Unlearned Behaviors & Classical Conditioning

Unlearned Behaviors

• Instincts and reflexes are innate.
• Reflexes - automatic and involuntary responses to stimuli.
• Reflexes are crucial for survival.
• Reflexes involve primitive parts of the central nervous system, such as the brainstem.
• Examples of reflexes: pupillary light reflex, startle reflex, withdrawal reflex, and scratch reflex.
• Instincts - innate drives leading to specific behavior patterns.
• Instincts are more complex than reflexes.
• Instincts involve movement of the whole organism and higher brain centers.
• Examples of instincts: sexual activity and migration.

What is Learning?

• Learning is relatively permanent change in behavior or knowledge resulting from experience.
• Learning involves conscious and unconscious processes.
• Types of learning: habituation, sensitization, classical and operant conditioning.

Classical Conditioning

• Classical conditioning involves associating stimuli to anticipate events.
• Pavlov's research on dogs' digestive systems led to the discovery of classical conditioning.
• Organisms have unconditioned (unlearned) and conditioned (learned) responses to the environment.
• Neutral Stimulus (NS): A stimulus that doesn't initially elicit a specific response.
• Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS): A stimulus that naturally triggers a response; becomes the CS after acquisition.
• Unconditioned Response (UCR): A natural, automatic reaction to the UCS; becomes the CR after acquisition.
• Example: a dog salivates (UCR) in response to food (UCS).
• Initially, the dog doesn't salivate in response to a bell (NS).
• After pairing the bell (NS) with food (UCS), the bell (CS) causes salivation (CR).
• Extinction: The conditioned response decreases and eventually disappears.
• Spontaneous recovery: The conditioned response reappears.
• Renewal effect: The response reappears when brought back to the original environment.
• Stimulus generalization: Stimuli similar to the original conditioned stimulus produce the same response.
• Example: fear of all dogs after being conditioned to fear one dog.
• Stimulus discrimination: Two sufficiently distinct stimuli where one triggers a conditioned response, but the other doesn't.
• Example: recognizing different alarm sounds.
• Classical conditioning can explain fetishes, where sexual attraction develops to nonliving things through association.
• Conditioned taste aversion can develop after only one trial, even with long delays.
• Conditioned taste aversion shows little generalization.
• Conditioned taste aversion demonstrates biological preparedness to learn certain associations.

Operant Conditioning

• Organisms learn to associate a behavior and its consequences (reinforcement or punishment).
• Law of effect: Rewarded behaviors are more likely to occur, while punished behaviors are less likely to occur.
• Positive reinforcement: Something is added to increase the likelihood of a behavior.
• Examples: high grades, paychecks, praise.
• Negative reinforcement: Something is removed to increase the likelihood of a behavior.
• Example: beeping sound stops when a seatbelt is worn.
• Positive punishment: Something is added to decrease the likelihood of a behavior.
• Example: scolding students.
• Negative punishment: Something is removed to decrease the likelihood of a behavior.
• Example: confiscating a toy.
• Punishment may not be effective because it only indicates what not to do.
• Punishment creates anxiety.
• Punishment may encourage subversive behavior.
• Punishment can model aggressive behavior.
• Stimulus discrimination involves distinguishing between stimuli.
• Stimulus generalization involves generalizing responses to similar stimuli.
• Biological influences limit what behaviors can be learned through reinforcement.
• Evolutionary predispositions affecting fear responses.
• Instinctive drift causing animals to revert to innate behaviors.

Schedules of Reinforcement

• Continuous reinforcement: Reinforcing a behavior every time it occurs leads to faster learning but faster extinction.
• Partial reinforcement: Occasional reinforcement leads to slower extinction and better maintenance.
• Partial reinforcement schedules can be fixed or variable, and based on intervals or ratios.
• Fixed interval: Reinforcement at predictable time intervals.
• Example: medication taken at set times.
• Variable interval: Reinforcement at unpredictable time intervals.
• Example: checking Facebook.
• Fixed ratio: Reinforcement after a predictable number of responses.
• Example: factory workers paid per item.
• Variable ratio: Reinforcement after an unpredictable number of responses.
• Example: getting a big tip.

