Section 9:

Late Adulthood

Centenarians
Centenarians individuals 100 years and older

Chapter 17:
Physical Development in Late Adulthood

Countries with most centenarians:

1. US
2. China
3. Japan
4. England/Wales

Late adulthood
60 to 120 or 125
Longest span 50 to 60 years

Supercentenarians individuals 110 years and older

The older you get, the sicker you get
- expectations

1
Longevity

fifty add 10
sixty add 2 years

LIFE EXPECTANCY AND LIFE SPAN

Life span maximum number of years an individual can live.
Life expectancy number of years that an average person
born in a particular year will probably live.

Differences in Life Expectancy

Differences in life expectancies across countries are due
to factors such as:
1. Health conditions
2. Medical care
LIFE EXPECTANCY ACROSS CULTURES
OA
W
M
Japan
82
African-American
73
77
70
Non-Latino Whites
78
81
76
Okinawa
81.2
86
78
80.7 years of age life expectancy of women
75.4 years of age life expectancy of men
Why can women live longer than men?
Social factors such as health attitudes, habits,
lifestyles, and occupation are probably important.
Leading cause of death in men (in U.S.):
1. Cancer of the respiratory system due to smoking
2. Motor vehicle accidents
3. Cirrhosis of liver
4. Emphysema due to smoking
5. Coronary heart disease
Why can women live longer than men?
- Biological factors:
women have more resistance to infections and
degenerative diseases,
additional X chromosome is associated with the
production of antibodies that fight off infections.

NOTE:
Centenarians live longer because they have the
ability to cope successfully with stress.
What chance do you have of living 100?
GENES
Factors that affect life expectancy:
1. family history
2. marital status
3. economic status
4. physique
5. exercise
6. smoking
7. alcohol
8. disposition
9. education
10. environment
11. sleep
12. temperature
13. health care
LIFE EXPECTANCY ACROSS CULTURES
OA
W
M
Okinawa
81.2
86
78
Factors that affects life expectancy in Okinawa:
1. Diet eat heavy on grains, fish and vegetables and
low on meat, egg, and dairy products.
2. Low-stress lifestyle easygoing lifestyle.
3. Caring community look out for each other and do
not isolate or ignore the older adults.
4. Activity active, engaging in activities such as
walking and gardening.
5. Spirituality finds a sense of purpose. Prayer is
commonplace and believed to ease the mind.

THE YOUNG-OLD, THE OLD-OLD, AND THE

OLDEST-OLD

2.

Cellular Clock Theory

- cells can divide a maximum of 75 to 80, as we age
our cells become less capable of dividing.
- telomeres (DNA sequences that cap chromosomes)
each time a cell divides, telomeres becomes shorter
and shorter until the cell can no longer reproduce.
- higher intakes of Vitamin C and E longer
telomeres
- injecting telomerase extends life of cells by 70 to
80 divisions but is linked to cancerous cells and may
not produce healthy extensions.

3.

Free Radicals Theory

- when cells metabolize energy by-product includes
unstable oxygen molecules called free radicals.
- free radicals ricochet around the cell, damaging the
DNA and other cellular structures.
- overeating is linked with increase in radicals
- calorie restriction a diet restricted in calories
although adequate in vitamins, proteins, and
minerals- reduces oxidative damage.

4.

Mitochondrial Theory
- decay of the mitochondria- which are tiny cellular
bodies that supplies energy for function, growth, and
repair and plays and important role in neural plasticity.

Late adulthood 60 to 120-125

- longest span (50 to 60 years)
Distinguishes into:
1. Young-old 65 to 74
2. Old-old or old age 75 years and older
3. Oldest-old 85 years and older
NOTE:
Interventions are improving the functioning of the
oldest-old.
Many experts talk about categories in terms of
functions.
Functional age persons ability to function.
Oldest-old:
1. Sizable losses in cognitive potential and ability to
learn.
2. Increase in chronic stress
3. Sizable prevalence of physical and mental disabilities
4. High levels of frailty
5. Increased loneliness
6. Difficulty of dying at older ages with dignity

How does this damage and loss of nutrients occur?

Young-old have substantial potential for:

1. Physical and cognitive fitness
2. Higher levels of emotional being
3. Effective strategies for mastering the gains and losses
of old age

According to the mitochondrial theory, the

damage caused by free radicals initiates a
self-perpetuating cycle in which oxidative
damage impairs mitochondrial function, which
results in the generation of even greater
amounts of free radicals.

