PSY2004 SEMESTER 1 - WEEK 2

Question 1

outline mechanics of intelligence

Answer 1

fluid ability = increase then decline over older age (basic info processing, problem solving, basic cognitive operations like perceiving and classification)

Question 2

outline pragmatics of intelligence

Answer 2

concrete ability (crystallised), increases and stays stable = acquired knowledge, fairly general systems of practical and procedural knowledge, occupational expertise

Question 3

give examples of individual contributors for multidirectionality

Answer 3

individual variability= SES, physical, racial difference in access to education, sensory disability

Question 4

explain the disparity between cross-sectional and longitudinal studies for multidirectionality

Answer 4

cross sectional gives snapshot and see many abilities decline with age
but same data in longitudinal studies (tracking within-ppt change) shows less dramatic performance drop-offs

Question 5

give examples of why cross-sectional and longitudinal discrepancies are present in multidirectionality

Answer 5

practice effects, attrition that minimises age differences in longitudinal studies as well as cohort differences in cross-sectional studies

Question 6

what do OA substantially outperform younger adults on, and why

Answer 6

vocab and general knowledge tests, especially MCQ as require crystallised knowledge
more time and education, cultural shifts in crystallised knowledge even within same culture

Question 7

apply Flynn effect in positive effect sizes found in semantic memory

Answer 7

increased WAIS score as birth year increases, meaning cross-sectional data collection not limited in this instance by potential cohort effects, as even with increasing performance over years OA still >YA

Question 8

apply network models spreading activation for semantic priming

Answer 8

intact in OA and improve due to breadth of experience, denser node networks that support semantic memory, tested by LDT

Question 9

how can semantic priming be measured

Answer 9

lexical decision task = view lists of word, non-word, decide if words or not
meta-analysis shows OA show semantic priming to even slightly greater extent than YA
faster response go against processing speed theory = just cause OA generally slow, is not at everything

Question 10

explain semantic memory from neuroscience POV

Answer 10

diffuse brain network underlying it relating to sensory, perception, motor, action area
depend less on declining part (hippocampus)
some areas supporting semantic memory is not same area overlapping with episodic memory

Question 11

explain the terminal decline for fluid ability

Answer 11

significant acceleration in last few year, with modest individual variability despite fact that causes and nature of decline can vary (sudden death, longstanding health issues)

Question 12

name 2 processes that underly retrieval of episodic event

Answer 12

recollection and familiarity

Question 13

define recollection in episodic memory

Answer 13

retrieving specific contextual, associative, perceptual details of event

Question 14

define familiarity in episodic retrieval

Answer 14

memory in absence of retrieving specific details eg; “it rings a bell”

Question 15

outline a way of testing contributions to episodic memory processing using remember/know tests

Answer 15

present series of words for ppts to remember, then test after during recognition test amongst new words and ask which words are “old”, ask subjective experience
do they remember studying word so they can retrieve accompanying details or just “know” they studied it but without detail
can result in a false alarm, thinking saw it when they actually didnt

Question 16

what part of brain is associated with normative ageing, in comparison to part of brain indicating Alzheimer

Answer 16

prefrontal cortex for normative, but significant hippocampal damage relative to prefrontal cortex indicates Alzheimer

Question 17

describe remember/know paradigm for experience/familiarity with OA and YA

Answer 17

OA has less correct hits associated with remember experience but same familiarity of YA
accurate recollection decline, but accurate familiarity intact. false recollections increase, suggesting EM decline in OA specific to recollection-based memories

Question 18

what brain regions show reduction with age (Dual theory)

Answer 18

caudate nucleus (recollection)
lateral prefrontal cortex
cerebellar hemispheres
hippcampus (recollection)

Question 19

what brain area only shows minimal reduction in volume with age (dual theory)

Answer 19

primary visual cortex
entorhinal cortex (familiarity)

Question 20

double dissociation- outline link between recall and hippocampus vs entorhinal cortex and recognition

Answer 20

recall performance strongly associated with hippocampus volume but recognition performance strongly associated to entorhinal cortex volume
explains why OA struggle with recollection vs familiarity = show multidirectionality