Cognitive Approaches to Learning

• Learning isn't solely due to operant and classical conditioning, as unseen mental processes play a role.
• Latent learning occurs without immediate reinforcement.
• Latent learning becomes apparent only when there's a reason to use it.
• Latent learning develops cognitive maps.
• Observational learning involves learning by watching others.
• Observational learning includes paying attention, remembering the behavior, reproducing the action, and being motivated to carry it out.
• Both negative and positive behaviors can be learned through observation.
• Media violence can lower inhibitions.
• Media violence can distort understanding.
• Media violence can desensitize individuals to violence.

Memory Defined

• Memory - process of encoding, storing, and retrieving information.
• Memory is not static; it can change over time.
• The brain often fills in gaps to make sense of the world, which can lead to errors.

Three-Stage Model of Memory

• Memory consists of three different types that vary in span and duration.
• Information must pass through all stages to be remembered: Sensory memory → Short-term memory (STM) → Long-term memory (LTM).

Sensory Memory

• Sensory memory involves the storage of brief sensory events.
• Each sense has its own sensory memory with a very brief duration.
• Iconic memory: Visual system, lasts less than 1 second.
• Echoic memory: Auditory, lasts 2-3 seconds.
• It is a snapshot that stores sensory information.
• Unless transferred, sensory information is lost, but it is high precision.

Short-Term Memory (STM)

• STM is a limited capacity memory system where information is retained for about 30 seconds unless rehearsed.
• STM capacity is 7 +/- 2 items.
• STMs are either discarded or stored in LTM.
• Chunking can extend STM capacity by organizing information into smaller, meaningful groups.
• Rehearsal transfers information from STM to LTM.
• Maintenance rehearsal: Repeating stimuli in the same form.
• Elaborative rehearsal: Considering and organizing information, linking it in a meaningful way, which is more effective for transfer.
• Focus on understanding rather than memorization.
• Working memory: A set of active, temporary memory stores that actively manipulate and rehearse information.
• Working memory involves a central executive processor for reasoning and decision-making.
• Working memory acts as a mental whiteboard.

Long-Term Memory (LTM)

• LTM is the continuous storage of information that can last decades or a lifetime.
• LTM has no limit, similar to a computer's hard drive.
• Anterograde amnesia (inability to form new memories) vs. retrograde amnesia (loss of memory for events prior to trauma) demonstrates the distinction from STM.
• Types of Long-Term Memory.
  • Declarative (Explicit) Memory: Conscious recollection of information.
  • Semantic: General knowledge (e.g., knowing who the prime minister is).
  • Episodic: Recollection of events in our lives (e.g., a first kiss).
  • Non-declarative (Implicit) Memory: Memory that affects behavior without conscious recollection.
  • Procedural memory: Memory for how to do things (e.g., tying shoes).
  • Priming: Activation of stored information to help remember/identify new information faster.

Neuroscience of Memory

• Memory traces are distributed throughout the brain.
• Hippocampus: Plays a role in memory consolidation (initial encoding); damage leads to the inability to process new declarative memories.
• Amygala: Heavily involved with memories involving emotion (e.g., traumatic experiences, phobias).
• Long-term potentiation: Neural pathways become easily excited during learning; synapses between neurons increase, and dendrites branch out (neurons that fire together, wire together).

Forgetting

• Encoding failures: Occur because we must first attend to information to encode it; most events are never encoded.
• The self-reference effect shows we have better memory for information related to us.
• Stress reduces the accuracy of eyewitness recall and correct identification.
• Retrieval failure includes decay (fading over time) and interference.
• Retroactive interference: New information hampers previously learned information.
• Proactive interference: Earlier learning interferes with new learning.
• Amnesia: The loss of long-term memory due to disease, trauma, or psychological trauma.
• Anterograde amnesia: Inability to remember new information after the point of trauma; often affects the hippocampus.
• Retrograde amnesia: Loss of memory for events before the trauma.

Retrieving Memories

• Retrieval: The act of getting information out of memory storage and back into conscious awareness.
• Recall: Accessing information without cues (e.g., short answer tests).
• Recognition: Identifying previously learned information after encountering it again (e.g., multiple-choice questions).
• Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon: Retrieval failures where we are sure we know information but can't remember it, sometimes aided by cues.
• Levels of processing theory: The depth of information processing during exposure is critical.
• Shallow processing: Processing by physical and sensory aspects.
• Deepest processing: Analyzing information in terms of meaning and relating it to existing knowledge.
• Encoding specificity: Remembering better when retrieval conditions are similar to encoding conditions.
• Context-dependent learning: E.g., students tested in their usual classroom do better.
• State-dependent learning: E.g., Alcoholism.
• Flashbulb memory: A record of an atypical, unusual event with strong emotional associations, which are easily retrieved but not necessarily accurate.

