Aging and Memory

1. Aging and Memory Objective 11-3

2. Cognitive Development:Does aging effect out cognitive abilities such as memory, creativity, and intelligence? • As we age, we remember some things well. • Looking back in later years, people mostly remember the recent happenings but also things from their teens and twenties. *Our teens and twenties are also the time when we experience so many of life’s memorable “first’s” -- first date, first job, first going to college, first introductions. • Thomas Crook and Robin West Experiment of 1990. • Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher Resignation study. • David Schonfield and Betty-Anne Robertson Experiment of 1966.

3. Cognitive Development: Continued… • Early adulthood is a peak time for some types of learning and memory recollection. • Younger adults have better memory recognition but both young adults and older adults have no memory decline in recognition. *Unless given a jolt of caffeine, memory recognition is better for older adults early in the day rather than late. • If asked to recall meaningless information, older adults are more likely to make errors. *Older people’s capacity to learn and remember skills also decline less than their verbal recall.

4. Cognitive Development: Continued… • Prospective memory (“Remember to...”) remains strong when events help trigger memories. *Walking to a convenience store triggers a “...pickup milk” memory. • Time- based tasks (“Remembering the 3 P.M. meeting”) is more challenging for older adults to remember. *Habitual tasks are more challenging when they need to remember to take medications. • Right through our later years, we continue to diverge. • Twenty-year-olds differ widely in their abilities to learn and remember, but 70-year-olds differ much more. *Some 70-year-olds perform below nearly all 20-year-olds; other 70-year-olds match or out do the average 20-year- old.