Late Adulthood As A Period Of Cognitive Decline
Late adulthood is the period of life from the age 60-70 until death, usually starting after middle adulthood. Although later adulthood is the major segment of the life-span, the ideology that humans continue to develop throughout this period has been neglected until the 20th century. Research on later adulthood within developmental psychology was provided by Erik Erikson. Through Erikinson’s theory (1950), he highlights the importance of development throughout the lifespan. Aging is a part of life and humans are bound to experience different stages of physical and psychological development. Through the increase of research on the cognitive development in late adulthood, it had been found that memory begins to decline from 65-89 years. This is due to the shrinkage of the pre-frontal cortex, causing working memory to decrease. Therefore, it is evident that cognitive decline occurs more with aging.
Demyelination and deterioration in the brain (myelin sheath) are associated with the processing of information which arises as one is aging. Older adults can remember older events more, than recent ones. Therefore, younger adults tend to have better episodic memory. This is the retention of autobiographical events. It is shown that older adults have some difficulty retrieving semantic information (general knowledge and information of that which is taught) such as names. Specific information is more prone decline, as it takes more time to recollect. As a result, episodic memory deteriorates more than semantic memory. Despite older adults having lower absenteeism in comparison to younger adults, difficulty in memory retrieval may inhibit the productivity at work. This shows that older adults are not as quick to retrieve information as young adults which makes it challenging for the employers to work older adults as they are unable to recall some important information. Effects of implicit memories have also been shown in late adulthood. Implicit memory is memory without conscious recollection. For instance, carrying out a routine that is performed without thinking about it. Examples of this include, walking or going in a certain route to work from your house. Implicit learning is less likely to be affected during aging than explicit learning. However, it is important to note that older adults tend to be better on tests of recognition than on tests of recall.
According to Ribot’s law, it was suggested that the past is better remembered than the present. To further examine the accuracy of this law, Holland and Rabbitt (1991) carried out an experiment. This consisted of two groups, group A (older people living in residential homes at the time of the study) and Group B (older people who were living with the same intellectual ability as group A but lived in their community). Participants were asked to produce as many memories as they possibly can from three stages of life. This was done within ten minutes. Results showed that group A participants has more memories in the first stage of their lives more than the current stage of their lives. These results correspond with Ribot’s Law. However, results for group B were different. This was due to their reliance on memory of activities they carry out on a day-to-day basis, this in return prevented the loss of episodic memories. this study has been criticised as results may suggests qualitative change and not decline in cognition. Maylor, 1994 was interested in the relation between performance and age. Semantic memory correlated with age, so the older the participants, the better their knowledge.
Maylor does not oppose that biological changes occur, for instance decreased activity in the frontal lobe and hippocampus. This argues that semantic memory does not decline with age. Certain conditions that relate to late adulthood include, Alzheimer’s disease, which is one of the most common forms of dementia. Conditions such as arthritis and osteoporosis are also common consequences of old age. Taking this into consideration, there are specific strategies and practises that may play a role in preventing cognitive decline. Wilson et al, (2002) gathered that taking part in cognitively stimulating tasks was linked with decreased risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Furthermore, Noice eta al (1999) suggested that acting out the emotional states of characters when learning a script, 65-82-year-old adults increased recall and recognition. This is because repeated revision in memory task of list words improved the strategies used and performance in older people. Lastly, performance on cognitive tasks were improved be basic practises such as walking.
According to the cattel-horn theory, intelligence is of two conditions, crystalliszed intelligence (this general knowledge and learned experiences) and fluid intelligence (this is the ability to reflect efficient information processing and is applied to solve problems that require little knowledge). As we age, it is reported fluid intelligence is disturbed. To its contrast, crystallized intelligence continues to remain steady across the lifespan. It was reported that since the 1970s, research stated that aging would cause cognitive decline. Fluid intelligence could be tested for by looking into the performance diffenrence of differenet individuals. A study was carried out on 60-80-year-old adults where they were asked to solve a range of intelligence based questions. Based on the results, there was strong evidence that the level of performance were compatible to younger adult, which examined fluid intelligence. Another example of this is the mastermind study, which was a formerly long-running quiz show. Maylor (1994) wanted to examine the relationship between age and performance. Results showed that the older the participants were the better their knowledge (semantic memory) was. This shows that semantic memory does not decline with age and thus why older adults are better at telling stories or answer questions that require more knowledge.
