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Cognitive aging > Quiz 1 > Flashcards

Quiz 1 Flashcards

1
Q

aging is universal

A
  • one of our major goals is to get old
  • all of us are aging
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2
Q

Gerontological explosion

A

older adults are living longer, the population is growing
they have more active lifestyles and more are in the workforce

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3
Q

pockets of preservation

A

performance is preserved over age for World Knowledge

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4
Q

hidden upsides of aging

A

what older adults are better at than young adults

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5
Q

successful aging

A

varies across individuals, time, and situations
- meaningful, joyful, healthy

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6
Q

selective optimization and compensation

A
  • change what we do to fit our abilities
  • select activities and goals we wish to achieve, optimize the time and abilities we have to achieve these goals, and compensate for any declines or deficiencies that may result from aging
  • a trick to successful aging
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7
Q

socioemotional selectivity theory

A
  • our goals shift as we age from a focus on accumulating knowledge to emotionally meaningful goals
  • driven by a limited perspective
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8
Q

value-directed remembering

A

as we age, we get more selective about what we value and prioritize that

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9
Q

subjective age

A
  • what age you feel like
  • a positive attitude, associated with health, cognition, strength, and longevity
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10
Q

brain reserve hypothesis

A

brain reserve may function as a moderator on the relationship between brain damage and cognitive outcome

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11
Q

ways to boost cognitive reserve

A
  • genetic influences
  • socio-economic status
  • intelligence
  • educational attainment
  • social engagement
  • sleep
  • cognitive stimulation
  • healthy lifestyle
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12
Q

nun study

A
  • the nuns had biological signs of aging (atrophy, plaques and tangles) but showed normal cognition
  • cognitive reserve was a protective factor, active lifestyle prevented cognitive decline
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13
Q

cognitive training (pros and cons)

A

Pros: boosts cognition
Cons: does not generalize to other activities or daily life; no more beneficial than “real-world” cognitive activities

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14
Q

Pros and cons of animal research in aging

A

Pros: great for studying neural mechanisms, reduces variables and confounds
Cons: ethical concerns, still expensive, human aging has unique attributes, cognitive functions are difficult to measure in animals

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15
Q

pros and cons of behavioral research

A

Pros: cheap and easy, non invasive, can answer most questions about cognition
Cons: can only infer effects of neural structure and function

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16
Q

longitudinal study design (pros and cons)

A

Pros: control for individual differences and cohort effects
Cons: takes 50+ years to run an aging study, retest effects, attrition

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17
Q

cross-sectional study design (pros and cons)

A

Pros: faster to run, no attrition, no practice effects
Cons: individual differences, cohort effects

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18
Q

cohort effects

A

generational differences; differences that occur due to one’s membership in a group

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19
Q

attrition

A

people leaving a study

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20
Q

practice effects

A

changes in score due to having taken the test before

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21
Q

cross sectional does not equal longitudinal: implications for research

A

cohort effects can be mistaken for aging effects and vice versa

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22
Q

cohort-sequential studies

A

design that combines cross-sectional and longitudinal elements by following two or more age groups over time

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23
Q

Twice-minus-once-tested method and
Quasi-longitudinal method

A

Trying to predict what follow up scores would be without practice effects

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24
Q

Correlation does not equal causation (why this is a particular problem for aging research and how to get around it)

A
  • it is impossible to manipulate age so the research is always correlational
  • we can conduct studies that turn young adults into old adults by manipulating resources; ensure there are no plausible alternative explanations for the relationship; be careful with wording
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25
Q

selection bias

A

-self selection: contacted by adults who live independently, active in community and see ads, interested in psychology research, concerned about their cognitive declines, healthy and able to travel
- our selection: exclude poor cognitive performers, recent cardiovascular events or head trauma, are non-native English speakers

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26
Q

identification as “older adult”

A

where does old age begin? No distinct line

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27
Q

age as a continuous variable (linear vs non linear effects of age)

A

do dependent variables have inflection points or change linearly over time

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28
Q

Pros and cons of structural neuroimaging studies

A

Pros: directly measure neural structure, can be used to examine brain-behavior connections, relatively non invasive
Cons: very expensive (time and $), lots of contraindications for fMRI means more selective sample, correlational

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29
Q

gray matter

A

neuronal cell bodies

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30
Q

white matter

A

connections between brain regions

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31
Q

Structural magnetic resonance imaging - how does it work

A

aligns water molecules in brain and sends pulses to disrupt this alignment; measures the different speeds or rebounding

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32
Q

Structural magnetic resonance imaging - what is measured

A

gray matter

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33
Q

Diffusion tensor imaging - how does it work

A

measures the diffusion of water

34
Q

Diffusion tensor imaging- what is measured

A

strength of white matter integrity
strong= ellipsoid patterns
poor= spherical patterns

35
Q

axon

A

long, thin fiber that carries electrical pulses from the cell body

36
Q

myelin sheath

A

fatty layer that insulates the axon and increases the speed of electrical impulses

