Term
| information processing model |
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Definition
assumes that people are active processors of information
information is processed through a series of hypothetical stages or stores
look quantitatively and qualitatively at info |
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Term
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Definition
where new info is first registered.
has high capacity and fast decay.
ex) looking in a dark room and light goes on. |
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Term
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Definition
| how much info gets into sensory memory |
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Term
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Definition
| shown series of letters instantaneously. covers the letters. younger adults do worse than older adults because they can't process the covering of the letters. (slower sensory memory replacement) |
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Term
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Definition
| light bulbs turned on and off. speeding up the process will look like a light moving. slower speeds for older adults. they don't process the light going off |
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Term
| stimulus persistence theory |
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Definition
| sensory traces persist longer in the nervous system of older adults. explains findings of those types of studies |
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Term
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Definition
| mechanism that controls how much and what info is transferred from the high capacity sensory memory system to the more limited capacity working memory system |
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Term
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Definition
| how we choose info we will process further. ex) simple visual search task/complex visual search task |
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Term
| visual search task results |
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Definition
| age differences are found for complex tasks. age decline in selectivity. more complex-->slower reaction time for older adults |
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Term
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Definition
| older adults have more trouble. more difficulty tuning out irrelevant info |
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
| move down the first column and then the second column naming the color of ink of each oval |
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Term
| stroop test: test condition |
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Definition
as quickly as you can move down the 1st column and then the second naming the color of ink of each word.
older adults will be much slower and make more mistakes bc they can't tune out what's irrelevant |
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Term
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Definition
| how much info can be processed at any given time |
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Term
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Definition
fast, reliable, insensitive to increased cognitive demands.
longer for older adults
processing a specific and repetitive task can make it an automatic attention response |
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Term
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Definition
| amount of attention may decline with age |
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Term
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Definition
measures capacity of attention
total decline in the total capacity of attention
each complex task takes more capacity for older adults |
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Term
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Definition
| maintaining attention when performing a task over a long period of time |
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Term
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Definition
experiment: every time they heard a 7 and hit the button. misses would be when the 7 showed up and they didn't hit the button.
older adults have lower hit rates compared to younger adults esp for complex tasks
no age differences in the rate at which hits decline over time |
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Term
| why are there age related declines in performance of complex attn tasks |
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Definition
| cognitive slowing - slowing down on psycho motor tasks like RT tasks. |
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Term
| psychomotor slowing (RT tasks reflect what?) |
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Definition
| sensory memory, attention, some level of decision making, and motor response |
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Term
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Definition
response to one stimnulus. when see light press button.
older adults perform a lot slower. a lot are likely to have arthritis. motor time affected. biggest slowing = decision time (brain/neuro connections) |
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Term
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Definition
response to more than 1 stimulus, each with different response.
larger age differences than simple RT |
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Term
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Definition
like driving a car (speeding down or slowing down at yellow light)
the more complex the task, the larger the age difference in speed of performance. |
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Term
| what causes psychomotor slowing |
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Definition
disrupted neural networks - To complete a RT task, a certain # of links between neurons is required. Because older adults have more dying neurons, neural messages are detoured and require more links, and therefore longer RT.
Cautiousness - Older adults may be more reluctant to make mistakes.
Slowed Motor Response - Does not seem to be a major factor. |
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Term
What factors can influence psychomotor
slowing? |
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Definition
Disease: can increase slowing
Exercise: may slow rate of decline
Practice: can help, but age differences are still
significant
Experience: Salthouse’s research on typists
demonstrates that on complex tasks anticipation can compensate for psychomotor slowing |
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Term
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Definition
| the decline in sensory and information‐processing skills are the primary cause |
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Term
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Definition
| Information you are holding in mind and simultaneously using (small capacity) |
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Term
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
| Making meaningful connections between information in working memory and what you already know |
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Term
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Definition
limited capacity
Plays an active, critical, and central role in encoding, storage, and retrieval
essential to performance on more complex cognitive tasks |
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Term
| aging declines in working memory |
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Definition
slower rate of processing
more problems keeping irrelevant information out of working memory
less likely to organize information
spontaneously and less likely to use elaborative rehearsal
important implications for the later stage of Long‐Term Memory
younger adults spontaneously organize info where as older adults don't as often |
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Term
| explicit memory (declarative) |
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Definition
intentional and conscious remembering of
information that is learned at a specific point in time
ex)remembering who wrote the Gettysburg address |
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Term
| implicit memory (procedural) |
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Definition
unintentional. remember how to do something. ex) given list of words, not asked to remember
Retrieval of information without conscious or intentional recollection
An example is a language task such as stem completion.
