Passage
Research suggests that cognitive changes occur with age. Though dementia is common, occurring in about 14% of individuals age 71 and older and in almost 34% of individuals 90 and older, a majority of older adults exhibit some degree of "normal" cognitive decline. The following studies were conducted on 605 older adults (mean age = 78.2) who did not show any signs of dementia and 590 younger adult participants (mean age = 28.8) .Cognition studiesParticipants were asked to solve five puzzles designed to test their ability to apply new information, reason inductively and deductively, and use logic. Participants were also asked to complete a 20-item vocabulary and grammar test. The older adults performed significantly worse than the younger adults on the puzzles, but there was no significant difference between the groups on the vocabulary/grammar test.Focus studiesWhen asked to read a short story and then answer a series of questions assessing comprehension (focused condition) , older adults performed equally well as the younger adults. However, when asked to read a similar story while wearing headphones playing another story that was to be ignored (distraction condition) , older adults performed worse than younger adults when answering questions assessing comprehension of the story they read.Memory studiesWhen asked to memorize 30 neutral items (eg, a key, a pencil, a book) , the images of which were presented serially, younger adults performed significantly better when asked to list the items immediately after seeing them and when asked to list the items after performing a distraction task. In a second trial, both groups were serially presented with 30 pictures of faces showing positive, negative, or neutral expressions. The groups were later asked to identify these faces among a set of 100. Results are shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1 Average number of correctly identified faces for older and younger adult groups
-The cognition studies and focus studies suggest that aging is correlated with declines in:

Question

Passage
Research suggests that cognitive changes occur with age. Though dementia is common, occurring in about 14% of individuals age 71 and older and in almost 34% of individuals 90 and older, a majority of older adults exhibit some degree of "normal" cognitive decline. The following studies were conducted on 605 older adults (mean age = 78.2) who did not show any signs of dementia and 590 younger adult participants (mean age = 28.8) .Cognition studiesParticipants were asked to solve five puzzles designed to test their ability to apply new information, reason inductively and deductively, and use logic. Participants were also asked to complete a 20-item vocabulary and grammar test. The older adults performed significantly worse than the younger adults on the puzzles, but there was no significant difference between the groups on the vocabulary/grammar test.Focus studiesWhen asked to read a short story and then answer a series of questions assessing comprehension (focused condition) , older adults performed equally well as the younger adults. However, when asked to read a similar story while wearing headphones playing another story that was to be ignored (distraction condition) , older adults performed worse than younger adults when answering questions assessing comprehension of the story they read.Memory studiesWhen asked to memorize 30 neutral items (eg, a key, a pencil, a book) , the images of which were presented serially, younger adults performed significantly better when asked to list the items immediately after seeing them and when asked to list the items after performing a distraction task. In a second trial, both groups were serially presented with 30 pictures of faces showing positive, negative, or neutral expressions. The groups were later asked to identify these faces among a set of 100. Results are shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1 Average number of correctly identified faces for older and younger adult groups
-The cognition studies and focus studies suggest that aging is correlated with declines in:

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

11ecba2d_0c81_078b_a3bf_8130beca6935_MD0008_00 The cognition and focus studies examined alterations in intelligence and attention in individuals of advanced age. Intelligence is the ability to learn and apply new information and skills, adapt to the environment, and reason through complex situations. Attention is defined as the cognitive processes that filter some sensory inputs in order to focus on others. Both intelligence and attention can be further subdivided into types: Types of intelligence: Fluid intelligence is the ability to use logic and creativity to solve novel problems and identify patterns in new situations. Crystallized intelligence is the ability to apply skills and knowledge that have already been learned. Fluid intelligence is thought to peak in early adulthood and decline with age, whereas crystallized intelligence is thought to increase with age. Types of attention: Selective attention is the ability to focus on one stream of information while ignoring other stimuli. Divided attention is the ability to attend to more than one stimulus or task at a time. In the cognition studies, older adults performed poorly compared with younger adults on novel puzzles, suggesting a decline in fluid intelligence. During the focus studies, participants were asked to focus on reading a printed story while ignoring the story on their headphones (distraction condition), which is an example of a selective attention task, on which the older adults performed worse than the younger adults. (Choices A and B) In the cognitive studies, knowledge of vocabulary and grammar was used as a measure of crystallized intelligence. Older adults performed just as well as the younger adults on this task. (Choice C) The focus studies did not include any divided attention tasks. In general, research shows that subjects of all ages perform poorly on divided attention tasks. Educational objective: Intelligence is the ability to learn, apply, adapt, and reason; fluid intelligence involves logic and creativity whereas crystallized intelligence involves knowledge and skills. Attention is the ability to filter certain stimuli and focus on others; selective attention is focusing on one stimulus or task and divided attention is focusing on more than one.

Passage Research Suggests That Cognitive Changes Occur with Age. Though Dementia