Cognitive Resilience in Adulthood

Gerontology as a field of scientific study can be traced back to the late 1800s; a time when research primarily focused on the negative attributes of aging, such as health decline. It wasn 't until the introduction of social gerontology in 1983 that researchers began to more rigorously study the psychological and social aspects of aging. In recognizing that “successful aging depends not just on the prevention of disease and disability, but also on the attainment of peak physical and psychological functioning,” (Quadagno,

“Human agency in making choices” (Hutchinson, 2010): Every person’s life course is build up with his or her choices and actions (Hutchinson, 2010). The ability to make decisions or will power is the human agency, i.e. one can made decisions which completely changes

The humanity of aging is a concept sometimes hard to grasp. Understanding why we are

Cognitive aging is the term to describe changes in cognition with age. While Salthouse (2004) found that with cognitive aging comes cognitive decline regardless of the individual, Hayden and partners (2011) found that most (65%) elderly persons showed slow decline that does not substantially affect abilities, 27% experienced moderate decline, and only 8% showed substantial cognitive decline. These new findings show that in fact there may be individual variability when it comes to cognitive aging. One factor shown to affect cognitive aging is race (Glymour and Manly, 2008). Thus, in this paper we will review and analyze findings pertaining to cognitive aging as related by race to better understand this relationship and will also discuss suggestions for future research.

Largest among the growing populations is the age group 65 and older. This course required us to complete Dr. Woolf’s myths of aging quiz. This quiz has 25 questions all about aging issues. In our textbook, “Adult Development and Aging,” Cavanaugh and Blanchard-Fields (2011) state, “Everyone does not grow old in the same way. Whereas most people tend to show usual patterns of aging that reflect the typical, or normative, changes with age, other people show highly successful aging in which few signs of change occur” (p. 16). An analysis of Dr. Woolf’s myths of aging quiz will show several different areas to consider in regards to the

Life span developmental psychology takes a scientific approach to human growth and change, focusing on change during the life span. There are three main aspects to life span development: cognitive, social, and physical development. This class is not simply a discussion of nature vs. nurture, it explores the interaction between genetic and environmental factors that orient us towards specific behaviors. Initially, my views on life span development were limited to more sociological factors, and did not take into consideration physical developments of the brain. In relation to my personal and professional identity this course has made me realize that development occurs on a spectrum and that not everyone develops at the same time, in the same ways, making me more understanding and compassionate towards those who developed differently than me. The three most important lessons I have learned from this class are that development occurs throughout the entire life span, infants begin learning at a very young age, and that senescence begins as early as young adulthood.

Another study to study SES and cognitive development was done by Merete Osler1, Kirsten Avlund, and Erik Lykke Mortensen to examine the influence of social circumstances early in life on changes in cognitive function from young adulthood to middle age (2012). They looked at the impact of birth characteristics like birth weight and maternal age, childhood activities in leisure time, education and adult social class on the expected relationship. A sample of 11 532 men aged 12, 18, and 57 were assessed. To find the association of early-life characteristics with cognitive test scores, a linear regression was used. They found that the scores at age 57 years highly correlated with the scores at ages 12 and 18 years. Participants who had a father in the working class at birth were related to having lower cognitive function at all three ages. It was also found that a decline in cognitive function was present with low education, many social activities and minimum intellectual activities during childhood in leisure time and low adult social class.

Arguably, the physical and cognitive development of young adults is an issue that has always attracted the attention of many scholars including Schaie and Erikson among others. Schaie is one of the most prominent scholars who have done exhaustive research on individuals’ development. He conducted many studies on areas of intellectual functioning in adults, and from his research, he proposed his theory of stages in cognitive development in human adults. Schaie outlined these stages as the acquisition stage, young adult stage, achieving stage, responsible stage, executive stage, reorganizational stage, reintegrative stage, and legacy creating stage (Capuzzi & Stauffer, 2016). The achieving stage is just one of the many stages proposed by Schaie in his

Cognitive aging is worthy of study for many reasons. The more knowledge that is uncovered about cognitive aging, the closer to possibly finding ways to slow the process down, decrease the intensity of the symptoms, or maybe prevent it all together. If there are possible ways of doing so it is important to find them. The “what” and “when” of cognitive aging has made advances, but the “why”, “where”, and “how” are still to be uncovered. We further our knowledge of the “why”, “where”, or “how”, or uncover the full truth, without knowing the full truth about the “what” and “when”. Finding out more about one might lead to learning more about another. Expanding our knowledge on cognitive aging has the potential to increase someone’s quality of life. It has the potential to increase that family member’s quality of life. Cognitive aging effects more than the victim, it effects their

There have been a number of studies that have used both cross-sectional and longitudinal methods. In two cross-sectional analyses of 77 (mean age = 50.5, S.D. = 16.7) and then 127 participants (mean age = 45.9, S.D. = 15.5), Salthouse and colleagues (1996) found that the relationship between sensory functioning (near visual acuity) and cognition (working memory, associative learning, and concept identification) increased with age. With a similar cross-sectional approach, Baltes and colleagues (1997) analyzed data from two large age groups: a younger adult sample (25-69 years, n = 171, mean age = 48.2, SD = 14.7) and an older adult sample (70 – 103 years, n = 516, mean age = 84.9, SD = 8.66).

Throughout this semester we have come across many psychological and social theories. From Vaillant’s aging well, to Erikson’s life stages, to Leont’ev’s activity theory, there is a lot to learn and to understand. For the purpose of this paper, I am going to focus on the Activity Theory of aging. After some thorough research on this topic I was able to come up with some great information about

As age increases, we can expect some loss of heart, lung, joint, and sexual functioning. Some loss of brain cells and mental efficiency is a normal part of

The life-span perspective is a modern scientific approach to the study of human development that accounts for all phases of life including childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, and it breaks each phase into individual stages of development (Berger,2014). This perspective suggests that development is multidirectional, metacontextual, and all stages of development are important and play a crucial role in the individuals cognitive health (Berger,2014). The stages of development are categorized as infancy, early childhood, middle childhood, adolescence, emerging adulthood, adulthood, and late adulthood. For the purpose of this paper I will be focusing on the infancy stage due to the importance of cognitive development before the age of two, middle childhood due to a child’s social structure becoming a defining factor in their lives, and emerging adulthood due to the stresses that an individual must endure while maturing into a young adult.

We enter this world with an immense potential and what is felt as an abundance of opportunities. We grow older and we learn through everything we do and encounter in life. With the new knowledge we acquire we make decisions, we see the world different and we adapt to changes. As we continue to grow older, these Cognitive functions start declining and the way we problem solve or the way our minds work start to slow down. Therefore, research has been very intrigued in better understanding the higher levels of functions in cognition in adults and later in life for a certain reasons (Salthouse, 2012). Salthouse (2012), mentions in his article a brief review on studies focused on the relationship between age and cognitive functions. It is stated in the article that with higher levels of cognition the better an individual will function on the job, for example, training and achievements in job performance. Additionally, as an individual grows older they begin to use more fluid problem-solving skills rather than crystallized measure of cognition (Salthouse, 2012).

Aging naturally causes changes in physical, cognitive, and social capabilities of a person. Age related changes like declining strength and difficulty in remembering is experienced as a kind