Description

Lecture guidelines

Students who do not have an extensive background in cognitive psychology will find the material in this chapter somewhat tough going as it is not necessarily of inherent interest to the average undergraduate. However, with some imagination from the instructor, this material can readily be brought to life. It is important to give students as much of a concrete feel as possible for the nature of the tasks used in the experiments described in this chapter. Therefore, it is worth trying to replicate some of the stimulus materials so that students can see what was required of subjects in the experiments. It is also possible to draw out the practical implications of the material by showing how people use these cognitive skills in everyday life. Once they see the practical relevance, students will naturally be curious to see how aging affects these abilities. Helping to clarify the material in class will also be appreciated by these students, because they will find it difficult to study on their own and may be concerned about what will appear on the tests. The more the instructor can summarize findings and make clear what is important, the more that students can focus on the big picture in this area, such as the hypotheses that have been advanced to account for the effects of aging. For those students who are interested in cognitive psychology or are taking a course in this area, motivation will be far less of an issue. Nevertheless, the practical implications are worth exploring particularly as they relate to changes with age.

Videos and films

The PBS documentary series “Stealing Time” contains an excellent interview with Timothy Salthouse, showing how he does his experiments and presenting his views about cognitive aging. Unfortunately, this video is no longer available but you can check with colleagues to see if anyone still has the original.

The area of driving and aging lends itself well to illustrating in class. There have been several news programs focusing on the driving abilities of older persons, showing laboratory studies of driving as well as intervention studies in which older drivers are given classes to improve their skills. For a humorous look at aging and driving, the movie “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” includes a brief scene in which an older woman behind the wheel is driving erratically. Although a negative portrayal of aging, this scene can be a touching-off point for discussing attitudes toward aging drivers. Students can be asked to state whether they think such representations are fair or unfair portrayals.

Discussion questions

Processing speed and attention

Although there is consistent slowing of reaction time in adulthood, is this slowing (on the order of 1/2-2 seconds) significant in its effects on everyday life?

Does the general slowing hypothesis seem sophisticated enough to you to serve as an explanation of the effects of aging on cognition?

Do you have difficulty with attention and concentration? How does this affect your ability to learn and remember?

How would you feel if you were a participant in an experiment involving these procedures? Do you think your performance would reflect your abilities to use attentional processes in your everyday life?

What real-life situations are comparable to those used in studies involving shifts of attention?

Do you think you are good at divided attention tasks? How easy or difficult is it for you to study when other people are talking or playing music?

To what extent is sustained attention needed in everyday life?

Do you think videogames can help older adults maintain or regain speed and attentional skills?

Which attentional task is most difficult for older adults? Why might this be the case?

What is the major area of support for each theory of aging and attention?

Which theory do you think fits the experience you have had with older adults? Why?

Driving and aging

Should older drivers be required to take road tests? Why?

Would you feel more comfortable in an airplane piloted by someone 60 and older or someone who is 30 years of age? Why?

Are most older drivers good at regulating their own driving habits? Have you had an encounter with an older driver who was unsafe?

Given that younger drivers mix speed and alcohol, why does society have such negative attitudes toward older drivers?

Do you agree that making intersections into rotaries would help reduce auto accidents? Why or why not?

Memory

What happens to people who do not have the ability to remember events from their lives?

Do you feel that your memory is changing as you get older? (College students often will say that they feel they are getting “senile”!)

Can you think of examples of using your working memory?

Do you feel your working memory has changed?

How would age differences in working memory affect other aspects of cognition?

Why do you think that certain memory tasks such as implicit memory are retained in later life?

Do you feel that the events in your life now will be ones that you remember for many years into the future? What do you think you’ll remember and what do you think you’ll forget?

What strategies do you find useful to help your memory?

Do you think you have a good memory or a bad memory? How does this affect the way you feel about yourself?

Why do you think some memory interventions work with older adults and some do not?

Multiple choice questions

Aging Today

1. Cellphones and driving

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: D

As pointed out in “Aging Today,” compared to eating, fixing the radio, or adjusting the GPS while driving, cellphone use is ______ dangerous:

1. equally
2. much less
3. slightly less
4. much more

Information processing

2. General Slowing Hypothesis- stem

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: B

The General Slowing Hypothesis proposes that older adults become slower primarily because of:

1. decreases in motivation.
2. nervous system changes.
3. problems in vision.
4. increases in anxiety.

3. Age complexity hypothesis- choice

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: D

The ______________ hypothesis proposes that older adults are disproportionately slower on tasks that are more difficult.

1. divided attention
2. conjunction search
3. age complexity
4. inhibitory control

4. Simple search tasks and parallel processing

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: A

On simple search tasks, where targets stand out relatively easily from distractors, older adults perform at high levels, because these tasks require:

1. parallel processing.
2. division of attention.
3. serial processing.
4. attentional vigilance.

5. Conjunction tasks and serial processing

Difficulty: Hard

Correct choice: C

Older adults do relatively more poorly than younger adults on conjunction vs. simple search tasks, because conjunction tasks rely on ____________ processing.

1. parallel
2. automatic
3. serial
4. pop-out

6. Brinley plot- stem

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: D
Brinley plots are used to understand which type of cognitive performance?

1. Working memory
2. Selective attention
3. Response inhibition
4. Reaction time

7. Brinley plot- stem

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: C

Brinley plots illustrating the slowing of reaction time in older adults typically involve which type of data?

1. Correlations among test scores within both younger and older adults groups.
2. Path analyses predicting the performance of older adults from younger adults.
3. Graphs in which older adult data are on one axis and younger adult data on the other.
4. Pie charts in which the scores of older adults are shown in comparison to young adults.

8. Stroop task and inhibition

Difficulty: Hard

Correct choice: D

Performance of older adults on the __________ task provides evidence of difficulties they experience in inhibiting irrelevant and potentially confusing information.

1. Brinley
2. Salthouse
3. Deese
4. Stroop

9. Sustained attention- choice

Difficulty: Hard

Correct choice: D

Tasks that require the individual to watch out for the appearance of a target and respond only when they see it, make demands on ________________ attention and appear to be more difficult for older individuals.

1. multiple
2. divided
3. selective
4. sustained

10. Attentional resources theory- choice

Difficulty: Hard

Correct choice: B

The view that older adults have difficulty allocating enough of their mental focus to cognitive operations is consistent with the _____________ theory of aging.

1. inhibitory deficit
2. attentional resources
3. multitasking
4. general slowing

11. Event-related potentials

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: D

Data from studies measuring the brain’s electrical activation to stimuli, also known as _______________, show that older adults are less able to inhibit irrelevant information.

1. attention activation units
2. irrelevant information signals
3. complex decision responses
4. event-related potentials

12. Videogame training on attention in young

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: A

Research on videogame training in young adults shows that these games have the effect of improving:

1. attentional control.
2. color perception.
3. long-term memory.
4. mathematical skills.

13. Useful field of view

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: B

The ability to respond to stimuli in the periphery, relevant to the driving skills of older adults, is called:

1. functional vision range.
2. useful field of view.
3. attentional monitoring.
4. visual scanning input.

Driving and aging

14. Left-hand turns and older adults

Difficulty: Easy

Correct choice: A

Research from the Institute of Highway Safety shows that older drivers in the U.S. faced with the challenge of making a left-hand turn while driving in a busy intersection are most likely to experience which outcome?

1. Having an accident
2. Dying from a heart attack
3. Forgetting where they are
4. Feeling overconfident

15. Fatality rates

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: D

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that, in 2012, the highest fatality rates were for drivers ages:

1. 75-80.
2. 85-90.
3. 50-54.
4. 16-19.

16. Confusing intersections

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: C

Crowded intersections pose a particular risk for older adults not only because of the many cars, but because they often have:

1. narrow sidewalks.
2. lower speed limits.
3. confusing signs.
4. many pedestrians.

17. Driving behavior of older adults

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: C

A factor in the driving behavior of older adults is that, compared to younger adults, they are more likely to:

1. engage in distracted driving.
2. drive while under the influence.
3. know how to react in an emergency.
4. venture out after dark.

18. Vision changes that affect driving

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: B

An older adult’s ability to drive may be affected by which normal age-related changes in vision?

1. a reduction in color vision
2. greater sensitivity to glare
3. increased ability to see near objects
4. tendency to make right-left reversals

19. Self-regulation and driving

Difficulty: Easy

Correct choice: D

The model of self-regulation and driving predicts that an older adult will continue to drive depends on the psychological factors of:

1. availability of public transportation.
2. ability to get rides with others.
3. the expense of gas and vehicle upkeep.
4. self-confidence and need for independence.

20. Highway improvements

Difficulty: Easy

Correct choice: D

The model of self-regulation and driving predicts that an older adult will continue to drive depends on the psychological factors of:

1. availability of public transportation.
2. ability to get rides with others.
3. the expense of gas and vehicle upkeep.
4. self-confidence and need for independence.

21. Older pilots compared to older drivers

Difficulty: Easy

Correct choice: D

The model of self-regulation and driving predicts that an older adult will continue to drive depends on the psychological factors of:

1. availability of public transportation.
2. ability to get rides with others.
3. the expense of gas and vehicle upkeep.
4. self-confidence and need for independence.

22. Psychological factors affecting driving

Difficulty: Easy

Correct choice: C

A psychological factor affecting the driving performance of older adults is:

1. lack of adequate public transportation.
2. changes in speed limits on highways.
3. changes in decision-time speed.
4. concern expressed by family members.

Memory

23. N-back task- stem

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: B

In an n-back task, used to assess working memory, participants are asked to:

1. recall their earliest memories.
2. name earlier items presented in a series.
3. remember a list of category names.
4. describe a distinctive past event.

24. Role of central executive

Difficulty: Hard

Correct choice: C

The role of the central executive in working memory is to:

1. remember information for long periods of time.
2. direct attention to incoming stimuli.
3. allocate cognitive resources to the task.
4. recall information presented verbally.

25. Default network

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: D

While you are at rest, the brain’s ____________ is at work, processing information that you generate internally.

1. phonological loop
2. central executive
3. visuospatial sketch pad
4. default network

26. Default network

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: B

The brain’s default network, which processes internally-generated stimuli, includes which structure?

1. Cerebellum
2. Hippocampus
3. Occipital cortex
4. Reticular formation

27. Default network and aging

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: C

During working memory tasks, older adults have difficulty ____________ the brain’s default network, meaning that they are less able to focus on incoming information.

1. activating
2. attending to
3. deactivating
4. speeding up

28. Scaffolding theory- choice

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: A

The view known as _____________ theory proposes that older adults use different neural circuits depending on task demands to make up for the losses that they suffer elsewhere in the brain.

1. scaffolding
2. default network
3. inhibitory control
4. phonological loop

29. Hippocampus in working memory

Difficulty: Easy

Correct choice: C

The effects of aging on working memory may be due to changes in which structure of the brain?

1. episodic buffer
2. hypothalamus
3. hippocampus
4. thalamus

30. Distant memory

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: D

Findings on the effects of age on memory for events from the long-ago past, or remote memory, show that:

1. older adults remember the past better than do young adults.
2. although they try to forget them, older adults remember past events.
3. older adults remember visually better than they do verbally.
4. memories from events in the distant past are no better than from the present.

31. Flashbulb memory and aging

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: A

According to research on _____________ memory, older adults are able to remember distinctive historical events as well as do younger adults.

1. flashbulb
2. working
3. scaffolding
4. procedural

32. Reminiescence bump- stem

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: A
According to research on the reminiscence bump, older adults should remember the most from:

1. their own teen and early adult years.
2. historical events that happened in their youth.
3. past experiences that affected their loved ones.
4. their earliest years of childhood.

33. Semantic memory and aging

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: B

Vocabulary, factual information, and historical knowledge fall into the category of ____________ memory, a process not affected by aging.

1. source
2. semantic
3. procedural
4. working

34. Procedural memory motor task

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: D

Both older adults and older monkeys showed that they could remember over a 2-year period how to perform a task involving ____________ memory, in which they slid a small metal nut off a rod.

1. semantic
2. flashbulb
3. source
4. procedural

35. Implicit memory

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: C

Researchers have established that when older adults are given an _______ memory test, or one in which they don’t know they’re being tested, they perform as well as young adults.

1. working
2. remote
3. implicit
4. flashbulb

36. Source memory failure

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: B

Mixing up who said what in a conversation that happened in the past is an instance of ___________ memory failure, a problem that affects older more than younger adults.

1. implicit
2. source
3. prospective
4. retrieval-induced

37. Deese-Roediger-McDermott

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: A

The Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) task demonstrated that older adults are vulnerable to false memories as shown by a test of:

1. words from categories.
2. numbers in a series.
3. pictures of objects.
4. ability to solve a puzzle.

38. Propsective memory

Difficulty: Hard

Correct choice: C

Research on prospective memory shows that older adults have more difficulty when the task involves which type of mental activity?

1. Recalling a person’s name.
2. Solving a crossword puzzle.
3. Planning a future event.
4. Deciding to write a reminder note.

39. Memory self-efficacy

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: B

Older adults who have a low sense of memory ________________, the feeling that they cannot perform well on a memory test, are likely to have poorer scores when their memory is actually tested.

1. assimilation
2. self-efficacy
3. threat
4. predictability

40. Stereotype threat- stem

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: D

According to research on stereotype threat, when older adults are made to feel aware of their age in a memory study, they will:

1. work harder to improve their scores.
2. appreciate being respected.
3. be less likely to ask for help.
4. perform more poorly than otherwise.

41. Stereotype threat- choice

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: A

Making older adults conscious about their age during a memory test is likely to trigger the condition known as _____________ in which their performance actually becomes worse.

1. stereotype threat
2. memory controllability
3. identity assimilation
4. memory self-efficacy

42. Memory controllability and identity

Difficulty: Hard

Correct choice: C

Older adults who have a low sense of memory controllability because they believe that memory decline is inevitable can also be thought of as high in:

1. identity assimilation.
2. memory self-efficacy.
3. identity accommodation.
4. retrieval-induced forgetting.

43. Cognition and omega-3

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: D

Older adults who eat a diet that includes food rich in ____________ are likely to experience some cognitive benefits.

1. beta carotene
2. ginko biloba
3. homocysteine
4. omega-3

44. Metabolic syndrome and cognition

Difficulty: Hard

Correct choice: B

Through the role of the hormone IGF-1, having _______________ may place older adults at risk of cognitive decline.

1. depression
2. metabolic syndrome
3. sleep disturbances
4. high stress levels

45. Sleep and memory

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: C

Unlike younger adults, neither middle-aged nor older individuals show a benefit to memory of having a greater amount of _______ sleep:

1. REM
2. Stage 1
3. slow-wave
4. daytime

46. Virtual reality training

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: A

Virtual reality memory training, in which older adults simulated walking through various places, was found to benefit which type of cognitive ability?

1. verbal memory
2. simple attention
3. useful field of view
4. decision-making

47. ACTIVE

Difficulty: Hard

Correct choice: B

The type of training most effective in the ACTIVE study involved which type of cognitive ability?

1. memory
2. speed
3. reasoning
4. analysis

48. Method of loci as memory training method

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: C

Using the “method of loci” to help older adults improve their memory involves which technique?

1. Putting words into a sentence.
2. Using novel associations.
3. Imagining walking through a house.
4. Participating in aerobic exercise.

49. Deep processing in memory training

Difficulty: Hard

Correct choice: D

Training older adults to use “deep processing” to encode information more fully would involve having them follow which procedure?

1. Repeating information over and over by rote until it is learned.
2. Staying away from using strategies that may be confusing.
3. Taking dietary memory enhancements while learning new information.
4. Giving meaning to information such as putting words in sentences.

50. Stress and memory

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: C

Research examining the relationship between memory and stress found that people who experience daily stresses, regardless of age, also are likely to:

1. feel better prepared to handle cognitive demands.
2. remember more details in a novel task.
3. have memory problems on the days they were stressed.
4. experience a higher chance of developing long-term memory loss.

Short answer questions

Processing speed and attention

1. Provide examples of three situations in which information processing changes are important in the functioning of older adults.
2. Indicate two situations in which divided and sustained attention might be used in everyday life. What are the implications of the effects of aging on these components of attention?
3. Contrast the three major theoretical approaches to understanding age-related changes in attention.
4. Do you agree that videogames can improve cognitive functioning?

Driving and Aging

1. What are the risks of having aging drivers on the road? On the basis of available evidence, should older adults be restricted in their driving?
2. Why might training not be as effective as you might expect on the accident rates of older drivers?

Memory

1. Provide a brief description of how working memory is affected by aging and summarize the neuropsychological data used to understand these effects.
2. Summarize the “score card” showing which memory functions decline and which do not in later life.
3. How do findings on identity, self-efficacy, control beliefs, and stereotype threat influence your interpretation of the effects of aging on working memory? Argue for or against the position that age differences in memory are an artifact of methods used to assess memory.
4. If you were developing a memory training program for older adults what approach would you choose? Why?

Essay questions

1. Explain how you think that identity assimilation and identity accommodation relate to cognitive processes. What treatment strategies would you devise for people who are having difficulty with their memories in part due to these aspects of identity processes?
2. Which theory of information processing and aging do you believe holds greater promise as a method of intervention for older adults with cognitive problems?
3. Describe how the daily routines of older adults might be affected by changes in five aspects of memory functioning described in the chapter.

CHAPTER 7

Language, Problem-Solving, and Intelligence

Lecture guidelines

This chapter has a great deal of material that can be readily brought to light by involving students in hands-on activities. There is also the potential to involve non-traditional students in discussions of adult learners. As with the previous chapter on cognition, it is advisable for the instructor to be as concrete as possible in presenting the material used in studies of intelligence by having them answer and discuss practice questions from the instruments used in these studies. Furthermore, there are many figures presented in this chapter, and it would be worthwhile for the instructor to go through these figures in detail so that students can learn as much as possible from the data they present.

It is also possible to have some fun with this chapter in the section on problem-solving in a high-tech world. Ask your students to name instructions that they have struggled with lately and then ask them to imagine how a middle-aged or older adult who is not technologically inclined would deal with these same problems.

Another area that has great potential for expansion is the section on the Communication Predicament and “elderspeak.” The infantilizing speech directed toward older adults is a phenomenon that can be observed in many service settings. Students involved in service learning can be involved in seeking out their own examples of this type of situation. Such experiences can touch off discussions of why infantilization occurs and what effects it may have on older adults. If instructors wish to devote more time to this topic, there is an infantilization exercise described in a Teaching of Psychology article written by me and one of my former graduate teaching assistants, Erin Cassidy (see reference in the Introduction). We found this to be a powerful teaching tool that really drove the point home. If your students are in service-oriented majors, such as nursing or human services, it might very well be worth the time and effort it takes to show them the dangers of infantilizing speech.

Videos and films

Once again, the PBS documentary series “Stealing Time” provides an excellent resource for this class. There is a five-minute segment with K. Warner Schaie and Sherry Willis in which they describe their research based on the Seattle Longitudinal Study. This is very vivid way to begin the section on intelligence because it brings to life the many statistics that will be presented in the data from their study.

Look also for any recent news stories on video games and older adults; this is now becoming a popular topic.

On the lighter side, in the section on wisdom, it is possible to show one of many popular movies in which an older person provide wise advice to a younger person. One particularly poignant choice is “The Wedding Singer” (which also depicts intimate relationships in later life very positively as well). The scene to show is the one in which the grandmother gives advice on sexuality to the Adam Sandler character as he is giving her a voice lesson at the piano. The scene ends with the grandmother feeding him meatballs. Students love this movie and particularly this scene. However, there are many other examples throughout a wide range of movies that will get across the same point.

Discussion questions

Executive functioning and its measurement

What are the best ways to preserve an older adult’s executive functioning?

Do measures of executive functioning seem relevant to everyday activities?

Have videogames affected your ability to monitor your responses?

Language

How is language important in your everyday life?

What does language signify about a person’s cognitive abilities?

How might memory changes affect a person’s ability to use language?

Why might experience enrich a person’s language abilities?

Have you noticed the tendency for older persons to talk about their past experiences? How does talking about past experiences with your friends make you feel?

When have you seen older people spoken to with elderspeak? How do you think this makes them feel?

Everyday problem solving

What problems have you had to solve in the last 24 hours? What types of processes did you use?

Do you think that life has gotten more complex with advances in technology? How might such changes particularly affect older adults?

What factors make it hard or easy for you to solve problems?

How do you feel when you have successfully solved a problem?

Can you think of an example you were affected by the “attraction effect”?

What factors make it more likely that you will take your time to solve a problem rather than rush to a solution?

How the does faster problem solving of older adults fit in with the slower reaction times that they show in other tasks?

Can you think of a case when you used post-formal operations in dealing with a problem?

Why might adults be more likely to engage in post-formal than formal operations? What features of adult life lend themselves to post-formal operations?

What leads adults to use dialectical thinking? What might the advantages be compared to the seeking of a “right answer”?

How might personality relate to the ability to use dialectical reasoning?

Intelligence

Do you feel that you are an “intelligent” person? Why or why not?

What is the practical value of being able to define and measure intelligence?

Why is it of interest to study intelligence developmentally?

Are definitions of intelligence overly narrow in focusing on academic skills?

Why were these five abilities chosen to by Thurstone to represent all of intelligence?

What might these tests fail to measure?

How do fluid and crystallized intelligence relate to each other?

Is fluid intelligence really “culture fair” as was originally intended by Cattell?

Why do you think that alternative theories of intelligence were proposed? Do they provide a more realistic approach to intelligence than those based on more traditional intelligence theories?

Do you think that the findings from the SLS are encouraging or discouraging with regard to age changes in intelligence?

Why would people who are more flexible in their personality have higher intelligence test scores in later adulthood?

How do the findings from the SLS relate to the concept of dialectical thinking and post-formal operations?

Do the findings of intervention studies support or refute fluid-crystallized theory in that it was possible to train fluid abilities in older adults?

What are the implications of training studies for the findings of studies more generally on intelligence and aging?

Do you agree with the definition of wisdom provided by Baltes? How does it fit with the definition provided by Sternberg in the balance theory of wisdom?

How does the Baltes approach illustrate plasticity in adult intelligence?

Multiple choice questions

Aging Today

1. Male vs. female on multiple intelligences

Difficulty: Easy

Correct choice: B

When rating their own and the other gender’s intellectual abilities, men rated themselves as higher in:

1. interpersonal
2. naturalistic
3. verbal
4. musical

Executive functioning and its measurement

2. Executive functioning- choice

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: A

The abilities to plan, use working memory, allocate mental resources to incoming tasks, and inhibit information are included in the cognitive skill known in psychology as:

1. executive functioning.
2. organizational aptitude.
3. everyday problem-solving.
4. crystallized intelligence.

3. Executive functioning and driving

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: D

Which executive functioning do you rely most heavily upon while driving?

1. Listening to warnings.
2. Observing road signs.
3. Turning the wheel.
4. Planning your route.

4. WAIS-IV scale of Perceptual Reasoning

Difficulty: Hard

Correct choice: B

A WAIS-IV test that measures the ability called Perceptual Reasoning is:

1. Symbol Search.
2. Block Design.
3. Digit Span.

5. WAIS-IV scale of Digit Span

Difficulty: Hard

Correct choice: C

The Digit Span scale on the WAIS-IV measures which intellectual ability?

1. Processing Speed
2. Perceptual Reasoning
3. Working Memory
4. Number Manipulation

6. Behaviors to note when administering the WAIS-IV

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: D

As noted in the text, when administering the WAIS-IV to an older adult, the examiner is instructed to note such factors as:

1. room temperature.
2. gender differences.
3. sense of humor.
4. vision problems.

7. PMAT vs. WAIS-IV

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: A

Unlike the WAIS-IV, the PMAT also assesses an individual’s:

1. word fluency.
2. processing speed.

8. Trail-making test

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: B

The Trail Making Test is used in a neuropsychological assessment to evaluate the older adult’s:

1. naturalistic intelligence.
2. frontal lobe functioning.
3. frustration tolerance.
4. visual memory.

9. Neuropsychological assessment

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: C

A trained neuropsychologist assessing older adults is likely to use which type of procedures?

1. Administering the same 10 tests to all clients.
2. Giving most tests in a group format before assessing individuals.
3. Tailoring the assessment to the client’s age and symptoms.
4. Asking the individual’s family to assist in testing.

10. Task-switching as measure of executive functioning

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: B

In neuropsychological tests called ___________________, the examiner changes the nature of the judgments that the older adult must produce.

1. verbal fluency
2. task-switching
3. digit symbol
4. trailmaking

11. Perseveration

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: C

Due to the tendency to engage in _______________, many older adults repeat the same words on tests of verbal fluency when they are asked to produce words that all begin with the same letter.

1. task-switching
2. assimilation
3. perserveration
4. inhibition

12. Transfer

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: D

Through videogame training, researchers hope one day to demonstrate that the improvements in skills acquired in these platforms will help older adults improve in their everyday lives, a process known as:

1. perseveration
2. comprehension
3. induction
4. transfer

Language

13. Language and working memory

Difficulty: Hard

Correct choice: C

Changes in which cognitive function may affect the ability of older adults to put words together, while speaking, into a sentence?

1. semantic memory
2. visualization
3. working memory
4. task-switching

14. Neuroplasticity in language (HAROLD model)

Difficulty: Hard

Correct choice: A

Consistent with the ____________ model of aging and neuroplasticity, older adults are able to compensate by using the right hemisphere in processing language instead of the left.

1. HAROLD
2. WAIS
3. PMAT
4. PASA

15. Context and language

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: C

By using ___________ to guide them, older adults can compensate for age-related changes in memory and speed when comprehending language.

1. spelling
2. retrieval
3. context
4. reminiscence

16. Paralinguistic elements and compensation

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: A

By interpreting the paralinguistic elements of speech, such as _________________, older adults can compensate for not hearing every word spoken to them in a conversation.

1. gestures
2. grammar
3. semantics
4. punctuation

17. Elderspeak example- stem

Difficulty: Hard

Correct choice: A

Al Nino is a man in his 70s who is receiving rehabilitation following his recent hip surgery. Luckily his physical therapist avoids elderspeak because she refers to him as:

1. Nino
2. Honey
3. Al
4. Dear

18. Elderspeak example- choice

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: C

While checking in on an older adult patient whose husband is visiting her in the hospital, a nurse’s aide finds them holding hands and kissing. The aide immediately laughs and says “That’s so cute!” What is the aide’s behavior referred to in the psychology of aging?

1. Geriaphobia
2. Oldism
3. Elderspeak
4. Dialectism

19. Communication predicatment model and elderspeak

Difficulty: Easy

Correct choice: A

The communication predicament model is associated with which type of language directed toward older adults?

1. elderspeak
4. formal operationism.

20. Communication predicament model

Difficulty: Hard

Correct choice: B

According to the Communication _______________ Model, older adults become less cognitively capable when they are spoken to in a condescending manner.

1. Problem
2. Predicament
3. Practice
4. Preference

21. Mental clutter

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: C

The tendency to ramble may be especially likely to occur in the speech of older adults who experience “mental clutter,” or an inability to:

1. speak in an adult-like manner.
2. focus on the gist of a story.
3. inhibit irrelevant information.
4. repeat the same word over and over.

22. Infantilization

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: C

Older adults subjected to the process called _____________ are likely to view themselves as unable to carry out activities for themselves.

1. dialectics
2. testing the limits
3. infantilization
4. pragmatization

23. Bilingualism and aging on task-switching

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: D

Bilingual adults benefit because the task-switching required by monitoring two languages strengthens their:

1. everyday problem-solving
2. crystallized intelligence
3. working memory
4. executive functioning

24. Bilingualism and aging on Stroop

Difficulty: Hard

Correct choice: C

Older bilingual speakers show performance deficits on which measure of executive functioning?

1. task-switching
2. Wisconsin card-sorting
3. Stroop task
4. spatial reasoning

Everyday problem-solving

25. Stages in problem-solving

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: B

A technical repairperson is trying to determine the cause of a recent outage. The first step in the problem-solving is needed to repair the damage is for the repairperson to:

1. use trial-and-error to check for causes.
2. assess the situation by evaluating all relevant factors.
3. determine the efficacy of each solution used.
4. try out different approaches until one fixes the problem.

26. Types of problems

Difficulty: Easy

Correct choice: A

Problems in everyday life that are the easiest to solve for older adults are those that:

1. involve definite, well-stated goals.
2. are stated in vague or ambiguous terms.
3. require using an unusual or novel strategy.
4. place heavy demands on vocabulary skills.

27. Problems with instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: C

Instruction manuals that use terms that are ________ are particularly challenging for older adults.

1. specific
2. concrete
3. vague
4. well-defined

28. Everyday problems

Difficulty: Hard

Correct choice: D

In solving everyday problems, older adults typically show which pattern of performance compared to younger adults?

1. Faster response times on problems requiring math.
2. Superior ability to analyze problems involving logic.
3. Better ability to handle problems described in writing.
4. Higher scores on problems of an interpersonal nature.

29. Attraction effect- stem

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: C

In research on the attraction effect in problem solving, the findings suggest that older adult consumers are less likely to be influenced by:

1. advertising
2. personal taste
3. extraneous factors
4. product price

30. Problem-solving changes in older adults

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: C

In research on the attraction effect in problem solving, the findings suggest that older adult consumers are less likely to be influenced by:

1. advertising
2. personal taste
3. extraneous factors
4. price

31. Previous experience and problem-solving

Difficulty: Hard

Correct choice: D

As shown in research on decision-making, one advantage that older problem-solvers seems to possess involves their greater ability to make the most out of:

1. timed performance.
2. finding alternative solutions.
3. advice from other people.
4. information from prior experience.

32. Formal operations

Difficulty: Hard

Correct choice: B

The thinking involved in Piaget’s stage of formal operations involves which type of ability?

1. Solving problems with new techniques.
2. Using abstract symbols and logic.
3. Finding new, undefined problems.
4. Understanding interpersonal relations.

33. Dialectical thinking and post-formal operations

Difficulty: Hard
Correct choice: C

The term dialectical thinking applies most closely to which concept based on Piaget’s theory?

1. Formal operations
2. Logical thought
3. Post-formal operations
4. Fluid intelligence

34. Adult learners

Difficulty:

Correct choice: C

The majority of adults ages 60 and older in the U.S. reportedly take adult education courses because they seek:

1. career advancement.
2. second or third degrees.
3. personal interest.
4. interactions with the young.

Intelligence

35. Classic aging pattern

Difficulty: Hard

Correct choice: A

The idea that intelligence tests such as the WAIS-IV show a peak in overall IQ in early adulthood is called the ____________ pattern.

1. classic aging
2. general factor
3. reserve capacity
4. Berlin wisdom

36. CHC model of visual processing

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: C

In the CHC model of intelligence, length estimation would be considered a measure of:

1. processing speed.
2. quantitative knowledge.
3. visual processing.
4. reaction and decision speed.

37. Crystallized increase example

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: D

While playing “Words with Friends” with her 72-year-old grandmother, Frieda Lay is shocked to find that she is losing badly because her grandmother just seems to know so many more words. Frieda’s grandmother is illustrating the fact that:

1. older adults are superior to younger adults in inductive reasoning.
2. later life is associated with much faster response speed.
3. secondary abilities improve but primary abilities decline in later life.
4. crystallized intelligence rises throughout adulthood into the 70s.

38. CHC model third level

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: C

In the CHC model of intelligence, the third level is considered to be:

1. specific skills.
2. pragmatic wisdom.
3. general ability.

39. SLS measures

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: D

The measure of intelligence on which the SLS findings are based is the:

1. WAIS-IV.
2. CHC.
3. Gf-Gc.
4. PMAT.

40. Cohort effects in SLS

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: C

An analysis of cohort effects in the SLS by Gerstorf and colleagues showed that later-born cohorts had higher scores than earlier-born cohorts on almost all measures, suggesting the effect of:

1. years of education.
2. cardiovascular disease rates.
3. exposure to technology.
4. global climate change.

41. Whitehall II findings

Difficulty: Hard

Correct choice: D

The findings on executive function and lifestyle factors from Whitehall II showed that people whose abilities declined the most also tended to:

1. drink moderate amounts of alcohol.
2. live very close to their children.
3. exercise a moderate amount.
4. consume large amounts of fruits and vegetables.

42. Gender differences in intelligence

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: A

Women show greater decreases across adulthood than men except on the _____________ scale of the WAIS-IV.

1. Digit Symbol
2. Similarities
3. Block Design
4. Matrix Reasoning

43. Teachers and intelligence

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: B

Higher scores on verbal fluency and working memory were found among a sample of people employed as __________ in a study carried out in the Netherlands.

1. physicians
2. teachers
3. nurses
4. architects

44. Personality and intelligence

Difficulty: Hard

Correct choice: B

The SLS showed that people least likely to retain their intellectual abilities in later adulthood were low on the personality factor of:

1. reserve capacity
2. life complexity.
3. dialectical thinking.
4. formal operations.

45. Reserve capacity

Difficulty: Moderate
Correct choice: C

The idea of reserve capacity in research on aging and intelligence is very similar to the concept of ____________ in the nervous system.

1. fallout
2. preservation
3. plasticity
4. complexity

46. Testing the limits

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: A

In the procedure known as testing the limits, researchers studying the aging process try to:

1. provide cognitive training until they show no more improvements.
2. challenge older adults to push themselves physically.
3. ask older adults to complete a large number of ability measures.
4. encourage older adults to work slowly and carefully.

47. Berlin Wisdom Paradigm

Difficulty: Hard

Correct choice: C

The Berlin Wisdom Paradigm emphasizes which quality of intelligence?

1. mechanics
2. multidimensional
3. pragmatics
4. crystallized

48. Pragmatics of intelligence

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: B

The pragmatics of intelligence, in the Berlin Wisdom Paradigm, emphasizes which type of abilities?

1. Understanding the role of culture
2. Solving real-life problems
3. Being able to respond quickly
4. Having a strong working memory

49. Mechanics of intelligence

Difficulty: Moderate

Correct choice: A

In the Berlin Wisdom Paradigm, working memory would be considered to represent the __________ of intelligence.

1. mechanics
2. contextualization
3. pragmatics
4. relativism

50. Wisdom and fluid intelligence

Difficulty: Hard

Correct choice: A

In research on the Berlin Wisdom Paradigm by Grossman and colleagues, the older adults who were seen by others as wise had lower scores on a measure of:

1. fluid intelligence.
2. vocabulary knowledge.
3. general information.
4. life complexity.

Short answer questions

Executive functioning and its measurement

1. What are the major neuropsychological assessment measures?
2. Which measures of intelligence are the least biased by cultural factors? Which are the most?
3. What changes have taken place in the WAIS leading up to the present WAIS-IV?

Language

1. What are the five major changes in cognitive ability that affect language in older adults?
2. How do older adults compensate in their use of language for changes in cognitive ability?
3. Define and describe the communication predicament model. How does it relate to the concept of elderspeak?

Everyday problem solving

1. What are five of the tests used in the Everyday Problems Test? What are these tests attempting to measure?
2. Describe two advantages and two disadvantages that older problem solvers have based on their greater experience.
3. Discuss three implications of age differences in problem solving and thinking for those who teach adult learners.
4. What are three characteristics of post-formal thinkers?

Intelligence

1. Outline the major developments in the measurement of intelligence.
2. Define and contrast fluid and crystallized intelligence. Provide two examples of each type of ability.
3. List and define the five scales on the PMA used in the Seattle Longitudinal Study.
4. Summarize the main findings of the SLS in terms of the scales of the PMA.
5. Provide two examples of cohort effects as found in the SLS.
6. Define the five aspects of intelligence and plasticity investigated by Baltes.

Essay questions

1. How do the concepts of problem-finding and post-formal operations relate to alternative views of intelligence in adulthood?
2. What are the practical implications of findings on intelligence for understanding the performance of older workers on the job?
3. How might training studies on intelligence incorporate the concept of wisdom?
4. Which do you think is more important for competent functioning in adulthood: the pragmatics or the mechanics of intelligence? Justify your answer.
5. How might age changes in intelligence relate to identity processes? What advice or counseling would you provide to older adults who are concerned about loss of their intellectual skills?