Physical and Cognitive Development in Late Adulthood (60 yrs. >)

1. Physical and Cognitive Development in Late Adulthood(60 yrs. >) Dr. Arra PSY 232

2. Late Adulthood COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT • Both fluid and crystallized intelligence decline • Difficulty with working memory • Procedural/implicit memory is intact • Adults are better at retrieving recent memories as opposed to remote memories

3. Late Adulthood • Language processing is compromised: • Adults find it more difficult to find the ‘right words’ to say • Retrieval and memory problems • Depth and elaboration of processing

4. Late Adulthood PROBLEM SOLVING • Adults use strategies developed in middle adulthood • Married adults will collaborate in developing problem solving strategies

5. Late Adulthood WISDOM • Definition: extensive practical knowledge, ability to reflect on and apply that knowledge in ways that make life more bearable and worthwhile, emotional maturity, and creativity • When life experience is a major factor in solving problems; older people tend to do better than younger people

6. Late Adulthood • Older adults have faced and overcome more adversity in life which contributes to wisdom • These tend to be individuals who are well educated, physically healthy, and have positive relations with others

7. Late Adulthood • Mentally active individuals are likely to maintain their cognitive abilities into advanced old age • Retirement can bring about positive or negative changes with regard to cognitive ability • Terminal decline: a steady, marked decrease in cognitive functioning as death approaches is often seen

8. Late Adulthood LIFELONG LEARNING • Better health and earlier retirement allow adults to continue their education through university courses and community offerings • Participants are enriched by new knowledge, new friends, a broader perspective on the world, and an image of themselves as more competent • Unfortunately, these types of services are not as available to lower SES adults

9. Late Adulthood PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT • Vastly different rates of aging • Functional age: competence, performance • Chronological age • Young-old: 65-74, active, vigorous, appear young for their age • Old-old: 75-84, appear frail, show decline • All depends on physical condition

10. Late Adulthood • With advancing age, women outnumber men • Average life expectancy: number of years an individual born in a particular year can expect to live • 2000 male-74 female-80

11. Late Adulthood • Life expectancy is greater for females due to the extra X chromosome • This extra X chromosome is believed to give women biological protective value • Life expectancy varies with SES, ethnicity, and nationality

12. Late Adulthood • 2000 • White children are likely to live 5-7 years longer than African-American children • White children are likely to live 4-5 years longer than Native American children • Because of……injuries, life-threatening disease, poverty linked stress, violent death in low SES groups, income, lifestyle

13. Late Adulthood ACTIVE LIFESPAN • The number of years of vigorous, healthy life an individual born in a particular year can expect • Japan #1, Canada #12, U.S. #24 • Heart disease, low fat diets, good health care, regard for the aged

14. Late Adulthood • HEALTH AND FITNESS • Loss of neurons especially in auditory and visual regions • Hearing difficulties are more common than visual difficulties, especially in men • Yellowing of the lens causes impaired eyesight by not allowing light through to the retina

15. Late Adulthood • Cataracts: cloudy areas in the lens, resulting in foggy vision and eventual blindness • Caused by aging, heredity, sun exposure, and certain diseases (e.g., diabetes) • Treated by removing the lenses and replacement with an artificial lens or corrective eyewear; highly successful

16. Late Adulthood • 25% of people in their seventies • 50% of people in their eighties • Macular degeneration: when light sensitive cells in the macula (central region of the retina) break down, vision blurs and is gradually lost • Leading cause of blindness among older adults

17. Late Adulthood • If diagnosed early, it can sometimes be treated with laser therapy • Visual difficulties can affect elders’ self confidence, everyday behavior, and can be very isolating • Taste and odor sensitivity decline, making food less appealing

18. Late Adulthood MENTAL DISABILITIES • Dementia- set of disorders occurring in old age in which many aspects of thought and behavior are so impaired that everyday activities are disrupted • Strikes both sexes equally

19. Late Adulthood • 1% in their 60’s • 50% 85> • Parkinson’s: deterioration of subcortical regions of the brain that many times extend to the cerebral cortex, and often involves brain abnormalities resembling Alzheimer’s

20. Late Adulthood • More specifically, neurons in the brain that control muscle movement deteriorate. Symptoms include tremors, shuffling gait, loss of facial expression, rigidity of limbs, difficulty maintaining balance, and stooped posture • Seen as irreversible and incurable

21. Late Adulthood Alzheimer’s Disease • The most common form of dementia • Structural and chemical brain deterioration • Gradual loss of many aspects of thought and behavior • Accounts for 60% of all dementia cases • 8-10% of people over 65 have Alzheimer’s

22. Late Adulthood • Over 80, close to 50% are affected • Symptoms include severe memory loss (names, dates, appointments, etc…) • Recall of distant events evaporates • Judgment is faulty • Personality changes (loss of spontaneity, anxiety, aggressive outbursts, social withdrawl)

23. Late Adulthood • Problems walking and moving purposefully • Loss of ability to comprehend and produce speech • Eventual lapse into coma and death • Course: 1-15 years; mean= 6-7 years • Prognosis: poor, chronic

24. Late Adulthood Etiology: • Memory and reasoning areas especially effected • Neural structures collapse; massive neuron death • Shrinkage of brain volume • Lowered levels of neurotransmitters

25. Late Adulthood • Neurons containing the neurotransmitter acetycholine are attacked and therefore acetycholine is destroyed, which transports messages from distant areas of the brain • As a result, perception, memory, and reasoning are disrupted • Serotonin is also affected

26. Late Adulthood 2 types: • Familial: runs in families, early onset (before 65), progresses rapidly • Genetic abnormalities on chromosomes 1, 14, 21 have been found; abnormal gene is dominant • Sporadic: no family history, progresses slower than familial type, linked to abnormal gene in chromosome 19

27. Late Adulthood Intervention • Drugs, antidepressants, sedatives= control behavior • Use of drugs that slow down the breakup of acetylcholine • No cure