As research proceeded in recent years, it has been argued that age is not the only factor that causes cognitive decline, rather historical factors play an important role in contributing to this. Schaie (1979, 1983) carried out a study to further investigate this analogy. Participants, who were 50-60-year-old adults, were asked to take part in five primary mental abilities, which included: number, space, reasoning, verbal meaning and word fluency. Results have shown that three out of five abilities correlated positively with historical changes. , thus history is also an important factor to take into consideration when investigating change in intelligence. research has also shown that cognitive decline is slowing down as the percentage of those being educated is increasing as a whole. Other cohort effects may include; better technology, healthcare and nutrition. Furthermore, Deary et al (1999) further examined verbal intelligence and he found that individuals with better education were less likely to face decline in their verbal ability due to age. This could be linked to the high percentage of people who were uneducated, which lead to a faster approach to cognitive decline. However, as these percentages decrease and the amount of peoplwho are educated increases, cognitive decline is slowing down.
Moreover, there are different theories that show different ways in which an individual can maintain the decline in cognition by enabling strategies to maximise gains and minimise losses during the process of development. Researchers, Baltes et al (1999) founded three processes (selection, optimisation and compensation) to maintain the gains and losses, in order to obtain successful aging. With this embedded into real life, we are able to compare old age and productivity at a workplace. This indicates that older adults are able to balance of gains and losses. Therefore, older adults are more susceptible to setting goals that promote positive functioning, when change occurs in their life and needs. As a result of this, older adults will try to cope with their cognitive decline by trying to maintain losses while balancing it out with positive functioning. An example of this is concert pianist Arthur Rubinstein, an 80-year-old man who was an expert pianist. In order to remember his work he would choose to play fewer pieces (selection), and practice them (optimisation). In order to compensate for his loss in speed, Rubinstien would play the piano slower (compensation).
Moving forward, research was conducted on happiness in later adulthood. For example Blanchflower and Oswald (2008) found that happiness it at its peak during the early stages of childhood and later adulthood, which is around 70 years of age. Statistically, happiness takes a dip around 40 years of age. This data was collected from 72 different counties. In addition to this, old age may cause a sense of reduced control. Langer (1983) carried out a study to depict the significance of feeling in control, in a residential home. Participants were divided into two groups. Group 1 were told about the significance of individual responsibility (decision making) for their own life. Group 2 were spoken to by the same person. However, in contrary to the first group, group 2 were spoken to about the role and responsibility of the staff. Statistics showed that group 1 showed 93% of overall improvent during the 3 weeks, whereas 71% of group 2 showed that they were less able over the 3 weeks. The results indicate that ‘control’ influences impairment in later adulthood. Langers study (1983) is strong evidence for results of impairment as differences in answers were based on the speeches given.
Furthermore, there are different methods on maintain ones and perhaps bettering ones cognitive skills. In order to accomplish this, researchers suggested that participating in a veriaty of mental activities is recommended. In a particular study, 75-85 year-old adults were asked to report how often they took part in six activities, for a duration of five years. The activities included reading, playing cards, board games, writing, crosswords, having group discussions and listening to music. The more activities participants took part in, the memory loss was reduced by 0. 18 years as statisicts have shown. These findings indicate that although cognitive decline is inevitable as it occurs naturally, we may have a slight control over it. However, It is aruguable that a small sample size cannot be used to cover a broad age range as only a single group was used in this experiment. Some may suggest that older adults should not be treated as having the same characteristics. Factors to consider that would differenciate them would be individual differences, culture and also experience they’ve had throughout their life.
To conclude, there are more than one ways in which cognitive decline may occur. However, age can be defined as the main reason for this. Biological evidence shows that, with age the pre-frontal cortex shrinks which as a result affects the working memory. Some losses and gains could be maintained and decline could as a result be slowed down to an extent. This could be done through selection, optimization and compensation. These processes are of great aid as it would prolong the use of its positive functioning. On the other hand, it is questionable to relate age directly to cognitive decline, as results are more based on qualitative data rather than focusing on decline. It is also important to consider social context. Living enviornments are significant contexts, at a later stage in life.
Research on the the effects the environment older adults live in on cognition has focused almost more on factors of their neighborhood context. For example, crime, access to recourses/facilities, and a well/poorly built environment. Furthermore, there has been no focus to ones household, even though older adults is spend more time in their home. Despite earlier research linking age to cognitive development, not much research has explicitly examined the association between subjective interpretations of envioronment and cognitive functioning. It is important to distinguish their differential impacts on cognition. Lastly, every individual is different, even the rate of their cognitive decline, plasticity refers to the fact individuals have different forms of development or behaviour. This decline can occur at an early stage or later stage in late adulthood.
