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Neuro Cognitive Disorders > 2: Normal Aging and Cognition + Medication and Aging > Flashcards

2: Normal Aging and Cognition + Medication and Aging Flashcards

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1
Q

What is happening with the older adult population in the US?

A

significant growth (secondary to factors such as falling birth rates, increased longevity)

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2
Q

What is the range for young old?

A

65-75

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3
Q

What is the range for middle old?

A

75-84

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4
Q

What is the range for old old?

A

85+

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5
Q

What were the top 3 leading causes of death in 2020?

A

1) heart disease
2) cancer
3) COVID-19

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6
Q

Brain slowing as a result of synaptic pruning is due to what?

A

learning and environmental factors

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7
Q

Grey matter volume peaks in the frontal and parietal lobes at age:

A

12

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8
Q

Grey matter volume peaks in the temporal lobes at age:

A

16

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9
Q

Grey matter volume peaks in the occipital lobes at age:

A

20

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10
Q

When does development “end”?

A

25

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11
Q

The emotional centers (or ________ regions) develop before the ___________ regions. And _____ peak before _____.

A

limbic
prefrontal
girls, boys

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12
Q

What does the emotional center development before prefrontal regions lead to?

A

risky behaviors, decreased self-regulation

substance use typically starts

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13
Q

When do we see first episode of psychiatric disorders and drug use?

A

Adolesence

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14
Q

What is happening in the adolescent brain?

A

synaptic pruning (unused connections are eliminated, what you do with your time directly affects prefrontal wiring)

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15
Q

When is myelination of the parietal lobe completed?

A

adolescence

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16
Q

When is myelination of the frontal lobe completed

A

not until the 30s

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17
Q

What area of the brain is most vulnerable to atrophy as we age?

A

frontal lobe

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18
Q

Where does our highest level of cognitive thought occur?

A

frontal lobe

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19
Q

Effective and efficient cognitive function depends on what 4 things?

A

1) degree of myelination
2) integrity of white matter
3) density and richness of synaptic connections
4) specificity of synaptic pruning

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20
Q

What is crystalized intelligence?

A

dependent on learning and culture

reflects experience, knowledge, comprehension, judgement, and wisdom

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21
Q

How does crystalized intelligence change throughout the lifespan?

A

rises until age 70 +/-

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22
Q

What is fluid intelligence?

A

ability to identify complex relations/situations and make conclusions/inferences on the basis of the comprehension

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23
Q

What is fluid intelligence measured by?

A

cognitive tasks

not really general knowledge

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24
Q

How does fluid intelligence change across the lifespan?

A

declines from mid 20s on

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25
What are the 2 views of cognitive change over the lifespan?
1) crystallized and fluid intelligence (separate) | 2) representation and control (interact)
26
What is representation intelligence?
set of crystalized schemas that are the basis for memory and knowledge of the world
27
How does representation intelligence change across the lifespan?
maintained as we age but some is lost due to lack of use
28
What is control intelligence?
set of fluid operations that enable intentional processing and adaptive cognitive performance
29
How does control intelligence change across the lifespan?
increases in power, speed, and complexity | develop at different ages and decline at different rates
30
What are inhibition deficits that might occur with aging?
weakened inhibitory processes make it harder to suppress irrelevant information (distractions are more difficult to ignore)
31
What are 2 examples of distractions that might be hard to ignore when inhibition deficits occur?
1) changes in typeface | 2) dialectal differences
32
What is neighborhood density?
Based on words around a word that differ by 1 phoneme (low density word = wolf, high density word = cat - bat, mat, etc.)
33
Is it harder to retrieve words from high or low density neighborhoods?
high
34
What are transmission deficits?
cognitive change with aging secondary to memory connections being weakened meaning poorer activation of target info
35
What is tip of the tongue syndrome?
When you know what you want to say but can't come up with the word, but will recall at a later time, and increases with age
36
What is tip of the tongue syndrome most frequent with recalling (2)?
1) names | 2) infrequently used words
37
What is cognitive slowing (3)?
1) slower processing speed 2) reduced attention abilities 3) reduced working memory
38
When does cognitive slowing really cause increased difficulty?
when information is presented at a faster rate
39
Older adults have less _____________ resources available to them, which makes them more dependent on what?
processing | top down processing
40
What is scaffolding?
compensatory strategy, occurs over lifespan, supports existing systems and forms new connections
41
What did an fMRI study on scaffolding show?
young adults had focal left prefrontal activity | older adults had bilateral left and right prefrontal activity
42
Why does scaffolding occur? (4)
1) brain structures show volumetric shrinkage 2) white matter loses density 3) decrease in gray matter 4) neurofibrilary plaques and tangles
43
In older adults we mostly see what 3 things?
1) increased frontal activity 2) increased bilateral involvement 3) less neural specificity
44
Scaffolding is not just a response to normal aging but also ____________
challenges
45
Cortical activation in young children tends to be ___________
bilateral
46
When do cortical activations stop being bilateral and become more focal?
when greater expertise is developed
47
When do more bilateral activation patterns become seen again?
With increased age
48
What are potential challenges that can lead to use of scaffolding? (8)
1) sleep deprivation 2) advanced biological aging 3) higher level of task demands 4) stress 5) depression 6) genetics 7) disease 8) adverse experiences
49
What are 2 positive factors that can influence brain function?
1) physical fitness | 2) cognitive stimulation
50
What is the efficiency of scaffolding networks
Less efficient than well developed cognitive networks
51
What 3 subtests/tasks did old old participants not fall into WNL for? But...
attention, memory, and language | but still healthy and lived independently
52
What are 5 cognitive strengths with aging?
1) semantic memory/understanding is preserved 2) follow routines/procedures preserved 3) problem solving may be used to compensate 4) historical information preserved 5) vocabulary suffers only small losses
53
What group of older adults are poorest at naming pictured objects?
less educated and institutionalized
54
What is the most common complaint in older adults cognitively?
tip of the tongue phenomenon
55
What are 3 spelling and written language changes that can occur in older adults?
1) longer sentences/clauses read may not be understood 2) writing may become more simple 3) errors for irregular spelled words
56
How might speed of processing be affected?
slower
57
What is episodic memory
recall of episodes or events
58
What are changes in older adults with episodic memory?
forgetting short term things (where they put something, what someone said)
59
What is working memory?
ability to manipulate, store, and transfer pieces of information
60
How might working memory be affected in older age?
mental math | small amounts fine, larger/complex not
61
How might executive function be affected in older age?
generally do poorer on neuropsychological tests - however doesn't correlate with real life function
62
What are 6 factors that can influence cognitive performance?
1) hearing 2) background noise 3) multiple speakers 4) context 5) dialect 6) rate
63
How can health impact aging?
poor health = faster rate of aging
64
What are 6 health factors that can cause fast aging?
1) diabetes 2) heart disease 3) overweight 4) smoking 5) no access to healthcare 6) genetic predisposition

Neuro Cognitive Disorders (13 decks)

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