Majority of the women oldest-old are:

1. Widow
2. Live alone
3. Institutionalized

The result is that over time the affected

mitochondria become so inefficient that they
cannot generate enough energy to meet
cellular needs.

New England Centenarian Study:

15% - live independent at home
35% - live with family
50% - nursing home

Defects in mitochondria: cardiovascular diseases,

degenerative diseases, decline in liver function.

Cognitive impairments common in oldes-old

5.

BIOLOGICAL THEORIES OF AGING:

THEORIES:
1. EVOLUTIONARY THEORY OF AGING
natural selection has not eliminated many harmful
conditions and nonadaptive characteristics in older
adults.
- benefits conferred by the evolutionary theory decline
with age because natural selection is linked to
reproductive fitness.
- Alzheimers Disease

Hormonal System Theory

- aging in the bodys hormonal system can lower
resistance to stress and increase likelihood of
diseases.
- decline in immune system
As people age, the hormones stimulated by stress
remain at elevated levels longer. These prolonged,
elevated stress is associated with increased risk of
cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes, and
hypertension.

2
The Course of Physical Development
in Late Adulthood
THE AGING BRAIN

BRAIN LOSES
Weight
- 5 to 10%
Volume
- 15%
CHANGES IN THE BRAIN OCCUR DUE TO:
1. Result from decrease in dendrites
2. Damage of myelin sheath that covers axons
3. Death of brain cells
Prefrontal cortex shrinks with aging linked with decrease in
working memory and cognitive activities.
Slowing of function in the brain and spinal cord:
1. Physical coordination

2.
3.
4.

No knee jerk
Slower reflex

Intellectual performance
Timed cognitive tests
Reduction in the production of neurotransmitters.
a. acetylcholine decline in memory functioning;
associated with memory loss in Alzheimers
disease
b.

c.

dopamine problems in planning and motor

activities; loss of motor control associated
with Parkinsons disease.
gamma-aminobutyric
acid
(GABA)
- control the preciseness of signal sent from
one neuron to another; decreasing noise

Neurotransmitter
Acetylcholine
Dopamine
Gamma-aminobutyric
acid (GABA)

Neurogenesis in brain regions:

1. Hippocampus involved in memory
2. Olfactory bulb involved in smell
NOTE:
Grafting of neural stem cells in various regions of the
brain might increase neurogenesis.

The Shrinking, Slowing Brain

Above 70 years old

Above 90 years old

Neurogenesis generation of new neurons

Dendritic growth:
40 70 years old
90 years old

Dendrites increased
No growth

NOTE:
Lack of dendritic growth could be due to a lack of
environmental stimulation and activity.
Aging brain can adapt:
1. As brains age, they can shift responsibilities for a
given task from one region to another.
o Rewires Compensates what the other
lacks
2. Changes in lateralization
o Using both hemispheres
o Dominant left hemisphere

THE IMMUNE SYSTEM

Malnutrition involving low levels of protein is linked to a
decrease in T cells
T cells destroy infected cells
Exercise improve immune system functioning
Vaccination against influenza important in adults

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE AND MOVEMENT

Middle age start of changes in physical appearances

Memory functioning
Alzheimers Disease
Motor activities
Parkinsons disease
Control precise of signal sent
from one neuron to another

Wrinkles and age spots are more noticeable

Changes:
1. Wrinkles and age spots
2. Shorter due to bone loss in vertebrae
3. Weight drops (60 years) lose muscle bodies a
sagging look

The Adapting Brain

NOTE:
Brain loses only a portion of its ability to function, and
the activities adults engage in influence the brains
development.
o Aerobic fitness greater volume in
hippocampus better memory
Exercise + enriched environment new brain cells
Stress reduces survival rate

4.

Mobility limitation movements with wide range of

difficulty linked to obesity

What they should do:

1. Walking decreases physical disability in adults
2. Exercise and appropriate weight lifting reduce
decrease in muscle mass and improves appearances
3. Social activities protects against loss of motor
abilities

SENSORY DEVELOPMENT
Sensory decline linked to cognitive functioning
Sensory acuity, linked to how well others:
1. bathed and groomed themselves,
2. complete household chores,
3. engaged in intellectual activities

3.