Question 21

outline what Dual process theory is in episodic memory

Answer 21

recollection more deficient and familiarity less deficient in OA

Question 22

outline what associative deficit hypothesis in episodic memory

Answer 22

associations more deficient and memory for individual items less deficient in OA

Question 23

outline what source monitoring framework aruges for episodic memory

Answer 23

memory for source and context more deficient and memory for specific content/items less deficient in OA

Question 24

Jarjat (2021) studied the interactions between memory systems, outline their study

Answer 24

ppt studied word pairs sometimes semantically related/not
repeat or refresh one of words from each pair immediately after studying, then decided if related/not
then took recognition test to decide if words old/new, and if thought it new had to state if presented on left/right of screen, and related/not
- studied 2 dimensions of source memory= original location (arbitrary, non-semantic) and original relatedness (meaningful, semantic)

Question 25

outline results from Jarjat (2021), the impact of OA for source memory

Answer 25

joint source memory very low overall in both OA, YA
no deficit in OA semantic source memory suggesting extensive knowledge buffers against EM deficit

(joint source memory; likelihood will jointly remember 2 sources of location, relatedness)
(semantic source memory; likelihood that remember relatedness source- if from related/non pair)
(non-semantic source memory; likelihood that remember location source- left/right)

Question 26

define processing speed

Answer 26

how quickly and efficiently early steps in info processing are completed

Question 27

define processing resources

Answer 27

amount of attention one has to apply to a particular situation

Question 28

name 2 approaches to processing resources

Answer 28

inhibitory loss, attentional resources

Question 29

explain inhibitory loss as approach toward processing resources

Answer 29

OA difficulties in inhibiting processing of irrelevant info, more task-irrelevant thoughts during process

Question 30

explain attentional resources approach toward processing resources

Answer 30

divided attention is how well performing on multiple simultaneous task
age differences in individual tasks, but not attention spread
observations in workplace show OA can multitask, just performs both task slower
minimised via training

Question 31

outline Salthouse’s theory that processing speed constrains cognition

Answer 31

limited time to execute cognitive operations, reduction in amount of simultaneously available info
processing speed is fundamental bottleneck
OA slower processing means less cognitive oeprations on WM info completed before info is lost
less info simultaneously accessible in WM due to slowed encoding and rehearsal

Question 32

define implicit memory

Answer 32

retrieval of info without conscious or intentional recollection

Question 33

define explicit memory

Answer 33

intentional and conscious remembering of info learned and remembered at specific point in time

Question 34

outline neuroanatomical difference between YA/OA when compensating for declines

Answer 34

overactivity in frontal cortex
differences in how prefrontal cortex, medial temporal lobe, caudate communicate

Question 35

define WM

Answer 35

amount of info that you can maintain efficiently, lower WM capacity in OA

Question 36

explain WM deficits as we age

Answer 36

WM (eg; reading span task) show steeper decline than STM

Question 37

outline how WM could be a bottleneck on cognition

Answer 37

all everyday tasks require WM, so are fundamentally constrained by efficiency to remember
constrain fluid intelligence, long term EM

Question 38

what does controlling processing speed also account for

Answer 38

adding processing speed to a model means relationship between age and other factors declines
accounts for relationship between age and higher-order cognition

Question 39

outline relationship between cumulative stress + WM (Marshall, 2015)

Answer 39

n-back task, ppt judge if presented number same as one presented 2 back, and Sternberg task where ppts presented with letters then decide if single probe in list
high stress OA more impaired on WM, low stress OA similar to YA
YA high stress didn’t seem impaired. suggest cumulative affect more important, impacts more as age

Question 40

apply ageing to fake-news

Answer 40

age 50+ responsible for 80% fake news sharing
help= remind them it is fake, there is new updated info in knowledge basis

Question 41

name real world strategies to improve OA remembering

Answer 41

1. elaborative encoding (generating sentences, mental imagery, attending to semantic meaning of info). benefit retrieval from episodic LTM
2. encourage OA to rely on more stable factors eg; schematic support drawing on extensive prior knowledge to incorporate new info
   age-related deficits in memory performance are in info lacking relevance to OA semantic knowledge, but similar to YA if info meaningful to them

Question 42

apply ageing to use of retrieval strategies

Answer 42

spontaneously use less retrieval strategies
when encoding strategy provided, still do worse
use compensatory strategies, shown in PFC