The 4 Psychological Changes In Old Age (memory, Attention, Intelligence, Creativity)
Most people think that old age is a stage characterized by the decline in all body functions, including cognitive functions. However, research reveals that psychological changes in memory, intelligence, attention or creativity typical of aging non-pathological are smaller than we think.
During advanced age, changes take place in most psychological functions and processes. However, in general we can affirm that these changes do not occur in an equivalent way in all people, but rather are key influenced by factors such as physical health, genetics or the level of intellectual and social activity.
We will focus on the analysis of the development during old age of four of the most studied psychological aspects in this field: attentional abilities, the different components of memory, intelligence (both fluid and crystallized) and creativity.
1. Attention
Although it has been clearly identified a decline in the functioning of attentional processes throughout old age, these changes do not occur equally in all types of care. To understand the deterioration typical of this life stage, it is necessary to describe what sustained, divided and selective attention consist of.
We speak of sustained attention when a task requires us to keep our attention focused on the same stimulus for a relatively long period of time. Older people are less precise when starting tasks, but their degree of accuracy does not reduce more than that of young people as time passes.
On the other hand, the deterioration of divided attention, consisting of alternating the attentional focus between different stimulus sources or tasks, is much more marked. The degree of effectiveness is lower the greater the difficulty and number of the tasks through which this type of care is evaluated.
Selective attention allows us to pay priority to certain stimulus components, over other less relevant perceptual experiences. Differences between young and old people only appear when the tasks are difficult and when it is necessary to ignore a significant amount of irrelevant information.
2. Memory
Sensory memory, the most immediate of memory stores, generally shows a slight decline as a consequence of aging. Passive short-term memory does not seem to be affected by age except for a small decrease in the speed of information retrieval
On the other hand, various longitudinal studies reveal that operational or working memory does worsen throughout old age, especially after age 70. This is associated with the difficulties in managing the attentional processes that we have described in the previous section.
Regarding long-term memory, When the material is procedural or declarative, no deficits occur associated with old age. On the other hand, episodic or autobiographical memories clearly deteriorate as age advances, although those from the second decade of life are maintained more than those from the rest.
In summary, we can state that Memory deterioration is not directly associated with old age but through the appearance of cognitive deficits of pathological intensity, which does not happen in all people. On the other hand, when memory problems are mild, it is relatively easy to compensate for them with behavioral strategies.
Although differences in intelligence have been found depending on age, these are different depending on whether they are investigated transversally (comparing two different age groups at the same time) or longitudinally (over time). in the same individuals). Another key aspect is the distinction between fluid and crystallized intelligence.
Crystallized intelligence, which refers to accumulated knowledge and its management, continues to increase throughout life, except if one suffers from a memory disorder. On the other hand, fluid intelligence, associated with the efficiency of neuronal transmission and other biological factors, shows intense deterioration at least since the age of 70
In this sense, special mention should be made of the phenomenon of terminal loss, which consists of a very intense deterioration in IQ scores in the last 5-10 months of life due to physical decline. Like the rest of the intellectual deficits derived from old age, Terminal loss is associated to a greater extent with fluid intelligence than to the crystallized one.
4. Creativity
Creativity is defined as the human capacity to generate new ideas and original solutions through the association between already existing mental contents. In psychology, the concept of “divergent” or “lateral” thinking is often used to refer to this ability, as opposed to convergent or vertical thinking, based on logic.
Although research on the evolution of creativity as a function of age is scarce, its results suggest that It is maintained and even improves over time in people who exercise it However, among those who are not especially creative, this capacity is lower in old age than at younger ages.