Memory as Reconstructive

• Memory is reconstructive; we forget and memories change over time, influenced by cognitive "hardware" (stereotypes, schema, scripts) and post-event information.
• Schemas/scripts: Organized knowledge structures or mental models used to "fill in the gaps".
• Memory may be distorted to conform with Schemas/scripts.
• Suggestibility: Misinformation from external sources leads to false memories.
• Memories are fragile and vulnerable to suggestion.
• Misinformation effect: Post-event information alters or becomes incorporated into the original memory.
• False memories: Researchers have successfully implanted false memories, including traumatic ones.
• Eyewitness misidentification is a leading cause of wrongful convictions.

Language

• Language is the communication of information through symbols arranged according to rules.
• Language is central to communication and closely tied to how people think and understand the world.
• Language develops without formal instruction.
• Language follows similar patterns cross-culturally.
• Phonemes: Categories of sound our vocal apparatus produces.
• English has 26 letters but 40-45 phonemes.
• Languages vary in the number of phonemes they use.
• Morphemes: The smallest unit of meaning in a language.
• Most morphemes are words, but some modify the meaning of other words.
• Syntax: The set of rules by which people construct a sentence.
• Different languages have different syntaxes.

Language Acquisition

• Proficiency is maximal early in life.
• Being deprived of language during a critical period impedes the ability to fully acquire and use language.
• Babbling starts from 3 months to 1 year.
• Initially, babies babble all sounds but later specialize in their own language.
• Words & Phrases
• Around age 1 to 2, children combine words to create simple two-word phrases.
• By age 2, they have ~50 vocabulary words, and 6 months later, several hundred.
• Sentences.
• By age 3, children make plurals and use past tense but overgeneralize.
• All basic rules acquired by age 5.

Theories of Language Acquisition

• Learning-theory: Follows principles of reinforcement & conditioning.
• Nativist: Children are born with basic knowledge of language, a "language organ" or language acquisition device.
• Interactionist: Pre-programmed with hardware, develop software through exposure & environment.
• Linguistic relativity (Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis): The language people speak influences how people think, understand, & perceive the world.
• Examples include egocentric vs. geocentric perspectives and time perception.
• The Guugu Yimithirr language uses cardinal directions instead of left or right.

Thinking & Reasoning

• Thinking: Manipulation of mental representations of information.
• Top-down processes streamline cognitive functioning by utilizing pre-existing knowledge to fill in the gaps.
• Top-down processes reduce cognitive effort.
• Top-down processes speed up processing.
• Concepts: Knowledge and ideas about a set of objects, actions, and characteristics that share core properties.
• Prototypes: Best or most typical example of a concept.

Reasoning/Problem Solving

• Algorithm: A rule that, if applied appropriately, guarantees a solution to the problem.
• Algorithms only work for well-defined problems.
• Algorithms can be time-consuming.
• Heuristic: General problem-solving framework (shortcuts, rules of thumb).
• Useful because it is impossible to always consider all information.
• Heuristics reduce mental effort.
• Heuristics simplify decision-making.
• Heuristics are often correct.
• Representativeness heuristic: Basing judgments on similarity to an abstract ideal, expectation, or stereotype.
• Base rate fallacy: Base rates aren’t sufficiently taken into account.
• Availability Heuristic: Basing estimates of frequency or probability on the ease with which examples come to mind.
• Anchoring Heuristic: Relying on a single piece of information (the anchor) to inform decision-making.
• Framing: The way a question/statement is formulated can influence decision-making.

Obstacles to Problem Solving

• Mental sets: Becoming stuck in a specific problem-solving strategy, inhibiting our ability to generate alternatives.
• Functional fixedness: Difficulty conceptualizing that an object typically used for one purpose can be used for another.

Other Biases That Lead to Errors in Judgment and Decision-Making

• Hindsight bias: Tendency to overestimate how well we could have predicted something after it has already occurred.
• Confirmation bias: The tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information that supports a person’s prior beliefs.
• Tunnel vision: Focus on information that supports a particular point of view.

