...Effects of Aging on Cognitive Development Natasha Veruchi PSYCH 640 3/30/14 Professor Weisz Effects of Aging on Cognitive Development As the society moves more towards the technological age, there also are advancements in medical technology that can prolong one’s life and solve medical issues that may be threatening one’s life. In the following paragraphs, there will be an evaluation of the effects of aging on cognitive development. These effects consist of physical decline as well as decline of one’s ability to obtain knowledge through their senses. There will also be examples provided to support the points as they are stated. Working with the older population one comes to realize that the majority of the older population will develop some form of dementia or Alzheimer’s. Cognitive frailty is emerging as the highest of health issue for the older population. As Bishop, Lue,and Yanker discusses as the life expectancy increases so does the onset of dementia and Alzheimer’s (2010). Aging effects several changes in the brain, as we grow older, the part of the brain that is responsible for cognitive functions show less coordination. As one ages, parts of the brain become inactive and others are affected by age even when they are free of disease (Bishop, Lue, and Yanker, 2010). There are certain cognitive processes that are relevant to one learning new information and trying to remember the information learned. A general downward spiral of overt attention capacity...
Words: 805 - Pages: 4
...Effects of Aging on Cognitive Development Dawn Menard Psych/640 September 7, 2015 Dr. Samantha Hickman Effects of Aging on Cognitive Development This news release is going to discuss and evaluate the effects of aging on cognitive development. It is also going to discuss how cognitive neuroscience and Alzheimer’s disease play a role in how memory declines with information processing and working memory. Aging and Cognitive Development Aging plays a role on cognitive development as people get older. As people get older, their cognitive ability does not enhance but they are able to learn new things over time. One test, the Weschler test, deals with verbal and performance intelligence. These tests are rapid tests but are often misguided. These tests focus on verbal and language skills and remain consistent for cognitive development for aging adults, however, when given reasoning or problem-solving tests, their skills tend to slow down and their cognitive thinking is not as quick. According to Anderson (2009, p. 404), “the importance of these declines in simple measures of cognitive capabilities can be easily manipulated”. Cognitive Neuroscience Cognitive neuroscience works with dedicating itself to studying cognition in the brain and how information is processed. According to Anderson (2009, p. 12), “cognitive neuroscience develops ways to help one process the neural basis of cognition”. The brain has more neurons during birth and infancy but as adults’ age...
Words: 775 - Pages: 4
...How do our bodies and minds change from early to late adulthood? Joshua Lansberry Ashford University PSY 304 Lifespan Development Prof. Pamela Vincent May 18, 2015 How do our bodies and minds change from early to late adulthood? As we age does our mind simply begin to deteriorate in the same fashion as our body does in regards to it physical capabilities? Have you wondered what affect does peri and post-menopause have in relation to memory decline in women? Is dementia directly related to cognitive aging? All of these conditions have one thing in common, they all occur as the human body starts to age into late adulthood. Aging from early to late adulthood has an interconnected negative impact both mentally and physically on the human body but physical activity can help protect against cognitive decline. First we need to understand physical and cognitive development and the stages associated with early and late adulthood. Then we will examine the age related decline in mentalizing skills; how cognitive aging is related to dementia; and how aging is related to peri and post-menopause and it effects has on the body. Physical changes as the body ages from early to late adulthood are predictable and undeniable. Physical Development depends on maturation, or the biological unfolding of growth. Every individual has a schedule built into his or her genes that controls both the timing and degree...
Words: 2178 - Pages: 9
...Unhealthy Living, Alcohol intake and Effects on Normative Aging 1 The article in the Toronto star by Judith Timothy published on September 26, 2013 titled, “Alcohol: the modern woman steroid?” this article deals with elderly adults and alcohol. I find this article interesting because of the high rate of alcohol related accident, illnesses, and cognitive decline in older adult. The stereotype surrounding elderly adult and how alcohol, and alcohol consumption is link to ageing. The exploration of this topic Unhealthy Living, Alcohol intake and Effect on Normative Aging will enable us understand better the effects of alcohol on health of older adult. This discourse will further, help us understand the myth, implication of drinking, and whether alcohol consumption causes ageing in older adults. Furthermore, the effects of alcohol in older adults as compares to younger adult will be investigated. Finding out how health impairment caused by alcohol can lead to anxiety, stress, and ultimately hospitalization will enable us look for ways to remedy elder adults from alcohol consumption. It is important to investigate, many other conflicting theories that claims, alcohol consumption impairs health, causes accident, and leads to Unhealthy Living, Alcohol intake and Effects on Norma-tic Aging. To begin with, the controversy surrounding alcohol and its link to ageing can be understood by defining health. In a nutshell, Health is the total lack of disease, complete mental, physical, spiritual...
