1. Early Adulthood to Late Life
Cognitive Development

2. Did student’s thinking change throughout college?
Perry’s Theory
Interviewed college students every 4 years…
Dualistic thinking: right or wrong, good or bad
Younger students
Relativistic thinking: no absolute truth; evaluate solutions in context
Older students
Adaptive Cognition
Did student’s thinking change throughout college?

4. **Schaie’s theory & Labouvie-Vief’s theory**
** college experience: psychological impact & dropping out **

5. Have you noticed any cognitive changes in your parents and grandparents?

6. Dual-component Model of Intelligence (Baltes, 1987)
Basic information processing
Hardware of the mind
Biologically-dependent
Genetically predisposed
Fluid
Crystallized
Crystallized build on fluid abilities
Acquired knowledge
Software (content-rich)
Culture-dependent
Experience-based

7. Theoretical prediction about changes in IQ
**Kaufman’s research**

8. Schaie’s Seattle Longitudinal Study
Sequential design
began 1956… last testing 1998
tested every 7 years (longitudinal)
new group of young adults at each time (cross-sectional)
Participants
5000+
age ranges from 20s to 100+
recruited from health insurance
upper 75% of SES
Measures
Thurstone’s 5 Primary Mental Abilities

9. Verbal Meaning Crystallized
Choose the word that means the same as the one that is underlined.
Fracture: complete, write, break, forget
Crystallized

10. If apples cost 90 cents a dozen, how much would 4 apples cost?
Number Ability
If apples cost 90 cents a dozen, how much would 4 apples cost?
50 cents
30 cents
75 cents
60 cents
Crystallized

11. Word fluency (verbal memory)
Write down as many things as you can that are yellow, or yellow more often than any other color.
Fluid

12. Which figure would fill in the missing square?
Spatial Orientation
Which figure would fill in the missing square?
Fluid

13. Which letter comes next in the series?
Inductive Reasoning
Which letter comes next in the series?
a a b b c c d ___
a l a m a n a ___ d o
Fluid

14. Results: Cross-sectional age findings
Declines more dramatic for fluid
Abilities begin to decline in 40s
What is a major problem with cross-sectional research?

15. Results: Cohort effect findings
Positive cohort shifts
Negative cohort shifts
No cohort shifts

16. Results: Longitudinal age findings
All abilities increase until 30s-40s
Significant losses are not seen until late 60s
Relative stability until 50s - 60s
More decline in fluid

17. Results: Individual differences
Everyone shows declines in at least 1 ability by 60s
Few people show declines on all 5, even in 80s

18. Is the theory correct?

19. What accounts for the reliable declines in fluid abilities?
Speed of processing
Measured using simple to complex
reaction time tasks
Higher RT number = slower speed
What is a slower reaction time?

20. “Everything moves so fast these days!”
Slower processing speed is one of the most consistent cognitive changes in adulthood!
“Everything moves so fast these days!”

21. Theory: Neural network hypothesis
Input
Output (RT)
Plaques & tangles disrupt connections
Build new pathways
** Information Loss View **

22. ** Memory & attention: midlife & late life**
What is the biggest cognitive complaint among middle-aged & older adults?
“I can’t remember….”
** Memory & attention: midlife & late life**

23. How is it measured in the lab?
Tulving's Memory Model
Episodic memory
Semantic memory
Personally experienced knowledge
General world knowledge
Episodes & events
Concepts, ideas, facts
Episodic memory
Semantic memory
How is it measured in the lab?

24. List learning: recognition & recall
Episodic memory task
List learning: recognition & recall
Do you remember any of these words from the in-class assignment?
cake book
sock car
bat cup
clock fish
tree table
cart egg
cake book
sock car
bat cup
clock fish
tree table
cart egg
Are there age differences?

25. Recall
Recognition
Smaller age differences for recognition memory because it provides supportive context

26. Remote (autobiographical) memory
Episodic memory task
Remote (autobiographical) memory
cue word technique: how old were you?
Reminiscence bump
Car
Dog

27. Are there age differences?
Semantic memory tasks
Category tasks:
Apple is a _______.
Linguini is a _________.
Basil is a __________.
Lexical decision: decide if word
stapa
stop
chup
sniff
Are there age differences?
NO!

28. Are there age differences?
Word finding task: tip-of-the-tongue
abacus
albatross
barnacle
chameleon
filament
kaleidoscope
Are there age differences?
Most common memory complaint in late life is not being able to recall a word, especially names!

29. Tulving's Memory Model Episodic memory Semantic memory
Personally experienced knowledge
General world knowledge
Episodes & events
Concepts, ideas, facts
Tasks: list learning, cue words
Tasks: category, lexical decision, word finding

30. Tulving's Memory Model Episodic memory Semantic memory
Personally experienced knowledge
General world knowledge
Episodes & events
Concepts, ideas, facts
Tasks: list learning; cue words
Tasks: category, lexical decision, word finding
Older adults poorer, especially on recall tasks
Few age differences, mostly for finding words

31. Expertise Extensive domain-specific knowledge
What makes someone an expert?
Extensive domain-specific knowledge
Process information more efficiently & deeply
Solve problems systematically
At what age do we become experts?

33. Age x Expertise Interaction
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Expertise reduces age differences only when task…
… relies heavily on domain-specific knowledge.

34. What does it mean to be wise? Who is wise?
Wisdom
What does it mean to be wise? Who is wise?
“Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you'll be able to enjoy it a second time.”

35. In-Class Assignment 7
Purpose of this assignment is to become familiar with methods used to assess wisdom and identifying criteria for wisdom.
How would you respond?

36. 5 criteria for wisdom (Baltes & Staudinger, 1993)

37. example responses

38. Does wisdom come with age?
Wisdom is stable across most of adulthood!

39. But, people nominated as wise are usually older…
Clinicians are “experts” in pragmatics of life
Wisdom is related to experience, & age & experience are related