Motivation

• Motivation involves factors that direct and energize the behavior of humans and other organisms.
• Motivation includes biological, cognitive, and social aspects.
• Motivation seeks to explain the energy guiding behaviors.

Major Approaches to Motivation

• Instinct
• Drive reduction
• Arousal
• Incentive
• Cognitive
• Hierarchy of needs

Instinct Approaches

• Instincts are unlearned patterns of behavior that are biologically determined.
• Issues: Psychologists disagree on primary instincts.
• Instinct approaches doesn't explain why specific behaviors appear in a species.
• Human behavior is largely learned, not instinctual.

Drive-Reduction Approach

• Behavior is motivated by the need to reduce internal tension caused by unmet biological needs.
• Primary drives: Related to biological needs like hunger, thirst, and sleep.
• Secondary drives: Brought about by prior experience and learning, such as the need for knowledge, financial well-being, and personal achievement.
• Challenges: Overemphasizes biological needs.
• Drive-Reduction Approach doesn't account for non-homeostatic behaviors like curiosity.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

• Primary needs must be satisfied before higher-order needs.
• The base includes basic needs like food and water.

Arousal Approaches

• People strive to maintain certain levels of stimulation and activity, increasing or reducing them as necessary.
• People vary in their optimal arousal levels.

Incentive Approach

• Motivation stems from the desire to obtain valued external goals or incentives.
• Incentive Approach explains why people may succumb to incentives even without internal cues.

Cognitive Approaches

• Motivation is based on people’s thoughts, expectations, and goals.
• Intrinsic motivation: Driven by internal rewards or personal satisfaction.
• Extrinsic motivation: Driven by external rewards or pressures.
• Overjustification effect: Excessive external rewards for an already intrinsically motivating activity can reduce intrinsic motivation.

Hunger & Social Motives

• Biological Basis of Hunger: Glucose levels are monitored by the hypothalamus.
• Hormones: Ghrelin increases eating, leptin signals satiety, and insulin regulates satiety and food intake.
• Environmental & Psychological Influences: Sight, smell, and stress play a role.
• Social/Environmental Factors: Cultural preferences, habits, social norms, and food-related cues influence eating behaviors.
• Culture & Food: Portion sizes and eating habits vary across cultures.
• Culture & Hunger Motivation: Hunger is influenced by psychological and social factors, group dynamics, body ideals, and cultural norms.
• Obesity: Linked to an abundance of low-cost, high-fat meals, habits of eating high-calorie foods on the run, and a rise in energy-saving devices.

Social Motives

• Need for achievement: Desire to accomplish goals by setting high standards and striving to meet them.
• Need for affiliation: Desire to have positive interactions with others and be in close, friendly relationships.

Emotions

• Emotions are mental states or feelings associated with one's evaluation of experiences.
• Emotions involve arousal, facial and body changes, brain activation, cognitive appraisals, subjective feelings, and tendencies toward action, all shaped by cultural rules.

Components of Emotion

• Cognitive (subjective conscious experience)
• Physiological (bodily arousal)
• Behavioral (overt expressions)
• Amygdala links sensory input to emotional and behavioral responses.

Functions of Emotions

• Prepare people for action.
• Shape people's future behavior.
• Help people to interact more effectively with others

Labelling Emotions

• Basic emotions include happiness, anger, fear, sadness, and disgust.

Emotional Expression

• Innate: Darwin believed emotional expression was shaped through evolution.
• Universal: Major emotional expressions appear to be universal.
• Microexpressions: Occur in a fraction of a second and may reveal concealed emotions.

Culture & Emotions

• Culture influences what people feel and how they express emotions.
• Cultural display rules influence the expression of emotions in public.

Theories of Emotion

• Explore the relationship between physical responses and subjective feelings.
• James-Lange Theory: Body reacts first, then emotion is felt based on that reaction.
• Cannon-Bard Theory: Emotions and physiological reactions occur simultaneously.
• Schachter-Singer Two-Factory Theory: Emotions arise from physiological arousal and cognitive interpretation.
• Facial Feedback Hypothesis: Facial muscles send messages to the brain about the emotion being expressed.
• Theory of Constructed Emotion: Emotions are concepts constructed by our brains based on previous experiences and cultural context.

Happiness

• Linked to mastery, many minor pleasures, extraversion, self-esteem, individualism, close relationships, and maintaining goals.
• Weakly correlated with physical attractiveness and intelligence.

