PSY2004 SEMESTER 1 - WEEK 2 Flashcards
outline mechanics of intelligence
fluid ability = increase then decline over older age (basic info processing, problem solving, basic cognitive operations like perceiving and classification)
outline pragmatics of intelligence
concrete ability (crystallised), increases and stays stable = acquired knowledge, fairly general systems of practical and procedural knowledge, occupational expertise
give examples of individual contributors for multidirectionality
individual variability= SES, physical, racial difference in access to education, sensory disability
explain the disparity between cross-sectional and longitudinal studies for multidirectionality
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
give examples of why cross-sectional and longitudinal discrepancies are present in multidirectionality
practice effects, attrition that minimises age differences in longitudinal studies as well as cohort differences in cross-sectional studies
what do OA substantially outperform younger adults on, and why
vocab and general knowledge tests, especially MCQ as require crystallised knowledge
more time and education, cultural shifts in crystallised knowledge even within same culture
apply Flynn effect in positive effect sizes found in semantic memory
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
apply network models spreading activation for semantic priming
intact in OA and improve due to breadth of experience, denser node networks that support semantic memory, tested by LDT
how can semantic priming be measured
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
explain semantic memory from neuroscience POV
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
explain the terminal decline for fluid ability
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)
name 2 processes that underly retrieval of episodic event
recollection and familiarity
define recollection in episodic memory
retrieving specific contextual, associative, perceptual details of event
define familiarity in episodic retrieval
memory in absence of retrieving specific details eg; “it rings a bell”
outline a way of testing contributions to episodic memory processing using remember/know tests
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
what part of brain is associated with normative ageing, in comparison to part of brain indicating Alzheimer
prefrontal cortex for normative, but significant hippocampal damage relative to prefrontal cortex indicates Alzheimer
describe remember/know paradigm for experience/familiarity with OA and YA
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
what brain regions show reduction with age (Dual theory)
caudate nucleus (recollection)
lateral prefrontal cortex
cerebellar hemispheres
hippcampus (recollection)
what brain area only shows minimal reduction in volume with age (dual theory)
primary visual cortex
entorhinal cortex (familiarity)
double dissociation- outline link between recall and hippocampus vs entorhinal cortex and recognition
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
outline what Dual process theory is in episodic memory
recollection more deficient and familiarity less deficient in OA
outline what associative deficit hypothesis in episodic memory
associations more deficient and memory for individual items less deficient in OA
outline what source monitoring framework aruges for episodic memory
memory for source and context more deficient and memory for specific content/items less deficient in OA
Jarjat (2021) studied the interactions between memory systems, outline their study
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)
outline results from Jarjat (2021), the impact of OA for source memory
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)
define processing speed
how quickly and efficiently early steps in info processing are completed
define processing resources
amount of attention one has to apply to a particular situation
name 2 approaches to processing resources
inhibitory loss, attentional resources
explain inhibitory loss as approach toward processing resources
OA difficulties in inhibiting processing of irrelevant info, more task-irrelevant thoughts during process
explain attentional resources approach toward processing resources
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
outline Salthouse’s theory that processing speed constrains cognition
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
define implicit memory
retrieval of info without conscious or intentional recollection
define explicit memory
intentional and conscious remembering of info learned and remembered at specific point in time
outline neuroanatomical difference between YA/OA when compensating for declines
overactivity in frontal cortex
differences in how prefrontal cortex, medial temporal lobe, caudate communicate
define WM
amount of info that you can maintain efficiently, lower WM capacity in OA
explain WM deficits as we age
WM (eg; reading span task) show steeper decline than STM
outline how WM could be a bottleneck on cognition
all everyday tasks require WM, so are fundamentally constrained by efficiency to remember
constrain fluid intelligence, long term EM
what does controlling processing speed also account for
adding processing speed to a model means relationship between age and other factors declines
accounts for relationship between age and higher-order cognition
outline relationship between cumulative stress + WM (Marshall, 2015)
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
apply ageing to fake-news
age 50+ responsible for 80% fake news sharing
help= remind them it is fake, there is new updated info in knowledge basis
name real world strategies to improve OA remembering
- elaborative encoding (generating sentences, mental imagery, attending to semantic meaning of info). benefit retrieval from episodic LTM
- 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
apply ageing to use of retrieval strategies
spontaneously use less retrieval strategies
when encoding strategy provided, still do worse
use compensatory strategies, shown in PFC
