Deck 7: Language, Problem-Solving, and Intelligence

Question 1

A trained neuropsychologist assessing older adults is likely to use which type of procedures?

A) Administering the same 10 tests to all clients.
B) Giving most tests in a group format before assessing individuals.
C) Tailoring the assessment to the client's age and symptoms.
D) Asking the individual's family to assist in testing.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Through videogame training, researchers hope one day to demonstrate that the improvements in skills acquired in these platforms will help older adults improve in their everyday lives, a process known as:

A) perseveration
B) comprehension
C) induction
D) transfer

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Neuroimaging studies reveal that in processing speech older adults compensate for deficits in one area of the brain by utilizing alternative brain regions unless the task involves ___________. .

A) Semantic memory
B) Episodic memory
C) Procedural memory
D) Incidental memory

Answer 3

A

Question 4

According to the Communication _______________ Model, older adults become less cognitively capable when they are spoken to in a condescending manner.

A) Problem
B) Predicament
C) Practice
D) Preference

Question 5

When rating their own and the other gender's intellectual abilities, men rated themselves as higher in:

A) interpersonal
B) naturalistic
C) verbal
D) musical

Question 6

By interpreting the paralinguistic elements of speech, such as _________________, older adults can compensate for not hearing every word spoken to them in a conversation.

A) gestures
B) grammar
C) semantics
D) punctuation

Question 7

Unlike the WAIS-IV, the PMAT also assesses an individual's:

A) word fluency.
B) processing speed.
C) memory.
D) personality.

Question 8

While checking in on an older adult patient whose husband is visiting her in the hospital, a nurse's aide finds them holding hands and kissing. The aide immediately laughs and says "That's so cute!" What is the aide's behavior referred to in the psychology of aging?

A) Geriaphobia
B) Oldism
C) Elderspeak
D) Dialectism

Question 9

By using ___________ to guide them, older adults can compensate for age-related changes in memory and speed when comprehending language.

A) spelling
B) retrieval
C) context
D) reminiscence

Question 10

A WAIS-IV test that measures the ability called Perceptual Reasoning is:

A) Symbol Search.
B) Block Design.
C) Digit Span.
D) Comprehension.

Question 11

Which executive functioning do you rely most heavily upon while driving?

A) Listening to warnings.
B) Observing road signs.
C) Turning the wheel.
D) Planning your route.

Question 12

Changes in which cognitive function may affect the ability of older adults to put words together, while speaking, into a sentence?

A) semantic memory
B) visualization
C) working memory
D) task-switching

Question 13

Al Nino is a man in his 70s who is receiving rehabilitation following his recent hip surgery. Luckily his physical therapist avoids elderspeak because she refers to him as:

A) Mr. Nino
B) Honey
C) Al
D) Dear

Question 14

The Trail Making Test is used in a neuropsychological assessment to evaluate the older adult's:

A) naturalistic intelligence.
B) frontal lobe functioning.
C) frustration tolerance.
D) visual memory.

Question 15

In neuropsychological tests called ___________________, the examiner changes the nature of the judgments that the older adult must produce.

A) verbal fluency
B) task-switching
C) digit symbol
D) trailmaking

Question 16

Due to the tendency to engage in _______________, many older adults repeat the same words on tests of verbal fluency when they are asked to produce words that all begin with the same letter.

A) task-switching
B) assimilation
C) perserveration
D) inhibition

Question 17

The abilities to plan, use working memory, allocate mental resources to incoming tasks, and inhibit information are included in the cognitive skill known in psychology as:

A) executive functioning.
B) organizational aptitude.
C) everyday problem-solving.
D) crystallized intelligence.

Question 18

The communication predicament model is associated with which type of language directed toward older adults?

A) elderspeak
B) gerontophication.
C) dialecticism.
D) formal operationism.

Question 19

The Digit Span scale on the WAIS-IV measures which intellectual ability?

A) Processing Speed
B) Perceptual Reasoning
C) Working Memory
D) Number Manipulation

Question 20

As noted in the text, when administering the WAIS-IV to an older adult, the examiner is instructed to note such factors as:

A) room temperature.
B) gender differences.
C) sense of humor.
D) vision problems.

Question 21

The thinking involved in Piaget's stage of formal operations involves which type of ability?

