Textbook Chapter 5 Questions

Question 1

How do the current research on cognitive reserve and brain plasticity support the need for a life course model of human development?

Answer 1

Both emphasize the person’s active role in developing a reserve and compensating for losses

Both recognize individual differences in reserve capacity

Question 2

Give some examples of how studies of mental performance in everyday life expand our understanding of cognitive ability in later life

Answer 2

Different types of older people (with more or less education or skill), under a variety of conditions (supportive or non-supportive context), and exposed to varying types of materials to learn (relevant or irrelevant) differ in their ability to perform mental tasks or to remember specific information.

Question 3

What type of mental ability show the least decline (and in some cases, improvement) in later life?

Answer 3

People are able to draw on their experience and can perform as well as younger people

Question 4

What effect does age have a person’s intelligence? What type of intelligence stays stable or may even increase with age?

Answer 4

When aging, decreases in working memory, short-term memory, long-term memory and processing speed.

Crystallized intelligence refers ti the use of stored information, acculturation and learning. This can improve with age

Question 5

Why do older people might do better than younger people on tests that emphasize crystallized intelligence

Answer 5

More life expereince to draw on

Question 6

Why do older people might do worse than younger people on tests of fluid intelligence

Answer 6

Worse processing speeds. This relies on manipulating unfamiliar material to work off that

Question 7

What is competency?

Answer 7

Person’s “cognitive, decisional, affective, and practical” abilities to complete specific tasks in daily life

Question 8

What are some ethical questions on being assessed as “incompetent”

Answer 8

• Is thee person’s abilty to make choices their own removed?
• Human rights

-Any possibilities of unconscious controlling elderly people

Question 9

What is cognition?

Answer 9

A mental process involved in gaining knowledge and comprehension

Question 10

What parts of the brain shrinks the most during aging?

Answer 10

1.Frontal lobe - espeically this one
2. Hippocampus (in temporal lobe)

Question 11

What happens to the brain once someone hits age 85

Answer 11

Working memory and judgement are slowing down

Question 12

How many elders actually have textbook dementia symptoms by age 85

Answer 12

40%

Question 13

What happens to the brain gradually?

Answer 13

Partial breakdown of neural networks

Develops more abnormalities
(Neurofibrillary tangles and amyloid plaques)

Increase after age 70

Espeically with Alzhimers

Question 14

What is Neurogenesis and why is mental growth and development in later life?

Answer 14

1. Plasticity: the brain reorganizes itself in response to new information and experience
2. Brain cells grow in later life
3. The brain’s emotional centres grow more balanced with age
4. Compared with younger people, older people use both halves of the brain more equally.

Question 15

What is cognitive reserve in neurogensis?

Answer 15

Brain’s ability to improvise and find alternative ways to cope with challenges. This changes over our life course

Question 16

What are some influential factors in neurogenesis

Answer 16

1. Genetic makeup (physically larger brain)
2. Prior life experiences (e.g education, literacy)
3. Active and stimulating lifestyle (e.g leisure and social activity)

Question 17

What are some implications of neurogenesis

Answer 17

By growth-oriented lifestyle and training

Doing complex, challenging, engaging, enjoyable activities

Question 18

What is memory?

Answer 18

Acquisition and retrieval of information

Recall of information after learning

Varies by individual

Some decline in memory with age is a normal part of growing old

Question 19

What happens to processing speeds for memory when we get older

Answer 19

As people grow older, the speed for processing and retrieving information slows down

Slowing latency

Question 20

What are the limits of laboratory research on memory?

Answer 20

They have a poor “ecological validity”

Question 21

Why are there the limits of laboratory research on memory?

Answer 21

Test conditions (instructions, speed, familiarity)

Individual differences in education, lifestyle, and health

Cross-sectional study design cannot determine:
- age-effects, or cohort effects or environmental effect

Need more contextual approach

Question 22

What are some examples of health conditions causing memory lapses?

Answer 22

Anxiety, depression, hypertension

Lack of sleep and side effects of medications

Question 23

What are some drugs noted to memory lapses

Answer 23

• Insulin
  -Anti-depressant
  -Anti-hypertension agents
  -Stomach acid suppressants

Question 24

What are the two views of intelligence

Answer 24

1. Global view: The ability to negotiate environmental demands successfully
2. Pragmatic view: the person’s performance in an IQ test

Question 25

What are the two types of intelligence, and which one is older people known to be better at?

Answer 25

Fluid intelligence:
- Reasoning, abstracting, concept formation, problem-solving
- Affected by how well the physical and nervous systems function

Crystallized intelligence
- The use of stored knowledge from learning
- Older individuals perform this intelligence better as they work off previous life experiences

Question 26

What is Wisdom: the new model of intelligence in later life

Answer 26

Good judgement in important but uncertain matter of life

Rich information and procedural knowledge to handle problems

Increased awareness of life’s contexts

Understand tolerance for others and uncertainty

Development intelligence (= a potential in later life)

Question 27

What is the constant probability of success model

Answer 27

An older people produce fewer masterpieces but will also produce great works at every age

Question 28

What are the benefits of creative activity and social engagement?

Answer 28

Increased psychological well-being and cognitive reserve

Reduce/delayed onset of dementia

Activation of neural circuits through online social connections

Question 29

What is the general idea of dementia?

Answer 29

The gradual loss of cognition

• Memory
• Ability to think, reason, and plan
• Ability to carry out daily activities
• Mood disorder (antisocial behaviour)

Question 30

What is the difference between dementia and delirium?

Answer 30

Dementia is a long term loss of cognition

Delirium is a short term loss of cognition

Question 31

What is the prevalence of Alzheimer’s in Canada

Answer 31

1.5% of seniors had Alzheimer’s/dementia

Projected to be 2.8% in 2038

Women represent 72% of all cases of Alzheimer’s disease

Question 32

What are the 5 ways to respond to the increase in dementia cases in Canada

Answer 32

1. Increase the investimate in dementia research
2. Provide support for informal caregivers
3. More emphasis prevent and early interventions
4. Build an integrated system of care
5. Strengthen the dementia workforce