PSY2004 SEMESTER 1 - WEEK 3 Flashcards
define neuroplasticity
capacity of nervous system to modify its organisation to altered demands and environments
what is Baltes model
cultural/environmental factors become less important to biological factors in terms of explaining age-related changes in cognition
outline common cause hypothesis
age-related decline in cognitive and sensorimotor function is due to deterioration of common neurological processes (domain-general mechanism)
how does sensorimotor ability indicate biological integrity of brain as a strong predictor for cognitive declines
all age differences in WM, EM explained by sensorimtor function
because of fluctuation of sensorimotor abilities increaes with age, this neurological deterioration and its correlation with cognitive ability increases with age
what did Lindenberger & Baltes show regarding sensorimotor functioning and age-impact on intelligence
controlling for sensorimotor functioning (vision, hearing, balance, gait) reduced age-intelligence relation (reasoning, knowledge, etc) to null
what is the sensory deprivation theory
declining sensory acuity creates communication and mobility difficulties, increasing likelihood of social withdrawal and disengagement from intellectually stimulating activities which could have knock-on effects on cognitive ability over extended period
what is cognitive load on sensory performance theory (opposite to sensory deprivation theory)
this causal direction works in reverse
deficit cog ability adversely affects sensorimotor function
eg; deficits sustained attention diminishes capacity to detect auditory/visual stimuli
relationship may be bidirectional even if Lindenberger & Baltes presented evidence for other direction
increase social withdrawal, reduced participation in mentally stimulating activity
difference between longitudinal and cross-sectional studies on sensory, cognitive decline presentations
longitudinal shows more modest associations between rate of sensory and cognitive decline, provide support for role of domain-specific factors
cross-sectional accentuates this relationship
give a broad overview of relationship between age and sleep
negative relationship is seen between age and sleep (older, less time asleep)
what is WASO
waking up after sleep onset
what do older people do in sleep
sleep less, awaken more, increased WASO, decreased SWS and activity in PFC, less spindle density, unchanged REM but decreased phasic REM
what was Rasch (2007) study into sleep and memory games
play memory games before sleep, presented with odour (roses) during learning
memory improved when representing odour during SWS vs control. no difference in other experiment not presenting odour
evidence for SWS in LTM consols
explain hippocampal-neocortical dialogue during sleep
reactivations associated with sharp wave ripples driven by SWS oscillations, syncrhronising hippocampal memory reactivations with sleep spindle
SWS= repeated activation of recently learned info in hippocampus, helps consolidation
apply hippocampal-neocortical dialogue to older people learning
less SWS, so less activation in hippocampus to consolidate newly learned info
change to HPA axis, increased evening cortisol level, when low cortisol level needed for memory consolidation in sleep
high cortisol means impacts high number of cortisol receptors in hippocampus, impairing transfer into LTM storage
compare rate of forgetting after sleep between OA, YA
rate of forgetting greatly reduced in YA, but OA shows no difference between those who slept and those awake
apply morningness-eveningness questionnaire to OA
YA prefer TOD afternoon/evening
OA peak arousal is in morning
explain rough relationships for exercise and cognitive abilities
modest but significant correlations between exercise and cog ability independent of other factors, but adding education to model substantially diminished effect
what are issues with correlational studies of physical exercise impacting on cognitive abilities
inherent assumption physical activity will cause improvement to cognitive ability but not clear if that is direction (those with high cognitive ability chooses to do more physical etc), does not disambiguate direction of physical-cognitive relationship
how can interventions for physical activity be created
define a control, and treatment group
eg; cardiovascular fitness, resistance, both
better to use passive control group eg, stretching
name 4 different aspect of cognitive task
- executive task
- controlled task
- spatial task
- speed task
name characteristics of cognitive executive task
planning, inhibition, scheduling mental procedure eg: Flanker task
give example of cognitive controlled tasks
choice reaction time
name example of cognitive spatial task
transform or remember visuospatial info, Benton task
give example of cognitive speed task
simple reaction times
explain results of meta-analysis of physical exercises impact for executive, controlled, spatial, speed cognition
impacted executive most, then controlled and spatial, then speed
what brain plastic changes occur with aerobic exercise
increased vol in gray and white matter in OA
(anterior cingulate cortex, supplementary motor cortex, left superior temporal gyrus, right inferior frontal gyrus, anterior white matter)
what part of brain shows best effect from physical exercise
areas suffereing effects of age, increased hippocampal volume by 2%, associated improvements in spatial memory due to increased blood flow, O2 delivery so prompt structural, funcitonal change
what impact can regular physical exercise have on mental health
self esteem, self concept, coping with stress, positive social interaction, feelings of control and competency
what health issues can physical activity reduce
cardiovascular disease, stroke, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, causing dementia
apply ageing in real world to workplace
more workstations space, more time, louder isntruction and visual aid, longer break, less need of fine motor skills, increased technology, less heavy lifting, awareness training
what is hippcampus involved in, and what can increased gray matter cause
spatial nav and memory, training causes less loss and improved acquisitions of new language
how can reorganisation of somatosensory and auditory cortex help in congenitally blind
enhance sensorimotor and auditory skills, and compensatory behaviour
whats maladaptive neuroplasticity
reorganisation in frontal and hippocampal regions = addiction, phantom limb and tinnitus
name issues of cross-sectional research for physical activities
difficult for ineference for causal relationships
third variable problem= education, SES, health conscious lifestyle
objective and self-reported studies
ignores non-physical leisure time
what was Richards middle age study show
exercise age 36-43 slower memory decline than age 43-53
continuous exercise needed in maintaining cognitive capacities
gray matter volume in frontal larger for exercise x2 per week
what was a positive correlation age 18 found
between cardiovas fitness and intelligence, associated with higher academics
what is selective improvement hypothesis in exercise
effects of 6 month aerobic exercise training compared to stretching
increased performance on exec control tasks, and counteract hippoc vol loss
why is VO2 beneficial for cognitive abilities
increased blood flows, nutrition supply, neurogenesis, synaptogenesis
why is location of exercising important
sensory stimulation