A) Solving problems with new techniques.
B) Using abstract symbols and logic.
C) Finding new, undefined problems.
D) Understanding interpersonal relations.

Question 22

As shown in research on decision-making, one advantage that older problem-solvers seems to possess involves their greater ability to make the most out of:

A) timed performance.
B) finding alternative solutions.
C) advice from other people.
D) information from prior experience.

Question 23

Bilingual adults benefit because the task-switching required by monitoring two languages strengthens their:

A) everyday problem-solving
B) crystallized intelligence
C) working memory
D) executive functioning

Question 24

In research on the attraction effect in problem solving, the findings suggest that older adult consumers are less likely to be influenced by:

A) advertising
B) personal taste
C) extraneous factors
D) product price

Question 25

In a longitudinal study of cognitive functioning among bilingual and monolingual patients with MCI and AD at the Sam and Ida Ross Memory Clinic in Toronto, Bialystak-Stak and colleagues found: :

A) Greater severity although later symptom onset among bilinguals .
B) Greater severity but similar symptom onset among monolinguals .
C) Delayed symptom onset of six years among bilinguals .
D) Less severity with earlier symptom onset among monolinguals .

Question 26

In the Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) model of intelligence, length estimation would be considered a measure of:

A) processing speed.
B) quantitative knowledge.
C) visual processing.
D) reaction and decision speed.

Question 27

The idea that intelligence tests such as the WAIS-IV show a peak in overall IQ in early adulthood is called the ____________ pattern.

A) classic aging
B) general factor
C) reserve capacity
D) Berlin wisdom

Question 28

Problems in everyday life that are the easiest to solve for older adults are those that:

A) involve definite, well-stated goals.
B) are stated in vague or ambiguous terms.
C) require using an unusual or novel strategy.
D) place heavy demands on vocabulary skills.

Question 29

An analysis of cohort effects in the SLS by Gerstorf and colleagues (2011) showed that later-born cohorts had higher scores than earlier-born cohorts on almost all measures, suggesting the effect of:

A) years of education.
B) cardiovascular disease rates.
C) exposure to technology.
D) global climate change.

Question 30

A technical repairperson is trying to determine the cause of a recent outage. The first step in the problem-solving is needed to repair the damage is for the repairperson to:

A) use trial-and-error to check for causes.
B) assess the situation by evaluating all relevant factors.
C) determine the efficacy of each solution used.
D) try out different approaches until one fixes the problem.

Question 31

In the CHC model of intelligence, the third level is considered to be:

A) specific skills.
B) pragmatic wisdom.
C) general ability.
D) visualization.

Question 32

Older bilingual speakers show performance deficits on which measure of executive functioning?

A) task-switching
B) Wisconsin card-sorting
C) Stroop task
D) spatial reasoning

Question 33

The measure of intelligence on which the SLS findings are based is the:

A) WAIS-IV.
B) CHC.
C) Gf-Gc.
D) PMAT.

Question 34

While playing "Words with Friends" with her 72-year-old grandmother, Frieda Lay is shocked to find that she is losing badly because her grandmother just seems to know so many more words. Frieda's grandmother is illustrating the fact that:

A) older adults are superior to younger adults in inductive reasoning.
B) later life is associated with much faster response speed.
C) secondary abilities improve but primary abilities decline in later life.
D) crystallized intelligence rises throughout adulthood into the 70s.

Question 35

In comparison with younger adults, older adults show advanced performance on tasks that involve:

A) Analytic strategies
B) Working memory
C) Heuristics
D) Incidental memory

Question 36

Instruction manuals that use terms that are ________ are particularly challenging for older adults.

A) specific
B) concrete
C) vague
D) well-defined

Question 37

The term dialectical thinking applies most closely to which concept based on Piaget's theory?

A) Formal operations
B) Logical thought
C) Post-formal operations
D) Fluid intelligence

Question 38

Older adults subjected to the process called _____________ are likely to view themselves as unable to carry out activities for themselves.

A) dialectics
B) testing the limits
C) infantilization
D) pragmatization

Question 39

In solving everyday problems, older adults typically show which pattern of performance compared to younger adults?

A) Faster response times on problems requiring math.
B) Superior ability to analyze problems involving logic.
C) Better ability to handle problems described in writing.
D) Higher scores on problems of an interpersonal nature.