Words: 1316 - Pages: 6
...article in the Toronto star by Judith Timothy published on September 26, 2013 titled, “Alcohol: the modern woman steroid?” this article deals with elderly adults and alcohol. I find this article interesting because of the high rate of alcohol related accident, illnesses, and cognitive decline in older adult. The stereotype surrounding elderly adult and how alcohol, and alcohol consumption is link to ageing. The exploration of this topic Unhealthy Living, Alcohol intake and Effect on Normative Aging will enable us understand better the effects of alcohol on health of older adult. This discourse will further, help us understand the myth, implication of drinking, and whether alcohol consumption causes ageing in older adults. Furthermore, the effects of alcohol in older adults as compares to younger adult will be investigated. Finding out how health impairment caused by alcohol can lead to anxiety, stress, and ultimately hospitalization will enable us look for ways to remedy elder adults from alcohol consumption. It is important to investigate, many other conflicting theories that claims, alcohol consumption impairs health, causes accident, and leads to Unhealthy Living, Alcohol intake and Effects on Norma-tic Aging. To begin with, the controversy surrounding alcohol and its link to ageing can be understood by defining health. In a nutshell, Health is the total lack of disease, complete mental, physical, spiritual and social well-being of an individual (Pender, 1996). The absence of...
Words: 1125 - Pages: 5
...In this assignment I will be explaining the main aspects of the main theories of ageing. These include; sociological, psychological and biological theories of ageing. I will then go on to compare 2 theories of ageing. Sociological Theories Sociological theories focus on the changing roles and relationships that accompany ageing. These theories discuss how these changing roles, relationships, and status impact the older individual's ability to adapt. In this blog, we will discuss the following sociological theories: disengagement, activity, and continuity. Disengagement Theory The Disengagement Theory, one of the earliest and most controversial theories of aging, views aging as a process of gradual withdrawal between society and the older adult. This mutual withdrawal or disengagement is a natural, acceptable, and universal process that accompanies growing old. It is applicable to elders in all cultures, although there might be variations. According to this theory, disengagement benefits both the older population and the social system. Gradual withdrawal from society and relationships preserves social equilibrium and promotes self-reflection for elders who are freed from societal roles. It furnishes an orderly means for the transfer of knowledge, capital, and power from the older generation to the young. It makes it possible for society to continue functioning after valuable older members die. Weakness: There is no base of evidence or research to support this theory...
Words: 3063 - Pages: 13
...Analyzing the Psychology of Aging Jason Russ Analyzing the Psychology of Aging Not only is the country’s population growing, it is aging as well. Older adults are the fastest growing population on the charts right now. There is no point and time when a person overnight just becomes “old.” Obviously everyone knows we simply just age; it comes with getting older. This thing called “aging” happens to everyone at a different rate. In this particular essay I will briefly be discussing five parts of psychology aging, and cognitive functioning in the elderly. Psychology of Aging, Theories of Aging, the Physical Dimension, the Cognitive Dimension, and the Social Dimension. The psychology of aging focuses on the behavioral changes which occur during the normal aging process. Age differences in learning, memory, perceptual and intellectual abilities will be investigated. In addition, emphasis will be placed on the neural correlates and cognitive consequences of disorders of aging such as Alzheimers disease(Belsky, J.1999). Aging introduces a number of psychological and physical changes in the human body and engaged researchers in this field of study. The growing population in industrialized countries has become a serious issue in the 21st century. Life expectancy has increased significantly over the 20th century. For example, in 1900 a baby born in an industrialized country would usually live to between 47 and 55, while a baby born in the 21st century would be expected to...
