Week 12: Ageing and functioning Flashcards
What are some maintenance functions of the body?
Repairing damaged tissue
Cancerous cells destroyed by the immune system
When does maintenance function start to diminish?
From 50 years
What is senescence?
A degenerative phase of ageing
- The body tries to maintain itself but can’t keep up
What is the cellular theory of ageing?
Continuous exposure to toxins, pollutants etc leads to generic errors in replicating cells
With age, more cells have errors and with cell inefficiency comes cell death - leading to eventual death of the organism
What are programming theories of ageing?
Suggests there is a max lifespan preset by genetic factors
You can shorten this, but the max is preset and cannot be extended
What are cross-sectional studies?
Comparing the performance of different age groups at the same time
What are the cons of a cross-sectional design?
Cohort effects (may be a reason for differences across generations) - may over estimate age decline
What are longitudinal studies?
Tests the same participants across time
Minimises cohort effects
What could be a potential issue with longitudinal studies?
Individuals that are in poorer health may not return for alter testing - may lead to an overestimation of skills as those that are in better health are the ones providing the data
What kind of things decline with age?
Motor, sensory and intellectual functioning
Skin, bone and muscular declines
Cardiovascular and respiratory changes
What physical changes occur to the brain?
Brain weight decreases, with declines accelerating after 60 years
Neuronal loss
Blood flow to the brain is decreases (furthering neuronal loss)
Losses in sensation and perception are said to occur in 2 ways, what are these?
Increased sensory thresholds (something has to be louder or brighter for you to notice)
Decreased sensitivity to low-level stimulation
Explain changes in vision?
All components of the visual system change with age
Pupils become smaller and less adaptive (takes longer to adapt when you go out in the light)
Lens becomes denser and less flexible (can’t accommodate for close things like you used to)
Visual acuity declines steadily
What percentage of adults aged over 75 have good corrected vision?
75%
non-corrected poor visual acuity leads to….
Reduced quality of life
What are the different kinds of visual problems? (% in those age 70+)
Glaucoma 9% Cataracts 57% Macular degeneration 6% Retinopathy (diabetes) 4% Other 20% Workplace eye injuries 4%
Explain attention in older adults
Older adults are less able to divide attention
Problems selectively attending to stimuli while ignoring distractions
Processing visual information is the hardest when it is
Complex and novel
How much more likely are hearing impairments compared to vision?
3x more likely
Where do most hearing problems physically originate from?
The inner ear
Are there any gender differences in hearing declines with age?
Men lose hearing sensitivity earlier and faster than women - may be because of industrial jobs
For older individuals to understand conversation, what is important
Listening conditions
No increased attention demands (e.g. an accent)
Auditory perception is more difficult when the task is novel or complex and listening conditions are poor
There is a general decline in the perception of odour, what makes it worse?
Disease, smoking, some medications
Explain touch sensitivity across the lifespan
Begins to gradually decline from middle childhood
How many sensory impairments are associated with difficulties in basic everyday activities?
2 or more
Although most older adults have these sensory impairments and are engaged in a range of activities and live full lives (can compensate to manage living)
What are some of the reasons (physical or psychosocial) for older adults doing poorly on intelligence tests
Could be nervous, have visual loss, arthritis
As basic memory processes decline in older adults can memory improving strategies help?
Mnemonics can help but in a limited way
This is because they rely on cognition and memory processes themselves
What is episodic memory?
The retention of information about events
Is episodic memory affected with age?
There are declines in older adulthood, especially for more recent events
What is semantic memory?
Knowledge about the world
Is semantic memory affected with age?
No. Older adults do however take longer to retrieve it but are eventually successful
Working memory and perceptual speed…
decline with age
What is explicit memory? what happens to it with age?
Memory of facts and experiences that individuals CONSCIOUSLY know
- declines with age
What is implicit memory? what happens to it with age?
Memory without conscious recollection eg. procedural memory
- declines with age
What non-cognitive factors can influence older adults performance on memory tasks
Health
Education
socioeconomic status
Explain use it or lose it in terms of adult cognition
Certain mental activities can benefit from the maintenance of cognitive skills
- Some research suggests that mental exercise can reduce cognitive decline (controversial)
Problem solving with age?
Real world problems: increases
Experimental: decreases
Intelligence tests do not test…
Do not measure qualities more important for the real world
e.g. practical intelligence, expertise and wisdom
On what kind of tests do older individuals perform better at?
If they are practical and based on familar situations
What is dementia?
A collective term for a syndrome associated with neurodegenerative diseases that cause the deterioration of brain function
What is the most common dementia?
Alzheimer’s disease
What are the causes of AD?
No clear cause
- chromosomes
- amyloid
- toxin exposure
- alcohol abuse
- physical risk factors (head injury)
What symptoms are associated with different stages of AD
Early: problems remembering recent info
After several years: speech problems
Middle stages: personality changes and irritability
Later stages: motor movement difficulties
What percentage of those with dementia get informal, unpaid care?
91%
What percentage of those with dementia get ONLY informal, unpaid care?
22%
Where does unpaid, informal care come from?
Family members - typically spouse, adult offspring
Are there any gender differences in informal care?
Are often females
What does the quality of family care predict
Longer duration before they need to be transitioned to a home, leading to better health and well being
How do most informal carers find their roles?
Rewarding, however their efforts can go unrecognised
What do informal carers report deficits in of their own?
Health Quality of life Economic security (often had to quit their jobs) Moods (at least 30% have depression) Stress Social isolation
What can be used to help improve informal carers moods? what are the cons of this and how can it be fixed?
CBT - but expensive! and need to take time away to do it
Group CBT is becoming a thing, and over technology meaning carers do not have to leave the house to do it
What is the most common mental health problem affecting older people?
Depression
Followed by anxiety
What forms a critical part of adult identity?
Work roles
Gives structure, meaning and purpose
Provides financial input
Establishes a context for relating to others
What do we see in older workers?
Lower absenteeism
Fewer accidents
Higher job satisfaction
Retirement is…
Why?
one of the most important later life status transitions
Marks passage into the later stages of adulthood
What factors do we see in older adults that adjust well to retirement?
If healthy and active Adequate income Are educated Extended social network Satisfied with life pre-retirement
Who scores lower than married people on measures of psychological wellbeing?
Widowers
Which gender have higher depression rates following becoming widowed
Men
Why do men struggle more following loss of their partner (windowed)?
Because women live longer than men, it is more likely to find a bereaved women than it is a man for social support
Sometimes the wife was the one that did all social engagement with friends so they may lose these interactions
Widowed women interact more with family than widowed men
Health differences following widowhood?
Declines in health are stronger in men
May have poorer nutrition if wife did the cooking
may have higher frequencies of unhealthy behaviour
may be distressed about needing to assume domestic tasks
These all relate to gender based roles
What rises in older adult hood after a dip in early-mid adulthood?
Life satisfaction
