scholarly journals Older Adults' Use of Retrieval Strategies in Everyday Life

Gerontology ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 62 (6) ◽  
pp. 624-635 ◽  
Author(s):  
David J. Frank ◽  
Megan L. Jordano ◽  
Kelly Browne ◽  
Dayna R. Touron
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Specific Activity ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Retrieval Strategies ◽  
Algorithmic Strategy ◽  
Memory Confidence

Background: Despite declines in cognitive abilities, older adults often perform comparable to younger adults in everyday tasks [J Am Geriatr Soc 1999;47:172-183]. Older adults may compensate for cognitive declines by using more efficient strategies. People often improve their efficiency by switching from an algorithmic strategy where information is computed or looked-up, to a strategy where the information is retrieved directly from memory [J Exp Psychol Gen 1988;117:258-275]. However, older adults are reluctant to shift from algorithmic strategies to retrieval strategies in the laboratory, and this reluctance to use retrieval is driven by both bottom-up (slower learning) and top-down influences (memory confidence, motivation to be quick/accurate) [Psychol Aging 2004;19:452-466; Mem Cognit 2004;32:298-310]. Objective: We investigated whether bottom-up and top-down factors influence younger and older adults' decisions to use retrieval-based or algorithmic strategies in everyday life. Methods: In two studies, participants completed a daily diary for 5 (study 1) or 7 (study 2) days. Participants were asked if and how they completed daily activities within several everyday task domains. They also indicated for how long and how often they completed the specific activity (bottom-up factors), as well as how confident they were in using their memory and how motivated they were to perform the specific activity quickly and accurately (top-down influences). Results: Both studies provided evidence for bottom-up and top-down influences. Additionally, study 2 found that top-down factors (memory confidence and motivation to be quick) were more important for older compared to younger adults. Conclusion: These results indicate that strategy choices influence older adults' cognitive efficiency in everyday as well as laboratory learning.

scholarly journals Predictability of salient distractor increases top-down control in healthy younger and older adults

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marleen Haupt ◽  
Natan Napiórkowski ◽  
Christian Sorg ◽  
Hermann J. Müller ◽  
Kathrin Finke
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Attentional Capture ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Abrupt Onset ◽  
Partial Report ◽  
Spatial Cues ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Distractor Location ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Bottom Up

AbstractYounger adults are able to shield attentional selection against distractors when they have preknowledge about the upcoming distractor location. For older adults, who suffer from an overall decrease in attentional capacity and who are, in addition, particularly prone to attentional capture, such an adaptive shielding ability would be of particular importance. However, it is an open question whether healthy older adults can utilise the predictability of distractor locations to improve top-down controlled selection to the same degree as younger adults. The theory of visual attention (TVA) framework provides a systematic way to measure an individual’s efficiency of top-down control. The present study combined a TVA-based partial-report paradigm with abrupt-onset cues rendering the indicated location highly salient in a bottom-up fashion. Experiment 1, in which (on cued trials) the cue was invariably followed by a distractor at the cued location, showed that the cueing increased the weight of the distractor in the competition for selection compared to uncued distractors (on trials without a cue). In Experiment 2, the probability with which the abrupt-onset cue indicated the upcoming distractor location (1/3 vs. 2/3 of trials) was manipulated between experimental blocks. Participants were able to learn these statistical contingencies and exert top-down control more efficiently in blocks with highly valid distractor location cues, as compared to low-validity blocks. This finding suggests that, even though abrupt-onset spatial cues increase the attentional weights of distractors, participants can acquire and use pre-knowledge about the likelihood that a distractor will appear at an indicated location to down-weight the bottom-up attentional-capture signal. This ability turned out to be comparable across age groups, suggesting that efficient use of predictive information to shield against distracting information is preserved in normal ageing.

scholarly journals Between Bare Life and Everyday Life : Spatializing Europe’s Migrant Camps

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irit Katz
Keyword(s):  
Everyday Life ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Urban Landscapes ◽  
Refugee Camps ◽  
Bare Life ◽  
Migration Routes ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Northern France ◽  
Analytical Strategies