Macular degeneration deterioration of macula of

the retina, which correspond to the focal center of the
visual field.
- can see peripheral but not what right in
front of them
- factor: smoking
- treatment: surgery blindness

Hearing
Legally deaf degeneration of cochlea, primary neural
receptor for hearing in the inner ear.
Devices that minimize problems linked to hearing loss:
1. Hearing aids amplify sound to reduce middle earbases conductive hearing loss.
2. Cochlear implants restore hearing following
neurosensory hearing loss
3. Stem cells alternative to cochlear implants

Vision
Visual Acuity
Changes:
1. night driving tolerance for glare diminishes
2. dark adaptation adults recover longer when going
from a well-lighted room to semidarkness
3. area of the visual field becomes smaller changes
suggesting that the intensity in the peripheral area of
the visual fields needs to be increased if the stimulus
is to be seen
4. visual decline reduction in the quality and intensity
of light reaching the retina

Smell and Taste

60 years of age starts losing sense of smell and taste

60 years of age
75
Beyond 75
85
Beyond 85

retina 1/3 light

Visual perception
Worse performance
Glare
Dark adaptation

Color Vision
Changes:
color vision yellowing of the lenses of the eye
green-blue-violet part of the color spectrum trouble:
navy socks vs black socks
Depth Perception
Changes:
how far or near, high or low street curbs
Diseases of the Eyes
Diseases:
1. Cataracts thickening of the lens of the eye that
causes vision to become cloudy, opaque, and
distorted.
- 70 years old cataract
- treatment: glasses surgery to remove
2.

Glaucoma damage to the optic nerve because of

the pressure created by a buildup of fluid in the eye.
- treatment: eyedrops destroy vision

Effects of decline:
1. Smell Taste
2. Reduce enjoyment of food and life satisfaction
3. Reduce the ability to detect smoke
4. Compensate by eating sweeter, spicier, and saltier
foods

Touch and Pain

Effects:
1. Could detect less in lower extremities upper
extremities
2. Detect in touch not a problem
3. Less sensitive to pain and suffer from it less cope
with energy mask injury

THE CIRCULATORY SYSTEM AND LUNGS

Cardiovascular disorders increases in late adulthood
Reduce bps above 120/80:
1. Heart attack
2. stroke
3. Kidney disease
Rise of blood pressure linked with:
1. Illness

2.
3.
4.

Obesity
Stiffening of blood vessels
Lack of exercise

2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

Reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases:

1. Drugs
2. Healthy diet
3. Exercise
Walking and exercise capacity best predictors
NOTE:
Lung capacity drops 40 percent between 20 and 80
Effects of smoking, lungs
1. Loses elasticity
2. Chest shrinks
3. Diaphragm weakens
Diaphragm-strengthening
functioning

Hypertension
Hearing impairments
Heart conditions
Chronic sinus problems
Visual impairments
Orthopedic impairments of the back, extremities, etc.
Arteriosclerosis
diabetes

Chronic conditions associated with the greatest limitation

on work:
1. Heart conditions
2. Diabetes
3. Asthma
4. Arthritis
Health problems linked to:
1. Conflict in relationships
2. Low income

exercises

improve

lung

Causes of Death in Older Adults

Leading causes 65 - 74:
1. Cancer
2. Cardiovascular diseases

SEXUALITY
Effects:
1. Less frequent orgasm occurring every second or
third attempt direct stimulation is needed
2. Older adults are sexually active as long as they are
healthy
3. No sex poor health
4. Good sexual life and interest in sex related to
middle and late
5. Sexually active life was longer in men
6. Sexually active women no partner men: dead or
with younger women

Decrease in cardiovascular diseases due to:

1. Drugs
2. Decrease in smoking
3. Better diet
4. exercise

Sex education giving sexual information increased sexual

interest, knowledge and activity

Ethnicity linked with death rates

3
Health
HEALTH PROBLEMS
Chronic disease slow onset, long duration
- rare increase common
Common chronic disorder:
1. Arthritis
2. Hypertension
3. Visual problems - women
Hearing problems men
Most prevalent chronic condition:
1. Arthritis

Leading causes 75 - older:

1. Cardiovascular diseases
2. Cancer
the older they are the more likely they will die of
cardiovascular diseases than cancer

African-American Asian Americans and Latinos:

1. Stroke
2. Heart disease
3. Lung cancer
4. Breast cancer

Arthritis
Arthritis inflammation of the joints accompanied by pain,
stiffness, and movement problems.
- affect hips, knees, ankles, fingers and vertebrae
- no known cure
- symptoms can be reduced
Symptoms can be reduced by:
1. Drugs aspirin
2. Range-pf motion exercises for the afflicted joints
3. Weight reduction
4. Replacement of the crippled joint with prosthesis
5. Exercise

