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Studies
Suggest Age-Related Declines May Be Overestimated
EurekAlert May 22, 2003
Forget everything you’ve heard about forgetfulness.
Researchers at North Carolina State University believe that age-related
declines in memory and cognitive functioning may not be as pronounced as
once believed. Dr. Thomas Hess, professor of psychology at NC State, says
pessimistic notions of changes in mental abilities associated with growing
older may in part be attributed to how early studies into cognition and
aging were conducted. His findings were outlined in a recent edition of
the Journal of Gerontology and chronicled in Science magazine. Hess’
research is part of a three-year study into stereotype threat, aging and
memory as part of a $403,000 grant from the National Institute on Aging. “Age differences that we’ve seen in previous memory studies may
not be entirely due to the biological changes associated with aging,”
Hess said. “They may also reflect older adults’ reactions to the
context in which we’ve tested people. When you look at older adults in
the everyday context in which they function, you get a very different
picture of their performance than when you look at them outside of this
context.” Hess and his colleagues have argued that some of the age
differences that have been found in standard laboratory studies may be due
to a situation called “stereotype threat.” Stereotype threat refers to an individual’s fear that his or her
behavior will reinforce a negative stereotype that exists about a group to
which one belongs. Researchers contend that individuals perform at lower
levels when they are placed in situations where they are aware that their
actions could confirm a negative stereotype. Hess theorizes that since
older adults are aware of the negative connotations related to aging and
memory, they experience heightened anxiety and evaluation concerns that
could negatively affect their performance on memory tests. He examined the
impact of stereotype threat on memory performance in older adults in an
experiment in which he manipulated the expectations seniors had about
their memories. Hess had older adults read mock newspaper articles on recent
findings related to aging and memory. Half of the articles presented
actual negative findings that suggested mental declines were inevitable.
The other half outlined more positive findings that implied some memory
skills were preserved with age and that mental declines could be slowed.
After reading the articles, the subjects were given a basic memory test in
which they had to recall a list of words. Hess found that individuals who
read the positive article performed about 30 percent better on the memory
test than those who read the negative article. To get a more realistic picture of cognitive functioning in older
adults, Hess and his researchers have emphasized social contexts and the
real-life settings in which seniors engage their minds in their memory
studies. In other experiments, Hess has discovered that older adults
perform as well or better than younger adults in tasks that involve making
objective decisions and assessing people’s character. Those studies are
part of ongoing research into social cognition and aging funded by a $1
million grant from the National Institute on Aging. In one study, Hess found that older adults were just as adept as
younger adults at distinguishing between essential and extraneous
information when making decisions on issues that could impact their
lifestyle. In his experiment, adults ranging in age from 20 to 83 were
asked to evaluate a number of fictitious tax-increase proposals that were
under consideration by the state government. Before reading about the
proposals, subjects were presented with information about the legislator
who supposedly proposed the new tax programs. In half the cases, the
legislator was presented in a positive light, while in the other half the
legislator was presented in negative terms. The results showed that older adults performed on par with younger
adults in making decisions based on the merits of the tax program instead
of their perceptions of the legislator when the information was perceived
as relevant to their lives. In those situations that were perceived as
less relevant, however, older adults were more likely to be influenced by
extraneous information. This suggests that the degree to which aging
deficits in cognition are observed is in part related to seniors’
perceptions of the task. “We found that if the information was relevant to older adults,
they could focus their cognitive resources, tune out the irrelevant
information and make an informed decision,” Hess said. “They performed
almost exactly like younger adults. Older adults tended to focus on the
argument that was made rather than on who made it, which is the way we
would think an informed decision-maker would go about making a
decision.” In another study, Hess presented groups of older and younger adults
with positive and negative descriptions of fictitious individuals and
asked the subjects to evaluate the honesty and intelligence of those
individuals. Hess discovered that older adults were better than younger
adults at judging a person’s character and competence. “Middle-aged and older adults make more complex judgments because
they focus on the most meaningful factors that could impact an
individual’s behavior,” Hess said. “Older people know what is
important in assessing character because of their years of experience and
social expertise. Young people haven’t had as much experience in the
social world, and they haven’t had as much time to learn about the many
factors that relate to behavior, so they tend to focus on qualities that
are somewhat superficial.” Hess said he hopes his findings foster an
increased sense of confidence among older adults and help improve public
perceptions about seniors. “Negative stereotypes that exist about aging have negative effects on people’s sense of well-being and the extent to which people fear getting older,” Hess said. “It’s quite evident that most people over the age of 65 are functioning on their own, living on their own and doing quite well. Although some basic aspects of cognitive ability decline as we age, functioning is preserved in many contexts, and there are some areas that actually improve as you get older. These findings give us a more realistic view of how people adapt to the aging process, and what their functioning is like in everyday life.” Copyright
© 2002 Global Action on Aging
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