The Aging Mind Opportunities in Cognitive Research (2000) / Chapter Skim
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3 Cognition in Context
3 Cognition in Context
Pages 21-36
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From page 21... ...
This context includes not only evolutionary and biological constraints and affordances but the cultures in which minds reside, including culturally shared ideas, expectations, habits of mind, communication patterns, and technologies. Contextual factors that enable some older people to function particularly well may be employed to improve functioning for others.
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From page 22... ...
that systematically different life experiences yield systematically different cognitive contents and processes; (4) and that advanced technology can modify the context of cognition to greatly improve functioning for older people.
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From page 23... ...
For cognitive tasks that require new learning or that depend on speed of responding, performance diminishes with age (Burke and MacKay, 19971; such performance is also related to the ability to enact certain tasks of everyday life, such as such as paying bills or filling out tax forms (Diehl, 1998; Willis and Marsiske, 19911. However, performance on laboratory tasks that measure cognitive processes does not map perfectly onto performance in many important life domains, such as performance in the workplace and the exercise of
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From page 24... ...
Thus, age-related declines in measured cognitive processes may not imply equivalent declines in the ability to perform cognitive tasks of living. Some research actually shows positive age trends, with older people outperforming younger people despite lower performance on some measures of cognitive processing (Marsiske and Willis, 1995)
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From page 25... ...
In order to understand everyday functioning, it may be necessary to shift from a conception of cognition as something that occurs entirely within the individual to one that takes into consideration distributed, interactive processes that shape and are shaped by the social world and the technological environment. Cognitive Effects of Life Experiences If the brain is shaped by experience, then it should not be surprising that individuals who differ systematically in the kinds of experience that shape the brain differ in their cognitive functioning (for a thorough review of social influences on cognition, see Levine et al., 19931.
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From page 26... ...
However, several interesting hypotheses are available to account for them and to suggest causal mechanisms leading from particular life experiences to their presumed cognitive effects. One set of hypotheses centers on cognitive practice or training.
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From page 27... ...
A second set of causal hypotheses involves health as an intervening variable between social context and cognitive aging. A central idea is that the shared life experiences of certain social groups may lead them to suffer more from diseases like hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes that directly affect cognitive functioning (see Waldstein, Appendix E, for a discussion of these health effects)
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From page 28... ...
This social expectation hypothesis is sufficiently plausible to warrant further study. The above examples indicate that there are numerous plausible hypotheses about how life experiences might yield the observed intergroup differences in cognitive aging; few of these hypotheses, however, have received
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Understanding the cognitive effects of life experience may have great practical importance because life experiences can be modified. Improved understanding may therefore lead to promising interventions to improve cognitive outcomes.
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The recommended research initiative would promote adaptivity by pursuing three major goals: understanding adaptive processes that affect cognitive functioning during aging; understanding how differences in sociocultural context bring about systematic variation in cognitive functioning and performance; and developing the knowledge needed to design effective technologies to support adaptivity in older adults. Understanding adaptive processes that affect cognitive functioning and performance during aging.
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From page 31... ...
, rendering them more influenced by accumulated knowledge than younger people. There is also growing consensus that some age differences in cognitive performance reflect age differences in goals (Hasher and Zachs, 1988; Hess and Pullen, 1994; Isaacowitz et al., 20001.
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From page 32... ...
Although the specific connections between estrogen and cognitive processes and/or other brain functions are still unclear, there is evidence suggesting links of estrogen to neuronal plasticity and to the modulation of neurotransmitter pathways (Costa et al., 1997; Sherwin, 19941. These results suggest that hormone replacement therapy might yield considerable benefit to cognitive functioning in postmenopausal women, but the limited research so far has generated conflicting conclusions (Erkkola, 19961.
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From page 33... ...
If children actually learn these lessons, there may be specific long-term effects on their ways of thinking. Similarly, there is evidence to suggest that race differences in biological markers are mediated by life experiences that cause lasting physiological stress responses (Clark et al., 19991.
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are improving the capability to conduct research on the ways in which behavioral variables affect the complex biological systems that support cognition. Research on the neural effects of training and practice may also suggest causal mechanisms that link life experiences to specific neural changes.
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From page 35... ...
As already noted, new sensing and information technology holds promise for revolutionary advances in adapting environments to suit the cognitive needs of aging individuals. To achieve this promise, it is necessary to develop a sufficient understanding of sensory-motor and higher-level cognitive functioning in aging individuals to make it possible to design devices and decision aids to work well with individuals whose level of functioning without assistance has declined.
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From page 36... ...
With this mechanism, industry could benefit from behavioral research that it would not usually conduct, and older adults might see useful adaptive technologies sooner. Also, university researchers would be able to perform basic research in the context of more realistic technological environments than they can usually afford.
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