sarcopenia
Age-related loss of muscle mass and strength. The rate of muscle loss with age occurs at a rate of approximately 1 to 2 percent per year past the age of 50. A loss of strength especially occurs in the back and legs. Exercise can reduce the decline involve
climacteric
Term used to describe the midlife transition in which fertility declines.
hormone replacement therapy (hrt)
This therapy augments (increases) the declining levels of reproductive hormone production by the ovaries. ___ can consist of various forms of estrogen, and usually a progestin. Evidence emerged that participants who were receiving ____ faced an increased
crystallized intelligence
An individual's accumulated information and verbal skills which continues to increase in middle adulthood. ________ is the ability to use skills, knowledge, and experience. It should not be equated with memory or knowledge, but it does rely on accessing i
fluid intelligence
The ability to reason abstractly, begins to decline in the middle adulthood years. ______ is the capacity to think logically and solve problems in novel situations, independent of acquired knowledge.
Seattle Longitudinal Study
Involves extensive evaluation of intellectual abilities in the adulthood years, initiated by Warner Schaie. Participants have been assessed in seven year intervals since 1956: 1963, 1970, etc. The main focus in the _____ has been on individual change and
Viktor Frankl
__ survived the concentration camp and went on to write about meaning in life. In his book Man's Search for Meaning, __ emphasized each person's uniqueness and the finiteness of life. He argued that examining the finiteness of our existence and the certai
contemporary life events approach
Approach emphasizing that how a life event influences the individual's development depends not only on the life event, but also on mediating factors (such as physical health and family supports), the individual's adaptation to the life event (appraisal of
social clock
The timetable according to which individuals are expected to accomplish life's tasks, such as getting married, having children, or establishing themselves in a career. ___ provide guides for our lives; individuals whose lives are not synchronized with the
Big Five Factors of Personality
Paul Costa and Robert McCrae.
Openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. A number of research studies point toward these factors as important dimensions of personality. Costa and McCrae concluded that consider
Erikson's Stage of Generativity Versus Stagnation
Middle-aged adults face a significant issue-_______. ___ encompasses adults' desire to leave legacies of themselves to the next generation. Through these legacies adults achieve a kinda of immortality. By contrast, ___ develops when individuals sense that
free-radical theory
A microbiological theory of aging that states that people age because when cells metabolize energy, the by-products include unstable oxygen molecules known as free radicals. These molecules ricochet around and inside the cells, damaging DNA and other cell
hormonal stress theory
The theory that aging in the body's hormonal system can lower resistance to stress and increase the likelihood of disease. Normally, when people experience stressors, the body responds by releasing certain hormones. As people age, the hormones stimulated
Carl Jung
Doesn't quite believe in death. Just another inevitable stage. Death is an end, but not quite certain about this end. Don't really believe that death is the end, there must be a reason. I don't allow myself, for instance, to believe a thing just for the s
neurogenesis
The generation of new neurons. It does occur in human adults although in only two brain regions: the hippocampus (involved in memory) and the olfactory bulb (involved in smell).
glaucoma
Damage to the optic nerve because of the pressure created by a buildup of fluid in the eye. Approximately 1 percent of individuals in their seventies and 10 percent of those in their nineties have ___, which can be treated with eyedrops. If left untreated
macular degeneration
A disease that involves deterioration of the macula of the retina, which corresponds to the focal center of the visual field. Individuals with ___ may have relatively normal peripheral vision but be unable to see clearly what is right in front of them. It
selective attention
Focusing on a specific aspect of experience that is relevant while ignoring others that are irrelevant. Eg. The ability to focus on one voice among many in a crowded room or making a decision about which stimuli to attend to when making a left turn at an
divided attention
Concentrating on more than one activity at the same time. When the two competing tasks are reasonably easy, age differences among adults are minimal or nonexistent. However, the more difficult the competing tasks are, the less effectively older adults ___
sustained attention
aka as vigilance. Focused and extended engagement with an object, task, event, or some other aspect of the environment. On tests of simple vigilance older adults usually perform as well as younger adults, but on complex vigilance tasks older adults' perfo
Denise Park
Working memory. The slowdown in learning new information has been linked to changes in working memory, the mental "workbench" where individuals manipulate and assemble information when making decisions, solving problems, and comprehending written and spok
cognitive mechanics
The "hardware" of the mind, reflecting the neurophysiological architecture of the brain developed through evolution. ___ involve the speed and accuracy of the processes involving sensory input, attention, visual and motor memory, discrimination, compariso