Osteoporosis
Osteoporosis chronic condition that involves extensive loss
of bone tissue.
- why older adults walk with marked stoop
- women men
- common in non-Latina White, thin and smallframed

better health + increased longevity

lower stress + reduce risk of coronary heart disease
Resveratrol skin of red wine grapes
- key role in red wines health benefits
- increases SIRTI, involved in DNA repair and
aging
red wine kills several lines of cancer cells

Related to deficiencies in:

1. Calcium
2. Vitamin D
3. Estrogen
4. Lack of exercise

EXERCISE, NUTRITION AND WEIGHT

Exercise
Treadmill tests determines physical fitness

Prevention:
1. Eat foods rich in Calcium
2. More exercise
3. No smoking
4. Vitamin C supplement

Accidents
Accidents sixth leading cause of death among older adults
Common: falls and pneumonia
healing and recuperation slower in adults long-term
hospital care or home care
Tai Chi a form of balance training, improved the coordination
of older adults in challenging situations

SUBSTANCE USE AND ABUSE

Sedatives + alcohol impair breathing produce excessive
sedative fatal
Binge drinking - drinking five or more drinks a day
Substance abuse invincible epidemic

Consequences of alcohol abuse erroneously attributed to

psychological conditions:
1. Depression
2. Inadequate nutrition
3. Congestive hear failure
4. Frequent falls
Late-onset alcoholism onset of alcoholism after the age of
65
- related to loneliness, loss of a
spouse, or disabling condition.
Benefits of moderate drinking:
1. Better physical and mental performance
2. More open to social contacts
3. Able to assert mastery over ones life
Moderate drinking of red wine

Low cardiorespiratory fitness significant predictor of death

Gerontologists recommend:
1. Strength training
2. Aerobic exercise
6.6 pound of lean muscle lost each decade at 45
accelerate
Resistance exercise increase muscle mass in older adults
- reduces muscular weakness
Exercise maintain health
Aerobic activity at 60 years of age:
1. 30 minutes of moderately intense activity
2. Five or more days a week
3. Strength training on two or more days
Positive effects of exercise:
1. Live independent lives
2. Help prevent falling down
3. Physically fit
Physically fit being able to do the things you want to do,
whether you are young or old
Discoveries in exercise and aging:
1. Exercise is linked to increased longevity.
- systolic blood pressure long-term survival
- energy expenditure:
1, 000 calories/week LE by 30%
2, 000 calories/week LE by 50%
2. Exercise is related to prevention of chronic disease.
- reduce risk of:
cardiovascular diseases
type 2 diabetes
osteoporosis
stroke
breast cancer
3. Exercise is associated with improvement in the
treatment of many diseases.
- improvement in symptoms of:
arthritis

pulmonary disease
congestive heart failure
coronary artery disease
hypertension
type 2 diabetes
obesity
Alzheimers disease
4. Exercise improves older adults cellular functioning.
- telomere length was greater in leukocytes when
engage in aerobic activity.
5. Exercise improves immune system functioning in older
adults.
6. Exercise can optimize body composition and reduce
the decline in motor skills as aging occurs.
- increase muscle mass and bone mass
- decrease bone fragility
7. Exercise reduces the likelihood that older adults will
develop mental health problems and can be effective in
treatment of mental health problems.
8. Exercise is liked to improved brain and cognitive
functioning in older adults.
- increase information-processing skills
Failure to increase exercise:
1. chronic illness
2. life crises
3. embarrassment
4. why bother factor

Nutrition and Weight

Two aspects of undernutrition:
1. Vitamin and mineral deficiency
2. Calorie restriction (CR)
Effects of CR:
1. Increases life span
2. Delays biochemical alterations
3. Chronic problems appear later
4. Provide neuroprotection for an aging CNR
Why does CR increase life span of animals?
Lower the free radicals and reduce oxidative stress in
cells
CR trigger as state of emergency called survival
mode in which the body unnecessary functions to
focus only on staying alive.

