Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 20, 2026
06:58
Highlighting and Reducing the Impact of Negative Aging Stereotypes During Older Adults' Cognitive Testing
Published on: January 24, 2020
7.9K
Factors producing over-selectivity in older individuals.
Michelle P Kelly1,2, Geraldine Leader3, Phil Reed4
1School of Psychology, National University of Ireland, Galway, University Road, Galway, Ireland. mkelly@ecae.ac.ae.
Age (Dordrecht, Netherlands)
|June 2, 2016
Summary
As people age, stimulus over-selectivity increases, impacting attentional control. This decline in effective stimulus control affects older adults
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Gerontology
Background:
- Stimulus over-selectivity is when behavior is controlled by only a subset of relevant environmental stimuli.
- Understanding age-related changes in stimulus control is crucial for addressing health and quality of life in older adults.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the extent to which stimulus over-selectivity increases with advanced age.
- To examine the relationship between over-selectivity, attentional control, intellectual functioning, and cognitive flexibility in older adults.
Main Methods:
- Assessed stimulus over-selectivity in a visual discrimination task among 60 participants aged 60-89 years.
- Measured attentional control, intellectual functioning (IQ), and cognitive flexibility.
Main Results:
- Increased age correlated with higher stimulus over-selectivity.
- Older age was associated with decreased IQ scores and reduced cognitive flexibility.
- Over-selectivity was primarily linked to attentional impairments, not IQ or cognitive flexibility.
Conclusions:
- Aging is associated with significant declines in effective stimulus control, mainly due to attentional deficits.
- These age-related changes in stimulus control warrant further research due to their potential impact on older adults' well-being.
- Findings are discussed within the framework of attention-deficit and comparator theory.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
01:15Drug Dosing: Geriatric Patients
344
Elderly individuals encompass a diverse population with varying degrees of age-related physiological changes. Defining the elderly presents challenges, as the geriatric population is often arbitrarily categorized as individuals older than 65. However, many individuals in this group lead active and healthy lives, with an increasing number surpassing 85 years and falling into the older elderly category. Physiological changes associated with aging impact performance capacity and homeostatic...
344
01:27Pharmacodynamics in Geriatric Patients: Effects of Age
310
Age-related pharmacokinetic changes are extensively documented, but understanding age-related pharmacodynamic alterations is relatively limited. This knowledge gap can be partly attributed to the complexity of developing appropriate measures of drug responses compared to bioanalytical methods for determining drug concentrations.Most information regarding age-related differences in human pharmacodynamics originates from cross-sectional studies. However, these studies assume that observed mean...
310
01:18Pharmacokinetics in Geriatric Patients: Effect of Age on Drug Excretion
310
In geriatric patients, renal physiology undergoes significant changes, including diminished renal blood flow and a lower glomerular filtration rate (GFR), leading to alterations in medication clearance. Drugs such as aminoglycoside antibiotics, lithium, and digoxin, which rely on glomerular filtration for removal from the body, particularly impact pharmacokinetics. These drugs tend to have slower clearance rates in older adults, necessitating careful dosage considerations.Evaluation of renal...
310
01:00Pharmacokinetics in Geriatric Patients: Effect of Age on Drug Distribution
324
Drug distribution in the human body is influenced by several factors, including plasma protein concentration, body composition, blood flow, tissue-protein concentration, and tissue fluid pH. Among these, changes in plasma protein concentration and body composition due to aging significantly affect how drugs are distributed within the body. Specifically, aging is associated with a decrease in albumin levels by about 10% and an increase in α1-acid glycoprotein levels. These alterations are...
324
01:24Drug Toxicity: Risk factors
113
Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs) are potential complications that arise during pharmacotherapy, influenced by multiple risk factors. Age plays a significant role; both neonates and the elderly are at heightened risk due to their respective immature and diminished metabolic and elimination processes. Gender also impacts ADRs, with females experiencing a 1.5 to 1.7-fold greater risk than males, which may be linked to pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic, and hormonal differences. Notably, neonates, the...
113
01:18Pharmacokinetics in Geriatric Patients: Effect of Age on Drug Metabolism
305
Geriatric patients show significant variation in how their bodies process medications, which can change how effective and safe treatments are. The liver is the primary organ where drug metabolism occurs, involving two main types of chemical reactions: phase I and II. Phase I metabolism is driven by the cytochrome P450 enzyme system, which includes key types such as CYP3A, CYP2D6, and CYP2C9. Research indicates that while aging doesn't notably alter the levels or activity of these enzymes, it...
305