Unit 4 - Adulthood and old age Flashcards
1
Q
When is early adulthood?
A
18-30 years
2
Q
When is middle adulthood?
A
30-50 years
3
Q
When is late adulthood?
A
50-65 years
4
Q
When is old age?
A
65+ years
5
Q
How is your body in early adulthood?
A
- 18-30 years
- Peak in physical strength
- Immune system operates at maximum efficiency
- Skin is smooth and taut
- Hair is full of colour and has a nice sheen
- Quickest reflexes
- Ability to hear is at its peak
6
Q
How is your body in middle adulthood?
A
- 30-50 years
- Skin becomes dry and loses elasticity
- Grey hairs appear
- Heart rate and lung capacity decrease
- Hair begins to thin
- Wrinkles appear
- Difficulty seeing distant objects
- Gradual loss of hearing
- Difficulty adjusting to the dark
- Taste and smell begins to decline
- Female menopause
7
Q
How is your body in late adulthood?
A
- 50-65
- Gradual bone loss
- Male climacteric begins (loss of reproductive ability)
- Fat replaces muscle
- Skin becomes loose
- Hair becomes white and thin
- Disks below spinal vertebrae atrophy
- Joints deteriorate
- Hair grows in new places (eg: ears)
- Varicose veins appear
8
Q
How is your body in old age?
A
- 65+
- Muscles and fat breakdown
- Weight loss occurs
- Loss of up to 80% visual acuity
9
Q
When does a loss of up to 80% of visual acuity occur?
A
65+ / Old age
10
Q
When does male climacteric occur?
A
50-65 / Late adulthood
11
Q
When does fat replace muscle?
A
50-65 / Late adulthood
12
Q
When do disks below spinal vertebrae atrophy?
A
50-65 / Late adulthood
13
Q
When do grey hairs appear?
A
30-50 / Middle adulthood
14
Q
When does heart and lung capacity decrease?
A
30-50 / Middle adulthood
15
Q
When do Muscles and fat breakdown?
A
65+ / Old age
16
Q
When is the Ability to hear is at its peak?
A
18-30 / Early Adulthood
17
Q
What are some theories on how and why we age?
A
- Genetic Programming Theory
- Variable Rate Theory
18
Q
What is the genetic programming theory?
A
- A normal developmental timetable is built into our genes
- Caused by a pre-set biological clock that limits the number of times cells can divide and multiply
- Environmental influences play little to no role in the aging process
- Programmed Senescence: specific genes shut off
- Hormonal Changes: clock acts through hormones that control aging
- Immune System: a decline in the immune system that causes the body to be susceptible to aging
19
Q
What is the variable rate theory?
A
- Aging is the result of processes that vary from person to person
- Aging is the process influenced by the internal and external environment
- Aging is the result of the breakdown in our bodies’ cells, or unexpected damage to our biological systems
- Wear and Tear: the body system accumulates damage through use, which can be accelerated by stress
- Somatic Mutation: genetic mutations occur and accumulate with increasing age, causing cells to deteriorate and malfunction
20
Q
What is programmed senescence and what theory is it from?
A
- Specific genes shut off
- From genetic programming theory
21
Q
What is Somatic Mutation and what theory is it from?
A
- genetic mutations occur and accumulate with increasing age, causing cells to deteriorate and malfunction
- Variable rate theory
22
Q
What do hormonal changes do in its theory?
A
- clock acts through hormones that control aging
- From genetic programming theory
23
Q
What are the 5 Stages of adjustment to death?
A
- Denial
- Anger
- Bargaining
- Depression
- Acceptance
24
Q
What is the stage of denial?
A
They can’t accept that they are dying and will go find someone who validates that opinion. People who are in denial for most of their illness will learn to cope with the illness and may refuse to receive certain treatments.
25
Jason has been diagnosed with a terminal illness, he says "No it can't happen to me! I'll find another opinion, I need to get re-diagnosed”. What stage is he in?
- 1. Denial
26
Jason has been diagnosed with a terminal illness, he says "why me? Why did I have to smoke? Why did no one stop me? This is ridiculous, I don't deserve this!”. What stage is he in?
- 2. Anger
27
What is the stage of anger?
The person feels anger at whoever or whatever may be responsible for the cause of their dying. At this stage they may alienate themselves from friends or family, no one can relieve their anger at lost life and lost chances.
28
What is the stage of bargaining?
The person's attitude suddenly changes and they try to bargain with fate. They may pray, try all the medicines, say they’ll settle for a non-terminal version of the illness, as long as they live. They will be much more willing to try procedures or surgeries in return for being spared from death.
29
Jason has been diagnosed with a terminal illness, all his life he's been an atheist, but suddenly he's joined the church and prays for more time or a non-terminal version of his illness. What stage is he in?
- 3. Bargaining
30
Jason has been diagnosed with a terminal illness, all his life he's wanted to be a pilot and even went to school for it, because of this he's always been highly against taking pills to regulate his health. Suddenly he's on a new pill each week in order to try to escape his illness. What stage is he in?
- 3. Bargaining
31
What is the stage of depression?
The person is aware of their coming and unavoidable death, they've given up and accepted their losses (loss of tissue, loss of job, loss of life savings). They are depressed over said loss and the loss that is coming.
32
Jason has been diagnosed with a terminal illness. All he does lately is weep all day, cry over the loss of his hair, his money, and some of his friends. He sometimes mentions how he's dreading the upcoming loss of his life and the thought alone makes him distraught. What stage is he in?
- 4. Depression
33
What is the stage of acceptance?
The person accepts they will die and it can't be avoided. They experience calm and approach death with peace. They tend to become emotionally detached to make acceptance of death easier.
34
Jason has been diagnosed with a terminal illness. He's been calm about the diagnosis but seems emotionally detached. What stage is he in?
- 5. Acceptance
35
What are the two different kinds of intelligences?
- Fluid
- Crystalized
36
What is crystalized intelligence?
- Consists of learned information and experience
- Ability to use accumulated knowledge and learning in appropriate situations
- Acquired over a lifetime and increases with age and experience
- Dependent on education, cultural background and memory
37
What's an example of crystalized intelligence?
language comprehension and mathematical reasoning
38
What is fluid intelligence?
- Ability to solve abstract relational problems and to generate new hypothesis
- Capacity to process novel information
- Requires the ability to understand relationships and make inferences
- Ability improves as nervous system matures
- As nervous system declines, so does ability to solve these problems - due to difficulty in generating new ideas
- Not related to education
39
What's an example of fluid intelligence?
- solving puzzles
- constructing strategies to deal with new problems
- seeing patterns in statistical data
- engaging in speculative philosophical reasoning
40
When does fluid intelligence peak?
Peaks at mid adulthood and begins to decline
41
When does crystalized intelligence peak?
Doesn't peak and improves until the end of life
42
What is IQ?
- The first intelligence test
- Developed by Alfred Binet
- The mean IQ score is 100
- 15 points from the mean indicate one standard deviation
- 80% of the population is within one standard deviation
43
What was the Binet-Simon Scale IQ test?
- the Binet-Simon scale was a relatively efficient way to identify and sort individuals based on intelligence
44
What is the Weschler IQ test?
- includes a wider variety of verbal and nonverbal skills.
- Was an attempt to evaluate intellectual and emotional temperament for job classification.
45
What are the uses for IQ testing?
- evaluate intellectual and emotional temperament for job classification
- the military and police to screen potential applicants. Admission requirements were based on IQ results
- North American education systems identify “gifted and talented” students as well as those with “special needs”
46
Limitations of IQ tests?
- Intelligence tests are culture specific. For example a wide knowledge of medicinal herbs would be considered highly intelligent in one culture but not necessarily in a western one. IQ tests can not objectively measure intelligence in culturally diverse settings.
- IQ test questions all have one right answer. They ignore other factors such as creativity, emotion, social skills, motivation or even morality.
47
What is multiple intelligence?
- The theory of multiple intelligences differentiates human intelligence into specific 'modalities', rather than seeing intelligence as dominated by a single general ability.
- Howard Gardner proposed this model in 1983
48
What are the different intelligences?
- Verbal
- Logical/mathematical
- Naturalist
- Bodily/Kinesthetic
- Musical
- Interpersonal (Social)
- Intrapersonal (Independence)
- Visual/Spatial
49
What are the four factors that define learning?
1. Learning is inferred from a change in behaviour/performance
2. Learning results in an inferred change in memory
3. Learning is the result of experience
4. Learning is relatively permanent
50
What is classical conditioning?
Conditioning an involuntary response to a stimulus
51
What is operant conditioning?
- Conditioning a voluntary response to a stimulus
- in Operant Conditioning, the controlling stimulus comes after the behaviour
- Ex. Making a dog sit to get a treat
52
What is stimulus?
A thing or event that evokes a specific activity, energy, or functional reaction
53
What is response?
A reaction that is seen within an organism
54
what is unconditioned stimulus?
- a stimulus that leads to an automatic response.
- In Pavlov's experiment, the food was the unconditioned stimulus.
55
what is unconditioned response?
an automatic response to a stimulus
56
What is a conditioned stimulus?
A stimulus that triggers the conditioned response
57
What is a conditioned response?
an automatic response established by training to an ordinarily neutral stimulus
58
What is positive reinforcement?
providing a reward if the desired behavior occurs (e.g. getting paid for working, getting a sticker on a good test, receiving a candy for answering a question)
59
What is negative reinforcement?
- Removing or preventing a painful stimulus if the desired behavior occurs (e.g. if a child behaves, she/he will not be spanked)
- Alternatively, adding negative stimulus when behaviour doesn't occur
60
What are the four reinforcement schedules?
- Fixed ratio
- Variable ratio
- Fixed interval
- Variable interval
61
What is fixed ratio?
A reward is received after a fixed number of times a behaviour is performed
62
What is variable ratio?
A reward is received after a variable/random amount of times a behaviour is performed
63
What is fixed interval?
A reward is received after a fixed period of time which they had to perform the desired behaviour
(Working hard for 5 mins)
64
What is variable ratio?
A reward is received after a variable/random period of time which they had to perform the desired behaviour
65
What are types of social learning?
- Modeling: learning by imitating others
- Observational Learning: learning and doing something that you didn’t know before - learned by watching
- Disinhibition: watching activity ‘misbehaving’ without punishment, subject is more likely to misbehave
66
How does your body deteriorate in older adulthood?
- Older adults become shorter in stature as they lose cartilage in the vertebrae
- Muscle loss occurs, which increases sag, and affects range of motion
- The brain shrinks and pulls away from the skull
- As the heart’s capacity decreases, blood vessels harden and the heart has to work harder to get blood to other organs
- Eye problems
- Hearing loss associated with age is called presbycusis, which is often caused from damage to the inner ear
- Tinnitus is constant ringing in the ears
- Decreased smell, taste, and touch, heat sense
- Sarcopenia is the loss of muscle mass
- Osteoporosis in the deterioration of bones, making them brittle
67
What are some vision problems in old age?
- Difficulty adjusting to light,
- ability to focus on nearby objects worsens,
- eye lens thickens causing cloudy vision (Cataracts)
- glaucoma (fluid buildup) causes damage to the optic nerve
- Macular degeneration causes difficulty seeing inside the center of the field of vision. Caused by retina deterioration
68
What specific measures has the Ontario government taken to address the needs of an aging population?
