Plasticity of memory for new learning in very old age: A story of major loss?

Singer, Tania; Lindenberger, Ulman; Baltes, Paul B.

doi:10.1037/0882-7974.18.2.306

Cited by 194 publications

(138 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…A general conclusion is that episodic memory plasticity continues to be present in old age but is greatly reduced in magnitude (e.g., Singer et al, 2003;Verhaeghen, Marcoen, & Goossens, 1992).…”

Section: Adulthood and Old Agementioning

confidence: 99%

Comparing memory skill maintenance across the life span: Preservation in adults, increase in children.

Brehmer¹,

Li²,

Straube³

et al. 2008

Psychology and Aging

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The authors examined life-span differences in the maintenance of skilled episodic memory performance by assessing 100 individuals (10 -11, 12-13, 21-26, and 66 -79 ). Skill maintenance was tested in 2 follow-up sessions, the first without and the second with mnemonic reinstruction. Younger and older adults' average performance levels were stable across time. In contrast, both younger and older children's memory performance improved beyond originally attained levels. Older adults' performance improved from the first to the second follow-up session, presumably profiting from instruction-induced skill reactivation. Results suggest that (a) skill maintenance is largely intact in healthy older adults, (b) older adults need environmental support to fully reactivate their former skill levels (cf. F. I. M. Craik, 1983), and (c) children adapt a skill learned 11 months ago to their increasing cognitive capabilities.

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Section: Adulthood and Old Agementioning

confidence: 99%

Comparing memory skill maintenance across the life span: Preservation in adults, increase in children.

Brehmer¹,

Li²,

Straube³

et al. 2008

Psychology and Aging

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“…Baltes, 1997;. Cross-sectional data and cognitive training research suggest that losses in fourth age are (a) more pronounced, (b) broader, (c) less subject to intervention, and (d) increasingly more regulated by biological and less by cultural factors (Lindenberger & Baltes, 1994, 1997Singer, Lindenberger, & Baltes, 2003;Smith & Baltes, 1999). In addition, findings from several other longitudinal studies provide evidence for nonlinear age trends in samples of old and very old participants (e.g., Colsher & Wallace, 1991;Giambra et al, 1995;Schaie, 1996).…”

Section: Differences In Age Gradients Between the Old And The Old-oldmentioning

confidence: 99%

The fate of cognition in very old age: Six-year longitudinal findings in the Berlin Aging Study (BASE).

Singer

Verhaeghen

Ghisletta

et al. 2003

Psychology and Aging

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189

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The authors report full-information longitudinal age gradients in 4 intellectual abilities on the basis of 6-year longitudinal changes in 132 individuals (mean age at T 1 ϭ 78.27, age range ϭ 70 -100) from the Berlin Aging Study. Relative to the cross-sectional parent sample (N ϭ 516, mean age at T 1 ϭ 84.92 years), this sample was positively selected because of differential mortality and experimental attrition. Perceptual speed, memory, and fluency declined with age. In contrast, knowledge remained stable up to age 90, with evidence for decline thereafter. Age gradients were more negative in old old (n ϭ 66, mean age at T 1 ϭ 83.04) than in old (n ϭ 66, mean age at T 1 ϭ 73.77) participants. Rates of decline did not differ reliably between men and women or between participants with high versus low life-history status. They conclude that intellectual development after age 70 varies by distance to death, age, and intellectual ability domain.On the basis of 6-year longitudinal data from the Berlin Aging Study (BASE), the present article investigates the fate of intellectual abilities in old and very old age. Specifically, its goal is to examine six themes in cognitive aging research: (a) the magnitude of mortality-associated and experimental selectivity effects and their relation to age, (b) the degree of convergence between crosssectional and longitudinal age gradients, (c) the ability-specific differences in the magnitude of age-based changes in the longitudinal sample, (d) the acceleration of decline in old-old age, (e) the relation of gender and life-history variables to level and longitudinal change in intellectual functioning, and (f) the differential association of the fluid mechanics and crystallized pragmatics of intelligence with measures of cultural versus biological indicators. In addition to the description of age changes in intellectual functioning in very old age, we also illustrate methodological issues associated with both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies involving old and very old individuals.The present study is closely related to other in-depth longitudinal investigations of intelligence in old and very old age, such as the Australian Longitudinal Study (Anstey, Luszcz, Giles, & Andrews, 2001;Anstey, Luszcz, & Sanchez, 2001), the Seattle Longitudinal Study (Schaie, 1996), the Victoria Longitudinal Study (Hultsch, Hertzog, Dixon, & Small, 1998), and the Kungsholmen project on a population 75 years and over (Hill, Wahlin, Winblad, & Bäckman, 1995; for other longitudinal studies with the focus on old age, see also Colsher & Wallace, 1991;Giambra, Arenberg, Zonderman, Kawas, & Costa, 1995;Schaie & Hofer, 2001;Sliwinski & Buschke, 1999;Zelinski & Burnight, 1997). At the same time, it differs from most of these earlier investigations by a combination of three features: (a) the effect-sized-based quantification of selection effects, (b) the decomposition of these effects into mortality-associated and study components (experimental attrition), and (c) the statistical comparisons of cross-secti...

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“…When longitudinal information is available, intervention studies bridge the gap between short-term alterations in performance and long-term developmental trajectories (e.g. Singer, Lindenberger, & Baltes, 2003;see below).…”

Section: Proposition 3: the Exploration Of Age-graded Differences In mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Plasticity, in this context, refers to various forms of adaptive performance alterations, such as learning induced by instruction, practice, and training (cf. Baltes & Kliegl, 1992;Singer et al, 2003). Diversity refers to variations in responses to environmental demands, such as exploration of behavioral strategies during initial phases of complex skill acquisition (e.g., Lautrey, 2003;Siegler, 1994).…”

Section: Types Of Intra-person Variabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Center of Lifespan Psychology at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development: Conceptual Agenda and Illustration of Research Activities

Li¹,

Lövdén²,

Schaefer³

et al. 2009

Acta Psychologica Sinica

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Founded in 1981 by the late Paul B. Baltes, the Center for Lifespan Psychology at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development has helped to establish lifespan psychology as a distinct conceptual approach within developmental psychology. Since 2004, the Center has extended its research program into developmental behavioral neuroscience. Work at the Center is guided by three propositions: (i) to study lifespan changes in behavior as interactions among maturation, learning, and senescence; (ii) to develop theories and methods that integrate empirical evidence across domains of functioning, timescales, as well as behavioral and neuronal levels of analysis; (iii) to identify mechanisms of development by exploring age-graded differences in plasticity. The Center continues to pay special attention to the age periods of late adulthood and old age, which offer unique opportunities for innovation, both in theory and practice. At the same time, it has intensified its interest in early periods of ontogeny including infancy and early childhood. In this article we report recent findings from four research projects focusing on sensory and cognitive development at behavioral and neural levels of analysis.

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Plasticity of memory for new learning in very old age: A story of major loss?

Cited by 194 publications

References 53 publications

Comparing memory skill maintenance across the life span: Preservation in adults, increase in children.

Comparing memory skill maintenance across the life span: Preservation in adults, increase in children.

The fate of cognition in very old age: Six-year longitudinal findings in the Berlin Aging Study (BASE).

The Center of Lifespan Psychology at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development: Conceptual Agenda and Illustration of Research Activities

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