1 / 45

Silver Threads Among the Gold

The U.S. population is experiencing significant growth among older adults, particularly those aged 85 and over, whose numbers are projected to reach nearly 19 million by 2050. This demographic shift introduces a variety of challenges in terms of health, cognitive abilities, and social support. As we grow older, understanding healthy aging, memory retention, and the impacts of cognitive decline becomes increasingly vital. This discussion explores the aging process, related pathologies, and strategies for successful aging in a society that is rapidly changing.

tavon
Download Presentation

Silver Threads Among the Gold

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Silver Threads Among the Gold Continuing Development

  2. Growing As We Age

  3. Age distribution of U.S population,1980, 1990, and 2002 Year 1980 Year 1990 Year 2002 85+ 80-84 75-79 70-74 65-69 60-64 55-59 50-54 45-49 40-44 35-39 30-34 25-29 20-24 15-19 10-14 5-9 0-4 0% 5 % 10% 0% 5 % 10% 0% 5 % 10% Data source: The Bureau of the Census

  4. Our Aging Populace • The most rapidly growing age group worldwide is that over the age of 85 years. • In the United States there are currently about 4 million persons over the age of 85; by 2050, nearly 19 million are projected.

  5. Thornton Wilder 1897-1975 • THE EIGHTH DAY, 1967 • THE DRUNKEN SISTERS, 1970 • THEOPHILUS NORTH, 1973

  6. Pablo Ruiz Picasso 1881-1973 The Chicago Picasso 1967

  7. Alberta Hunter (1895-1984) Legendary blues singer, lyricist, and actress Alberta Hunter, a distinctive stylist and one of the top recording artists in the 1920s and 1930s, experienced a dramatic comeback in her old age.

  8. Bertrand Arthur William Russell 1872 - 1970 Just a few examples of Russell’s late life (age 75-97) work • (1949) The Philosophy of Logical Atomism • (1954) Human Society in Ethics and Politics • (1955) Russell-Einstein Manifesto • (1957) Organizes the first Pugwash Conference • (1958) Founding President of Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament • (1961) Imprisoned for one week in connection with anti-nuclear protests

  9. Frank Lloyd Wright 1867-1959 • Price Company Tower (1952) • Beth Sholom Synagogue (1954) • Guggenheim Museum, (1956) • Marin County Civic Center (1957)

  10. AGING • Healthy Aging • Pathologies of Aging

  11. How to Age Successfully • Genes • Diet/Nutrition • Stay Healthy • Reduce Stress • EXERCISE • Body • Brain

  12. Study Approaches • Micro-approaches • Macro-approaches

  13. Brain Aging • Structural Brain Changes • Functional Changes in Brain and Behavior

  14. Changes in Brain Structure • Brain Aging is Selective • Regions • Tissue Type • Gray Matter • White Matter • Timing • Last in – First out • Nature of Change

  15. Gray Matter Volume White Matter Volume Courchesne, E., et al Normal brain development and aging: quantitative analysis at in vivo MR imaging in healthy volunteers, Radiology, 216 (2000) 672-682.

  16. MRI Postmortem Courchesne, E., et al Normal brain development and aging: quantitative analysis at in vivo MR imaging in healthy volunteers, Radiology, 216 (2000) 672-682.

  17. White Matter Hyperintensities

  18. Changes in Brain Function • Patterns of Brain Activation • Compensatory Plasticity • Non-selective Recruitment • Inhibitory Control of Attention & Behavior • Evidence from EEG • Evidence from PET/FMRI • Animal Models (Center Surround)

  19. Models of Cognitive Aging • Generalized Slowing • Working Memory • Dedifferentiation • Inhibition

  20. Cognitive Aging • Sensory • Motor • Memory • Attention

  21. Aging Attention • Selectivity • Sustained Attention • Divided Attention • Shifting Attention • Spatial Attention • Consequences of Degraded Attention

  22. Shifting Attention Summary • Speed of attention deployment does not change with healthy aging • The ability to gate (inhibit) irrelevant sensory information diminishes with normal aging • This effect may be modality-specific • Decline of gating is most apparent over frontal regions suggesting age-related changes in frontal inhibitory functions

  23. Memory & Pathologies of Aging

  24. Aging & Memory • Most common complaint of aging is declining memory ability • Overview • Memory • Short-term memory, Long-term memory • Memory in normal aging • Memory in pathological (abnormal) aging

  25. Common “forms” of memory • Short-term (Immediate or Working) memory • Limited storage capacity • Limited duration (seconds, minutes) • Linked to attention • Long-term memory • Unlimited capacity • Long duration (minutes to decades) • multifaceted

  26. Forms of “long-term” memory

  27. Normal Aging and Memory • Anna Thompson of South Boston employed as a cook in a school cafeteria reported at the City Hall Station that she had been held up on State Street the night before and robbed $56. She had four small children the rent was due and they had not eaten for two days. The police, touched by the woman‘s story took up a collection for her.

  28. Memory across adulthood

  29. Memory ability in the elderly is highly variable

  30. Memory and medial temporal lobeH.M.

  31. Memory and medial temporal lobenormal aging

  32. Aging and dementia • Dementia is leading cause of cognitive disability in elderly • Definition: The loss of intellectual functions (such as thinking, remembering, and reasoning) of sufficient severity to interfere with a person’s daily functioning. • Memory + one other area of functioning • ~50% of people > 85 years have cognitive impairment or dementia • Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is the leading cause of dementia

  33. AD and brain: pathology

  34. AD and the brain: gross pathology

  35. AD and the brain: imaging PET: Metabolism

  36. Memory & aging summary • Aging changes most pronounced in long-term memory • Decline is inevitable, but highly variable • Memory changes linked to medial temporal lobe changes • Many elderly people (>85 years) develop severe cognitive disability (e.g., dementia) limiting everyday functioning • Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia • AD is NOT accelerated aging

  37. Additional References • Baltes, P.B. and Lindenberger, U., Emergence of a powerful connection between sensory and cognitive functions across the adult life span: a new window to the study of cognitive aging?, Psychology and Aging, 12 (1997) 12-21. • Birren, J.E. and Fisher, L.M., Aging and speed of behavior: possible consequences for psychological functioning, Annual Review of Psychology, 46 (1995) 329-53. • Chao, L.L. and Knight, R.T., Prefrontal deficits in attention and inhibitory control with aging, Cerebral Cortex, 7 (1997) 63-69. • Craik, F.I.M. and T.A. Salthouse, eds. The handbook of aging and cognition. Second ed. 2000, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates: Mahwah, NJ. • Hasher, L., Zacks, R. T. (1988). Working memory, comprehension, and aging: A review and a new view. The Psychology of Learning and Motivation, 22, 193-225. • Polich, J., EEG and ERP assessment of normal aging, Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology, 104 (1997) 244-256. • Raz, N., Gunning-Dixon, F.M., Head, D., Dupuis, J.H. and Acker, J.D., Neuroanatomical correlates of cognitive aging: Evidence from structural magnetic resonance imaging, Neuropsychology, 12 (1998). • Salthouse, T.A., Independence of age-related influences on cognitive abilities across the life span, Developmental Psychology, 34 (1998) 851-64.

More Related