Physical and Cognitive Development in Late Adulthood

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Physical and Cognitive Development in Late
Adulthood

• Chapter 17
• Robert S. Feldman

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GERONTOLOGISTS

• Specialists who study aging
• Late adulthood as a period of considerable
  diversity in which people change
• Growth in some areas, decline in others

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How is old age divided?

• Some researchers divide aging people into three
  groups
• _______ old are healthy and active
• ____old have some health problems and
  difficulties
• _______ old are frail and need care

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Who are the oldest old?

• Fastest growing segment of the population
• People who are 85 or older
• Group's size has nearly doubled in the last 20
  years
• Trend is occurring in every developed country in
  the world

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Ageism

• Prejudice and discrimination directed at older
  people is manifested in several ways
• Negative attitudes about older people, especially
  about competence and attractiveness
• Job discrimination

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Discrimination

• Identical behavior by an older person and a
  younger person is interpreted differently
• People talk baby talk to persons in nursing homes
• Most negative views are based on misinformation

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Physical Transitions

• Primary Aging

• Secondary Aging

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You know you are aging when

• Grey and white hair thinner
• Wrinkles
• Diminishing height

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Osteoporosis

• Bones become brittle, fragile, and thin, often
  brought about by a lack of calcium in the diet
• 25 percent of women over 60 have osteoporosis
• Largely preventable with sufficient calcium and
  exercise

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Double Standard

• Women, especially in Western cultures, suffer
  from the double standard for appearance
• Women who show signs of aging are judged more
  harshly than are men
• Women are more likely to dye their hair
• Women are more likely to have plastic surgery

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Changes in Internal Function

• Brain becomes ______ and _______ with age
• Reduction of blood flow to the brain
• Space between the skull and the brain doubles
  from age 20 to 70
• Number of neurons, or brain cells, declines

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All Systems Goor Gone?

• 75-year-old's heart pumps less than
  three-quarters of the blood it pumped during
  early adulthood
• Efficiency of the respiratory system declines
  with age
• Digestive system produces less digestive juice
  and is less efficient in pushing food through the
  system

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Peripheral Slowing Hypothesis

• Older adults reaction time slows significantly
• Suggests that overall processing speed declines
  in peripheral nervous system (spinal cord and
  brain)

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Generalized Slowing Hypothesis

• Processing in all parts of the nervous system,
  including the brain, is less efficient
• Older people have more accidents
• Decision process is slowed down

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Senses

• Old age brings a distinct declining in the sense
  organs of the body
• Vision
• Lens becomes less transparent and the pupils
  shrink
• Optic nerve becomes less efficient
• Distant objects become less acute

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The Eyes Have It!

• Cataracts
• Cloudy or opaque areas of the lens of eye that
  interfere with passing light, frequently develop
• Cataracts can be surgically removedIntraocular
  lens implants

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Glaucoma

• Pressure in the fluid of the eye Glaucoma can be
  corrected with drugs or surgery
• Age-related macular degeneration (AMD)
• Affects the macula

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Hearing

• 30 percent of adults between 65 and 74 have some
  hearing loss
• 50 percent of adults over 75 have hearing loss
• High frequencies are the hardest to hear

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Hearing Aids

• Hearing aids would be helpful 75 percent of the
  time
• Only 20 percent of people wear them
• Are imperfect and amplify all sounds so it is
  difficult to discern conversations
• There is a _______ attached to wearing a hearing
  aid
• Because they cannot hear, some people withdraw
  from society because they feel left out and lonely

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Taste and Smell

• Both senses become less discriminating in old age
• Due to decline in taste buds on tongue
• _____________in the brain shrink and reduce the
  ability to smell
• People eat less and get poor nutrition
• Older people may over-salt their food and develop
  hypertension, or high blood pressure

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Physical Disorders

• Common physical disorders
• Leading causes of death are heart disease,
  cancer, and stroke.
• Higher incidence of infectious disease
• Arthritis
• Hypertension

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Psychological and Mental Disorders

• Common Psychological Disorders
• Major depression
• Drug-induced psychological disorders
• Dementia

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Alzheimers Disease

• Progressive brain disorder
• Produces loss of memory and confusion
• Incidence and projection

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Symptoms of Alzheimers Disease

• Develop gradually
• Start with forgetfulness
• Affect recent memories first and then older
  memories fade.
• Causes total confusion, inability to speak
  intelligibly or recognize closest family members
• Loss of voluntary control of muscles occurs

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The Biology of Alzheimers Disease

• Production of the protein beta amyloid precursor
  protein goes awry
• Produces large clumps of cells that trigger
  inflammation and deterioration of nerve cell
• Brain shrinks
• Neuron death leads to shortage of various
  neurotransmitters

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What about a genetic link?

• Inherited disorder
• Nongenetic factors such as high blood pressure or
  diet may increase susceptibility
• Cross-cultural influences

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Treatment and Cure

• No cure
• Treatment deals only with the symptoms
• Drugs effective in only half of Alzheimers
  patients
• Many end in nursing homes

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Becoming an Informed Consumer of Development

• Caring for People with Alzheimers Disease
• Make patients feel secure
• Provide labels for everyday objects
• Keep clothing simple
• Put bathing on a schedule
• Prevent people with the disease from driving
• Monitor the use of the telephone
• Provide opportunities for exercise
• Take care of caregiver!

