of conductive hearing loss, and which part of the ear is typically affected?

Answer 7

Conductive hearing loss is related to structural changes in the outer or middle ear, particularly the ossicles.

Question 8

What is sensorineural hearing loss, and what part of the ear is affected by it?

Answer 8

Sensorineural hearing loss is caused by damage or degeneration of cochlear hair cells on the basilar membrane. The frequencies affected depend on where on the basilar membrane the hair cells are damaged.

Question 9

What is presbycusis, and who commonly experiences it?

Answer 9

Presbycusis is a type of hearing loss common in older adulthood.

Question 10

What type of hearing loss is associated with presbycusis, and what does it affect?

Answer 10

Presbycusis is associated with sensorineural loss and higher-order processing, leading to lower sensitivity to high-frequency tones

Question 11

What else is associated with Presbycusis? (3)

Answer 11

1) Phonemic regression (hear it but cannot understand it)
2) Difficulty understanding speech in noisy conditions
3) High frequnecy loss affects speech sounds

Question 12

What are some coping strategies for dealing with presbycusis?

Answer 12

1) hearing aids, relying on
2) visual cues, and 3) using top-down strategies like increased attention.

Question 13

What are top-down strategies, and why might they be useful for those with presbycusis?

Answer 13

Top-down strategies involve higher-level cognitive processes, like increased attention, which can help individuals with presbycusis better process and understand spoken language.

Question 14

Structural Changes in Eye (5)

Answer 14

1) Elevated pressure in aqueous humor (may lead to glaucoma)
2) Smaller pupil diameter (lets in less light)
3) Bigger and thicker lens (presbyopia)
4)Yellowing of lens (changes in colour vision)
5) Senile cataracts, causing glare

Question 15

What are some pathological changes that can affect the retina in older adulthood?

Answer 15

Pathological changes in the retina can include conditions like macular degeneration (areas around fovea degenerates) and diabetic retinopathy.

Question 16

What are normal age-related changes in the retina? (2)

Answer 16

1) Declines in the number of rods and ganglion cells,
2) Changes in spatial and temporal summation patterns of information from retinal rods, cones, and ganglion cells

Question 17

What happens to neuronal ‘tuning curves’ in cortical visual processing in older adulthood?

Answer 17

Neuronal ‘tuning curves’ become broader, leading to reduced processing specificity and increased neural noise.

Question 18

How do baseline firing rates change in older adults in the context of cortical visual processing?

Answer 18

Baseline firing rates increase, resulting in lower signal-to-noise ratios.

Question 19

What is the impact of changes in neuronal function on center-surround suppression in older adults?

Answer 19

Older adults experience a reduction in center-surround suppression (it’s harder for them to filter out distracting background information when looking at something specific.)

Question 20

What is required to compensate for increased neural noise in cortical visual processing in older adulthood?

Answer 20

To make up for more “noise” in their brain’s visual processing as they age, older adults need greater top down attention, often involving the frontal part of their brain.

Question 21

What changes occur in the ability to discriminate luminance and contrast changes in cortical visual processing during aging?

Answer 21

Aging results in a lower ability to discriminate luminance and contrast changes.

Question 22

What happens to motion detection and sensitivity in cortical visual processing as people age?

Answer 22

Aging is associated with reduced motion detection and sensitivity,

Question 23

How does aging affect spatial integration necessary for 2D and 3D form detection?

Answer 23

Aging is associated with an age-related decline in spatial integration necessary for 2D and 3D form detection.

Question 24

What happens to optical flow, particularly related to locomotion and avoiding collisions, in older adults at slower speeds?

Answer 24

At slower speeds, there are no significant age-related differences in optical flow for older adults.

Question 25

Two Hypothesis for Age Related Slowing

Answer 25

1) Age -Complexity Hypothesis
2) Stimulus Persistence Theory

Question 26

Age-Complexity Hypothesis

Answer 26

The more complex the task, the greater the age- related gap in speed of response

Question 27

Stimulus Persistence Theory

Answer 27

As people agem information is processed more slowly in the brain, mainly because older information is still being processed, making the processing of new information less efficien

Question 28

Common cause hypothesis of neurocognitive aging

Answer 28

1) Degraded Sensory Input
2) Reduced Speed of Processing/Motor Output

Question 29

Neural Mechanisms of Age Related Slowing

Answer 29

1) Cell loss: means messages in the brain have to travel farther, making them slower
2) Reduction of dendritic branching,
3) Decrease in the number of active synapses,
4) Loss of myelin
5) Age-related slowing may be a consequence of a loss of synchronization of neural impulses (dopamine depletion).

Question 30

Age-related Differences in Attention (3)

Answer 30

1) Vigilance (Sustained Attention) tasks
2) Divided attention tasks
3) Selective attention tasks

Question 31

Vigilance (Sustained Attention) tasks

Answer 31

Age-related differences only when tasks are complex or strictly timed

Question 32

When do age-related differences appear in divided attention tasks?

Answer 32

Age-related differences arise when the demands of the tasks exceed the attentional resources or capacity of older adults.

Question 33

In what situations do age-related differences become apparent in selective attention tasks?

Answer 33

Age-related differences become apparent in selective attention tasks when it’s challenging to ignore distracting stimuli in the given situation.

Question 34

Attentional Control Theories of Aging (4)

Answer 34

1) Reduced Attentional Capacity or Control
2) Inhibitory Deficit
3) Frontal System Deficit
4) Neuromodulation hypothesis

Question 35

Attentional Control Theories of Aging: Reduced Attentional Capacity or Control

Answer 35

With age, the quantity of processing resources available for attention declines (they have fewer mental resources available for paying attention to things)

Question 36

Attentional Control Theories of Aging: Inhibitory Deficit

Answer 36

Older adults may have a decreased ability to ignore irrelevant stimuli and focus on relevant ones.

Question 37

Attentional Control Theories of Aging: Frontal System Deficit

Answer 37

Frontally mediated systems in the brain are more vulnerable to the effects of aging.

Question 38

Attentional Control Theories of Aging: Neuromodulation hypothesis

Answer 38

integrates ideas of inhibition and frontal systems to explain age-related changes in attention.

Question 39

Useful Field of View(UFOV)

Answer 39

The ability to discriminate and locate peripheral visual information in noisy or cluttered visual environments,

Question 40

The Useful Field of View (UFOV) test typically includes three main categories:

Answer 40

Processing Speed: This category assesses how quickly an individual can process information in their central visual field.

Divided Attention: It measures a person’s ability to simultaneously focus on a central task while monitoring peripheral visual information.

Selective Attention: Discrimination task at fixation with distractors in periphery

Question 41

What is the main factor affecting performance in the Useful Field of View (UFOV) test for older adults?

Answer 41

It was once thought to be reduced attention capacity, but it’s now understood to be primarily an issue of reduced attention control.

Question 42

What does the relationship between UFOV impairment and the impact of flanker eccentricity suggest?

Answer 42

The lack of a relationship suggests that UFOV impairment is not related to reduced attentional capacity.

Question 43

In the context of the spatial cueing task, what does the relationship between incongruent reaction time (RT) and UFOV impairment suggest?

Answer 43

The spatial cueing task reveals that there’s a strong connection between slower incongruent reaction times (RT) and UFOV impairment. This suggests that older adults may have difficulty disengaging their attention from a target once it’s cued, indicating reduced attentional control.

Question 44

Attentional Control vs. Capacity

Answer 44

Attentional Control: The ability to use your attention wisely, like focusing when needed and ignoring distractions.

Attentional Capacity: The total amount of attention you have, like the size of your attention container.