Although this type of word-finding involves memory, the problem lies in accessing the word, even though it exists in the person’s knowledge or vocabulary. Language skills develop rapidly throughout childhood and are well retained throughout adulthood, with one exception: Recalling a familiar person’s name or a particular word during conversation commonly becomes harder for adults after age 70. In other words, older adults are less likely than young adults to freely recall most of the information from a recently read news article, but they may be just as good at recognizing the content if someone talks about it. 3 Recognizing information from the story is easier than remembering it without any cues, and this ability is usually well retained throughout life. Studies show that by age 70 the amount of information recalled 30 minutes after hearing a story once is about 75 percent of the amount remembered by an 18-year old. The ability to recall new information, such as reading material, peaks early and gradually becomes more challenging after age 40, particularly for visual material. To be able to recall an event or new information, the brain must register the information, store it, and then retrieve it when needed. While memory declines for many people over time, the exact nature of the decline depends on the particular type of memory. ![]() This task requires working memory because the numbers need to be held in mind long enough to rearrange them. Every time you mentally calculate a tip in a restaurant, you use an information processing skill called “working memory.” In the clinic, we often test working memory by asking people to recite backward a string of numbers that we have just read to them. Similarly, the ability to keep multiple pieces of information in mind at the same time is another skill that peaks around ages 18 to 20 and becomes more difficult thereafter. How fortunate it is that college and vocational students are typically at an age when the brain is working with optimum efficiency. Processing information rapidly and dividing attention effectively are cognitive skills that peak in young adulthood. When switching from one task to another, the elderly have more difficulty paying attention to multiple lanes of traffic, for example, or noticing if someone is about to step off a curb at a busy intersection. 2Īge hinders attention, particularly when it is necessary to multitask. Overall, cognitive slowing is thought to be a contributing factor in elderly people’s higher rate of automobile accidents per miles driven. Age-related slowing is also evident on certain attentional tasks, such as trying to grasp a telephone number when someone rattles it off quickly. For example, on a writing task in which people were asked to substitute as quickly as possible symbols for numbers, 20-year-olds performed the task almost 75 percent faster on average than 75-year olds. The most consistent change is cognitive slowing. Although differences between the young and elderly can be shown in some cognitive areas described below, declining ability does not translate into impairment of daily activities. Cognitive Changes with AgingĬertain cognitive abilities show at least a small decline with advanced age in many, but not all, healthy individuals. Scientists in a recent study asked, “When does cognitive functioning peak?” 1 and found evidence for considerable variability in the age at which cognitive abilities peak and decline throughout life. More recent research includes the fast-growing 80s-and-older population and has advanced our understanding of cognitive changes in the elderly. Until the 1990s, most aging research examined cognitive abilities of adults younger than 80. ![]() As people age, their movements and reflexes slow and their hearing and vision weaken. Mental abilities change throughout life, first as a result of brain maturation and later with aging of brain cells and their billions of complex interconnections. ![]() The data confirm what researchers have known for many years: that our mental functions are composed of many distinct types of cognitive abilities. Measures of brain function using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) show that the most active areas of the brain vary according to the task being performed. These tasks take different forms, such as noticing colors, remembering names, or calculating time on a watch. Every day we perform hundreds of cognitive tasks but are mostly unaware of the effort involved.
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