The migrant and refugee camps that proliferated in Europe over recent years reflect extreme, if not bipolar, architectural conditions. While fenced carceral camps with prefabricated units were created top-down by state and municipal authorities, informal makeshift camps of tents and self-made shelters were formed bottom-up along Europe’s migration routes. These contrasting spatial typologies often appear side by side in the open landscapes of rural fields, in urban landscapes at the heart or in the fringes of cities, and in the architectural landscapes of abandoned institutions and facilities such as factories, prisons, airports, and military barracks. The different ways in which camps are created, function, and are managed by multiple and changing actors and sovereignties, substantially influence the form of these spaces. So far, however, the radically different spatial typologies of the camp and the intersections between them have not been comparatively analysed. Based on empirical studies of the recently created migrant camps in Europe, this paper sets out to investigate their various configurations, what they reflect, and how they correspond with the culture and politics that shape them. While this paper mainly focuses on three particular camps in northern France – the container camp in Calais, the makeshift camp in Calais known as the “Jungle,” and La Linière camp in Grande-Synthe – it offers observations and analytical strategies relevant to camp spaces in other spaces and contexts and to camp studies more broadly.

The Effects of Age and Gender on Lipreading Abilities

2007 ◽  
Vol 18 (10) ◽  
pp. 883-892 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy Tye-Murray ◽  
Mitchell S. Sommers ◽  
Brent Spehar
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Percent Correct ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Las Mujeres ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Older Males

Age-related declines for many sensory and cognitive abilities are greater for males than for females. The primary purpose of the present investigation was to consider whether age-related changes in lipreading abilities are similar for men and women by comparing the lipreading abilities of separate groups of younger and older adults. Older females, older males, younger females and younger males completed vision-only speech recognition tests of: (1) 13 consonants in a vocalic /i/-C-/i/ environment; (2) words in a carrier phrase; and (3) meaningful sentences. In addition to percent correct performance, consonant data were analyzed for performance within viseme categories. The results suggest that while older adults do not lipread as well as younger adults, the difference between older and younger participants was comparable across gender. We also found no differences in the lipreading abilities of males and females, regardless of stimulus type (i.e., consonants, words, sentences), a finding that differs from some reports by previous investigators (e.g., Dancer, Krain, Thompson, Davis, & Glenn, 1994). El deterioro relacionado con la edad de muchas habilidades sensoriales y cognitivas es mayor para los hombres que para las mujeres. El propósito primario de la presente investigación fue considerar si los cambios relacionados con la edad en la habilidad de leer los labios eran similares para hombre y mujeres, comparando las habilidades de lectura labial de grupos separados de adultos jóvenes y viejos. Mujeres viejas, hombres viejos, mujeres jóvenes y hombres jóvenes completaron pruebas de reconocimiento del lenguaje únicamente por medio de la visión de: (1) 13 consonantes en un ambiente vocálico /i/-C-/i/; (2) de palabras en una frase portadora; y (3) de frases significativas. Además del porcentaje correcto de desempeño, los datos de las consonantes se analizaron en cuanto a desempeño dentro de las categorías de visemas. Los resultados sugieren que mientras los adultos más viejos no leen los labios tan bien como los adultos más jóvenes, las diferencias entre participantes más viejos y más jóvenes fueron comparables entre los géneros. Tampoco encontramos diferencias en las habilidades de lectura labial de hombres y mujeres, sin importar el tipo de estímulo (p.e., consonantes, palabras, frases), un hallazgo que difiere con algunos reportes de investigadores previos (p.e., Dancer, Krain, Thompson, Davis, & Glenn, 1994).

scholarly journals Comparison of Top-Down and Bottom-Up Road Transport Emissions through High-Resolution Air Quality Modeling in a City of Complex Orography

Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 1372
Author(s):  
Felipe Cifuentes ◽  
Carlos M. González ◽  
Erika M. Trejos ◽  
Luis D. López ◽  
Francisco J. Sandoval ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Specific Activity ◽  
Road Transport ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Activity Data ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Quality Modeling ◽  
Traffic Volumes ◽  
Vehicular Speed ◽  
Transport Emissions