Words: 2266 - Pages: 10
...Cognitive Development and Aging Paper Psych/640 Cognitive development and Aging Paper As people age their bodies go through a lot of changes physically as well as psychologically. As humans age normally they undergo changes in their brain which affect cognitive functioning and development. Each person is different so the age-related changes in the structure of the brain and in its function as well as in cognition and cognitive domains are not uniform across the whole brain, nor are the uniform across individuals. This means that some of the changes that a person goes through due to aging another person may not experience. The two basic cognitive functions that are affected most by a person aging is attention and memory (Glisky, 2007). The thing that a person needs to know is that memory and attention are not unitary functions; there are multiple parts to both functions some of which may not be affected by a person aging while others are affected. According to the Glisky (2007), perception in a person as the person ages declines due to declining sensory capacities which can impact the cognitive functions later in a person. Perception is a person’s senses such as touch, sight, taste, and smells which is why some people believe that it is actually a precognition function. According to Anderson (2010), perception is the sensory experience of the world around individuals which involve recognition of environmental stimuli as well as actions in response to the stimuli. What...
Words: 1055 - Pages: 5
...Effects of Aging on Cognitive Development Zoila Mirella Garcia Cognitive Psychology December 7, 2015 Robert Olding Effects of Aging on Cognitive Development I have heard lots of strange things about the elderly so often such that it has become increasingly difficult to differentiate fact from myth. Some of the most common beliefs about ageing include arguments like, older people are preoccupied with death, disinterested in intimacy and relationships, adamant, and older people are all the same. However, my attention was not much attracted to these until I overheard a neighbor advising his friend not to argue with older folks, ‘’they are like children.’’ I could not reconcile my thoughts about the idea that elderly people are like minors. Are older people really like children? How do they become ‘’like children’ in the first place? Does aging impact cognitive ability so severely that older people can be compared to children? Cognitive decline that is related to age is fairly documented in psychology research but the area is still under development. However, the extent to which such decline occurs in normal ageing does not approve of the assertion that older people are like children. A recent study by Ballesteros, Mayas & Reales (2013) did an investigation on the effect of ageing in memory, executive control and speed of processing in both healthy subjects and subjects with mild cognitive impairment. The researchers...
Words: 889 - Pages: 4
...“The Wisdom Paradox” (Goldberg, 2005) is a fascinating book about the biology of cognitive wisdom, including its unique costs and benefits. This book provides a thorough explanation of how people in later stages of life successfully undertake major cognitive tasks, as well as how this aptitude can be maximized. With vigorous and life-long mental activity in novel tasks learning new information, an aging person can gain wisdom and minimize clinical brain injury. Wisdom has intellectual, practical, moral, and spiritual facets. It can be defined as extensive pattern recognition of new information or situations as accurately being in some way similar to familiar information or situations, thus leading to successful problem-solving and reasoning abilities. There are many types of wisdom, including genetic, phylum wisdom, species or cultural wisdom, group wisdom, and individual wisdom. The wisdom of the phylum, which is contained in the amygdala, includes genetically-programmed, innate fears and survival mechanisms that have existed in all species for millions of years through evolution. This type of wisdom uses sensory and motor regions of the cortex, as well as subcortical regions of the brain. Cultural wisdom is expressed as language and other symbolic systems passed down through the generations for thousands of years. Language is made up of a self-organizing, complex neural network widely spread throughout various regions of the cortex that are not pre-wired. Group wisdom includes...
Words: 3619 - Pages: 15
...Alzheimer's Disease and its Link to the Normal Human Developmental Process of Aging Angel M. Perez Liberty University Abstract The cause of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is currently unknown. However, extensive studies using new technology has led to new ways of accurately identifying AD, an understanding of the mechanisms involved regarding the development of AD, and the damage it causes in the human brain. The general population is under the impression that AD is a result of the normal human developmental process of aging. The focus of this research is to dismiss this misconception by providing indisputable empirical evidence to the contrary. This paper looks at the various studies explored by researchers in an attempt to show the factors attributed to AD, a population over the age of 65 that do not suffer from AD, and a population of as young as 18 clinically diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. The author also addresses life style, environmental, and genetic risk factors attributed to the development of AD. Alzheimer's Disease and its Link to the Normal Human Developmental Process of Aging Contrary to popular belief, studies show that Alzheimer’s disease is not part of the normal human developmental process of aging. It is imperative that researchers acknowledge that AD is not part of the normal aging process. Researchers must keep an open mind during the research and experimental process, exploring all plausible arguments, in order to discover the cause(s) and/or...