Smaller age differences that explicit memory |
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Term
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Definition
Ability to remember an extensive amount of
information from a few minutes to a few years. large capacity |
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Term
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Definition
personal memories that are remembered with time and place information
ex) what you did for your birthday |
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Term
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Definition
word, concepts, knowledge not tied to the time the information was learned
ex) vocab association |
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Term
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Definition
older adults don't encode as well. They are less likely
to spontaneously use elaborative rehearsal, categorization, and imagery. therefore, harder to retrieve info |
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Term
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Definition
| older adults do not retrieve well. result of encoding problems |
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Term
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Definition
remembering info w/o hints or clues
ex) essay test |
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Term
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Definition
selecting previously learned
information from among several items
ex) vocab test
need retrieval for recall. adults don't do as well with recall tasks |
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Term
| age declines in long term memory |
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Definition
| worse when information is presented quickly,information is not familiar, or information is disorganized |
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Term
| semantic long term memory |
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Definition
no (or small) age differences in knowledge based aspects of semantic memory
may be age‐related declines in the accessibility of semantic memory
Evidence for more difficulty for older adults with word finding and more TOT experiences |
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Term
| episodic long term memory |
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Definition
Omit more information
Include more intrusions
Repeat previously reported information |
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Term
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Definition
younger: explain in detail, accurate, no false info
older: forget info, more made up things, repeating what they said |
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Term
| age differences in episodic memory for personal events |
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Definition
significant event = good memory
everyday events = not so good
hard to validate bc was based on event that wasn't observed by researchers
Bahricks’ study of yearbook photos suggests that older adults have good episodic memory, especially with a recognition test |
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Term
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Definition
remember recent autobiographical events rather than older ones
more memories are chosen from late adolescence and early adulthood than middle or old age
“reminiscence memory bump” might be due to that time frame occurring when we start making unique personal identities |
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Term
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Definition
due to the time frame occurring when we start making unique personal identities
most personally significant things (1st experiences) occur during young adulthood |
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Term
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Definition
| come up with more recent memories; not linear curve bc of reminiscence bump |
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Term
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Definition
| occurs during teen/young adulthood years so that's why older adults think about it |
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Term
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Definition
| in route learning, older adults recall non-spacial associations and regard salient landmarks rather than turns. sequential processing constrained by cognitive capacity |
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Term
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Definition
recall false info.
ex) mary was married to bob then linda married bob -> made inference that mary hated linda. |
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Term
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Definition
remembering to perform a planned action in the future. hard for automatic/routine procedures. so automatic that you don't remember whether you have/haven't (locking door)
ex) remembering to take meds |
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Term
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Definition
| ability to remember the source of a familiar event as well as if the event is real or imagined |
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Term
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Definition
| when one remembers items or events that did not occur |
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Term
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Definition
| older adults less accurate on source memory tasks, greater false memory effects |
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Term
| biological approach to memory |
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Definition
| deficit in memory from brain deterioration |
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Term
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Definition
| age-related encoding deficit (organizational, elaborative, imagery processes) and retrieval deficit (strategies that help find stored info) |
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Term
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Definition
Age differences in memory explained by
understanding the relationships among
characteristics of the task, characteristics of the
individual, and how the individual performs the task |
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Term
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Definition
| knowledge about how memory works and what we believe is true about it |
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Term
| age differences in metamemory |
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Definition
| older adults seem to know less about how memory works than younger, expect that memory will deteriorate, and perceive they have less control over memory |
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Term
| The Role of Memory Self‐Efficacy |
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Definition
older adults with lower memory selfefficacy perform worse on memory tasks
one may know a
good deal about how memory works, but still believe they possess low ability to perform a specific memory task.
