The CogBlog is created and maintained by research assistants working in the Memory and Language Lab and students enrolled in courses in cognitive psychology and memory at Colby College. The CogBlog is a space to think about and discuss recent research findings in cognitive psychology, with an emphasis on how basic research in cognition can help us understand how we navigate through our everyday lives, how we learn and remember, how we speak and listen.
The CogBlog was recently cited as one of the top psychology blogs of 2017. You can also read an interview with Professor Jen Coane about how the blog was developed and how the content is generated.
A long time ago in 2007, a disease that ravaged the world since the dawn of time was struck down in one of the many things it harmed. This disease was called… AGING. What happened in 2007? A technological advancement that allowed people with impaired eyesight to once more read. What was this invention? The Amazon Kindle. (This is not a paid ad).
Have you ever seen a meme or a video that depicts older adults not being able to drive, not being able to walk, not being able to remember things, or not being able to focus. These types of media are very present in our lives today, and are reflective of many of the stereotypes that surround older adults in our society today. But, have you ever taken a second to think about why these stereotypes exist, and why we are so quick to believe them? In other words, are there actually age-related changes or declines that older adults are experiencing that impact their ability to walk, drive, remember, or perform any other daily function, or is it just stereotyping of older adults that create these perceptions in our minds about how older adults perform on these tasks? Research about cognitive aging has provided us with insight into how our brain and cognitive functioning changes as a result of getting older, and how this in turn influences performance on a daily basis as we age. The field of cognitive aging is very wide, and research encompasses a wide variety of topics, including memory, perception, attention, language, prior knowledge, and much more. Additionally, a wide variety of theories have been carefully developed and researched to provide explanations for the declines that we see in older adults as they age. Although everyday functions for older adults such as driving, walking or memory could be influenced by declines in a wide variety of areas, present research about divided attention declines in older adults provide significant insight into how decline in divided attention impacts a variety of every day functions for older adults.
In the US alone, there are more than 3 million cases of dementia per year. Worldwide, there are 50 million cases. Dementia is the culmination of cognitive functioning impairment that interferes with daily life; an overarching term that describes memory loss, difficulty with speech and comprehension, lack of judgment, impulsivity, etc. Dementia can range in severity, from the most mild stage of its beginning effects on an individual’s cognition, to a complete inability to function independently with even the most basic activities of living. Though around ⅓ of all people aged 85 and older have some form of dementia, it is not a normal part of aging, and the causes are still unknown (NIH). By 2040, the number of 65 year old adults with dementia is expected to skyrocket to over 14 million (CDC), and by 2050, the worldwide number of 50 million is expected to triple. The pathway from diagnosis to mortality in Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia, is approximately 8.3 years, and thus individuals at different stages of this trajectory have varying degrees of neurodegeneration (Erikson et al., 2022). Though there are steps that can be taken in attempts to prevent dementia such as Alzheimer’s, once it is onset, it is not curable. However, it can be treatable– to an extent. In fact, exposure to music may have positive effects on the cognitive function of those who struggle with dementia.
Do older adults more often feel relieved than younger people? You may sometimes have similar questions in your mind. Imagine this scenario: when you commute to work, you catch a glimpse of a couple of elders sitting on rocking chairs in their backyards as if the hustle and bustle of the world no longer matter to them. Your guess is partially correct. As people get older, they seem to live light-hearted lives because they have mastered regulating their emotions positively. Nevertheless, people indeed face hurdles in their lives regardless of age. When people hold inconsistent cognitions in their minds, they experience a state of mental discomfort called cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance refers to the perception of contradictory information in one’s actions, beliefs, and thoughts. For example, smokers are likely to experience cognitive dissonance because their smoking behavior runs against the common concept that nicotine harms their health. Likewise, people usually experience cognitive dissonance in making difficult decisions because people need to justify their choice as the better one even though they value both options equally. The discrepancy between behavior and belief creates uncomfortable feelings, which motivate people to change their attitudes or behaviors to reduce the unease dissonance experience.
People incline to comforting lies to resolve their cognitive dissonance. Picture is taken from https://www.thedailystar.net/shout/life/news/the-phenomenon-cognitive-dissonance-1685263
My Grandfather is 91 years old. It’s hard to admit but too often growing up, I had the mentality that talking to him was too difficult or not relatable. He has hearing aids in both ears, struggles to hold a conversation with any background noise, and often takes a few extra minutes to understand what you’ve said. While this is a prime example of stereotyping an older adult (my bad), it also shows how certain age related challenges that can make socializing difficult.
About 80% of older adults have age related hearing loss. Around 20% of older adults have age related vision changes. Many older adults also suffer from a speed of information processing decline. This means that they often take longer to process and give a response to a question or comment during a conversation.