Vehicular emissions are a predominant source of pollution in urban environments. However, inherent complexities of vehicular behavior are sources of uncertainties in emission inventories (EIs). We compare bottom-up and top-down approaches for estimating road transport EIs in Manizales, Colombia. The EIs were estimated using a COPERT model, and results from both approaches were also compared with the official top-down EI (estimated from IVE methodology). The transportation model PTV-VISUM was used for obtaining specific activity information (traffic volumes, vehicular speed) in bottom-up estimation. Results from COPERT showed lower emissions from the top-down approach than from the bottom-up approach, mainly for NMVOC (−28%), PM10 (−26%), and CO (−23%). Comparisons showed that COPERT estimated lower emissions than IVE, with higher differences than 40% for species such as PM10, NOX, and CH4. Furthermore, the WRF–Chem model was used to test the sensitivity of CO, O3, PM10, and PM2.5 predictions to the different EIs evaluated. All studied pollutants exhibited a strong sensitivity to the emission factors implemented in EIs. The COPERT/top-down was the EI that produced more significant errors. This work shows the importance of performing bottom-up EI to reduce the uncertainty regarding top-down activity data.

scholarly journals Cognitive consequences of trilingualism

2016 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 754-773 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott R Schroeder ◽  
Viorica Marian
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Inhibitory Control ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Cognitive Reserve ◽  
Age Of Onset ◽  
Infants And Toddlers ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Third Language ◽  
Cognitive Plasticity ◽  
Cognitive Consequences

Aims and objectives: The objectives of the present research were to examine the cognitive consequences of trilingualism and explain them relative to the cognitive consequences of bilingualism. Approach: A comparison of cognitive abilities in trilinguals and bilinguals was conducted. In addition, we proposed a cognitive plasticity framework to account for cognitive differences and similarities between trilinguals and bilinguals. Data and analysis: Three aspects of cognition were analyzed: (1) cognitive reserve in older adults, as measured by age of onset of Alzheimer’s disease and mild cognitive impairment; (2) inhibitory control in children and younger adults, as measured by response times on behavioral Simon and flanker tasks; and (3) memory generalization in infants and toddlers, as measured by accuracy on behavioral deferred imitation tasks. Results were considered within a framework of cognitive plasticity, which took into account several factors that may affect plasticity including the age of learning a third language and the extent to which additional cognitive resources are needed to learn the third language. Findings: A mixed pattern of results was observed. In some cases, such as cognitive reserve in older adults, trilinguals showed larger advantages than did bilinguals. On other measures, for example inhibitory control in children and younger adults, trilinguals were found to exhibit the same advantages as bilinguals. In still other cases, such as memory generalization in infants and toddlers, trilinguals did not demonstrate the advantages seen in bilinguals. Originality: This study is the first comprehensive analysis of how learning a third language affects the cognitive abilities that are modified by bilingual experience, and the first to propose a cognitive plasticity framework that can explain and predict trilingual-bilingual differences. Significance: This research shows that the cognitive consequences of trilingualism are not simply an extension of bilingualism’s effects; rather, trilingualism has distinct consequences, with theoretical implications for our understanding of linguistic and cognitive processes and their plasticity, as well as applied-science implications for using second and third language learning in educational and rehabilitative contexts to foster successful cognitive development and aging.

scholarly journals Prospective Memory in Older Adults: Where We Are Now and What Is Next

Gerontology ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 62 (4) ◽  
pp. 459-466 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias Kliegel ◽  
Nicola Ballhausen ◽  
Alexandra Hering ◽  
Andreas Ihle ◽  
Katharina M. Schnitzspahn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Prospective Memory ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Current State ◽  
Life Challenges ◽  
Health Related

The interplay of cognitive abilities that constitute the process of ‘remembering to remember' is referred to as prospective memory. Prospective memory is an essential ability to meet everyday life challenges across the life span, constitutes a key element of autonomy and independence and is especially important in old age with increasing social and health-related prospective memory demands. The present paper first presents major findings from the current state of the art in research on age effects in prospective memory. In a second part, it presents four focus areas for future research outlining possible conceptual, methodological, and neuroscientific advancements.

scholarly journals Self-projection in younger and older adults: A study of episodic memory, prospection, and theory of mind

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shoshana N Jarvis ◽  
Jeremy K. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Older Adult ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Healthy Older Adults ◽  
The Past ◽  
System P ◽  
Adult Participants

