PSY2004 SEMESTER 1 - WEEK 4 Flashcards
define intuitive reasoning
the ability to understand something instinctively, without any need for conscious reasoning or an explanation
define theoretical reasoning
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
what do mental training exercises usually consider
WM, EF
explain correlational (cross-sectional + longitudinal) studies of mental exercise
cross-sectional= report mental exercise and cognition relation at single time point
longitudinal= baseline reported mental exercise and cognitive gain at later time point
explain intervention studies of mental exercise
immediate vs long term effect of mental exercise for cognition, vs a control
outline the Singh-Manoux (2003) correlational study into leisure activities and cognitive ability
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)
outline differential preservation hypothesis
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
outline preserved differentiation hypothesis
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
outline key difference between differential preservation hypothesis and preserved differentiation hypothesis
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
name methodological issues in training literature
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)
name theoretical issues in training literature
what exactly are we trianing
what about our WM improves from an interrnvetinos
name some practical issues in training literature
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
explain near and far transfer effects
does effect from training have far transfer (wide application) or near transfer
eg; does soduku transfer to completely unrelated other areas
explain strength of link to task for far transfer, medium transfer, near transfer
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
apply transfer effect in meta-analysis
effectiveness of mental exercise, regarding far-transfer, is controversal, only clear benefit for trained task
name limitations of training studies applications to mental-exercise hypothesis
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
why is it inaccurate to claim on basis of research that training reduced rate of age-related cognitive decline
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
what are issues of general activity questionnaires
- how mental activity assessed (indirect indication in lifestyle, may include some activities that others don’t)
- how cognitive demand of activity are assessed (judge ratings, self-report)
- how info is aggregated and analysed (simple correlations or controlling for other potential influence)
what does WHO define healthy ageing
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``
what did Park (2013) find in regard to training lifestyle
episodic memory shows best benefit from being in photography lifestyle group, and visuospatial also slightly improve
but overall, benefit is random, not that clear
name some productive engagement activities
requiring active learning, sustaining activation of WM, LTM (photography, quiltings)
name some receptive engagement activities
passive observation, activation of existing knowledge and familiar activities instead of gaining new info (going to cinema, playing games)
give example for disconnect with ageing labs, and real lives
middle/OA overrepresented as CEO despite top reasoning abilities more evident for YA
what do OA excel in
semantic memory, age-related increases in concern for other, wisdom, expertise, vocab, world knowledge, contributes to job performance
as concern for others, what declines in OA
negative behavioural tendency (criminals)
as concern for others, what increases in OA
prosocial personality trait/behaviours, volunteering and charity
give underlying reasons for concern for others in OA (Mayr & Freund, 2020)
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
explain the Berlin Wisdom Paradigm
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
explain how wisdom may not actually be an age-related change?
non-significant relationship between wisdom and chronological age, not all who have experience become wiser however
relevance of task to own life is important
explain YA/OA showing wisdom related knowledge in Thomas & Kunzmann study
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
explain relationship between age and expertise for chess
performance increase until early 20 and then plateu up to 35, decline
cognitive declines even in experts
explain relationship between age and expertise for associative binding defitics (accountants)
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
explain relationship between age and expertise for air-traffic communications
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
give issues of research in experts
- limited numbers of experts in domain
- high degree of selectivity in those who are able to become a expert
- expertise highly specific to select domains
- why are so many people reducing activity level as are ageing, maybe incentive decreases
why is age-related decline not always detected in real-world job performance
less need to perform at max levels
what shifts with age relating to career and job performance
novel processing to relying on accumul knolwedge (shifts from fluid-crystallised)
how much % does cognitive ability account for in variance in job performance
25%, others are motivaiton, personality, experience, task specific skills
apply cognitive decline to occupational group of college professor
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
what is mental exercise hypothesis
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