older adults perform better when you tell them memory is in control |
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Term
| normal aging vs. pathological memory loss |
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Definition
normal - exhibit only minor declines in
these cognitive functions
nonpathological memory loss - no interference with functioning in everyday life, so it is relatively benign |
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Term
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Definition
problems that persist even after
individuals have been trained to use effective memory strategies. Can range from mild impairment to serious dementia |
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Term
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Definition
Paying attention to incoming information
and making connections with stored information |
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Term
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Definition
multidimensional
multidirectionality
plasticity
interindividual variability |
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Term
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Definition
| measuring intelligence as a score on a standardized test |
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Term
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Definition
| ways in which people conceptualize and solve problems emphasizing developmental changes in modes and styles of thinking |
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Term
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Definition
| does wisdom come with age |
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Term
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Definition
| ability to think rationally, act purposefully, and deal effectively with the environment. being successful in academic environment |
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Term
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Definition
| intelligence as a single ability, or "g". not a global characteristic of intelligence |
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Term
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Definition
crystallized intelligence = knowledge, judgment, understanding. doesn't change with age
fluid = perception, recall, drawing inferences, processing speed. raw thinking ability. declines with age |
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Term
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Definition
| primary mental abilities - intelligence is several separate abilities |
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Term
| wechsler adult intelligence scale |
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Definition
has 6 subsets on the verbal scale and 5 on the performance scale
problem = there is one correct answer that is expected |
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Term
| developmental changes in intelligence |
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Definition
| in cross-sectional studies: the younger age groups weren't as different in average scores as older adults. |
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Term
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Definition
| WAIS - verbal sub-tests show little or no decline with age. performance sub-tests show more marked decline with age, esp for timed tests |
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Term
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Definition
performance. flexible and adaptive thinking (eg. drawing inferences, abstract thinking, inductive reasoning)
declines with age bc of neurological change and/or disease |
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Term
| crystallized intelligence |
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Definition
verbal skills. knowledge acquired through experience and education in a particular culture.
does not decline with age and may increase with life-long learning. |
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Term
| summary of cross-sectional studies |
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Definition
Steady decreases in older age groups beginning in late adolescence
WAIS Performance subtests showed greater
decline than Verbal Subtests
Crystallized intelligence increases until one's sixth decade while fluid intelligence has a steady decline beginning in early adulthood |
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Term
| results from longitudinal studies |
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Definition
Smaller decline starting later in life
Increases in IQ performance up to age 60, then abilities are usually maintained or have a small decline |
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Term
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Definition
| Tendency for psychological and biological abilities to exhibit a dramatic decrease in one's last few years |
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Term
| longitudinal studies from age and IQ |
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Definition
| minimize age declines in IQ because of selective drop out |
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Term
| cross sectional studies in age and IQ |
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Definition
| exaggerates declines because of cohort effects and because more people in the old groups may be experiencing terminal drop |
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Term
| sequential research in age and IQ |
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Definition
better because of examination of changes in specific abilities
combines sequential and cross-sectional |
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Term
| schaie's sequential study of age-related changes in 5 primary mental abilities |
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Definition
good data no one pays attn to. picked the wrong measure
verbal meaning, word fluency, number, spatial orientation, and inductive reasoning |
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Term
| results of Schaie's study |
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Definition
| People tend to improve on primary abilities until late 30s early 40s |
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Term
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Definition
| Are the tasks relevant to older adults? What role does speed of response play in the scoring? |
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Term
| occupation (factors that influence age and IQ) |
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Definition
| Differences in cognitive skills needed in different occupations makes a difference in intellectual development |
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Term
| Education/Cohort (factors that influence age and IQ) |
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Definition
| Higher education and socioeconomic status also related to slower rates of intellectual decline |
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Term
| Personality (factors that influence age and IQ) |
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Definition
| High levels of internal control lead to positive changes in people’s perception of their abilities |
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Term
| info processing (factors that influence age and IQ) |
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Definition
Perceptual speed may account for age‐related decline
Working memory decline may account for poor performance of older adults if coordination between old and new information is required |
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Term
| Health (factors that influence age and IQ) |
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Definition
Those in good physical health can think, reason, and remember better
A connection between disease and intelligence has been established in general and in cardiovascular
disease in particular
The participants in the Seattle Longitudinal Study who declined in inductive reasoning had significantly more illness diagnoses and visits to physicians for cardiovascular disease |
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Term
| IQ as an indicator of everyday problem-solving abilities |
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Definition
Low correlation between IQ scores and many life activities
Performance on some tasks does predict some types of everyday functioning |
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Term
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Definition
individuals proceed through an
unchangeable sequence of stages |
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Term
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Definition
allow people to use different rules to
understand reality at different stages |
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Term
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Definition
| individuals proceed to each new stage after achieving the earlier stage or level of development |
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Term
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Definition
movement through the different stages
applies to all |
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Term
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Definition
| Thought is governed by the principle of adaptation which is the process of adjusting our thinking to the environment |
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Term
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Definition
using previously learned knowledge to
make sense of incoming information
top-down process; schema |
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Term
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Definition
changing the knowledge base to conform to new information from the environment
ex) child looking at huge cat realizes it's not a tiger |
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Term
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Definition
the process of adjusting our thinking to the environment
ex) intelligence |
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