Physical and Cognitive Development in Midlife

1. Physical and Cognitive Development in Midlife

2. Physical Development

3. Top Barriers to Physical Activity • How would they vary by: • Age, Gender, Ethnicity?

4. Top Barriers (King, et al, 2000) • 3000 women 40 & over • Native American, Older age, less education, fatigue, absence of enjoyable scenery, few role models in ones neighborhood • Across all ethnicities: • Caregiving duties & Lack of energy were top • “No one to exercise with” or “lack of facilities” most infrequent

5. Senses • Vision • Difficulty in reading small print • Weakening in eye accomodation • Yellowing of the lens • color discrimination • Hearing • 14% hearing loss • Greater for high tones • Men>women

6. Skin, Muscle, & Bones • 3 layers of skin: epidermis, dermis, hypodermis • Ageepi less attached to dermis, dermis fibers thin, fat in hypo diminshes wrinkles & loose skin • Women & outdoors folks

7. Skin, Muscle, & Bones • ↑Body fat ↓ lean body mass • Muscle- atrophy of fast twitch fibers • Reduction in bone density-esp women • osteoporosis • Disks in spine collapse ↓ height by 60 • Weakened bones fracture more easily, heal more slowly

8. Reproductive changes • Climacteric-midlife transition and fertility change • Ends ability in women • Diminishes fertility in men- ↓ semen & sperm • Women • Production of estrogen drops • Cycles shorten, more irregular • Concludes w/ menopause • Doctors recommend ERT or HRT • Protects from bone deterioration, hot flashes • HRT comes w/ risks

9. Psychological Reaction to Menopause • Can be traumatic • Physical competence=ability to have children • Physical Discomfort + percieved loss of sex appeal • Many find it is no trouble • What does your mother think?

10. Questions for Mom • Talk to your mother or other women who are close to menopause about their expectations and attitudes. • Are/were they excited about it? • Will/were they be relieved when it is/was over? • Were expectations realized by the actual process of menopause? • Or, how accurate do you feel your expectations are? • Did they experience any physical or psychological symptoms? • Or, how are the feeling about the potential physical and/or psychological symptoms?

11. Cognitive Development

12. Changes in Mental Abilities • Focus on deficits, neglecting cog stability and gains • Cog dev is multi-dimensional, multi-directional, & plastic

13. Crystallized and Fluid Intelligence • Crystallized- depend on accumulated knowledge & experience • Acquired b/c valued by culture • Vocabulary, general info, verbal analogy, logical reasoning • Fluid- Basic info-processing skills: speed of analysis, working memory • Less influence by culture, more by conditions in the brain and unique learning. • Spatial visualization, picture series, etc

14. Intelligence in Mid Adulthood • Crystallized increases steadily into late adulthood • Fluid declines in late twenties and early thirties • Found x-cult • Perceptual speed drops • Adults compensate for these drops by using strengths • Shift from efficiency to accumulated knowledge activities

15. Young Adult, Middle Adult, Late Adult? • Adult A is making a cake that will ultimately turn out almost perfect. He does not refer consistently to the instructions, and tends to “eyeball” measures. For example, instead of measuring out a cup or a tablespoon, he simply pours in the amount that he thinks is correct (his calculations are very accurate). • Adult B is making a cake that will ultimately turn out almost perfect. He is very careful to read every instruction of the recipe, and performs every step in the exact order. He is careful to measure out each item using measuring spoons and cups. • Adult C is making a cake that will ultimately turn out almost perfect. He follows the instructions pretty consistently; however, he adjusts the oven temperature slightly to allow for a moister cake. In terms of liquid measures, he uses cups to make sure everything is accurate; however, anything requiring a teaspoon amount he simply “eyeballs.”

16. Young, Middle, or Late Adult? • Adult A, who is married to adult B, wants to remodel the basement. Adult B disagrees, and states that the remodeling project will be too expensive and time-consuming. Adult A is faced with several options: • Accept the situation and let it go. • Try to understand B’s perspective and decide whether it really is worth all of the time and effort. Attempt to consider B’s perspective from several angles (expenses, less time for marriage and children, etc.). • Try to convince B to change his/her mind. • Bring in a third party to arbitrate the dispute.

17. Three students, ages 18, 35, and 50, are taking a multiple-choice exam. When interviewed at a later date, the instructor receives the following student assessments: • “I thought the exam was fair and straightforward. I chose the answers that seemed to be the most correct, that’s what multiple-choice exams are all about.” • “I thought the exam was unfair. If you really dissected all of the responses to the questions, you could generate arguments for multiple responses. I really confused myself because I generated arguments and counterarguments for just about every response to every question.” • “Somewhat tough exam; I noticed that there were a number of places where you could generate arguments for more than one response. However, I know there is a time and place for such thinking, and a multiple-choice exam does not represent such a context. You really have to just go with what seems most logical and practical in situations that require more simple, straightforward thinking.”