Question 40

In a survey of Canadian adults aged 55 and older in Manitoba, Sloane-Seale and Kopps (2010) found that the majority who participated in educational courses over the past two years did so for::

A) career advancement.
B) second or third degrees.
C) personal interest.
D) interactions with the young.

Question 41

The findings on executive function and lifestyle factors from Whitehall II showed that people whose abilities declined the most also tended to:

A) drink moderate amounts of alcohol.
B) live very close to their children.
C) exercise a moderate amount.
D) consume large amounts of fruits and vegetables.

Question 42

The SLS showed that people least likely to retain their intellectual abilities in later adulthood were low on the personality factor of:

A) reserve capacity
B) life complexity.
C) dialectical thinking.
D) formal operations.

Question 43

How do older adults compensate in their use of language for changes in cognitive ability?

Question 44

Discuss three implications of age differences in problem solving and thinking for those who teach adult learners.

Question 45

Define and describe the communication predicament model. How does it relate to the concept of elderspeak?

Question 46

In the Berlin Wisdom Paradigm, working memory would be considered to represent the __________ of intelligence.

A) mechanics
B) contextualization
C) pragmatics
D) relativism

Question 47

What are the five major changes in cognitive ability that affect language in older adults?

Question 48

The Berlin Wisdom Paradigm emphasizes which quality of intelligence?

A) mechanics
B) multidimensional
C) pragmatics
D) crystallized

Question 49

In research on the Berlin Wisdom Paradigm by Grossman and colleagues, the older adults who were seen by others as wise had lower scores on a measure of:

A) fluid intelligence.
B) vocabulary knowledge.
C) general information.
D) life complexity.

Question 50

Women show greater decreases across adulthood than men except on the _____________ scale of the WAIS-IV.

A) Digit Symbol
B) Similarities
C) Block Design
D) Matrix Reasoning

Question 51

Higher scores on verbal fluency and working memory were found among a sample of people employed as __________ in a study carried out in the Netherlands.

A) physicians
B) teachers
C) nurses
D) architects

Question 52

Describe two advantages and two disadvantages that older problem solvers have based on their greater experience.

Question 53

In the procedure known as testing the limits, researchers studying the aging process try to:

A) provide cognitive training until they show no more improvements.
B) challenge older adults to push themselves physically.
C) ask older adults to complete a large number of ability measures.
D) encourage older adults to work slowly and carefully.

Question 54

What changes have taken place in the WAIS leading up to the present WAIS-IV?

Question 55

What are five of the tests used in the Everyday Problems Test? What are these tests attempting to measure?

Question 56

Which measures of intelligence are the least biased by cultural factors? Which are the most?

Question 57

What are the advantages of being bilingual for cognitive functioning among older adults?

Question 58

What are the major neuropsychological assessment measures?

Question 59

The idea of reserve capacity in research on aging and intelligence is very similar to the concept of ____________ in the nervous system.

A) fallout
B) preservation
C) plasticity
D) complexity

Question 60

The pragmatics of intelligence, in the Berlin Wisdom Paradigm, emphasizes which type of abilities?

A) Understanding the role of culture
B) Solving real-life problems
C) Being able to respond quickly
D) Having a strong working memory

Question 61

Which do you think is more important for competent functioning in adulthood: the pragmatics or the mechanics of intelligence? Justify your answer.

Question 62

Summarize the main findings of the SLS in terms of the scales of the PMA.

Question 63

How might training studies on intelligence incorporate the concept of wisdom?

Question 64

List and define the five scales on the PMA used in the Seattle Longitudinal Study.

Question 65

How do the concepts of problem-finding and post-formal operations relate to alternative views of intelligence in adulthood?

Question 66

Provide two examples of cohort effects as found in the SLS.

Question 67

What are the practical implications of findings on intelligence for understanding the performance of older workers on the job?

Question 68

Outline the major developments in the measurement of intelligence.

Question 69

Define and contrast fluid and crystallized intelligence. Provide two examples of each type of ability.

Question 70

How might age changes in intelligence relate to identity processes? What advice or counseling would you provide to older adults who are concerned about loss of their intellectual skills?

Question 71

How has adult education increased among older adults? Consider findings from the WALLS surveys.

Question 72

What are three characteristics of post-formal thinkers?

Question 73

Define the five aspects of intelligence and plasticity investigated by Baltes.