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Relationship Between Aging and Illness

• Certain diseases, such as cancer and heart
  disease, have clear ___________ component
• _____________ well-being also plays role
• _____________ factors play important role in
  determining peoples susceptibility to
  illnessand ultimately likelihood of death

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Chronic Illness

• Most older people have at least one chronic,
  long-term condition
• Arthritis
• Inflammation of one or more joints, is common,
  striking around half of older people
• Hypertension
• High blood pressure, striking about one-third of
  older people

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Psychological Illness

• 15 to 25 percent of those over age 65 show some
  symptoms of psychological malady
• Depression
• Dementia

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Can well-being improve?

• People can do specific things to enhance their
  physical and psychological well-being and their
  longevity their active life spans -- during old
  age
• Eat a proper diet
• Exercise
• Avoid threats to health, such as smoking

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Sex in Old Age Use It or Lose It

• Related to physical and mental health and
  previous sexual activity
• Evidence suggests that people are sexually active
  well into their 80s and 90s
• Previous sexual activity increases the desire for
  sex

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Approaches to Aging

• GENETIC PREPROGRAMMING THEORIES OF AGING
• WEAR-AND-TEAR THEORIES OF AGING
• LIFE EXPECTANCY

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Reconciling Theories of Aging

• Each is supported by some research
• Each seems to explain certain aspects of aging
• Why the body begins to deteriorate and die
  remains something of a mystery

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Diversity in Aging

• Lifespan averages
• Caucasian in the U.S. is likely to live 76 years
• African American is likely to live 71 years
• Japanese is likely to live 79 years
• Gambian is likely to live less than 45 years
• Gender averages
• Male born in the U.S. is most likely to live 73
  years
• Female born in the U.S. is most likely to live 80
  years

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Finding the Fountain of Youth

• Telomere therapy
• Unlocking longevity gene
• Reducing free radicals through antioxidant drugs
• Reducing calories
• Bionic solution Replacing worn-out organs

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Intelligence in Older People

• Older Research Studies and Findings
• Notion that older people become less cognitively
  adept initially arose from misinterpretations of
  research evidence
• Problems
• Cohort effects
• Reaction time components
• Retesting effects
• Subject attrition

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Recent Conclusions about Nature of Intelligence
in Older People

• Schaie Sequential methods
• Some abilities gradually decline others stay
  relatively steady
• No uniform pattern of age-related changes across
  all intellectual abilities
• Acquired strategies remains steady and may
  improve

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Fluid and Crystal Intelligence

• Some abilities (fluid intelligence) decline,
  starting at age 25
• Other abilities (crystallized intelligence) stay
  steady or increase
• For some, there were cognitive declines in all
  abilities by age 67

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Environmental Factors

• Certain environmental and cultural factors are
  related to greater or lesser degrees of
  intellectual decline
• Lesser declines are associated with many factors

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Exercising the Aging Brain

• From Research to Practice
• Continued cognitive stimulation keeps cognitive
  abilities sharp
• Training showed long-term effects
• Engaging in some form of mental workout-
  consistently and continually increasing the level
  of difficulty-is key to success

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Memory Remembrance of Things Past and Present

• Episodic memory
• Semantic memory
• Short-term memory

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An Opposing ViewSalthouse

• Rate of true, underlying cognitive decline in
  late adulthood is unaffected by mental exercise
• Some peoplethe kind who have consistently
  engaged throughout their lives in high levels of
  mental activity such as completing crossword
  puzzlesenter late adulthood with a cognitive
  reserve

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An Opposing ViewSalthouse

• This cognitive reserve allows them to continue to
  perform at relatively high mental levels, even
  though underlying declines are actually
  happening.
• His hypothesis is controversial, though, and most
  developmentalists accept the hypothesis that
  mental exercise is beneficial

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Decline and Stability

• Age-related memory declines are limited primarily
  to ___________ memories
• ____________ memories and _________ memories are
  largely unaffected by age

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Once upon a time

• Autobiographical memory
• Pollyanna principle
• Recall of material that "fits" current self-view
• Particular periods of life are remembered more
  easily than others

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Explaining Memory Changes in Old Age

• Explanations for apparent changes in memory among
  older people tend to focus on three main
  categories
• Environmental factors
• Information processing deficits
• Biological factors

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Environmental Factors

• Certain environmental and cultural factors are
  related to greater or lesser degrees of
  intellectual decline
• Lesser declines are associated with many factors

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Information-Processing Deficits

• Inability to inhibit irrelevant information and
  thoughts declines
• Speed of processing declines
• Attention declines
• Less efficient retrieval methods

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Biological Factors

• Brain and body deterioration
• Especially frontal lobes
• Continuation of education in old age
• Can improve cognitive skills

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Its Never Too Late

• Popularity of programs such as Elderhostel is
  part of a growing trend among older people
• Retired people have time to pursue further
  education
• Many public colleges encourage senior citizens to
  enroll in classes by providing them with free
  tuition
• Older adults often have no trouble maintaining
  their standing in rigorous college classes
• Professors and other students generally find
  presence of older people real educational benefit

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