Early Adulthood to Late Life Cognitive Development

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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

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

Is the theory correct?

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?

“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!”

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

** 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**

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?

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?

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

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

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!

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!

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

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

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?

Age x Expertise Interaction WARRIOR 4325V, CLEARED TO WAUKEEGAN VIA DIRECT BUFFR J518 DIRECT DJB J34 TO ALPHE TO JOIN J70 DIRECT PMM V170 DIRECT BRAVE DIRECT. MAINTAIN 3000, EXPECT 14000 ONE ZERO MINUTES AFTER DEPARTURE. DEPARTURE FREQUENCY IS 126.45, SQUAWK 2011. WARRIOR 4325V, TURN LEFT HEADING 180, MAINTAIN 230 KNOTS OR GREATER. Expertise reduces age differences only when task… … relies heavily on domain-specific knowledge.

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.”

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?

5 criteria for wisdom (Baltes & Staudinger, 1993)

example responses

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

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