Early Adulthood to Late Life Cognitive Development Perrys

Early Adulthood to Late Life Cognitive Development

Perry’s Theory n Interviewed college students every 4 years… n Dualistic thinking: right or wrong, good or bad – Younger students n Relativistic thinking: no absolute truth; evaluate solutions in context – Older students Did student’s thinking Adaptive change Cognition throughout college?

**Schaie’s theory & Labouvie-Vief’s theory** ** college experience: psychological impact & dropping out **

Have you noticed any cognitive changes in your parents and grandparents?

Dual-component Model of Intelligence (Baltes, 1987) Basic information processing Fluid § Hardware of the mind § Biologically-dependent § Genetically predisposed Crystallized build on fluid abilities Crystallized Acquired knowledge §Software (content-rich) § Culture-dependent § Experience-based

Theoretical prediction about changes in IQ **Kaufman’s research**

Schaie’s Seattle Longitudinal Study n Sequential design – began 1956… last testing 1998 – tested every 7 years (longitudinal) – new group of young adults at each time (cross-sectional) n Participants – – n 5000+ age ranges from 20 s to 100+ recruited from health insurance upper 75% of SES Measures – Thurstone’s 5 Primary Mental Abilities

Verbal Meaning Choose the word that means the same as the one that is underlined. Fracture: complete, write, break, forget Crystallized

Number Ability If apples cost 90 cents a dozen, how much would 4 apples cost? 1. 50 cents 2. 30 cents 3. 75 cents 4. 60 cents Crystallized

Word fluency (verbal memory) Write down as many things as you can that are yellow, or yellow more often than any other color. Fluid

Spatial Orientation Which figure would fill in the missing square? Fluid

Inductive Reasoning Which letter comes next in the series? 1. a a b b c c d d ___ 2. a l a m a n a ___ o Fluid

Results: Cross-sectional age findings Declines more dramatic for fluid Abilities begin to decline in 40 s What is a major problem with cross-sectional research?

Results: Cohort effect findings Positive cohort shifts Negative cohort shifts No cohort shifts

Results: Longitudinal age findings All abilities increase until 30 s-40 s Significant losses are not seen until late 60 s More decline in fluid Relative stability until 50 s - 60 s

Results: Individual differences Everyone shows declines in at least 1 ability by 60 s Few people show declines on all 5, even in 80 s

Is theory correct?

What accounts for the reliable declines in fluid abilities? n Speed of processing – Measured using simple to complex reaction time tasks What is a slower reaction time? – Higher RT number = slower speed

Slower processing speed is one of the most consistent cognitive changes in adulthood! “Everything moves so fast these days!”

Theory: Neural network hypothesis Output (RT) Input Build new pathways Plaques & tangles disrupt connections ** Information Loss View **

What is the biggest cognitive complaint among middle-aged & older adults? “I can’t remember…. ” ** Memory & attention: midlife & late life**

Tulving's Memory Model Episodic memory Personally experience d knowledge Episodes & events Semantic memory General world knowledge Concepts, ideas, facts How is it measured in the lab?

Episodic memory task n List learning: recognition & recall Do you remember any of these words from the in -class assignment? cake sock bat clock tree cart book car cup fish table egg Are there age differences?

Recall Recognition Smaller age differences for recognition memory because it provides supportive context

Episodic memory task n Remote (autobiographical) memory – cue word technique: how old were you? Reminiscence bump Car Dog

Semantic memory tasks n Category tasks: – Apple is a _______. – Linguini is a _____. – Basil is a _____. n Lexical – stapa – stop – chup – sniff decision: decide if word Are there age differences? NO!

n Word finding task: tip-of-the-tongue abacus albatross barnacle chameleon filament kaleidoscope Are there age differences? Most common memory complaint in late life is not being able to recall a word, especially names!

Tulving's Memory Model Episodic memory Semantic memory Personally experienced knowledge General world knowledge Episodes & events Concepts, ideas, facts Tasks: list learning, cue words Tasks: category, lexical decision, word finding

Tulving's Memory Model Episodic memory Semantic memory Personally experienced knowledge General world knowledge Episodes & events Concepts, ideas, facts Tasks: list learning; cue words Tasks: category, lexical decision, word finding Older adults poorer, Few age differences, especially on recall tasks mostly for finding words

Expertise What makes someone an expert? Extensive domain-specific knowledge n Process information more efficiently & deeply n Solve problems systematically n At what age do we become experts?

Age x Expertise Interaction WARRIOR TOHEADING WAUKEEGAN DIRECT 230 BUFFR J 518 DJB WARRIOR 4325 V, CLEARED TURN LEFT 180, VIA MAINTAIN KNOTS ORDIRECT GREATER. J 34 TO ALPHE TO JOIN J 70 DIRECT PMM V 170 DIRECT BRAVE DIRECT. MAINTAIN 3000, EXPECT 14000 ONE ZERO MINUTES AFTER DEPARTURE FREQUENCY IS 126. 45, SQUAWK 2011. Expertise reduces age differences only when task… … relies heavily on domainspecific knowledge.

Wisdom What does it mean to be wise? Who is wise? “Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you'll be able to enjoy it a second time. ”

In-Class Assignment 7 Purpose of this assignment is to become familiar with methods used to assess wisdom and identifying criteria for wisdom. How would you respond?

5 criteria for wisdom (Baltes & Staudinger, 1993)

example responses

Does wisdom come with age? Wisdom is stable across most of adulthood!

But, people nominated as wise are usually older… Clinicians are “experts” in pragmatics of life Wisdom is related to experience, & age & experience are related