37
Q

frontal lobe

A

controls higher order functions, behavior, emotions, language

38
Q

parietal lobe

A

processes sensory information

39
Q

occipital lobe

A

processes visual information

40
Q

temporal lobe

A

processes sensory information, hearing language and memory

41
Q

hippocampus

A

learning and memory

42
Q

amygdala

A

assigns emotional salience

43
Q

thickness

A

traditional cortical measure for measuring gray matter

44
Q

are

A

another traditional cortical measure for measuring gray matter

45
Q

volume

A

traditional cortical measure for measuring gray matter; most common

46
Q

fractal dimensionality

A

measure of cortical folding
how much is lost by increasing the size of the voxel (3D pixel)
More complex objects lose fidelity with larger voxels

47
Q

cortical parcellation

A

dividing gray matter locations in the brain into parcels

48
Q

Fractional anisotropy

A

measure of integrity of myelin sheath along axons

49
Q

age related structural changes - gray matter

A

longitudinal decrease in gray matter

50
Q

age related structural changes - white matter

A

longitudinal decrease in white matter

51
Q

age related structural changes - CSF

A

longitudinal increase in cerebrospinal fluid (ventricles and sulci)

52
Q

age related structural changes - regional differences

A
  • gray matter decrease is greater for frontal and temporal lobes, less for parietal and occipital lobes
53
Q

Why look at structural changes

A
  • estimating effects of age
  • distinguish healthy from pathological aging
54
Q

Motivation as a mediator (socioemotional selectivity theory)

A

As a driver of age related change
- as we age, we prioritize affective and emotional goals to promote wellbeing

55
Q

Speed of processing theory

A

As a driver of age related change
- we get slower as we age, this slowing affects cognitive performance

56
Q

Independent variable

A

the variable that is manipulated

57
Q

dependent variable

A

the variable that changes as a result of manipulation of the independent variable

58
Q

mediating variable

A

a third variable that explains the relationship between an independent and dependent variable

59
Q

Requirements for mediation

A

1) significant effect of independent on dependent variable
2) significant effect of independent on mediating variable
3) significant effect of mediating on dependent variable
4) Effects of independent variable on dependent variable disappears or is reduced when the mediating variable is added to the model

60
Q

Interpreting mediation

A

if it does not make sense, the statistics do not matter

61
Q

Brain aging hypothesis

A

the reduced structural integrity in older age interferes with cognitive performance

62
Q

Why difficult to test neural mediation

A

high-dimensionality and complex interrelationships

63
Q

MoCA

A

Montreal Cognitive Assessment - test for mild cognitive impairment

64
Q

Rangus et al. results: effects of age on MoCA subscales

A

direct age-related effects on memory, attention, and visuospatial processing

65
Q

Rangus et al. results: greatest age-related structural changes

A

greatest age-related reduction in medial temporal lobe volume

66
Q

Rangus et al. results: greatest mediating effects on total MoCA score

A

greatest total mediating effects in frontal lobe

67
Q

Double mediation of white matter integrity and processing speed

A

increased age is associated with reduced processing speed, caused by
reduced white matter integrity, resulting in impaired cognitive performance

68
Q

Why study mediation?

A
  • understand causes of age-related impairments
  • identify targets for intervention
  • design better experiments
69
Q

Senile Dementia of the Alzheimer’s type

A

Most common form of dementia

70
Q

Prevalence of AD

A

15% of general population over 65
5.1 million Americans, 26.6 million worldwide

71
Q

Alois Alzheimer

A

German psychiatrist, first described the disease

72
Q

Auguste D

A

patient studied by Alzheimer
profound memory impairment, language disruptions, delusions, loss of self

73
Q

AD pathology

A
  • atrophy - degeneration of temporal lobe and parietal lobe, parts of frontal cortex and cingulate gyrus
  • Tau tangles - deposits of protein tau that accumulate in nerve cells
  • amyloid plaques - deposits of beta-amyloid protein that accumulate in the spaces between nerve cells
74
Q

Development of AD - stages

A

AD is progressive
Preclinical, MCI, dementia

75
Q

Development of AD - symptoms

A

Preclinical - slight changes the individual might be aware of

76
Q

Development of AD -regional pathology

A
  • early pathological changes are seen in the medial temporal regions
  • pathological abnormalities impact more and more brain regions
  • some regions show minimal pathology in more advanced stages, like primary motor and sensory cortex
77
Q

Development of AD - cognition

A

MCI: episodic memory impairment
Early AD: memory (particularly episodic, newer memories lost first), select aspects of executive function
Moderate AD: difficultly with navigation, spatial layout, directions; naming and verbal fluency impairment
Attention is largely unaffected

78
Q

Treatment options

A
  • cholinesterase inhibitors: for mild/moderate AD, postpones the worsening of symptoms for 6-12 months in half patients
  • Namenda: moderate/severe AD, may delay the worsening of symptoms in some, allows patients to maintain certain daily functions
79
Q

Anti-amyloid antibody infusions

A
  • facilitate the removal of beta-amyloids in the brain, based on amyloid hypothesis
  • successful reduction in amyloids, inconsistent effects on cognition, concerning side-effects
80
Q

Gamma neuromodulation - why might it work?

A

cognition is supported by synchronous oscillations in different parts of the brain, particularly gamma waves
-gamma is decreased in AD, tau and amyloid levels correlate with gamma

81
Q

gamma modulation is shown to decrease AD symptoms

A

-reduce tau and amygdala pathology
-physical neural changes at the synaptic level
-decreased cognitive decline

Cognitive aging (2 decks)

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