Lecture 12 - Cognitive Aging

Question 1

Aging effects the ______ cortex more than any other area

Answer 1

• prefrontal cortex
• last areas to myelinate are the first to deteriorate
• WM and LTM communicate less efficiently

Question 2

Episodic memory

Answer 2

• conscious recollection of info from a specific event or point in time
• decreases w/ age
• ## autobiographical mem - remembering info/events from own life

Question 3

Autobiographical memory bump

Answer 3

• the age at which most memories are pulled from

Question 4

Flashbulb memories

Answer 4

• traumatic or happy memory that is thought to be easily memorable
• confidence in these memories are much higher despite not being any more reliable than other memories

Question 5

Non-Episodic memory

Answer 5

• remains consistent with age
• procedural memory - motor, perceptual, or cog operations
  
  • remains constant
• semantic memory - general knowledge, facts, concepts
  
  • improves over time in educated individuals

Question 6

Source memory

Answer 6

• ability to remember the source of a familiar event
• ability to determine if event was imagined or actually experienced
• failures are more common w/ age

Question 7

False memory

Answer 7

remembering items or events that did not occur

Question 8

Positivity bias

Answer 8

older adults have better memory for emotional info, especially when the info is positive

Question 9

Stereotype threat

Answer 9

• awareness of negativity stereotypes about the group
• anxiety when put in position that might confirm stereotype

Question 10

Age-related changes in language

Answer 10

• may be affected by hearing loss or reductions in attention and processing speed
• no change in comprehension
• lang production declines

Question 11

Social aspects of language

Answer 11

• reminiscing about the past
• difficulty focusing speech
• elderspeak

Question 12

Communication predicament model

Answer 12

• age related changes - appearance and physical changes that lead to young person to treat individual as old
• elderspeak - infantilizing and patronizing speech
• further declines - lack of stimulation from being treated as a dependent child

Question 13

AZ disease

Answer 13

• progressive, incurable deterioration of key areas of the brain
• hallmark is a loss of WM and difficulty performing familiar tasks

Question 14

Diagnostic characteristics of AZ

Answer 14

• senile plaques - deposits of beta-amyloid
• neurofibrillary tangles - dead and dying neurons tangled together
• APOE variants - E2 reduces risk, E4 increases risk
• APP, PSEN1, PSEN2 give definitive diagnosis associated with early onset AZ

Question 15

Confirmation of AZ cannot be made until?

Answer 15

autopsy

Question 16

Risk factors of AZ

Answer 16

• Age - 90% of cases occur after 65 y.o.
• lifestyle factors (high cholesterol, high BP, tobacco, obesity)
• CV disease
• TBIs like CTE
• low education and occupational attainment

Question 17

CTE

Answer 17

• chronic traumatic encephalopathy
• type of dementia
• due to Hx of TBIs
• common in athletes and veterans
• similar symptoms to AZ

Question 18

Aerobic exercise

Answer 18

• CV conditioning in which breathing controls the amount of O2 that makes it to the muscles to help them burn fuel and move
• reduced risk of: CV disease, stroke, AZ
• improved memory and cognition

Question 19

Brain games

Answer 19

• are not beneficial bc skills are not transferable to other areas
• benefits are not maintained over time
• placebo affect observed

Question 20

Learning new skills

Answer 20

• cognitively challenging (requires attention, has many steps) activities strengthen brain networks
• risk may decrease as much as 12% for each new activity