1. AREA OF STUDY 2 MEMORY UNIT 3 THE CONSCIOUS SELF

2. DEMENTIA An umbrella term used to describe a variety of symptoms of a large group of neurodegenerative diseases and other disorders that cause a progressive decline in mental functioning, behaviour and the ability to perform everyday tasks One of the main symptoms is memory loss SEE BOX 7.4 (pg.301)

3. DEMENTIA Usually affects people over the age of 80 years (can be 30’s, 40’s or 50’s) Develops over the course of a number of years, gradually worsening In 2011, 298,000 Australians had dementia (62% women, 74% 75 yrs+) The most common type is Alzheimer’s disease (50-75% of all cases)

4. ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE A type of dementia characterised by the gradual widespread degeneration of brain neurons, causing memory loss, a decline in social skills, and personality changes Currently 4 th largest cause of death in Australia EARLY STAGES Person can still function with minimal assistance Experience of moderate memory loss (recent events) Confusion and unusual irritability Impaired decision-making and reduced interest in hobbies and social activities LATE STAGES Unable to recognise close family members or regular carers May even forget own identity Severe personality changes (swearing, make insulting comments) Declarative and procedural memories are impaired Would experience both retrograde and anterograde amnesia

5. ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE BRAIN DAMAGE ASSOCIATED WITH ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE

6. EXAM PREPARATION Question 17 (2013 VCE Exam) Alzheimer’s disease is A.a form of dementia from which every person will eventually suffer. B.a disease that progressively destroys neurons in the brain, causing memory loss. C.caused by excessive consumption of alcohol and a diet that is deficient in vitamins. D.a form of dementia that is characterised by irregular involuntary movements of the body and rapid intellectual deterioration.

7. HOMEWORK LEARNING ACTIVITY 7.8 (pg.304)

8. MEMORY DECLINE OVER THE LIFESPAN SEMANTIC Slightly but not really affected EPISODIC Affected PROCEDURALNot Affected

9. MEMORY DECLINE OVER THE LIFESPAN EFFECTS OF AGEING ON SHORT-TERM MEMORY Depends on the nature of the task If the task is simple, STM is not affected by age If the task is more complex, age may affect STM function WHY? STM involves: the storage and manipulation of information Retaining information in STM Recalling information from LTM to STM Deciding what to do (SEE STUDIES ON PAGE.305 – CRAIK, RYPMA & SALTHOUSE) The activation of areas of the frontal lobes of the brain (believed to be involved in STM decreases. The nervous systems of older people are less efficient at receiving and transmitting information

10. MEMORY DECLINE OVER THE LIFESPAN EFFECTS OF AGEING ON LONG-TERM MEMORY SOME LTM TYPES ARE MORE AFFECTED BY AGE THAN OTHERS Steady decline for episodic memories (can start to decline as early as age 30) K. WARNER SCHAIE (1996) Hardly any decline in the retrieval of information from procedural memory Semantic memory appears to be resistant to aging as well LARS-GORAN NILSSON (1996) Although not easily lost, older people do take longer to learn new skills. It takes longer for older people to encode memories, no matter what type) BADDELEY (1999). The speed and fluency of retrieval of information from semantic memory can decline with age WHY IS THIS?

11. MEMORY DECLINE OVER THE LIFESPAN EFFECTS OF AGEING ON LONG-TERM MEMORY WHY? Lack of motivation, no or little interest in memorising meaningless material (Perlmutter, 1978) As people get older, they tend to lose confidence in their memory (Berry, 1989) The inability of some people to access information in their LTM is more to do with the kind of measure of retention used than with their age (Recall vs. Recognition, Bahrick, 1975) The slowing of CNS functioning an neural processes (called cognitive slowing) The size of the frontal lobe decreases – leads to memory decline and difficulties maintaining attention for long periods of time Roediger, 2003 – showed that maintenance of cognitive abilities into old age depends of the conditioning and functioning of the frontal lobes

12. HOMEWORK LEARNING ACTIVITY 7.9 (pg.307)

13. CHAPTER 7 CHAPTER 7 – TRUE OR FALSE QUIZ (pg.308) CHAPTER 7 – MULTIPLE CHOICE TEST (pg.309- 310) CHAPTER 7 – SHORT ANSWER TEST (pg.310-311)