PSY2004 W11 Revision (L) Flashcards
Why study ageing?
Development is a lifelong process –a full picture of lifespan development provides a more comprehensive understanding of human psychology and prepares us individually and societally for age-related changes.
What is the lifespan perspective?
The lifespan perspective emphasises a fuller view of an individual, from birth to maturity and death, and the changes that come with that process
How does socioemotional processing change with age?
Older adults tend to report positive relationships with fewer close social partners and are disproportionately oriented toward positive stimuli compared to younger adults. SST explains these shifts according to shifting motivations to prioritise emotional goals due to changes in time horizons.
How does physical exercise impact the psychology of ageing?
Physical exercise interventions generally improve cognitive abilities, brain plasticity, and mental and physical health across the lifespan
How do sleep and circadian arousal change with age?
SWS is important for episodic memory but is particularly less efficient in older age; circadian arousal may also impact cognitive abilities
How does sensory/perceptual/motor ability change with age?
Sensorimotor and cognitive declines more strongly overlap with increasing age, but there are both common and independent factors driving declines in sensorimotor and cognitive abilities.
How do crystallized abilities (semantic memory, SM) change with age?
SM improves across the lifespan due to acquired education/life experience and age-impaired brain areas being less involved in SM
How do processing speed and working memory (WM) contribute?
Older adults are slower overall compared to younger adults, but age differences in WM capacity are particularly important for fluid abilities
How do fluid abilities (e.g., episodic memory, EM) change with age?
EM declines across the lifespan, with deficits greatest for associative/bound information that requires explicit recollection
Does mental exercise minimise age-related decline?
Training effects are most robust for trained tasks but show less reliable retention of the gains over time or generalisation to other tasks; many methodological issues. Training lifestyles may be more ecologically valid, but not clear what the underlying theory is.
What are the effects of ageing in more real-word settings, how does this connect or not to basic, lab based research?
Prosocial behaviour increases with age, and wisdom-related knowledge and age gains in expertise appear to be domain-specific. Disconnects between real life and lab may result from these factors, support structures, and other non-cognitive factors that are absent in the lab.
