Psychology: Memory Across the Lifespan

Memory Across the Lifespan

• Key questions for study include:
  • Key factors in cognitive development
  • Applications of theory to early education
  • Key issues with children as witnesses

Early Brain Development

• Brain development is a continuous process
• Development includes stages and differentiation

Brain Development Across the Lifespan

• Experience-dependent synapse formation is important
• Neurogenesis in the hippocampus is crucial
• Time courses for synaptogenesis show different stages of brain development (conception, months, years, decades)
• Average newborn brain weighs 333 grams, and triples in size by age 2, reaching approximately 999 grams.

Early Cognitive Development

• Caregivers play a significant role in early cognitive development
• Factors include sensorimotor development, nutritional support, cognitive stimulation, and maturational milestones.
• Institutionalization can affect development, particularly IQ, academic performance, attentional control, and behavioral activity

Learning and Memory in Infants

• Chemical sensory systems impact food preferences
• Auditory systems relate to voice preferences and early learning
• Sensorimotor systems involve early associative learning, imitation, and preferential looking; two-weeks old infants associate kicking with overhead mobiles.
• Self-concept and mirror self-recognition are important aspects of development.

Working Memory During Development

• Working memory develops through different stages
• Key elements of working memory include:
  • Verbal storage (digit recall, word recall, etc)
  • Visuo-spatial memory (block recall, visual patterns, etc.)
  • Complex memory span (listening recall, non-word recall, counting recall, etc)

Disorders Affecting Development

• Working memory and education are linked
• Important disorders include Down Syndrome and Williams Syndrome, which have varying effects on cognitive functioning.
• ADHD is also significant, impacting attention, hyperactivity and impulsivity

Media and Attentional Problems in Children

• Media exposure affects children's attention and learning
• Early and frequent exposure to television and screens correlates negatively with cognitive functioning, except for educational content.

Children as Witnesses

• Children's ability to be reliable witnesses varies by age
• Biasing language can impact a child's testimony

Memory and Aging

• Key methods of testing memory throughout life are crucial
• Differences between generations in memory abilities are significant
• Key brain changes during aging affect how we process information.

Methods of Testing

• Longitudinal Approach: Studying the same participants over time
  • Advantages: improved predictions, and targeted interventions
  • Disadvantages: expensive, dropouts, and practice effects
• Cross-Sectional Approach: Testing different participants at different ages
  • Advantages: avoids practice effects, and direct comparisons between ages
  • Disadvantages: cohort effects, and other biases
• Combined Approach: Combines longitudinal and cross-sectional approaches

Intelligence Across Generations

• Flynn Effect: shows increase in intelligence test scores over generations, likely linked to environmental factors
• Reverse Flynn Effect: shows a plateau or decrease in intelligence test scores in recent decades, which may stem from various factors.
  • Environmental factors, declining standards, health, and excessive screen time are plausible explanations.
• Intelligence test scores show a general increase up until the mid-1970s, and a slowing or reversal/decrease in recent decades.

Brain Reserve and Neurodegeneration

• Gray and white matter changes are linked to cognitive decline, and excessive screen time negatively impacts this.
• Important risk factors for dementia include education level, hearing loss, TBI, Hypertension, alcohol consumption, and obesity, amongst others. Other risk factors include physical inactivity, depression, and social isolation.

Different Types of Dementias

• Different types of dementia affect various aspects of cognitive function and memory.
  • Alzheimer's disease (amyloid plaques)
  • Vascular dementia (reduced oxygen)
  • Lewy-body dementia (alpha-synuclein deposits)
  • Frontotemporal dementia (gray/white matter)
  • Semantic dementia (temporal lobe)

Warning Signs of Alzheimer's Disease

• Memory loss impacting job performance is a key warning sign.
• Challenges with language, abstract reasoning, and disorientation are additional potential signs of this disease.

Novel Treatments for Alzheimer's Disease

• Wearable cameras are used to stimulate memory in Alzheimer's patients.
• Passive and Active forms of memory aids are explored for potential cognitive benefits. Specific memory training strategies were examined, showing different results. A system of wearable cameras was shown to be more effective.

Explore key factors in cognitive development and the critical role of caregivers in early memory and learning. This quiz delves into brain development stages and the implications for early education and child testimony. Understand how experiences shape cognitive abilities throughout different life stages.