Hoorcollege 1: Normal Aging
Gerontology
- Study of social, psychological and biological aspects of aging
- Course: neuropsychological perspective (Interactions between brain and
behaviour)
After the course you know
- Psychological and cognitive changes that accompany normal aging
- Biological changes that accompany normal aging
- Biological land psychological theories of aging
- Sings and symptoms of the most common dementia syndromes
- The neurobiological underpinnings of the most common dementia syndromes
- The daily life consequences of dementia syndromes for patients and their
families
Normal aging → trap des ouderdoms (simplistic view)
- Some go down very softly, they don’t have diseases or issues, and others go down with
a bang with a lot of diseases or issues.
Life course trajectories of body functions
A: Normal development and decline (very slowly ad the age of 50 we start tot decline)
B: Exposure in early life may leave imprints on structures or function of body systems
(early in life you are confronted with a disease, you don’t have the same height of
development because of the disease)
,C: Exposure acting in mid or in later life accelerating age-related decline (you are later in
life confronted by a disease that is accelerating your decline)
Distribution of ages – population pyramid
Comparing developed and less developed regions
Proportion of the population aged > 60
→ You see a similar pattern
,Life expectancy at birth
Children per woman
→ They are all decreasing
Definitions of age
- Chronological age: measured in units of time (months or years) that have elapsed
since birth
- Biological age: where people stand relative to the number of years they will live
(in terms of the body’ s organ system and physical appearance)
• Speculative
- Functional age: person’s competence in carrying out specific tasks
• In comparison with chronological age peers
- Psychological age: refers to how well a person adapts to changing conditions
(how beter you can adapt how younger you are in psychological age)
- Social age: views held by most members of a society about what individuals in a
particular chronological age group should do and how they should behave.
What is old, actually?
- Chronological age
• The magic age of 65 (is arbitrary)
• Young-old: Ages 65-74
• Old-Old: Ages 75-84
• Oldest old: Ages 85+
- Functional age
• The Third age = between retirement from work force and start of age-
imposed limitations
• The fourth age = cognitive an physical impairments interfering with
everyday functioning
, Perspectives on aging process
- Normative aging: what is considered a usual, normal, or average outcome
- Successful aging: what is considered an ideal rather than average outcome
- Positive aging: the ability to find happiness and well-being even in the face of
physical and/or psychological challenges
Theoretical models of aging
- The selective optimization with compensation model of aging (Baltes & Baltes)
- The ecological model of aging (Lawton & Nahemow)
1) The selective optimization with compensation models of aging
- Individuals engage in adaption throughout their lives. They are capable of
learning and changing and calling upon extra (reserve) capacity that they might
not need to use under ordinary circumstances.
- Selection: is a strategy of concentrating efforts on domains in which effective
functioning is most likely to remain high
- Optimization: is a strategy of focusing on behaviours that maximize not only the
quantity but also the quality of life
- Compensation: refers to substituting new strategies when losses occur
2) The ecological model of aging
Gerontology
- Study of social, psychological and biological aspects of aging
- Course: neuropsychological perspective (Interactions between brain and
behaviour)
After the course you know
- Psychological and cognitive changes that accompany normal aging
- Biological changes that accompany normal aging
- Biological land psychological theories of aging
- Sings and symptoms of the most common dementia syndromes
- The neurobiological underpinnings of the most common dementia syndromes
- The daily life consequences of dementia syndromes for patients and their
families
Normal aging → trap des ouderdoms (simplistic view)
- Some go down very softly, they don’t have diseases or issues, and others go down with
a bang with a lot of diseases or issues.
Life course trajectories of body functions
A: Normal development and decline (very slowly ad the age of 50 we start tot decline)
B: Exposure in early life may leave imprints on structures or function of body systems
(early in life you are confronted with a disease, you don’t have the same height of
development because of the disease)
,C: Exposure acting in mid or in later life accelerating age-related decline (you are later in
life confronted by a disease that is accelerating your decline)
Distribution of ages – population pyramid
Comparing developed and less developed regions
Proportion of the population aged > 60
→ You see a similar pattern
,Life expectancy at birth
Children per woman
→ They are all decreasing
Definitions of age
- Chronological age: measured in units of time (months or years) that have elapsed
since birth
- Biological age: where people stand relative to the number of years they will live
(in terms of the body’ s organ system and physical appearance)
• Speculative
- Functional age: person’s competence in carrying out specific tasks
• In comparison with chronological age peers
- Psychological age: refers to how well a person adapts to changing conditions
(how beter you can adapt how younger you are in psychological age)
- Social age: views held by most members of a society about what individuals in a
particular chronological age group should do and how they should behave.
What is old, actually?
- Chronological age
• The magic age of 65 (is arbitrary)
• Young-old: Ages 65-74
• Old-Old: Ages 75-84
• Oldest old: Ages 85+
- Functional age
• The Third age = between retirement from work force and start of age-
imposed limitations
• The fourth age = cognitive an physical impairments interfering with
everyday functioning
, Perspectives on aging process
- Normative aging: what is considered a usual, normal, or average outcome
- Successful aging: what is considered an ideal rather than average outcome
- Positive aging: the ability to find happiness and well-being even in the face of
physical and/or psychological challenges
Theoretical models of aging
- The selective optimization with compensation model of aging (Baltes & Baltes)
- The ecological model of aging (Lawton & