LEARNING OBJECTIVES • What is processing speed? What age differences are found? • What are the processing resources that underlie information processing? • What is inhibition loss? When are age differences found? • What are attentional resources? Under what conditions are age differences observed? • How do automatic and effortful processes differ? In what situations […]

The information-processing approach uses a com­puter metaphor to explain how people process stimuli. Just as with a computer, information enters the system (people’s brains) and is transformed, coded, and stored in various ways. Information enters storage temporarily, as in a computer’s buffer, until it is sometimes stored more permanently, as on a computer disk. At […]

LEARNING OBJECTIVES • What are the primary aspects of the information­processing model? • What are the areas where we observe differential age changes in attention and memory? T rey strolled into a Lamborghini dealership and convinced the salesperson to let him take a Coun — tach for a spin around the block. When he climbed […]

6.1 OVERVIEW OF INFORMATION PROCESSING Information-Processing Model • Attentional and Perceptual Processing 6.2 ATTENTIONAL CONTROL Speed of Processing • Processing Resources • Inhibitory Loss • Attentional Resources • Discovering Development: How Good Are Your Notes? • Integration: Attention and Cognitive Change in Older Adulthood 6.3 MEMORY PROCESSES Working Memory • Implicit versus Explicit Memory • […]

One recurring theme in this chapter is the problem of financing health care interventions in later life for people in the United States. The Current Controver­sies feature raises several key points about the costs of nursing homes in the United States and the lack of ways to finance those costs. With the aging of the […]

Nursing homes are not static entities. New ways of approaching care continue to be developed. Three of the more interesting new developments are the Eden Alternative, the Green House Project, and the Pioneer Network. The Eden Alternative. Imagine an approach to car­ing for frail older adults that starts from the prem­ise that skilled care environments […]

Providing high-quality care for nursing home residents means putting into practice the various competence-enhancing interventions we have con­sidered relating to personal control and communi­cation. Doing so means that residents participate in making decisions about their care. But how can we make sure that residents understand what they are 175 being asked to decide, especially when […]

How Do People Respondto Patronizing Speech? Who were the investigators, and what was the aim of the study? Older adults who live in nursing homes face many difficulties with the way people talk to (or about) them. The concept of patronizing speech, discussed in the text, captures the essence of the problem. Ryan and colleagues […]

Have you ever been to a nursing home? If so, one of the things you may have found difficult is talk­ing with the residents, especially when interact­ing with residents who are cognitively impaired. Unfortunately, this uneasiness often results in peo­ple relying on stereotypes of older adults in general and nursing home residents in particular in […]

One key aspect of nursing homes has been largely overlooked: To what extent do residents consider a nursing home to be home? This gets to the heart of what makes people feel that the place in which they live is more than just a dwelling. On the surface, it appears that nursing homes are full […]