Textbook Chapter 5 Questions Flashcards
How do the current research on cognitive reserve and brain plasticity support the need for a life course model of human development?
Both emphasize the person’s active role in developing a reserve and compensating for losses
Both recognize individual differences in reserve capacity
Give some examples of how studies of mental performance in everyday life expand our understanding of cognitive ability in later life
Different types of older people (with more or less education or skill), under a variety of conditions (supportive or non-supportive context), and exposed to varying types of materials to learn (relevant or irrelevant) differ in their ability to perform mental tasks or to remember specific information.
What type of mental ability show the least decline (and in some cases, improvement) in later life?
People are able to draw on their experience and can perform as well as younger people
What effect does age have a person’s intelligence? What type of intelligence stays stable or may even increase with age?
When aging, decreases in working memory, short-term memory, long-term memory and processing speed.
Crystallized intelligence refers ti the use of stored information, acculturation and learning. This can improve with age
Why do older people might do better than younger people on tests that emphasize crystallized intelligence
More life expereince to draw on
Why do older people might do worse than younger people on tests of fluid intelligence
Worse processing speeds. This relies on manipulating unfamiliar material to work off that
What is competency?
Person’s “cognitive, decisional, affective, and practical” abilities to complete specific tasks in daily life
What are some ethical questions on being assessed as “incompetent”
- Is thee person’s abilty to make choices their own removed?
- Human rights
-Any possibilities of unconscious controlling elderly people
What is cognition?
A mental process involved in gaining knowledge and comprehension
What parts of the brain shrinks the most during aging?
1.Frontal lobe - espeically this one
2. Hippocampus (in temporal lobe)
What happens to the brain once someone hits age 85
Working memory and judgement are slowing down
How many elders actually have textbook dementia symptoms by age 85
40%
What happens to the brain gradually?
Partial breakdown of neural networks
Develops more abnormalities
(Neurofibrillary tangles and amyloid plaques)
Increase after age 70
Espeically with Alzhimers
What is Neurogenesis and why is mental growth and development in later life?
- Plasticity: the brain reorganizes itself in response to new information and experience
- Brain cells grow in later life
- The brain’s emotional centres grow more balanced with age
- Compared with younger people, older people use both halves of the brain more equally.
What is cognitive reserve in neurogensis?
Brain’s ability to improvise and find alternative ways to cope with challenges. This changes over our life course
What are some influential factors in neurogenesis
- Genetic makeup (physically larger brain)
- Prior life experiences (e.g education, literacy)
- Active and stimulating lifestyle (e.g leisure and social activity)
What are some implications of neurogenesis
By growth-oriented lifestyle and training
Doing complex, challenging, engaging, enjoyable activities
What is memory?
Acquisition and retrieval of information
Recall of information after learning
Varies by individual
Some decline in memory with age is a normal part of growing old
What happens to processing speeds for memory when we get older
As people grow older, the speed for processing and retrieving information slows down
Slowing latency
What are the limits of laboratory research on memory?
They have a poor “ecological validity”
Why are there the limits of laboratory research on memory?
Test conditions (instructions, speed, familiarity)
Individual differences in education, lifestyle, and health
Cross-sectional study design cannot determine:
- age-effects, or cohort effects or environmental effect
Need more contextual approach
What are some examples of health conditions causing memory lapses?
Anxiety, depression, hypertension
Lack of sleep and side effects of medications
What are some drugs noted to memory lapses
- Insulin
-Anti-depressant
-Anti-hypertension agents
-Stomach acid suppressants
What are the two views of intelligence
- Global view: The ability to negotiate environmental demands successfully
- Pragmatic view: the person’s performance in an IQ test
What are the two types of intelligence, and which one is older people known to be better at?
Fluid intelligence:
- Reasoning, abstracting, concept formation, problem-solving
- Affected by how well the physical and nervous systems function
Crystallized intelligence
- The use of stored knowledge from learning
- Older individuals perform this intelligence better as they work off previous life experiences
What is Wisdom: the new model of intelligence in later life
Good judgement in important but uncertain matter of life
Rich information and procedural knowledge to handle problems
Increased awareness of life’s contexts
Understand tolerance for others and uncertainty
Development intelligence (= a potential in later life)
What is the constant probability of success model
An older people produce fewer masterpieces but will also produce great works at every age
What are the benefits of creative activity and social engagement?
Increased psychological well-being and cognitive reserve
Reduce/delayed onset of dementia
Activation of neural circuits through online social connections
What is the general idea of dementia?
The gradual loss of cognition
- Memory
- Ability to think, reason, and plan
- Ability to carry out daily activities
- Mood disorder (antisocial behaviour)
What is the difference between dementia and delirium?
Dementia is a long term loss of cognition
Delirium is a short term loss of cognition
What is the prevalence of Alzheimer’s in Canada
1.5% of seniors had Alzheimer’s/dementia
Projected to be 2.8% in 2038
Women represent 72% of all cases of Alzheimer’s disease
What are the 5 ways to respond to the increase in dementia cases in Canada
- Increase the investimate in dementia research
- Provide support for informal caregivers
- More emphasis prevent and early interventions
- Build an integrated system of care
- Strengthen the dementia workforce