Nutrition and Weight

Antioxidants vitamin C, vitamin E, and beta-carotene
- slow the aging process
- improve health of older adults
- counteract the cell damage caused by free
radicals

NOTE: when free radicals cause damage (oxidation) in one

cell, a chain reaction of damage follows.
Vitamin C and beta-carotene reduce a persons risk of
becoming frail and sick in the later adult years
Uncertainties:
1. Which vitamins
2. Dose
3. Restraints
High level of antioxidants less cognitive decline
Vitamin B folate, B6 and B12
- better cognitive performance

HEALTH TREATMENT
NOTE:
Development of alternative home and communitybased care has decreased the percentage of older
adults who live in nursing homes
Age nursing homes
Important factor related to health and survival in
nursing home
patients feelings control and selfdetermination decide on their own
caring nursing home and staff who want to
help
Self-control or responsible improvement
Measured stress-related hormones
coping skills, say no, assertive training, time
management
effect: low levels of cortisol (hormone closely
related to stress that has been implicated in a
number of diseases)

Chapter 18:
Cognitive Development in Late Adulthood
Late adulthood
60 to 120 or 125
Longest span 50 to 60 years

1
Cognitive Functioning in Older Adults
MULTIDIMENSIONALITY AND
MULTIDIRECTIONALITY
Cognitive Mechanics and Cognitive Pragmatics
Cognitive Mechanics
hardware of the mind and reflect the neurophysical
architecture of the brain developed through evolutions.
- consists of
1) speed and accuracy of the processes involved in
sensory input;
2) attention;
3) visual and motor memory;
4) discrimination;
5) comparison;
6) categorization
- because of influence of biology, heredity, and health
decline in old age
- fluid mechanics
Cognitive Pragmatics
culture-based software programs of the mind.
- includes:
1) Reading and writing skills;
2) language comprehension;
3) educational qualifications;
4) professional skills;
5) knowledge about the self and life skills
- culture improvement in old age
- crystallized pragmatics
Factors that contribute to the decline in fluid mechanics in
late adulthood:
1. Decline in processing speed
2. Working memory capacity
3. Suppressing irrelevant information (inhibition)

Speed of Processing
speed of processing declines in late adulthood due to a
decline in functioning of the brain and CNR.
health and exercise influence how much decline in
processing speed occurs.

Attention
Three aspects:
1. Selective Attention
- focusing on a specific aspect of experience that is
relevant while ignoring those that are irrelevant
- examples:
ability to focus on one voice in a crowded room
search for a feature
2. Divided Attention
- involves concentrating on more than one activity at the
same time.
3. Sustained Attention
- focused and extended engagement with an object,
task, event, or some other aspect of the environment
- vigilance
- examples:
Complex laboratory tasks

Memory
Note:

Memory does change during aging, but not al

memory changes with age in the same way.

Dimensions of memory and aging:

1. Episodic memory
- retention of information about where and when of
lifes happening.
- example:
year your sister was born
- episodic > semantic
2.

Semantic memory
- a persons knowledge about the world
- includes fields of expertise, general academic
knowledge, and everyday knowledge
- independent of an individuals personal identity with
the past
- tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) phenomenon, in which
individuals can retrieve the information but have the
feeling that they should be able to retrieve it.

3.

Cognitive resources
a. Working memory
short term memory but places more
emphasis on memory as a place for mental
work
- examples:
manipulate and assemble information when
making decisions
solving problems
comprehending written and spoken
language
b.

Perceptual speed
- ability to perform simple perceptual-motor
tasks
- examples

Deciding whether pairs of two-digit or twoletter strings are the same or different
Determining the time required to step on
the brakes when the car directly ahead
stops
Reaction time
c.

d.

Explicit memory
- memory of facts and experiences that
individuals consciously know and can state
- declarative memory
- explicit > implicit
Implicit memory
- memory without conscious recollection
- involves skills and routine procedures that are
automatically performed

- focuses on lifes pragmatic concerns and human

conditions.
Higher-order reasoning activities:
1. Multiple perspectives
2. Allowance for compromise
3. Recognizing the limits of ones knowledge
In regards to wisdom, Bates and is colleagues found that:
1. High levels of wisdoms are rare.
2. The time frame of late adolescence and early
adulthood is the main age window for wisdom to
emerge.
3. Factors other than age are critical for wisdom to
develop to a high level life experiences, values
4. Personality-related factors are better predictors of
wisdom than cognitive factors.

4.

Source memory
- ability to remember where one learned something

Triarchic theory of intelligence wisdom is linked to both

practical and academic intelligence

5.

Prospective memory
- involves remembering to do something in the future
- deficits time-based > event-based

Academic intelligence necessary but not a requirement for

wisdom

6.