Words: 5079 - Pages: 21
...stages and face countless changes throughout them. From being a baby until death we undergo a lot of development. There are many obvious changes, and some that are more subtle within this development. These changes are generally a normal and healthy aspects to going through life. My parents are in this stage of middle adulthood, and their lives have changed a lot compared to when they were younger. Specifically, my mother, who is turning 56 this May, has faced a lot of changes to her life as a result of aging. This is because in the stage of middle adulthood we undergo physical, cognitive, and socioemotional changes. Physically speaking, my mother’s health has changed a lot over the course of her life. Ten years ago, my mother was in a car accident and the severity of that accident has had lasting health effects for her. She has many back problems and lasting nerve damage in her legs that make it hard sometimes for her to move around like she once could. She also can’t lift heavy objects anymore and has a lot of trouble bending over to reach things on the ground. While these complications are caused as a result of this accident, she also has some other physical issues that are unrelated, such as some intestinal issues....
Words: 1405 - Pages: 6
...The Ageing Process “How Our Bodies and Minds Change” Aging is a process that concerns us all. The increasing armamentarium provided by molecular biology and other techniques has allowed greater understanding of some of the processes involved. Numerous definitions of aging exist; an acceptable and commonly used definition is that aging is the total of all changes an organism undergoes from its conception to its death, including development, maturation and adulthood. There are many theories about how our bodies and minds change as we age, but no matter how much research or theories have been formed, one thing remains true is that our bodies and minds does, and will, change with age and one thing can be agree upon is that the end results in all these studies is that the body and minds does go through many changes during our life time. Since the life span varies between and within species and human longevity is partially hereditary, it is clear that genetic factors, the biology of the brain, and our culture effect the function of the brain and influence the aging process ( Johnson 1993, Schacter et al. 1993, Vijg et al. 1995). Twin studies show that genetic differences account for about a quarter of the variance in adult human lifespan. While a great deal of research has focused on diseases of aging, there are only a few informative studies on the molecular biology of the aging brain. Many molecular changes are due in part to a reduction in the size of the brain, as well as loss...
Words: 2852 - Pages: 12
...Construction of a Developmental Game Appropriate for Adults: A Slide Presentation With Accompanying Notes Rationale for Part II Project Application As an instructor, this writer is charged with the responsibility of challenging students to strengthen critical thinking skills while developing an understanding of course material. College students taking an adult development course are expected to apply critical thinking skills when studying developmental theory and research. This requires that they examine their own assumptions and discern their hidden values. In addition, critical thinking involves their evaluation of evidence and the assessment of conclusions. An important aspect of such a scientific approach is the attitude of humility. Critical thinking requires the humble scrutiny of competing ideas. Students must understand that they may have to reject their own preconceptions (Myers, 2004). One must acknowledge the potentially biasing effects of preconceived ideas. Such ideas can evolve from a number of sources including culture and environment. In contemporary American culture, some regard the aging process view as being undesirable. For them, the term old connotes an inevitable future involving physical frailty, narrow-mindedness, incompetence, and loss of attraction. Adulthood is seen as a period of decline (Papalia et al. 2002). Hence, the potential influence of an ageist philosophy can influence the learning outcomes of an adult developmental course...
Words: 2318 - Pages: 10
...8 Final Exam Click Link Below To Buy: http://hwaid.com/shop/psyc343-week-8-final-exam/ PSYC343 Adult Development Question 1 of 50 2.0/ 2.0 Points Those who study adult development theorize that ________. A.Reserve capacity remains the same throughout adulthood. B.There is no plasticity in how an individual develops. C.All age periods of development are equally important. D.None of the above. Question 2 of 50 2.0/ 2.0 Points Paradigms of aging are distinguishable from theories because paradigms ______. A.are not directly testable B.are taken out of context C.are not as respected as theories D.are too mechanistic Question 3 of 50 2.0/ 2.0 Points Which of the following would be an example of ageism? A.Hiring a 65 year old consultant because of his wealth of experiences dealing with a variety of clients. B.A teenager offering to help an older couple load their groceries into their car. C.Offering an employee the opportunity to retire with benefits once s/he reaches a certain age. D.A doctor allowing less time per appointment for patients over a certain age. Question 4 of 50 2.0/ 2.0 Points Is the following statement true or false? "Worldwide, the number of persons age 65 and over is increasing." Question 5 of 50 2.0/ 2.0 Points In 1997, Riley suggested that social dimensions of aging are best understood using a conceptual framework that emphasizes ________. A.A social paradigm B...
Words: 2107 - Pages: 9
