Tuscaloosa City, Alabama, March 16, 2020 – Alabama’s population is older than the nation’s average, and this should be a major concern. Here is the reason. People transform in several ways as they age- developing wrinkles, for example, and greying of hair- are just a few visible changes during aging. Aging involves physical and psychological changes, all of which may add value to the life of the person while others may not. In 2018, a study by New York University provided ample evidence that older adults report more cognitive impairments as compared to the younger population nationwide ( Science Daily, 2018) . Another study by Glisky (2007) also reported that the changes in brain structure during aging are the main causes of the changes in the cognitive functions of the older population. Establishing the underlying mechanism on how aging impacts both basic and higher-level cognitive functions is, therefore, of prime importance, especially in the current era where the state is aiming at providing quality healthcare for the elderly.
Aging and Basic Cognitive Functions
Attention is the most basic cognitive function of an individual, but one which declines more rapidly as a person ages. Sustained attention, for instance, which is the ability to maintain concentration on tasks for extended periods, is proven to drop by half as people get to their late 60s and early 70s ( Science Daily, 2018) . Older adults further show a deficit in divided attention. Divided attention is cognitive retardation, evidenced by the inability to process two or more sources of information at the same time. It deprives the older adults of the ability to perform tasks simultaneously, and ultimately reduces their productivity levels in both domestic and career-based activities. Conversely, older people are less likely to get distracted from the tasks at hand. This phenomenon is made possible by the increase in selective attention with age. Selective attention references the ability of an individual to attend fully to a single stimulus while disregarding any other irrelevant stimuli. A younger child is more likely to be distracted than an older person when both are subjected to more than one stimuli. Working memory is also impacted negatively by the changing brain structure as individuals grow older. Older adults lose the capacity to perform tasks that involve active re-organization or manipulation of contents. As a consequence, aging adults are generally slower in competing tasks as compared to the younger population.
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The third basic cognitive function affected by aging is long-term memory. Long-term memory, at its peak, enables a complete recollection of both the core information and minor details of events that occurred in the distant past. For older adults, however, the detail of past events become inconsistent. For instance, a 75-year-old may remember the context of information but may not recall where he heard or read it. At old age, individuals can only retrieve general knowledge, but not the specific details of a past event.
Glisky (2007), during her comprehensive study of brain aging, noted that the quality of perception also deteriorates with the increasing age. Generally, the elderly have a magnified decline in sensory and perceptual abilities, which may prevent them from responding to danger or engaging in social interactions. Another disadvantage of the perceptual deficit is limited mobility for fear of inadvertently taking part in a hazardous activity.
Higher–Level Cognitive Functions
Speech and Language remain unaffected in older adults under normal health conditions. As Glisky (2007) highlights, language skills actually improve with age, making the older adults more elaborate in their narratives and present their arguments more interestingly than the younger peers. Such improvements in discourse skills make adults good conversationalists unless access to information is limited by hearing or other physical impairments. Aging, therefore, makes people maintain good levels of comprehension of situations- something that makes them appear wiser.
A common and yet very vital cognitive functionality affected by aging, Glinsky (2007) said, is decision making. Most of the older adults are less likely to make decisions independently and often rely on expert advice before making a choice. The lack of independent decision-making is attributed to the limitations of working memory. Declining episodic memory, too, contributes to this unsound decision-making strategy, where the older adults are less likely to retrieve memories for the past details of the idea at hand (Glinsky, 2007). For instance, an older businessman may remember that ‘Stock BDX is a good investment’ but may not have sufficient details of where he heard or read such information and what it implied at the time. This decision-making strategy is both beneficial and detrimental in equal measure: it works perfectly only when a well-qualified expert is involved. An example would be a physician helping an elderly man to make a medical decision. However, the aged are also susceptible to scam investments due to their reliance on third-party advice.
To conclude, while the New York University research provided that the number of reported cognitive impairments had increased from 5.7% in the late 1990s to 6.7 % in 2016, it is noteworthy to highlight that decline in cognitive functions very considerable from individuals, with some adults retaining stable cognitive functions into their 80s while the rest start facing severe declines early in their 60s. The declines also vary across the cognitive domains, where an adult may have a low working-memory but still retain profound attention capabilities. This variability may be caused by a range of factors, including biological, health-related, environmental, and psychological differences between individuals. Regardless, the patterns of health among the elderly are a matter of concern and should attract community-level participation in adult mental care.
Lee-Russel Aging Foundation is a healthy adult lifestyle organization inspired by the need to take the emerging health needs of the aging population. Its intent is to raise awareness on aging related issues and solicit for public support in supplementing programs that cater for the health needs of the old.
For further information about the elderly health, please contact:
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References
Glisky, E. L. (2007). Changes in Cognitive Function in Human Aging. In Brain Aging: Models, Methods, and Mechanisms . CRC Press/Taylor & Francis.
Science Daily. (2018). Older adults are increasingly identifying -- but still likely underestimating -- cognitive impairment . ScienceDaily. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/01/180116123733.htm