Self-projection is the ability to orient the self in different places in time and space. Episodic memory, prospection, and theory of mind (ToM) are all cognitive abilities that share an element of self-projection. Previous research has posited that each of these abilities stem from the same neural network (Buckner & Carroll, 2006). The current study compared performance of cognitively healthy older adults and younger adults on several self-projection tasks to examine the relatedness of these constructs behaviorally. Episodic memory and prospection were measured using an episodic interview task where the participants were asked to remember or imagine events that either had happened in the past or could happen in the future and then gave ratings describing the extent to which they were mentally experiencing the event and from what perspective they viewed it. ToM was measured by asking participants to make judgments regarding the intentions of characters described in stories that involved cognitive, affective, or ironic components. Our results demonstrate that aging influences episodic memory, prospection, and ToM similarly: older adult participants showed declines on each of these measures compared to younger adults. Further, we observed correlations between performance on the measures of episodic memory and prospection as well as between episodic memory and ToM, although no correlation between prospection and ToM was observed after controlling for chronological age. We discuss these results in the light of theories suggesting that each of these abilities is governed by a common brain system.

Role of Emotion and Cognition on Age Differences in the Framing Effect

2017 ◽  
Vol 85 (3) ◽  
pp. 305-325 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bingyan Pu ◽  
Huamao Peng ◽  
Shiyong Xia
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Age Differences ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Emotional Arousal ◽  
Framing Effect ◽  
Cognitive Resources ◽  
Age Difference ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Life Saving

Framing effect studies indicate that individuals are risk averse for decisions framed as gains but risk-seeking for decisions framed as losses. Findings of age-related differences in susceptibility to framing are mixed. In the current study, we examined emotional arousal in two decision tasks (life saving vs. money gambling) to evaluate the effects of emotion on age differences in the framing effect. When cognitive abilities and styles were controlled, there was a framing effect in the younger group in the life-saving task, a high-emotional arousal task, while older adults did not display this classic framing effect pattern. They showed risk aversion in both positive and negative framing. Age differences existed in the framing effect. Conversely, younger and older adults in the money-gambling task both displayed the framing effect; there was no age difference. When the cognitive abilities were not controlled, the pattern of results in the high-emotional arousal task remained unchanged, while greater framing effects were found, from the perspective of effect size, for older than younger adults in the low-emotional arousal task. Limited cognitive resources would not hamper older adults’ performances when their emotional arousal was high. However, older adults with low-level emotional arousal were more susceptible than younger adults to framing because of declining cognitive capacities. This implied the importance of emotion in older adults’ decision making and supported the selective engagement hypothesis.

Emotion dynamics across adulthood in everyday life: Older adults are more emotionally stable and better at regulating desires

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daisy A. Burr ◽  
Jaime J. Castrellon ◽  
David Zald ◽  
Gregory Russell Samanez-Larkin
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Negative Affect ◽  
Positive Affect ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
Emotional Health ◽  
Emotional Experience ◽  
Affective States ◽  
Laboratory Studies ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Hallmark Feature

Older adults report experiencing improved emotional health, such as more intense positive affect and less intense negative affect. However, there are mixed findings on whether older adults are better at regulating emotion—a hallmark feature of emotional health—and most research is based on laboratory studies that may not capture how people regulate their emotions in everyday life. We used experience sampling to examine how multiple measures of emotional health, including mean affect, dynamic fluctuations between affective states and the ability to resist desires—a common form of emotion regulation—differ in daily life across adulthood. Participants (N = 122, ages 20-80) reported how they were feeling and responding to desire temptations for 10 days. Older adults experienced more intense positive affect, less intense negative affect and were more emotionally stable, even after controlling for individual differences in global life satisfaction. Older adults were more successful at regulating desires, even though they experienced more intense desires than younger adults. In addition, adults in general experiencing more intense affect were less successful at resisting desires. These results demonstrate how emotional experience is related to more successful desire regulation in everyday life and provide unique evidence that emotional health and regulation improve with age.

Bridging the gap: Dynamics as a unified view of cognition

2001 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Derek Harter ◽  
Arthur C. Graesser ◽  
Stan Franklin
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Gap Dynamics ◽  
Dynamical Models ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Computational Approaches ◽  
Unified View ◽  
The One ◽  
Biological Organisms

Top-down dynamical models of cognitive processes, such as the one presented by Thelen et al., are important pieces in understanding the development of cognitive abilities in humans and biological organisms. Unlike standard symbolic computational approaches to cognition, such dynamical models offer the hope that they can be connected with more bottom-up, neurologically inspired dynamical models to provide a complete view of cognition at all levels. We raise some questions about the details of their simulation and about potential limitations of top-down dynamical models.

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