Various Forms of Memory in Cognitive Development in Late Adulthood

Question:
Discuss the various forms of memory and which decline or are sustained in the late adult stage of development (and why).

Answer:
The various forms of Memory are
1) Working Memory
The Working Memory holds and process new information. It decreases in respective to age. The ability to remember lists reduced especially when distracted. The ability to perform tasks while remembering lists are also impaired.
2) Long-term Memory
The Long-Term Memory provides knowledge base to all the things that we can know. Again, it decreased when one ages.
3) Explicit Memory
The Explicit Memory can hold facts such as words, concepts, dates, places, events, etc. Most people usually able to recall when required and the ability to recall decreases in aging
4) Implicit Memory
This is also know as the unconscious, automatic memory that is difficult to retrieve verbally. It is recalled through recognition, performance, less affected by aging. Older people make less rapid responses (Slower reactions compared to younger people)

Reasons for memory deficits are
1) Self-fulfiling prophecy
Old people acknowledge/assume the fact that their memory is declining which already contributes to it. Secondly, they often exaggerate their past abililities, thereby believing that their loss is relatively greater than it is...

2) Culture
The culture in different countries often contributes to the acknowledgement of the decline of memory of old people.
Eg: respect for aging associated with abilities in aging...In China, great respect for abilities of the elderly

3) Prescribed Drugs
Old people over 65 years old take 50% of all prescribed drugs...hence dosage maybe too much for the elderly and lead to memory loss in elderly.

When speed of processing is involved, older adults do more poorly than younger adults. Older adults do more poorly in most areas of memory.
However, wisdom (expert knowledge about practical aspects of life) may increase with age ...


Answer 2:
I'd like to also add to answer one that there are also (1) episodic memory, (2) semantic memory, (3) source memory, (4) prospective memory.


(1) episodic memory is memory about personal facts, either chronologically or temporally dated recollection of personal experience. E.g. where have to travel to last trip; what happened on your last birthday, etc.


(2) Semantic memory is memory of general fact that is not tied to time when the information was stored. E.g. Christmas is 25th December; Beijing is the capital of China; human is mammal, etc.


(3) Source memory is the ability to remember where one learns something. The failure to locate the source of a memory is more prevalent on subject that does not matter personally to the person than something that has personal meaning to the person.


(4) Prospective memory involves remembering to perform actions in the future, such as going to the doctor’s appointment next Wednesday or attending Church on Sunday morning.


Episodic memory declines as one ages, it is interesting there is a phenomenon called “reminiscence bump” which describes how one can remember more events from the second and third decades of their lives than from other decades.


Semantic memory declines in the sense that it takes longer for older adults to retrieve information than younger adults, but the degree of decline is smaller than episodic memory.


Source memory declines with age, but it is not as severe on subject that matters to the person than subject that doesn’t matter much. This is because older adults get more selective in how they use their resources, including storing and retrieving memory.


Prospective memory also declines as one ages, but the age-related deficits occur more often in time-based matter, such as remember exactly what time is the doctor’s appointment, than event-based, such as going to doctor’s appointment.

Answer 3:
Episodic memory and semantic memory are two types of declarative memory. Episodic memory is recall of personal facts. Remembering what happened in the wedding or when went to university uses episodic memory. Semantic memory is recall of general facts. Remembering the capital of China and the regulations for using a lab library uses semantic memory. Since episodic memory and semantic memory are conscious, intentional remembering of information, they are also termed as explicit memory. It is well-documented that explicit memory deteriorates with age (Salthouse, 1982). A recent research (Mormino et al, 2008) believes that episodic memory loss is related to hippocampal-mediated β-amyloid deposition in elderly people. Another research proposes (Association for Psychological Science,2008) that the lack of imagination in older adult results in memory declining.


Implicit memory is an unconscious, nonintentional form of memory. Learning how to drive is an example of implicit memory. Typing on a keyboard and swimming in the pool also use implicit memory. Implicit memory is less likely correlated with aging than explicit memory ( Kessels, Boekhorst, & Postma, 2005)



References




Association for Psychological Science (2008). Lack Of Imagination In Older Adults Linked To Declining Memory. ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2008/01/080107110352.htm


Kessels, R. P. C., Boekhorst, S. T. & Postma, A. The contribution of implicit and explicit memory to the effects of errorless learning: a comparison between young and older adults. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 11(2), 144-151.


Mormino, et al (2008). Episodic memory loss is related to hippocampal-mediated β-amyloid deposition in elderly subjects. Brain, 132; 1310–1323.


Salthouse, T. A. (1982). Adult cognition — An experimental psychology of human aging. New York, Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer.

Further Questions:
How are memory stored?

Answer 4:
That would be episodic memory, the retention of information about the where and when of life's happenings. This is a memory that young people are able to 'pull out from what seems to be nowhere." You may hear them say, "yes we were here before, remember that was when you spilt coffee all over your bag?" I often find myself amazed at the details of what seems to be random events.

We have hardware "cognitive mechanics" and we have software "cognitive pragmatics." Essentially our brain is a computer of sorts, and it is busy storing data. Our experiences, our encounters, what we see, what we learn it is being stored.

I know of an 8 year old who has just finished his second brain surgery in two weeks for a tumour. Days after surgery still nonverbal and taking it all in, apparently language etc will return.

Answer 5:
Intellectual changes in late adulthood do not always result in reduction of ability.

Fluid intelligence is the ability to perceive, remember and think about a variety of basic information. It includes speed with which information can be analyzed, and also includes attention and memory capacity.


Crystallized intelligence is the ability to accumulated information and vocabulary acquired in daily life. It also encompasses the application of skills and knowledge to solving problems.


While fluid intelligence does decline in later years, crystallized intelligence has been shown to rise slightly over the entire life span. Willis & Schaie (1986) reported that a decline in cognitive performance could be reversed in 40% to 60% of elderly people who were given remedial training.