Nature vs. Nurture

• Developmental psychologists consider the interaction between nature (heredity) and nurture (environment) in influencing behavior.
• Heredity refers to influences based on an individual's genetic makeup.
• Environment includes influences from parents, siblings, family, friends, schooling, nutrition, and other experiences.
• Genetic factors provide potential and place limitations.
• Twin studies, especially those involving twins separated at birth, offer valuable insights into the relative influence of genetic and environmental factors.
• Differences in identical twins' development are attributed to the environment.
• Characteristics significantly influenced by genetics include physical, intellectual, and emotional traits.
  • Physical: Height, weight, tone of voice, blood pressure, tooth decay, athletic ability, firmness of handshake, and age of death
  • Intellectual: Memory, intelligence, age of language acquisition, reading disability, and intellectual disability
  • Emotional: Shyness, extraversion, emotionality, neuroticism, schizophrenia, anxiety, and alcoholism

Developmental Research Techniques

• Cross-sectional research compares people of different ages at the same point in time to identify differences between age groups.
• Longitudinal research traces the behavior of one or more participants as they age to observe changes in behavior over time.
• Sequential research examines a number of different age groups at several time points.

Basics of Genetics

• Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes (46 total), with 23 coming from each parent.
• Genes on these chromosomes contain instructions for traits and functions, such as sex, cognitive abilities, and personality.
• DNA serves as the building block of genes.

Prenatal Development

• The age of viability for a fetus is around 22 weeks.
• Exposure to stimuli like the "Cat in the Hat" prenatally can affect sound perception after birth.

Teratogens

• Teratogens are substances or environmental factors that can harm a developing fetus, leading to growth problems, birth defects, or miscarriage.
• Examples of teratogens include alcohol (leading to FASD), tobacco (linked to low birth weight), viruses like Zika, bacteria/parasites, radiation, pollution, certain drugs, and Accutane.
• The effects of teratogens depend on the timing of exposure during development.
• Maternal exposure to higher levels of fluoride has been associated with lower IQ scores in children.
• Thalidomide, a drug formerly used to treat morning sickness, was highly teratogenic and caused limb malformations.

Genetic Factors & Conditions

• Genetic factors can lead to conditions such as phenylketonuria (PKU), Tay-Sachs disease, and Down syndrome.
• Down syndrome (trisomy 21) occurs in approximately 1 in 800 live births.
• Down syndrome is linked to an error in cell division resulting in an extra chromosome 21.
• Risk factors for Down Syndrome include the mother's age being younger than 18 or older than 35.

Infancy & Childhood

• Developmental milestones indicate when 50% of children can perform a skill.
• Performance varies due to biological maturation, environmental exploration, and cultural differences.
• Newborns prefer patterns with contours and edges.
• Newborns can imitate adult expressions, which provides a foundation for social interaction.
• Humans are predisposed to protect and nurture babies, driven by "cuteness" (Kindchenschema) which activates the dopamine reward system.

Attachment

• Attachment is the emotional bond between a child and caregiver, shown by seeking closeness and distress upon separation.
• Early attachment studies by Konrad Lorenz focused on imprinting in goslings.
• Harlow's Monkeys showed that infant monkeys preferred comfort over food, seeking contact with a cloth "mother" when afraid.
• Bowlby's theory suggests infants are programmed to elicit caregiver responses, and caregivers are biologically programmed to respond.
• Reciprocity strengthens attachment.
• Ainsworth Strange Situation is used to identify attachment styles: secure, avoidant, ambivalent, and disorganized-disoriented.
  • Secure attachment: The child uses the mother as a home base to explore, is distressed when she leaves, and goes to her upon return.
  • Avoidant attachment: The child does not cry when the mother leaves and avoids her upon return.
  • Ambivalent attachment: The child is distressed when the mother leaves but is ambivalent upon her return.
  • Disorganized-disoriented attachment: The child shows inconsistent, contradictory behavior.
• Secure attachment at age 1 is associated with better social and emotional competence, fewer psychological difficulties later in life, and more successful romantic relationships.
• Criticisms of attachment theory include cultural variations, temperament, and shared genes between caregivers and infants.