- reduced residential electricity bills by 25% on average under Ontario’s Fair Hydro Plan
- introduced the Ontario Seniors’ Public Transit Tax Credit
- championed Canada Pension Plan enhancement
- removed the Ontario Drug Benefit Program deductible and reduced the co-payment for 44,000 low-income seniors
- introduced the free shingles vaccine for seniors aged 65-70
- supported age-friendly communities through the Age-Friendly Community Planning Grant Program which has provided $1.5 million in funding over two years for 56 projects in 85 communities across Ontario. Eighteen of these communities have now been designated World Health Organization (WHO) Age-Friendly Cities.
launched Ontario’s Strategy to Combat Elder Abuse
- released A Guide to Programs and Services for Seniors in Ontario, available in 16 languages
69
What does the census data reveal about Canada’s population?
- Seniors outnumber children - children aged 14 and under made up 16.6 per cent of the total population, while seniors made up 16.9 per cent
- Eastern Canada is considerably older than in western provinces and Northern Canada - Nunavut had the largest difference between its old and young populations—32.5 per cent of the population is 14 years old or younger, while 3.8 per cent of the population is 65 or older.
- In older populations, more women than men
70
What are the challenges and potential benefits associated with this census trend?
- Challenges - Trying to pay/take care of old people, tax increases for healthcare
- Benefits - More job opportunities
71
What are the three memory process steps?
- Encoding
- Storage
- Retrieval
72
What is encoding?
The processing of information into the memory system.
73
What is storage?
The retention of encoded material over time.
74
What is retrieval?
The process of getting the information out of memory storage.
75
How are learning and memory related?
Learning relies on memory
- Learning requires the storage and retrieval of information
Memory relies on learning
- An individual’s established knowledge base provides a structure of past learning
- Incoming data attaches to that structure through association
76
What are the three stages of memory?
- Sensory
- short-term
- long term memory
77
What is sensory memory?
- Visual, auditory, and olfactory information
- Transfers to short-term memory
78
What is short-term memory?
- Stores seven single or chunked items for 30 seconds without repetition
- Solves problems through reasoning process (example: organizing facts into coherent essay)
79
What is long-term memory?
Information and associations between information stored indefinitely
The ability to transfer information from short term to long term memory is relevant to the learning process:
- People use attention, repetition and association with past learning to encode information
- Neurologically, encoding happens when information is repeatedly processed in the hippocampus
80
What are the types of long term memory?
- Declarative memory
- Non-declarative memory
- Episodic
- Semantic
81
What is declarative memory?
- memories that can be consciously recalled like facts & knowledge
- thought to be stored in the temporal cortex
82
What is non-declarative memory?
encoded by cerebellum independent of the hippocampus regulation, involves use of objects and movements, considered to be unconscious memory
83
What is episodic memory?
- specific personal experiences are stored
- events that occurred at a specific time and place, such as your 6th birthday party.
84
What is semantic memory?
Stored factual information
85
What are the best conditions for retention?
- 80% of learning is forgotten in 48 hours
Need to activate storage and retrieval processes:
- Review: retrieval of information temporarily copies it into working memory for further processing in hippocampus
- REM sleep: memories are replayed and reinforced in hippocampus
- Elaborative rehearsal (organizing, thinking about, and linking new material to existing memories) is more effective. The more associations we build, the more cues we’ll have for retrieval.
- Recency Effect – a bias that results in a subject recalling most recent information presented better than information presented earlier on.
- Primacy Effect – a cognitive bias that results in a subject recalling primary information presented better than information presented later on.
86
Ebbinghaus: Optimal Review
Preliminary review
- New learning peaks after 10 minutes
Subsequent study
- At one-day, one-week, one-month, and six month intervals
- Permanent memory traces are stored where sensory inputs first occurred
- They are connected in neuronal networks
87
What is Retrograde amnesia?
Head trauma or other temporary disruption of normal brain functioning interrupts storage of memories of events just BEFORE the trauma
88
What is Anterograde amnesia?
Damage to memory system impairs ability to store new memories AFTER the damage
89
What is Dissociative or psychogenic amnesia?
- repression
Cases of memory loss support the proposal that we have different types of memory (STM vs LTM; declarative vs nondeclarative)
