LATE ADULTHOOD

• Evolutionary theory of aging


  Natural selection has not eliminated many harmful conditions and nonadaptive characteristics in older adults
• Cellular clock or telomere theory

  Leonard Hayflick's theory - as we age our cells become less capable of dividing
• Free-radical theory


  damage can lead to a range of disorders, including cancer and arthritis
• Mitochondrial theory 


  aging is due to the decay of mitochondria
• mTor (target of rapamycin) Pathway Theory


  mTor pathway has a central role in the life of cells
• Hormonal stress theory 


  lower resistance to stress and increase the likelihood of disease
• Shrinking, slowing brain


  decrease in brain volume is due mainly to shrinkage of neuron
• Slowing function inn the brain and spinal cord begins in middle adulthood and accelerates in late adulthood
• Aging is also linked to reduced synaptic functioning and decreased production of some neurotransmitters (acetylcholine, dopamine, GABA)
• The adaptive brain neurogenesis


  occur in human adults but only in two brain regions: hippocampus and olfactory bulb
• Physical appearance and movement

  changes in physical appearance began occurring during middle age become more pronounced
• Both men and women become shorter in late adulthood and weight usually drops after we reach 60
• Sensory development


  visual decline and hearing in 75 yrs old and above
• Health problems


  80 yrs or older are likely to have some type of impairment - most common is arthritis and hypertension
• Cognitive mechanics 


  decline in cognitive mechanics begin as soon as early midlife
• Cognitive pragmatics - may improve at least until individual become very old
• Speed of processing - declines in late adulthood likely due to a decline in functioning of the brain and central nervous system
• Attention - may not be able to focus on relevant information as effectively as younger adults can, less able to ignore distracting information
• Memory - aging is linked with decline in explicit memory, but not in implicit memory
• Explicit memory - memory that is conscious and can be recalled.
• Implicit memory - memory that is not consciously recalled but is still stored in the brain
• Episodic memory - memory for events that are not related to daily life, such as a childhood vacation
• Semantic memory - the knowledge of facts and information that we have acquired through experience and learning.
• Decision-making - many older adults preserve decision-making skills reasonably well, older adults are far more inconsistent in their choices, age-related decreases in memory will impair decision-making
• Metacognition - memory problems they experience on a daily basis, more anxious about minor forgetfulness than younger adults do
• Language development - vocabulary often continues to increase throughout most of adult years until late adulthood but some decrement in language skills may appear
• Cognitive ability - best predictors of job performance in older adults
• Work - lower rates of absenteeism, fewer accidents, higher job satisfaction that younger people
• Adjustment to retirement - older adults who adjust best to retirement are healthy
• Depression - not common among adults to have a psychological factors but more likely to be chronic
• Dementia - deterioration of mental functioning, lose the ability to care for themselves
• Alzheimer's disease - progressive, irreversible brain disorder, defiency in acetylcholine
• Parkinson's disease - muscle tremors, slowing of movement, and partial facial paralysis
• Erikson's theory (Integrity vs despair) - reflecting on the past and either piercing together a positive review or concluding that one's life has not been well spent, life review
• Life review involves looking back at one's experiences - sociocultural dimensions, personal dimensions
• Activity theory - the more active and involved older adults are the more likely they are to be satisfied in their lives
• Socioemotional selectivity theory - adults become more selective about their social networks as they get older
• Selective optimization with compensation theory - how people can produce new resources and allocate them effectively
• Selection - reduction in performance in most life domains
• Optimization - maintain performance through continued practice and use of new tech