I. Memory Basics

Cognition = thinking and memory processes

Stereotypes about aging and cognition: memory loss is associated with age; so much so that even when similar levels of memory complaints were presented by different aged actors, these complaints were most noticed in the older actor who was described as "forgetful" (Rodin & Langer, 1980)

II. What might be some reasons for age changes in memory specifically?

1. Explanatory style - changes for the aged (and perhaps as we age) "senior moments"

• older adults may avoid stimulating tasks
• others who interact with them (e.g. in nursing homes, etc.) may not challenge them à "excess disabilities"

traditional lab tests test memory in one of 3 ways: free recall, cued recall, and recognition memory

Based on cross-sectional research, typically greater age differences are seen with the recall tasks (which may occur as early as middle age or around age 55), with fewest age differences in recognition tasks.

how might we explain these differences?

an information processing approach to memory hypothesizes three memory stores: sensory memory, short term memory (STM), and long term memory (LTM)

STM (sometimes called working memory [WM]) has control processes associated with it; these control processes control how information is rehearsed, the speed at which it is processed, and the strategies used for encoding and retrieval

LTM is what we think of when we think of "memory;" it contains general knowledge (semantic memory), personal knowledge (episodic memory), and skill knowledge (procedural memory)

two hypotheses regarding age changes in memory processes:

• slower speed of processing - could affect both LTM (the speed at which information is accessed) and STM (the speed at which information is put into LTM, etc.)
• lack of inhibitory processing - could also affect LTM and STM; in the first case, irrelevant information gets activated when searching LTM; in the second case, other information pushes relevant info out of STM

• Episodic memory contains our memory for personal events, both important (e.g., one’s wedding day) and "trivial" (e.g., what you had for breakfast yesterday, where you parked your car, where you put your keys). Tulving finds evidence that most age differences are found with episodic memory rather than semantic or procedural memory.

• Procedural memory is also called implicit memory, whereas semantic/episodic memory is also called declarative memory. With declarative memory, in order to remember, you have to actively recall the information; you are, in fact, aware of your recall (e.g., on tests).

Everyday memory vs. lab studies - do lab tasks which focus on remembering words, pictures, or numbers correspond to remembering in everyday or real life contexts?

In some situations testing everyday memory, memory is not as poor, though age differences still exist.

Sinnott (1986) suggests that other factors may also be relevant in examining everyday memory. As described in your text, she had people try to remember some facts about their testing as part of her research in her Gerontology Research Lab - what she found was that young adults did better on remembering less relevant material, but there were no age differences in remembering relevant material à a possible example of Baltes’ selection-optimization and compensation

Retrospective vs. prospective memory - remembering that you have to do something

in the lab (e.g. remembering to do some task 10 minutes later), typical results favor the young, though not consistently; outside the lab (e.g., mailing a postcard a few days after participating), the results favor the old! Motivation may be key.

Autobiographical Memory — Do older adults live in the past?

Task: remember an event that is asked for (e.g., going out to restaurant) - recent events are still most likely to be recalled for both young and old

Although there is some evidence for better memory for events from one’s early teens and 20s — a "reminiscence peak," in our later years, those in nursing homes may be even more likely to recall the distant past more than those who are active and living out in the community.

Functions of reminiscence: to teach younger people, to keep a conversation going, to reduce boredom, to understand ourselves better, to feel close to lost loved ones, to worry or obsess about old hurts, and/or to prepare ourselves for impending death (life review). Webster (1995) found that older adults do more of the latter as would be consistent with Erikson’s theory. Young adults reminisced to solve problems, reduce boredom , or worry.

III. Memory Interventions

• stimulating life review - more for therapeutic purposes
• stimulating memory — a "use it or lose it" proposition

Many different characteristics to the "intelligent person." Most present definitions stress the ability to adapt well to a variety of circumstances, whether they are intellectual or interpersonal.

1. measuring intelligence

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)— a traditional psychometric test that is made up of 2 scales (verbal scale and performance scale) and 14 subscales. The verbal subscales tap general knowledge; the performance subscales, which are times, tap the ability to solve novel problems.

classic aging pattern: relatively little change on the verbal scale (changes begin around age 65) with dramatic age differences on the performance scale (starting in one’s early 20s).

Longitudinally, less dramatic change was present, but still the classic aging pattern existed (some verbal skills increased slightly to middle age; performance scores declined). Moreover, an additional phenomenon was present — there was a steep drop off in even verbal scores among the very old.

2. a newer conception — John Horn’s crystallized vs. fluid intelligence

crystallized abilities are those abilities that depend upon experience and the knowledge base of our culture — they would tend to increase with age (e.g., continued synaptic growth in the brain)

fluid abilities reflect the basic physiology of our nervous system — these decline with age as do other physiological capabilities

as fluid abilities decline, crystallized abilities can be used to compensate (see also Baltes’ mechanics of intelligence vs. pragmatics of intelligence)

can explain not only intelligence test scores, but why, for example, mathematicians peak earlier creatively than do historians, why air traffic controllers must retire earlier than CEOs, and why it may be harder to stay competitive at chess than at doing crossword puzzles (the skills needed for each differ on their reliance on fluid vs. crystallized abilities)

3. when and how do intellectual abilities change?

Seattle Longitudinal Study — uses a cross-sequential design to examine age changes in intellectual ability on Thurstone’s Primary Mental Abilities Scale

Main findings:

• stability or increases to about age 65 in performance on verbal meaning (crystallized)
• declines beginning in one’s mid-30s on inductive reasoning and spatial relations (fluid)
• by age 60, almost everyone had experienced decline on at least one test
• even in the oldest group (age 88 at last testing), hardly anyone had experienced decline on all 5 abilities; only about 50% had declined on even 3 abilities

• speed of processing predicted losses on fluid-type tests
• those with heart disease did more poorly on all 5 abilities than those who were healthier
• those who were healthier benefited more from cognitive remediation than those with heart disease
• those who showed dramatic losses in crystallized abilities were more likely to die within a few years (terminal drop hypothesis)

Adult Development and Enrichment Project (ADEPT) — a cognitive remediation program attached to the Seattle Longitudinal Study; targeted fluid abilities (inductive reasoning, spatial relations)

Findings: