2. Cognitive DevelopmentMemory

3. Does intelligence decline in middle adulthood?

4. Does Intelligence Decline in Adulthood? Cross-sectional studies clearly showed that older subjects scored less well than younger subjects on traditional IQ tests Intelligence peaks at 18, stays steady until mid-20s, and declines till end of life Longitudinal studies revealed different developmental patterns in intelligence Stable and even increasing IQ scores until mid-30s, and some to mid-50s, then declines

5. Difficulties in Answering the Question Older research –Cross sectional studies –Cohort effect Newer research –Longitudinal studies –Practice effect and participant attrition

6. Testing Effects Practice effect Attrition Physical performance portion Timed Reaction time slows with age Results may be due to physical changes not cognitive changes

7. Kinds of Intelligence Fluid intelligence: Ability to deal with new problems and situations Crystallized intelligence: Store of information, skills, and strategies that people have acquired through education and prior experiences, and through their previous use of fluid intelligence It is difficult to evaluate cognitive abilities in middle adulthood.

8. Changes in Crystallized and Fluid Intelligence Although crystallized intelligence increases with age, fluid intelligence begins to decline in middle age. What are the implications for general competence in middle adulthood? Source: Schaie, 1985.

9. Reframing the Issue: What Is the Source of Competence During Middle Adulthood? Salthouse suggests four reasons this discrepancy exists. Typical measures of cognitive skills tap a different type of cognition than what is required to be successful in particular occupations Measures of practical intelligence rather than traditional IQ tests to assess intelligence may yield little discrepancy People can be quite successful professionally and still be on the decline in certain kinds of cognitive abilities Older people may be successful because they have developed specific kinds of expertise and particular competencies

10. Selective Optimization with Compensation Older, successful people may have developed expertise in their particular occupational area.

11. The Development of Expertise: Separating Experts from Novices Expertise refers to the acquisition of skill or knowledge in a particular area, develops as people devote attention and practice –Expert: Relies on experience and intuition, processes information automatically, uses different neural pathways to solve problems –Novice: Strictly follows formal rules and procedures, uses better strategies and better problem-solving

12. What is multitasking doing to our brains? Multitaskers may be oversensitive to incoming information. People with considerable experience playing video games actually become better at reacting to stimuli, singling out important information, and switching between tasks. Middle-aged adults who have previous Internet searching experience show higher levels of brain activation while engaging in that task compared to merely reading pages of text.

13. Agree or Disagree Multitasking is a hindrance in terms of quality of thinking.

14. The question of whether intelligence declines in middle adulthood is complicated by limitations in cross-sectional studies and longitudinal studies. Intelligence appears to be divided into components, some of which decline while others hold steady or even improve.

15. In general, cognitive competence in middle adulthood holds fairly steady despite declines in some areas of intellectual functioning. The skill or knowledge acquired in a particular area, expertise develops as people devote attention and practice to a subject or skill and, in so doing, gain experience.

16. According to ______________ studies that test people of different ages at the same time, older subjects scored lower than younger subjects on traditional intelligence tests. a. longitudinal b. objective c. cross-sectional d. observational

17. Because cross-sectional studies do not control for cohort effects, these research designs may underestimate intelligence in older subjects. True False

18. Over the years, one of the types of intelligence that increases with age is ______________ intelligence, or the accumulation of information, skills, and strategies that people have learned through experience. a. emotional b. crystallized c. intrapersonal d. naturalist

19. How might crystallized and fluid intelligence work together to help middle-aged people deal with novel situations and problems?

20. Memory: You Must Remember This According to research, memory changes in adulthood –Most people show only minimal losses –Many exhibit no memory loss in middle adulthood Memory is viewed in terms of three sequential components –Sensory memory –Short-term memory holds information for 15 to 25 seconds –Long-term memory

21. Schemas in Middle Adulthood Help people represent the way the world is organized Aid in categorization and interpretation of new information Convey cultural information

22. Effective strategies for remembering Mnemonics Get organized Pay attention Use encoding specificity phenomenon Visualize Rehearse

23. Memory may appear to decline in middle age, but, in fact, long-term memory deficits are probably due to ineffective strategies of storage and retrieval. People categorize and interpret new information according to the schemes they have developed about how the world is organized and operates. Mnemonics help people organize material in ways that improve recall. These formal strategies include getting organized, visualizing, rehearsing, paying attention, and using the encoding specificity phenomenon.

24. Both sensory memory and short-term memory show virtually no weakening during middle adulthood. True False

25. Middle-aged individuals find it hard to pay attention to everything that is going on around them and shortcuts, to reduce the stress of remembering so many things. a. schemas b. theory of mind c. naturalistic observation d. memory

26. ______________ are formal strategies for organizing material in ways that make it more likely to be remembered. a. Mnemonics b. Schemas c. Perceptions d. Heuristics

27. In what ways do schemas give midlife adults an edge over younger adults?