Parenting Styles

• Authoritarian parenting: Rigid, punitive, with strict standards, leading to unsociable, unfriendly, and withdrawn children.
• Permissive parenting: Lax, inconsistent, and undemanding, resulting in immature, moody, dependent children with low self-control.
• Uninvolved parenting: Emotionally detached, providing only food, clothing, and shelter, leading to indifferent and rejecting behavior in children.
• Authoritative parenting: Firm, setting limits and goals, using reasoning, and encouraging independence, resulting in children with good social skills who are likeable, self-reliant, and independent.
• Temperament, an innate disposition, affects parenting style.
• Resiliency is the ability to overcome high-risk circumstances, with resilient children shaping their own environment.

Psychosocial Development (Erikson)

• Erikson's theory outlines eight stages of development, each involving a crisis or conflict that must be resolved.
  • (1) Trust vs. Mistrust (birth to 1.5 years): Infants develop trust or lack of trust based on interactions with caregivers.
  • (2) Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt (1.5 to 3 years): Toddlers develop independence if encouraged, or shame and self-doubt if restricted.
  • (3) Initiative vs. Guilt (3 to 6 years): Children experience conflict between independence and the negative results of their actions.
  • (4) Industry vs. Inferiority (6 to 12 years): Children develop positive social interactions or feel socially inadequate.
  • (5) Identity vs. Role Confusion (adolescence): Adolescents try to determine their identity, and confusion can lead to a lack of stable identity.
  • (6) Intimacy vs. Isolation (post-adolescence to early 30s): Focus is on developing close relationships, and difficulty can result in loneliness.
  • (7) Generativity vs. Stagnation (middle adulthood): Ability to contribute to family and community, with success leading to positive feelings about the continuity of life.
  • (8) Ego-Integrity vs. Despair (late adulthood): Reviewing life's successes and failures, with success leading to a sense of accomplishment.

Cognitive Development (Piaget)

• Piaget's theory suggests children pass through stages on their way to adult-like thinking.
• Children are motivated to match experiences with their beliefs (schemas).
• Assimilation: Incorporating new experiences into current understanding.
• Accommodation: Adjusting or changing existing schemas based on new experiences.
  • (1) Sensorimotor Stage (birth to 2 years): Understanding based on touching, chewing, manipulating, and developing object permanence.
  • (2) Preoperational Stage (2 to 7 years): Development of language and symbolic thinking, but with egocentric thinking.
  • (3) Concrete Operational Stage (7 to 12 years): Thinking more logically, overcoming egocentrism, and understanding the principle of conservation and reversibility, but with difficulty in abstract thought.
  • (4) Formal Operational Stage (age 12 to adulthood): Development of logical and abstract thinking.

Adolescence

• Adolescents understand that morality isn't black and white.
• Kohlberg's stages of moral development:
  • Preconventional morality: Fear of punishment leads to obedience.
  • Conventional morality: Focus on law and order.
  • Postconventional morality: Values and laws are relative and can be changed.
• Criticisms of Kohlberg's theory include overlooking educational and cultural influences, gender bias, inconsistency across situations, low correlation with moral behavior, and confounding with verbal intelligence.
• Gender differences in morality: Women emphasize interpersonal relationships and social emotions (care-based), while men focus on justice and fairness.
• Adolescents develop the ability to think abstractly and may experience adolescent egocentrism, including feeling like their insights are unique and thoughts exceptional.
  • Imaginary audience: The belief they are the center of everyone's attention.
  • Personal fables: The belief that one's experiences are unique and shared by no one else.
  • Invincibility fable: Distorted perceptions of risk, feeling exempt from rules of probability.
• During adolescence, emotion may outweigh logic due to the immaturity of brain areas that regulate impulse control.

Adulthood

• Emerging adulthood (18-25): A transitional period where individuals are still determining their identity and career path.
• Middle adulthood: Often perceived as the best years, with minor physical declines.
• In middle adulthood, individuals may experience a midlife transition, questioning their lives.
• In old age, fluid intelligence tends to decline, while crystallized intelligence remains stable or improves.
• Memory change is not an inevitable part of aging, with deficits mainly limited to episodic memory.
• Alzheimer's disease leads to a gradual and irreversible decline in cognitive abilities.
• Prevention strategies for Alzheimer's include physical activity, cognitive engagement, a healthy diet, and social connection.
• Gaming in late adulthood has been shown to improve cognitive skills such as task switching, short-term memory, and reasoning.