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What are the ways of defining age?
chronological, biological, cognitive, psychological, social
chronological age
how long a person has lived since birth
biological age
how an organ is functioning
cognitive age
cognitive abilities change over time
psychological age
personality changes over time
social age
one's social roles and environmental changes
what three reasons cause the aging population to rise globally?
infant mortality- decreasing
decreasing infertility
improved longevity
*women still have a longer life expectancy
Is neuron shrinkage and reduced dendritic branching a normal change in the brain with age?
yes
what are the normal changes in the brain as people age?
1. neuron shrinkage & reduced dendritic branching (less opportunities for connections to be made)
2. atrophy primarily in the frontal and hippocampus (short term memory) (naturally these portions of the brain just get a little smaller)
3. reduction of neu
What is the hippocampus in charge of?
Short term memory
What type of memory can you keep that is not in the hippocampus?
procedural memory
As we age, our likelihood of acquiring a cognitive and language disorder ________?
increases!
what is synaptic pruning?
eliminating useless pathways
how old are we when our brain has fully developed?
12 years old
what are positive aspects of the aging brain?
1. memory- related changes (richness of life experiences)
2. age-related changes in prefrontal and limbic interact, along with hormonal changes (balance of basic drives)
3. changes to grey and white matter pathways and synaptic connections (pruning & crea
What part of the brain makes us different than other primates?
Prefrontal
What are normal changes in language as people get older?
1. memory
2. word finding
3. reading and writing
4. discourse
5. pragmatics
what are normal changes in word finding related to aging?
1. more tip of the tongue (not as significant in convo)
2. slower response times
3. less accuracy
4. reduced verbal fluency (pauses)
what are normal changes in reading and writing related to aging?
1. more likely due to sensory and/or motor deficits than linguistic factors
(this really shouldn't be TOO MUCH different)
What are three influencing factors of normal changes in discourse?
1. emotional regulation
2. personal discourse goals
3. nature of specific discourse task
what are normal changes in pragmatics related to normal aging?
aging does not typically seem to influence pragmatic ability...... we usually change our pragmatics when talking/interacting with them!
what are the theories for cognitive- linguistic changes?
1. resource capacity theories
2. speed of processing theories
3. inhibition theories
*** she said these were not the most important, just to know that there were different theories
Define elderspeak
adaptation of language to a person
What stereotypes does elderspeak convey?
older people are:
- childish
-incompetent
-cognitively impaired
- dependent
***our role is to make them as competent and independent as they can be
What positive modifications can be used instead of elderspeak?
1. reducing grammatical complexity
2. reducing utterance length
3. speaking louder