Middle Adulthood: COG Flashcards
Who proposed the model of physical and cognitive aging?
Nancy Denney proposes that changes with age on nearly any measure of physical or cognitive functioning follow a typical curve
What is the model of physical and cognitive aging?
- Unexercised abilities will generally have a lower peak level of performance; exercised abilities will generally have a higher peak
- Any skill (physical or mental) that is not fully exercised can be improved, even in old age, if the individual begins to exercise that ability
- Note: unexercised and exercised skills will still both decline over time
- With increasing age a high level of functioning requires more and more effort, until eventually every adult reaches a point at which even maximum effort will no longer maintain peak function
What is selective optimization with compensation?
- the process of balancing the gains and losses associated with aging
- Selecting which skills that they will continue to practice to optimize those specific skills
What is the impact of exercise on health?
- Exercise may be one of the critical factors in determining an individual person’s overall physical health and cognitive performance during middle adulthood
- Among physically healthy middle-aged and older adults, those who are more physically active have higher scores on tests of reasoning, reaction time, and short-term memory
- Exercise is linked to lower levels of disease and greater longevity
When does major deficits in memory and cognition occur?
- ages 60-65
What are the changes in memory function during middle adulthood?
- The subjective experience of forgetfulness increases with age
- Memory demands of middle-aged adults’ everyday lives are greater than for those of young adults
- Performance on more complex tasks declines with age, but usually not until after about age 55
- Recognition of words and texts appears to remain stable throughout adulthood
- Short term (working) memory capacity stays stable throughout adulthood, but the ability to use this capacity efficiently changes
- Visual memory declines in middle age
- Memory for auditory stimuli seems to remain stable throughout adulthood
What is episodic memory?
- type of long term memory
- ability to re-experience personal events
What is semantic memory?
- type of long term memory
- general knowledge of the world, facts, and meaning of words
What does research say about episodic memory?
- slows with age
- dont remember thing that happened
How do middle-aged adults overcome episodic memory limitations?
by using reminders, or cues, to help themselves remember information; they believe their efforts will make a difference, so they actively work to improve their memories
What is the “use it or lose it” part of changes in memory and cognition?
- Most adults maintain or even gain in skills on any task that they practice often or that is based on specific learning
- Verbal abilities increase in middle age and do not begin to decline until about age 65
- Adults who engage in intellectually challenging activities show fewer losses in cognitive skills than those who do not
- Expertise in a particular field helps to compensate for age-related deficits in cognitive functioning
What are the changes with learning in middle adulthood?
- Middle-aged adults outperform those who are younger on tasks that involve comprehending and remembering reading material
- Younger adults focus on creating word-for-word representation of the text in their memories; middle-aged adults pay more attention to overarching themes than to details
- As we age, we may not attempt to encode as much detail but may store more summarizing information
What are the changes in creativity during middle adulthood?
- Simonton identified the age at which notable scientists published their first significant work, their best work, and their last work
- In every scientific discipline represented, the thinkers produced their best work at about age 40
- Most were publishing significant, even outstanding, research through their 40s and into their 50s
- Among musicians or other artists, peak creativity may occur later or be maintained far longer
what is creativity?
Creativity is a type of thought process called divergent thinking which provides multiple solutions to problems that have no clear answers
