The Correlation Between Sensory Ability And Cognitive Abilities

The impact of aging said to have a great effect on the capacity of learning of the adult. (Falasca, 2011). There are several eye problems become common as they age, cognitive ability, hearing impairments and perception may not be sufficient enough to understand and grasp all the information or it could be compromised (Falasca,

Cognitive and Sensory- Perception is the assessment is focused on the ability to comprehend and use information and on the sensory functions (Kriegler & Harton, 1992). Data on neurologic functions are assessed. Mother and father have college degrees. Both grandparents have had cataract surgeries, so eyesight is adequate. Grandfather wears two hearing aids, sometimes, and grandmother is hard of hearing but has no hearing aids so verbal communication is sometimes amusing and sometimes frustrating for all involved. Grandfather has some dementia and is quite

Quadagno (2014) discusses ways cognitive abilities differ from young-adults, middle-old adults and oldest old adults. Cognitive decline can also be affected by conditions such as stroke, depression, diabetes, auditory, and vision problems. Older adults may also encounter age related cognitive decline in their daily lives. Cognitive abilities such as processing speed, episodic memory, working memory and dual task processing are abilities that researchers are aiming to improve in older adults (Basak, et al, 2008; Quadagno, 2014).

Age associated declines in cognitive processes are important to the understanding of the human mind. This study investigates the relationship between ageing and short term memory in particular, by first exploring current cognitive and neuroscientific research involving concepts such as short term/working memory, long term memory and ageing, and secondly, by means of a short term memory experiment involving verbal and numerical stimuli, that was administered to two age groups- 20 to 40 year old adults and 50 to 70 year olds. The results of the experiment were then analysed using the ANOVA statistical software programme. The results did not conclusively show age related decline

Data were analyzed using a linear regression model where the average time taken to notice a change was used as a dependent variable, and the age was used as an independent variable. This analysis revealed that there is not a significant difference between age and the amount of time that it took any individual to notice a change, F (1, 224) = 3.52, p = .06. Results show that there was an insignificant increase of .27 seconds in time taken to notice the change between ages. Age explained 1% of the variance in time taken to notice the change in stimuli, r2 = .01.

Aging is a natural process of life however, studies show that there are some age-related decline in cognitive development. As a person grows older some brain cell dies, shrink, or weaken and cause some decline in brain functions. Some cognitive processes include attention, working memory, long-term memory, perception, and executive control. The material will explain the effect of aging on cognitive development by providing scholarly research proof.

Research has cited processing speed and working memory as two of the prominent predictors in age-related changes in complex cognitive performance (e.g., Del Missier et al., 2015; Henninger, Madden, & Huettel, 2010; Salthouse, 1991; Park, 2000). Recent research on functional biomarkers (e.g., visual function, lung function) has increased interest in the role of sensory functioning as a predictor of age-related cognitive changes (e.g., Ansey, 2012). However, sensory functioning measures and biomarkers still need to be validated as predictors of complex cognitions (e.g., Del Missier, 2015; Lindenberger & Ghisletta, 2009; MacDonald et al., 2011; Salthouse, 2014). As such, this paper will solely focus on the role of processing speed and working memory.

“We are less physically and mentally flexible and we take more time to process information. Memory changes occur as well, and it’s common to have greater difficulty remembering the names of people, places and other things as we age.” (Johns 1).

In relation to course content, the literature on sensory changes states that “sight has the greatest effect on a persons’ ability to function in later life” (Novak, Campbell, and Northcott, 2013, p. 97). I find that this definition promotes an aggressive tone in relation to my experience. As I am sure it does have an effect on many more things in Helens life, her active wellbeing shows that it has not stopped her from functioning. Although she proved to show that assistance was needed to help with the game, she was still a functioning individual, especially since she was able to figure out the area where the letter was on the card. In addition to this experience, Helen proved to show strong episodic memory. Episodic memory can be defined as a memory of past events that are acquired from specific situations (Novak, et al, 2013). The reason I argue that Helen has strong episodic memory is because of her past interest in Bingo. She was able to bring her interest forward to assist her in the particular situation. This situation and the content provided has helped change my assumptions about sensory changes in old age. Originally before taking this course, I would have agreed with the idea that “losing eyesight has the greatest effect on a persons’ ability to function in later life” (Novak, et al, 2013, p. 97). To many outsiders, it does seem like a sense that would be hard to go without. After my

Their paths of change confirm that midlife is a time when some of the most complex mental abilities are at their peak. In five abilities, modest gains occurred into the fifties and sixties, followed by gradual declines. The sixth ability, perceptual speed, decreased steadily from the twenties to the late eighties. And late in life, fluid factors (spatial orientation, numeric ability, and perceptual speed), showed greater decrements than crystallized factors (verbal ability, inductive reasoning, and verbal memory).

“ The ability to focus and maintain an image on the retina declines sharply between 40 and 50 years of age” (Santrock, p 338). When my mother was younger she needed to wear glasses because she has one eye that is much weaker than the other. During her early years of adulthood she did not wear glasses and did not have a hard time seeing. However, this changed when she was in her early to mid forties. She has had to wear glasses since then and her eyesight has been declining very slightly since then. Therefore, the statement that our eyesight declines as we get older, overall, seems very

All participants in this study were right-handed and had normal to corrected normal vision. Following that, 14 participants were excluded due to suspected neurological abnormalities. The main aim of this study was to investigate the development of working memory across the lifespan and if age groups caused a different result for each group. They found that young children and older adults had a harder time distinguishing if the animal pictures were used in the trial before that, younger adults did significantly better. Therefore, item specific proactive interference is stronger in younger children and older adults. Older children and adults do significantly better than young children because their working has developed more over time. Also, with older adult studies have shown working memory decreases with age so this could be the cause of why they did worse than older children and adults. However, older adults did significantly better in the first trial identifying an animal's in one-word syllables. This information can be used in the future in schools for teachers to help improve children’s working memory and this information can also be used to try to improve older adults working memory with experiments and

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

Children acquire most of their motor skills from school, which is where they spend most of their time growing up. School settings can enhance motor development in children through play using toys available to them, however, some school environments can also inhibit motor performance. Children have the opportunity to improve and learn new skills from manipulating different objects as well as can practice intertrial variability from playing with others. In order to better understand the concept of motor development in children, a naturalistic observation can be performed. Depending on the environment, certain motor skills can be refined, while others can be repressed. Haywood and Getchell (2014) suggest