Otherwise this could happen: You pick up your cell phone to call a detailed member of the family, someone you know well and speak with on the phone often. Each time, you physically enter the telephone number; you realize the dpi off by heart and also have for many years. Suddenly, though, you can’t remember the number to save your lifetime. You stare in the phone, bewildered by the forgotten number. Frustration seeps in, and you feel how old you are.
Aging is not easy. First we notice wrinkles and skin issues. Only then do we proceed to vision problems and aching bones and joints. Then your cognitive problems and issues begin. And also the older we get, the more severe many of these issues become. Most specifically, we have a problem with cognitive processes and talents, which is definitely the most frustrating. Things that were once simple to do and remember are no longer, all because of the aging process. But is there hope?
According to the Association for Psychological Science, the cognitive glass isn’t as half empty as once thought. Actually, it’s really more half full. In a recent edition of Perspectives in Psychological Science, several articles identify 3 ways that cognitive aging isn’t as bleak as once thought.
Within the first article, motivation is key to keeping cognitive abilities sharp. In other words, the more motivated we’re to challenge our cognition, the better off we are. The research findings by New york State University psychological scientist Thomas Hess show the next about motivation and cognitions:
“If the cognitive cost of engaging in difficult tasks increases as we grow older, older adults might be less motivated to expend limited cognitive resources on difficult tasks or on tasks that aren’t personally highly relevant to them. This selectivity, Hess argues, may allow older adults to enhance performance around the tasks they do choose to engage in, thereby assisting to take into account inconsistencies between lab-based and real-world data.”
In other words, by picking and choosing what tasks to engage in, aging adults use their reason to improve performances. We know that motivation is key in physical exercise, so it only makes sense that it’s also in mental exercise.
Memories in many cases are flawed because we can’t remember things perfectly, just as the experiences happened. Apparently , prior knowledge (quite simply memory) plays a hard role in cognition. On the one hand, it fills in gaps when adults struggle with failure of episodic memory. However, alternatively, this may also prevent learning and retaining new knowledge. They, Sharda Umanath and Elizabeth Marsh of Duke University, suggest that more scientific studies are essential to truly comprehend the roles that memory and prior knowledge play in cognitive abilities.
We hear in the news and from academics and professionals how older adults are prime victims of consumer fraud due to their aging cognition issues. However, another article states the next:
“Psychological scientists Michael Ross, Igor Grossmann, and Emily Schryer of the University of Waterloo in Canada evaluate the available data to look at whether incidences of consumer fraud are in fact higher among seniors. While there is not much research that directly answers this, the study that exists shows that older adults may be less frequent victims than other age groups.”
These psychological scientists explain that older adults aren’t any less susceptible to fraud than others, or at least there isn’t any proof of this. Rather than concentrating on scaring older adults, fraud prevention needs to be centered on consumers of every age group, which only is sensible. Identity theft transpires with people of all ages, young or old, child or adult.
