PSY2004 SEMESTER 1 - WEEK 4

Question 1

define intuitive reasoning

Answer 1

the ability to understand something instinctively, without any need for conscious reasoning or an explanation

Question 2

define theoretical reasoning

Answer 2

assessing and weighing reasons for belief, focusing on what one ought to believe based on considerations that support or oppose particular conclusions about the world

Question 3

what do mental training exercises usually consider

Answer 3

WM, EF

Question 4

explain correlational (cross-sectional + longitudinal) studies of mental exercise

Answer 4

cross-sectional= report mental exercise and cognition relation at single time point
longitudinal= baseline reported mental exercise and cognitive gain at later time point

Question 5

explain intervention studies of mental exercise

Answer 5

immediate vs long term effect of mental exercise for cognition, vs a control

Question 6

outline the Singh-Manoux (2003) correlational study into leisure activities and cognitive ability

Answer 6

sorted ppt leisure activity by high/low cog effort, and if individual/social
studied if high cog effort related to cog ability, then examined correlation of leisure activity and SES, measured cog function (verbal memory, semantic fluency, phonetic fluency)
found strong positive correlations between high leisure and ability, compared to low
however could be cause/effect, mental exercise improve cog or cog engages more in mentally exercise (or 3rd factor, education, occupation)

Question 7

outline differential preservation hypothesis

Answer 7

mental activity protects against age-related decline in mental ability and support idea of causative role of mental exercise to at least minimise cog declines OA
eg; playing bridge build mental muscle and prevent mental ability declines

Question 8

outline preserved differentiation hypothesis

Answer 8

people who are more mentally active are more likely to have had high cog function level throughout life, nothing special about cumulative activity that differentially boosts performance later in life
eg; minimum level of mental strength needed for individuals at any age to be able playing bridge

Question 9

outline key difference between differential preservation hypothesis and preserved differentiation hypothesis

Answer 9

DPH views mental activity as factor that protects against age-related decline in mental ability but PDH views individuals current level of mental activity as a partly manifestation of prior levels of mental ability

Question 10

name methodological issues in training literature

Answer 10

training conditions, number of sessions
random assignment and pre-test difference
active vs passive control group
publication bias toward positive results
adaptive procedures, adjusting for task difficulty (keeping ppts engaged, can improve so needing levels)

Question 11

name theoretical issues in training literature

Answer 11

what exactly are we trianing
what about our WM improves from an interrnvetinos

Question 12

name some practical issues in training literature

Answer 12

maintenance of training gains over long term
initial cog ability is moderator of intervention (those with already high ability may improve more, do you unlock new levels of potential)
near and far transfer effect

Question 13

explain near and far transfer effects

Answer 13

does effect from training have far transfer (wide application) or near transfer
eg; does soduku transfer to completely unrelated other areas

Question 14

explain strength of link to task for far transfer, medium transfer, near transfer

Answer 14

far transfer assumes you need same strong cognitive abilities to do other task
medium- slight link to original tasks
near- benefit transfers to other tasks very similar

Question 15

apply transfer effect in meta-analysis

Answer 15

effectiveness of mental exercise, regarding far-transfer, is controversal, only clear benefit for trained task

Question 16

name limitations of training studies applications to mental-exercise hypothesis

Answer 16

narrow transfer of training= age-related differences found in broad ranges of cognitive abilities but benefits associated with training not much
few studies of long-term monitoring, unsure which interventions have long-term consequences

Question 17

why is it inaccurate to claim on basis of research that training reduced rate of age-related cognitive decline

Answer 17

although same level of performance can be achieved by some manipulation, does NOT mean that mechanism in manipulations are responsible for earlier changes in performance

Question 18

what are issues of general activity questionnaires

Answer 18

1. how mental activity assessed (indirect indication in lifestyle, may include some activities that others don’t)
2. how cognitive demand of activity are assessed (judge ratings, self-report)
3. how info is aggregated and analysed (simple correlations or controlling for other potential influence)