Beliefs, expectations, and feelings

- matters what people tell themselves about their
ability to remember
- beliefs or expectancies about their memory skills
are related to their actual performance
- individuals with low anxiety about their memory
skills and high self-efficacy regarding the use of
their memory in everyday contexts had better
memory performance

Practical knowledge realities of life is needed for wisdom

7.

Noncognitive factor (health, education, SES)

- less education lower cognitive abilities
- less education + cognitive activities improve
episodic memory
- familiar tasks reduces age decrements in
memory but does not eliminate them

Common good, balance between:

1. self-interest (intrapersonal)
2. the interest of others (interpersonal)
3. contexts (contextual)

EDUCATION, WORK, AND HEALTH

Lolos and lolas

Successive
generation

Education
Return to
college
Better
educated

Work
Manual labor

Health

Cognitively
oriented labor

Healthier

Education
Conclusion:
Some aspects of memory decline in older adults
Decline episodic and working memory
Decline in perceptual speed linked to memory decline
Successful aging reduces memory decline

Decision Making
Note:

Older adults preserve decision-making skills.

Older adults perform well when decision is not
constrained by time pressure and when the
decision is meaningful to them.

Wisdom
Wisdom expert knowledge about the practical aspects of life
that permits excellent judgment about important matters.

Educational experiences are positively correlated with

scores on intelligence tests and informationprocessing tasks, such as memory
Reasons why older adults seek more education:
1. Better understand the nature of their aging
2. Learn more about the social and technological
changes
3. Discover relevant knowledge
4. Learn skills to cope with societal and job demands
5. Remain competitive and stay in the workforce
6. Enhance their self-discovery and leisure activities
7. Smoother adjustment to retirement

Work
Complex work linked with higher intellectual functioning in
older adults

Health

TRAINING COGNITIVE SKILLS

Hypertension lower cognitive performance

Alzheimer disease lower physical and cognitive functioning

Lolos and lolas

Successive
generation
NOTE:

Education
Return to
college
Better
educated

Work
Manual labor

Health

Cognitively
oriented labor

Healthier

Two key conclusions:

1. Training can improve cognitive skills
2. Some loss in plasticity
Structured experience improve cognitive skills

Decline in intellectual performance health-related

Diseases do not directly cause mental decline.
Culprit lifestyles + diseases
Examples overeating, inactivity, stress
Age-related cognitive decline mood disorders

Lifestyles + exercise improved cognitive functioning

Results of studies:
1. Women with higher physical activity were less likely
to experience cognitive decline.
2. Cognitive functioning was assessed by tasked on
working memory, planning, and scheduling.
Walkers scored higher than stretchers.
Aerobic exercise improve memory and reasoning
- get blood and oxygen pumping to the brain,
which can help people to think clearly

Training in four groups:

1. Reasoning
2. Memory
3. Speed of processing
4. No training
Results:
Training effects did not transfer across cognitive domains.
Training did not benefit the older adults activities of daily
living.
Senior odyssey team-based program involving creative
problem solving that is derived from the Odyssey of the
Mind
Mindfulness involves generating new ideas, being open to
new information, and being aware of multiple
perspectives.

Depressive symptoms cognitive decline, poorer memory

functionig

Aerobic fitness training improved:

1. Planning
2. Scheduling
3. Working memory
4. Resistance to distraction
5. Processing involving multiple tasks in older adults

Terminal decline changes in cognitive functioning may be

linked more to distance from death or cognition-related
pathology rather than birth

NOTE:
Cognitive vitality improved through cognitive and
physical fitness training

USE IT OR LOSE IT

COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE AND AGING

Use it or lose it significant component of the engagement

model of cognitive optimization that emphasizes how
intellectual and social engagement can buffer age-related
declines in intellectual development

cognitive neuroscience studies links between brains and

cognitive functions
- relies on brain imaging techniques
to reveal the areas of the brain that are activated when
individuals are engaging in certain cognitive activities

Studies that support use it or lose it:

1. Engagement in cognitively complex activities was
linked to faster and more consistent processing speed
2. Those who regularly read books, did crossword
puzzles, or exercised their minds were less likely to
develop Alzheimer disease.
3. Rading daily was linked to reduced mortality in men in
their seventies.
4. Each additional activity the older adult engaged in the
onset of rapid memory loss was delayed by .18 years.