Speaking of learning a second language, do you think about the common saying “the earlier the better”? Have you ever wanted to start learning a new language and then stopped because of this saying? If your answer is yes, I suggest you cross the saying out of your mind because yes, learning a language is hard – at pretty much any age past 3 – but it IS still possible. Therefore, age should never be a critical determining factor when deciding whether to learn a foreign language or not. In fact, we should all start learning a new language for the sake of healthy and active aging because there are plenty of cognitive benefits in late adulthood if you can speak more than one language. And, many seniors are participating in foreign language learning classes in third-age universities around the globe right now.
Look how engaged the senior students are in a second language learning classroom in Heredia, Costa Rica. Picture retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/10/business/retirementspecial/learning-a-new-language-on-location.html Read more…
In a phone conversation with my mom following our family’s week-long trip to Sebago Lake this past summer, my grandma thanked my family for inviting her along for “the most wonderful week.” When my mom recounted this interaction to me, I couldn’t help but wonder whether my grandma had actually had such a “wonderful” week. After all, the vacation did not really go as planned: my brother left for Colby hall staff duties after only a day; I spent the bulk of the week alternating between doing remote internship work and sleeping to recover from my hectic summer job; my dad worked for almost the entire week, so we only saw him at meals; and, for the cherry on top, my grandma had recently suffered a severe compression fracture in her back that had left her in pain and fairly immobile.
My grandma and me, circa 2017. She is the greatest!
It’s very possible that my grandma was just grateful for a week in close geographical proximity to my family, especially given she had been a fairly long drive away from us, cooped up inside with a broken back until right before the trip (she moved up near my family home a few weeks before our vacation). However, it is also possible that my grandma was actually remembering our trip in a positive way – maybe even in a more positive way than she had experienced it. Although I’ll never know which is true, my grandma may have been exhibiting the positivity effect in that phone conversation with my mom.
The COVID-19 pandemic was a very strange and disruptive time for people all over the world. During the pandemic, we were asked to stay home in order to prevent the spread of the virus. This social-distancing aspect of the pandemic was especially hard to get used to. For some people, social-distancing at home was a nice break from school and work, and maybe (if you’re like me) it was a time spent binging TV shows and movies on Netflix. For many others, however, it was a very isolating and worrisome time. Adults over the age of 60 are at an increased risk for COVID-19 infection, so they were likely to have more strict isolation measures and continued social distancing for a longer period of time than younger adults and children. Many older adults live in long term care facilities and you may think they would still be surrounded by a community of peers and health-care workers during the pandemic, but they were also placed under strict physical distancing measures. The CDC recommended limiting nonessential visitors to these facilities, including family, volunteers, and nonessential health care workers. This means that older adults were more likely to experience feelings of social isolation and loneliness, which has been shown to have a negative impact on cognitive function.
There are so many stereotypes associated with aging. Just about every negative trait is thrown at older adults with the hope that it sticks. Some claim that older adults are closed-minded, grumpy, forgetful, and slow. And of course, on top of these there are positive stereotypes as well, like older adults being wise, kind, generous, and so on. Between these stereotypes, though, there is the reality that our behavior is influenced by the various social factors around us. These explain the reason why stereotypes are so pervasive. Essentially, one’s social environment has an impact on their cognitive development, two ways of which I will attempt to highlight in this blog: through positive/negative environmental support and through internalization of stereotypes.
This is a picture of Eustace Bagge from Courage the Cowardly Dog. Eustace is a prime representative of the stereotype of older adults being grumpy and stuck in their ways (Copyright Cartoon Network)Read more…
You’re going to get old no matter what, but how you get old is a completely different story. Aging involves a lot of changes. To name a few, our hair may become grey, our hearing slowly gets worse, and reading a menu in dimly lit restaurants becomes a well fought battle. You’re probably thinking to yourself, “wow, aging sounds awful!” Sure, it kind of stinks to know that our cognitive processes will inevitably decline as we age (wow what a downer!) but the truth is, it’s just a normal part of life. In fact, it means you’ve lived an entire life of experiences (congratulations!). Furthermore, there are actually ways to prevents certain age related changes. In other words, the idea of getting older doesn’t have to scare you.
Aging process of a man from young to elderly (image from study.com)
When we get older, our cognitive abilities change and, in some ways, don’t operate as they once did. Cognitive abilities include things like attention, memory,language, speed of processing (how quickly you can comprehend information) and much more. They are crucial for everything we do; however, they can change over time which is why it is important to work on maintaining these functions. As mentioned earlier, there are strategies that can be used to slow, or improve the effects of aging. A really great way to maintain your abilities is actually through socializing with other people. Yup, it’s as fun as it sounds. By hanging out with your friends, family, or anyone else in your life, you’re actually helping yourself in the long run.
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