Question 19

what does WHO define healthy ageing

Answer 19

sustaining functional ability in everyday life (mobility, building/maintaining relationships, lifelong learning)
engage in:
1. high cognitive and physical function
2. low probability of disease and disability
3. active engagement in life``

Question 20

what did Park (2013) find in regard to training lifestyle

Answer 20

episodic memory shows best benefit from being in photography lifestyle group, and visuospatial also slightly improve
but overall, benefit is random, not that clear

Question 21

name some productive engagement activities

Answer 21

requiring active learning, sustaining activation of WM, LTM (photography, quiltings)

Question 22

name some receptive engagement activities

Answer 22

passive observation, activation of existing knowledge and familiar activities instead of gaining new info (going to cinema, playing games)

Question 23

give example for disconnect with ageing labs, and real lives

Answer 23

middle/OA overrepresented as CEO despite top reasoning abilities more evident for YA

Question 24

what do OA excel in

Answer 24

semantic memory, age-related increases in concern for other, wisdom, expertise, vocab, world knowledge, contributes to job performance

Question 25

as concern for others, what declines in OA

Answer 25

negative behavioural tendency (criminals)

Question 26

as concern for others, what increases in OA

Answer 26

prosocial personality trait/behaviours, volunteering and charity

Question 27

give underlying reasons for concern for others in OA (Mayr & Freund, 2020)

Answer 27

accumulated greater wealth, and more time but age differences observed even if wealth controlled, lower SES actually give proportionally more
change in approach to cost-benefit ratio of prosocial behaviour

Question 28

explain the Berlin Wisdom Paradigm

Answer 28

wisdom=
1. factual knowledge
2. procedural knowledge
3. life-span contextualism
4. value relativism and tolerance toward other world views, beliefs
5. awareness and management of uncertainty

Question 29

explain how wisdom may not actually be an age-related change?

Answer 29

non-significant relationship between wisdom and chronological age, not all who have experience become wiser however
relevance of task to own life is important

Question 30

explain YA/OA showing wisdom related knowledge in Thomas & Kunzmann study

Answer 30

read vignette on marital conflicts, suicide, responded concerning frequencies of problem in OA, YA
both stated suicide infrequent but marital conflict more common for YA>OA
YA show more wisdom-related knowledge in marital conflict and no difference between YA/OA for suicide

Question 31

explain relationship between age and expertise for chess

Answer 31

performance increase until early 20 and then plateu up to 35, decline
cognitive declines even in experts

Question 32

explain relationship between age and expertise for associative binding defitics (accountants)

Answer 32

less age-deficit for object than numbers in related pairing when info meaningful
age deficit for object, number when unrelated
older accountant show similar numerical memory as YA =expertise shows domain-specific benefits
ISSUE, no YA accountants included

Question 33

explain relationship between age and expertise for air-traffic communications

Answer 33

clear effects of age and expertise on performance, but no interaction and no signif effects with age/expertise just overall effects of speed, task difficulty
stronger rel between WM and performance
in hierarchical regression model, only 4% of variance was age-specific

Question 34

give issues of research in experts

Answer 34

1. limited numbers of experts in domain
2. high degree of selectivity in those who are able to become a expert
3. expertise highly specific to select domains
4. why are so many people reducing activity level as are ageing, maybe incentive decreases

Question 35

why is age-related decline not always detected in real-world job performance

Answer 35

less need to perform at max levels

Question 36

what shifts with age relating to career and job performance

Answer 36

novel processing to relying on accumul knolwedge (shifts from fluid-crystallised)

Question 37

how much % does cognitive ability account for in variance in job performance

Answer 37

25%, others are motivaiton, personality, experience, task specific skills

Question 38

apply cognitive decline to occupational group of college professor

Answer 38

age difference in reasoning, memory, speed (similar to other occupation)
typical age-related differences in measure of reaction time, WM, but only no diff for prose recall

Question 39

what is mental exercise hypothesis

Answer 39

amount of mental activity throughout life contribute to level of mental ability later on
but relation can also originate amount of mental activity at any age is least partially determined by past, current mental abilities