NOTE:
Changes in the brain can influence cognitive
functioning and changes in cognitive functioning can
influence the brain.
Links between aging + cognitive neuroscience:
1. Neural circuits in specific regions of the brains
PFC is linked to poorer performance by older adults
on complex reasoning tasks, working memory, and
episodic memory tasks.
2. Both hemispheres compensate for aging declines.
3. Functioning of the hippocampus declines.
4. Patterns of neural decline with aging are larger for
retrieval than encoding.

5.
6.
7.

Adults show greater activity frontal and parietal

regions.
Worse connectivity between brain regions.
Brain activations frontal + occipital + hippocampal
Increasing number of cognitive and fitness training
assess the results of training on brain functioning.

Waking 1hr/day/3x a week for six months - increase volume

in frontal and temporal lobe
Neurocognitive scaffolding view
Increase activation in the PGC adaptive brain.
Adaptive brain compensates challenges of declining
neural structures and function, and declines in various
aspects of cognition
Scaffolding use of complementary, neural circuits to protect
cognitive functioning in aging brain.
- strengthen by cognitive engagement and
exercise

2
Language Development
What:
1.
2.

3.
4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

Maintain or improve their word knowledge and word

meaning.
Language-related complaints
a. Difficulty in retrieving words for
conversation
b. Understanding spoken language
TOT phenomenon when you remember
something but just cant quite retrieve it.
Difficulty in understanding speech:
a. Rapid speech
b. Competing stimuli
c. Cant see conversation partner
d. Hearing loss
Phonological skills:
a. Lower in volume
b. Less articulate
c. Less fluent more pauses, fillers,
repetitions, and corrections
Conflicting information about changes in discourse
(extended verbal expression in speech or writing).
a. Retelling a story
b. Giving instructions
Nonlanguage factors
a. Slower info-processing speed
b. Decline in working memory
Adults with Alzheimer
a. Word finding
b. Generating difficulties
c. More grammatical errors

3
Work and Retirement
WORK
NOTE:
1. Retirees partially retire
a. Part time
b. Change career
2. Adults maintain productivity
Continued employment:
1. Good health
2. Strong physiological commitment to work
3. Distaste for retirement
4. Educational attainment
5. Working spouse
Reciprocal relation higher cognitive ability work
intellectual functioning

RETIREMENT IN THE UNITED STATES AND IN

OTHER COUNTRIES
Retirement in the United States
Less clear life path:
1. Not retire continue
2. Retire new job
3. Retire volunteer
4. Postretirement go another
5. In and out of workforce
6. Disability retirement
7. Laid off retirement
Why:
1.
2.
3.

Financial
Stay busy
give back

Retirement in the United States

Reasons given by people regariding when they expect to retire
from work:
1. Continue as long as possible
2. Retire when I am old enough to receive my pension
3. Retire when I am eligible for early retirement
4. Retire when my employer forces me to
5. Retire when my friends/colleagues do

Japanese
US
Germans
Chinese
Turkish

WORK
Miss
Less
Least
Most
Most

MONEY
Least
Less
-Least
Most

Work:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Chinese, Turkish
Japanese
US
Germans

Money:
1. Turkish
2. US
3. Chinese, Japanese

High percentage of early retirement:

1. Germany
2. South Korea
3. HK

ADJUSTMENT TO RETIREMENT
NOTE:
1. Satisfied lived and better health: remarried
women > not married women
2. adjust best to retirement:
a. healthy
b. have adequate income
c. active
d. educated
e. extended social network
f. satisfied with lives
3. most difficult to adjust:
a. inadequate income
b. poor health
c. added stress
4. difficulty in adjusting to retirement had:
a. strong attachment to work
b. lack of control
c. low self-efficacy
5. improve adaptation by:
a. cultivating interests
6. workers:
a. not confident about pension benefits
b. count on benefits that wont be there when
they retire
c. dont heed advice about retirement
d. overestimate long-term care coverage
e. savings are modest
f. know little about social security income
Flexibility factor to adjusting in retirement

4
Mental Health
Mental disorder increasingly dependent on the help and
care of others
Effects of mental health disorder:
1. loss in dollars
2. loss of human potential
3. suffering

