PSYC 4072 Study Guide Topic Information Processing Attention Memory EXAM 2 CHAPTER 6 1 General slowing hypothesis Salthouse who came up with the hypothesis in 1996 states the increase in reaction time re ects a general decline of information processing speed within the nervous system of the aging individual The slowing of reaction time with age may be attributed to many factors One that has intrigued researchers is the hypothesis that older adults are particularly disadvantaged in the attentional stage of information processing Attention involves the ability to focus or concentrate on a portion of experience while ignoring other features of that experience to be able to shift that focus as demanded by the situation and to be able to coordinate information from multiple sources Once your attention is focused on a piece of information you are then able to perform further cognitive operations such as those involving memory or problem solving Persistent and serious attentional problems characterize people with attention de cit disorder who as a result may have dif culty learning new information or performing more than one task at a time The attentional de cits associated with the normal aging process can involve de cits of a similar nature particularly when complex decisions must be made quickly Deviation of dots from the diagonal line shows the extent to which older adults are disproportionately slower as the task becomes more challenging for young adults 2 Selectivity capacity and vigilance aspects of attention Driving around looking for the deer to pop out Selectivity Selected information Inhibited information Selection Early vs Late Spotlight Use of dichotic listening tasks cocktail party phenomenon spatial locations enhanced superimposed objects obstacles Visual Search A methodology used to study selective attention in the laboratory Participants Types of Visual Search g b are asked to look for a certain target de ned by its features e g shape color etc Disjunctive The target is different from distractors in only one feature Conjunctive The target varies by 2 or more features from the distractors Capacity limited amount of information Pool of attentional resources available to support cognitive processes Kahneman 1973 Effortful Processes requires attention Automatic Processes do not require attention are not in uenced by practice or experience BUT some effortful processes can become automatic Research uses dual task methodologies Divided attention Vigilance maintenance of attention Readiness for detecting a stimulus change Example air traf c controller Sustained attention Maintain attention to sensory events for a prolonged amount of time Vigilance tasks Vigilance performance Vigilance decrement 3 Memory as a multidimensional construct It is a multidimensional construct it is not viewed as a single entity Episodic memory Semantic memory Procedural memory Storing and retaining personally experienced events E g remembering your birthday Holds information about the meaning of words E g the capital of Louisiana is Baton Rouge Holds information about how to do things E g how to tie your shoes The part of memory that keeps information temporarily available and active You use your working memory when you have information in consciousness Working memory whether it is new information you are trying to learn or previously learned information that you are recalling or bringing to mind Working memory and attention are closely linked since controlled attention is required to juggle multiple thought processes 4 Recall versus recognition tests of memory Harder for older adults because it requires more resources Recall is ll in the blank Recognition is old vs new 5 Normal memory aging Clinically benign but frustrating socially embarrassing for the person Desired information usually pops into their mind later May be termed age associated memory impairment AAMI but there s no clinical typology of these behaviors yet Memory self ef cacy refers to the con dence you have in your memory speci cally the degree to which you feel that you can successfully complete a memory task The higher your memory self ef cacy the greater the likelihood that you will perform to your maximum ability With increasing age people feel less and less con dent about their memory and consequently their self ef cacy suffers They are affected by the so called implicit theory about aging and memory namely that memory functioning suffers an inevitable decline in later life 6 Structural functional and contextual views of memory Structural views of memory Early information processing models focused on stores These stores presumably contain memory traces that vary in content Research has focused on Capacity of each store Rate of forgetting Codes formed within each store Control and rehearsal processes These models are attractive because they lead to a clearly de ned program of research Limitations of structural views Can t explain ndings related to quality of encoding Can t explain the context dependency of memory Functional views of memory Contextual views of memory operations and environmental cues These views assume that memory processes are jointly determined by mental Encoding processes interpretations of stimulus patterns Retrieval processes reinstatement of the initial encoding operations Recognition cued recall free recall Limitations of functional views circular reasoning Assumes that the characteristics of people task demands and test materials all Environmental support hypothesis assumes an age related reduction in Older people have will have trouble with self initiated processing operations Older people will bene t from external cues to reduce the need for self initiated interact with each other to in uence memory performance processing resources encoding retrieval encoding and or retrieval processes 7 ACTIVE multisite memory study those that teach strategy use among older adults Interventions aimed at improving episodic memory can be bene cial particularly One of the most ambitious cognitive training interventions was a multisite study known as Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly ACTIVE Found that training in memory and reasoning improved the performance of older adults on daily living tasks 8 Memory training memory improvement techniques performance Can improve cognitive functioning in older adults Simple proactive can produce signi cant improvements in memory task Offsets the negative