Adult Aging, Cognition, Perception,

1
Adult Aging, Cognition,
Perception, Sensation

• Presented by
• Gloria Perry Debbie Barrineau
• EPY 8070

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Cognition

• Rybash, Roodin, Hoyer ( 1995) define cognition
  as
• the collection of processes that serves to
  transform, organize, select, retain, and
  interpret information (p. 92).

3
Perception

• The authors define perception to be
• the ability to detect structures and events in
  the environment (Rybash,Roodin, Hoyer, 1995,
  p. 93).

4
Perception influenced by Skill

• For example, radiologists can identify tumors on
  x- rays that would appear as smudges to the
  untrained eye.
• Perception is therefore our interpretation of
  sensory information.
• (Cavanaugh, 1990, p. 139).

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Perceptual Changes in Aging

• There is a decline in the ability to observe
  forms that have been embedded in patterns.
• Researchers are interested in whether these
  perceptual changes could be due to experiential
  or biological causes.
• Research shows that there are reduced rates of
  processing, due to changes in the nervous system.

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Sensation

• Cavanaugh (1990) defines sensation as the
  reception of physical stimulation and its
  translation into neural impulses (p. 139).

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Absolute Threshold

• Our absolute threshold refers to the smallest
  amount of stimulation required before we could
  detect that there was a stimulus present
  (Cavanaugh, 1990, p. 141).
• It is difficult to determine age-related changes
  in the absolute threshold.

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Age-Related Changes in Vision and Hearing

• Age-related changes in the eye are of two forms
  structural and retinal.
• Structural changes occur in the 4th decade of
  life.
• Retinal changes occur in the 6th decade of life.
• (Cavanaugh, 1990, p. 143)

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Age-related Changes in Vision

• Require higher levels of illumination
• Respond with greater sensitivity to glare
• Presbyopia
• Color Sensitivity
• Acuity
• Adaptation

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Age-Related Changes in Hearing

• Presbycusis is a form of age-related hearing
  loss.
• Change is a result of
• 1) Neural changes
• 2) Sensory changes
• 3) Metabolic changes
• 4) Mechanical changes

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Information Processing

• Research demonstrates that older adults go
  through the same types of processing as younger
  adults, but at a slower rate.

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Attention

• There are changes in attention, or the energy or
  capacity to support cognitive processing. (p.
  98).
• In addition, Rybash, Roodin, Hoyer (1995)
  indicate that there are definite changes in
  arousal and alertness, the processes associated
  with information selection, and the ability to
  handle multiple sources of information( p. 98).

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Semantic Memory Episodic
Memory

• Semantic memory refers to knowledge we have
  acquired about the world.
• Episodic memory refers to the memories we have
  about events we have experienced in our lives.
• For example, older adults may remember how to
  play a game they learned in childhood, but not
  remember when or even how they learned the game.

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Our Working Memory

• Rybash, Roodin, Hoyer (1995) acknowledge that
  there are age-related changes in our working
  memory, which refers to the processes and
  structures involved in simultaneously holding
  information and using that information (p. 103).

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Life-Events Model of Adaptation and Coping

• A way to link stress and coping to the
  identification of life events that heighten
  hormonal and neurochemical reactions that may
  lead to illness.

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The Cognitive Model of
Adaptation Coping

• Emphasis is on the adults perception of
  potentially stressful events in life.
• While some people see events as a challenge and
  an opportunity for growth, others may see those
  same events as a source of tension, anxiety and
  dread (Cavanaugh, 1990, p. 339).

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Transitions in adult life

• Periods of change that tend to alternate with
  periods of stability
• Levinson and colleagues refer to this as a
  persons life structure or the underlying
  pattern or design of a persons life at any given
  time (Levinson Levinson, 1996, p.22)
• Salient point CHANGE is fundamental to adult
  life

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Types of Transitions

• Anticipated
• Expected to occur in ones life
• Unanticipated
• Unexpected and do not have a typical time when
  they are likely to occur
• Nonevent
• The ones an individual expects that do not occur
• Sleeper
• Occurs gradually, often unnoticed but eventually
  culminates in change

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Relationship of Life Transitions to Learning and
Development

• For learning to occur, the experiences need to
  be
• Discomforting
• Disquieting
• Puzzling enough to not reject or ignore but to
  allow reflection
• IT IS THEN THAT LEARNING TAKES PLACE!

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Cultural and Contextual factors shape learning
during transitions

• It is the meaning we assign to an event that
  determines learning potential
• Race, gender, socioeconomic status, education,
  and cultural context contribute to the meaning an
  individual assigns to an event
• Example consider divorce
• For some it is traumatic and painful whereas for
  others, in an abusive or non-caring relationship,
  it is liberating

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Learning from a life event begins with attending
and reflection

• Boud, Keogh, and Walker (1985) define reflection
  as those intellectual and affective activities
  in which individuals engage to explore their
  experiences in order to lead to new
  understandings and appreciations (p. 19)
• Outcomes include a new perspective on the
  experience, a change in behavior, or a commitment
  to action
• Learning in this situation can be additive or
  developmental

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Steps to cope with Transformative or
developmental transitions

• Accommodate the change
• Solve the problem
• Neutralize the stress
• Actively engage with the event (even though it
  may be painful to do so)
• Skar (2004) equates working through these
  critical life events to Complexity Theory
  disordered phases to more complex stages of
  order that leads to a new self-organization (p.
  259)

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Characteristics of Developmental Transitions

• Usually are sudden and dramatic, unplanned, and
  unanticipated
• Experience is extremely vivid and can be
  described in great detail
• Involve a profound change in the personal
  architecture of the identity
• Experience is positive
• Changes are permanent
• From a study by White, W.L. (2004) dealing with 7
  historical cases of profound change

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Other research and interests into adult learning
and development

• Kegan (1994) interest in the structure of adult
  thinking and how to foster high levels of
  consciousness
• Movement from concrete to abstract and then on to
  dialectical thinking, the signature of adult
  thinking.

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Responding to adults in transition

• Educators sensitive to the fact that 83 of
  adult learners are in transition could assist
  learners in the acquisition of new skills,
  attitudes,and behaviors that facilitate movement
  through the transition
• Provide knowledge the learner in transition may
  not have (resources, support groups, etc.)
• Provide a safe environment