DEPRESSION
Major depression mood disorder in which the individual is
deeply unhappy, demoralized, derogatory and bored
- common cold of mental disorders
- treatable medications and
psychotherapy + spiritual involvement
Person:
1. does not feel well,
2. loses stamina easily
3. has poor appetite
4. listless
5. unmotivated
Lower frequency of depressive symptoms:
1. fewer economic hardships
2. fewer negative social interchanges
3. increased religiosity
4. engage in regular exercise
Depressive symptoms in oldest-old:
1. women
2. more physical disability
3. cognitive impairment
4. lower SES
Predictors of depression in older adults:
1. earlier depressive symptoms
2. poor health
3. disability
4. loss events
5. low social support
Result of depression:
sadness suicide
Insomnia overlooked risk factor of depression

DEMENTIA, ALZHEIMER DISEASE, AND OTHER

AFFLICTIONS
Mental disorders:
1. Dementia
a global term for any neurological disorder in which
the primary symptoms involve a deterioration of
mental functioning
- lose the ability to:
care for themselves,
recognize familiar surroundings

2. Alzheimer Disease
- form of dementia
- progressive, irreversible disorder characterized by
deterioration of memory, reasoning, language, and
eventually physical function
- deficiency in acetylcholine important in memory

- note:
As the disease progresses, the brain shrinks and
deteriorates.
Deterioration
amyloid plaques dense deposits of
proteins that accumulate in blood
vessels
neurofibrillary tangles twisted fibers
that build up in neurons
Oxidative stress occurs when the bodys
antioxidant defenses dont cope with the freeradical attacks and oxidation in the body.
Causes:
Genes (identical twins)
Age
Apolipoprotein E (apo E) linked to
increasing presence of plaques and
tangles.
Lifestyles
Risk factors:
Obesity
Smoking
Atherosclerosis
High cholesterol
Lipids
- 2 types:
a. early-onset initially occurring in individuals
younger than 65 years of age
- rare
b. late-onset initially occurring in individuals
65 years of age and older
- important agenda:
bio and envi factors
development of preventive strategies
maintenance
Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI)
represents a traditional state between the cognitive
changes of normal aging and Alzheimer disease
- provides a break away from the burden of providing
chronic care.

3. Multi-Infract dementia
- sporadic and progressive loss of intellectual
functioning caused by repeated temporary obstruction
of blood flow in cerebral arteries
- results series of mini strokes
- note:
Infract temporary obstruction of blood vessels
- men with a history of HBD
- symptoms:
Confusion
Slurring of speech
Writing impairment

Numbness on one side of the face, arm and leg

- quick recovery
- recommend
Exercise
Improved diet
Appropriate drugs

4. Parkinsons Disease
- chronic, progressive disease characterized by muscle
tremors, slowing of movement and partial face
paralysis
- degeneration of dopamine
- treatment:
Administer L-dopa converted by the brain into
dopamine
Deep brain stimulation (DBS) implantation of
electrodes within the brain stimulated by a
pacemaker-like device
Dance (tango)
Stem cell transplantation
Gene therapy

CAUSES
Dementia
Alzheimer
disease

TREATMENTS

Deterioration due to
amyloid plaques
dense deposits of
proteins that
accumulate in blood
vessels
neurofibrillary
tangles twisted
fibers that build up in
neurons

Multi-infract
dementia

Parkinsons
disease

Oxidative stress
temporary
obstruction of blood
flow in cerebral
arteries
degeneration of
dopamine

Exercise
Improved diet
Appropriate drugs
L-dopa converted
by the brain into
dopamine
Deep brain
stimulation (DBS)
implantation of
electrodes within
the brain stimulated
by a pacemaker-like
device
Dance (tango)
Stem cell
transplantation
Gene therapy

FEAR OF VICTIMIZATION, CRIME, AND ELDER

MALTREATMENT

Fear of being a victim of a crime

- serious offenses robbery
- nonviolent crimes fraud, vandalism, purse
snatching, harassment
How often does it occur?
Carried out by:
family members,
spouse
Involve:
Neglect
Psychological abuse
Physical abuse
Institutional abuse involves maltreatment of older adults
living in facilities such as nursing homes, hospitals, longterm care
- rough handling, hitting, slapping patients,
inappropriate treatment, psychological abuse, isolation
and threats

5
Religion
Spirituality:
1. lower depression
2. derives a sense of meaning in life
3. higher levels of life satisfaction,
4. higher levels of self-esteem,
5. higher levels of optimism
6. sense of well being
7. better health
8. slower rates of cognitive decline
9. reduction in mortality
10. provide psychological needs
a. help face impending death
b. find meaning
c. find significance
d. accept losses
e. social activities
f. social support
g. leadership roles
prayer and meditation - reduce stress and dampen bodys
production of stress hormones