The 4 psychological changes in old age (memory, attention, intelligence, creativity)

Old age does not only bring physical changes, but the way of thinking also evolves.

Most people think that old age is a stage characterized by a decline in all bodily functions, including cognitive ones. However, research reveals that psychological changes in memory psychological changes in memory, intelligence, attention or creativity that are characteristic of non-pathological aging are smaller are less than we think.

Psychological changes that occur in old age.

During the advanced age changes take place in most of functions and psychological processes. Nevertheless, in general, we can affirm that these changes do not take place in an equivalent form in all the persons, but that are influenced in key ways by factors such as physical health, genetics, or level of intellectual and social activity. 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 capacities, the different components of memory, intelligence (both fluid and crystallized) and creativity.

1. Attention

Although a decline in the functioning of attentional decline in the functioning of attentional processes throughout old age has been clearly identified.These changes do not occur equally in all types of attention. In order to understand the deterioration typical of this vital 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 maintain a fixed attentional focus on the same stimulus for a relatively long period of time. Older people are less accurate when initiating tasks, but their degree of accuracy does not decrease more than that of younger people as time goes by.

On the other hand, the deterioration of divided attention, which consists of alternating the attentional focus between different stimulus sources or tasks, is much more marked. The degree of efficacy is lower the greater the difficulty and the greater the number of tasks through which it is evaluated. through which this type of attention is evaluated.

Selective attention allows us to give priority attention 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.

Memory

Sensory memory, the most immediate of the memory stores, generally shows a slight decline as a consequence of aging. Short-term memory of the passive type does not appear to be affected by age except for a slight decrease in the speed at which information is retrieved..

In contrast, several longitudinal studies reveal that working memory does worsen in old age, especially after the age of 70. This is associated with the difficulties in managing attentional processes described in the previous section.

As for long-term memory, when the material is procedural or declarative, there are no deficits associated with old age. associated with old age. On the other hand, episodic or autobiographical memories clearly deteriorate as age advances, although those of the second decade of life are maintained more than those of the rest.

In summary, we can state that memory impairment is not associated with old age directly, but rather through the appearance of cognitive deficits of pathological intensity, which is not the case in all people. but through the appearance of cognitive deficits of pathological intensity, which does not occur in all people. On the other hand, when memory problems are slight, it is relatively easy to compensate them with behavioral strategies.

3. Intelligence

Although differences in intelligence have been found as a function of age, they are different depending on whether they are investigated cross-sectionally (comparing two different age groups at the same point in 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 in the case of a memory disorder. Fluid intelligence, on the other hand, which is associated with the efficiency of neuronal transmission and other Biological factors, shows an intense deterioration at least since the age of 70..

In this regard, 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. As with all other intellectual deficits resulting from old age, terminal loss is most often associated with a decline in IQ scores in the last 5-10 months of life due to physical decline, terminal loss is associated more with fluid intelligence than with crystallized intelligence. than crystallized intelligence.

4. Creativity

Creativity is defined as the human capacity to generate new ideas and original solutions through the association between existing mental contents. In psychology, the concept of "divergent" or "lateral" thinking is often used to refer to this capacity, 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 improved with age. it is maintained and even improved over time in those who exercise it.. However, among those who are not particularly creative, such capacity is lower in old age than at younger ages.