Mental Ability In Childhood And Cognitive Aging

Sir Francis Galton (1869, 1883) quantified traits that were assumed to be correlated, and developed the first comprehensive test of intelligence. By the end of the 19th century, the foundation was laid for modern day intelligence testing (Wicket, 1998). In 1905, the French psychologist Alfred Binet published the first modern intelligence test to identify students who needed special help in coping with the school curriculum (Neiser, et al. 1996). Shortly thereafter in 1908 and 1911, Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon published revisions of the Binet intelligence test (Wicket). The mental age concept was adopted to express the results in adequate units. The concept is based on an individual’s performance in comparison to the average performance of individuals in a specific chronological age group (Kaplin, & Saccuzzo).

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.

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.

The aim of this study is to improve memory, focus, and problem solving skills and improving individuals IQ. With regular participation, all these factors can be exceptionally enhanced. Along with mental exercise, physical exercise is an important element to have healthy cognitive function. The researchers used a randomized sampling method amongst the old age population. Randomization was done in a 1:1 allocation ratio, stratified by education level. Authorized study centre personnel randomized the participants via a password protected internet website. The randomization system determined the treatment and provided a randomization number to be used for each participant.

There are also cognitive changes during middle adulthood. There is a mixed pattern of positive and negative changes in cognitive abilities. Processing speed starts to decrease during this time period however crystallized thought does not decline until older age (pg. 456). Working memory begins to decline however semantic memory continues to increase as we learning throughout our older years (ph 456). Usually most memory decline is during older age and can be attributed to Alzheimer’s disease of dementia.

Many studies have been broad, studying the vocabulary, reasoning, memory, and speed of the person, but zoning in on one thing specific may lead to further understanding. Studying the effects of cognitive aging in relation to memory possibly will open so many more areas of study. Studying specific age groups could also be helpful when attempting to understand cognitive aging as a whole. Learning about how speed, memory, vocabulary, and reasoning all work within a child, 10-15 years old, might be helpful when comparing that data to that information of an adult. between 50-60 years

When contrasted against the young adult population, older adults retain their powers of concentration, but have less competent inhibitory processes (Hasher and Zacks, 1988). A less efficient memory, then, may be a result of working memory overly invested in extraneous areas. Similarly, one could argue in defense of the inhibition deficit hypothesis, that the elderly experience dysfunctional levels of inhibition on a general array of mental undertakings, among them observation (Houx, Jolles, & Vrieling, 1993).

This study will look to find a way to decrease the consequences of cognitive decline that is either premature or more severe than the natural decline of mental capacity. These benefits could also apply to the prevention of cognitive decline in younger individuals. I will utilize the gist and cognitive function measuring techniques of Vas,

As an educator I will recommend cognitive training for Peter and Ella because this will help them be more strong and have better cognitive abilities. According to researchers, they have cut the view that the cognitive abilities of older people inevitably decline. But, overall intellectual ability and specific cognitive skills, such as memory and problem solving, are more likely to remain strong. In fact, if Peter and Ella practice appropriately and use environmental stimuli and cognitive skills they will actually improve. According to the developmental psychologist Timothy Salthouse, suggests that the rate of true, underlying cognitive decline in late adulthood is unaffected by mental exercise. Instead, he argues that some people, the kind

Michael Ronnlund and Lar-Goran Nilsson (2006), used the WAIS-R, Block Design in their study of age related cognitive abilities. Using age and demographic factors, the Block Design was used longitudinally and cross-sectional, the age group between 35-80 years was used in their first sample and consisted of (1000) participants.

In Craik’s experiment, he had three groups of people. They are the older adult group, younger adult with full attention group, and younger adult with divided attention group. Then, he gave the three groups a word recognition test. The result shows that elders have a significant memory loss compared to younger adults.(Castel and Craik). Craik also studied the brain structure of older adult. He found that the frontal activity, which is related to movement and long-term memories, is inefficient. As people grow older, there will be less nerve cells in the front region of the brain. The connections of nerve cells are very important to memory. This loss of nerve cells damages the connections. On the other hand, the activity of prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for memory, decision making and cognitive behavior is improved. His study explains why elders take more time to learn new informations or skill. However, once they obtain a new skill, they can use it more efficiently than younger adults because of the improvement of prefrontal

I believe from the first test of the older subjects and younger subjects using brain training companies that people only maintain intelligence. The younger group who participated in the study did not show large signs of improvement or hardly, if any, increase in intelligence. However, the older group, 60 years old and older, did see a large improvement in their verbal reasoning skills during the six weeks (Friedman); as people age, their brains start to deteriorate slowly. As a result of this test, the participants

Cognitive development is the development of thought processes, including remembering, problem solving, and decision-making, from childhood through adolescence to adulthood. Historically, the cognitive development of children has been studied in a variety of ways. The oldest is through intelligence tests. An example of this is the Stanford Binet Intelligence Quotient test. IQ scoring is based on the concept of mental age, according to which the scores of a child of average intelligence match his or her age. IQ tests are widely used in the United States, but they have been criticized for defining intelligence too narrowly. In contrast to the emphasis placed on a child¡¦s natural abilities by

Mental ability can be defined as having the cognitive ability to acquire and preserve knowledge. The prospect of mental abilities being associated to longevity has been an area of interest for social scientists. Scottish Mental Surveys (SMS) of 1932 and 1947 carried a major research on intelligence-longevity association. This essay will demonstrate how different studies have supported the association using the four mechanisms proposed in the Scottish Mental Surveys: (a) bodily insults, (b) bodily system integrity, (c) predictor of healthy behaviour, and (d) predictor of safer environment. (Deary, Whiteman, Starr, Whalley, & Fox, 2004) Additional research will be applied to analyse the effectiveness of the causal mechanisms for the relationship between intelligence and longevity, and highlight on limitations in research that may falsify the relationship. Finally, the essay will conclude on whether evidence provided from different mechanisms is explicit enough to support the association, and provide suggestions on how the scope of enquiry can be broadened.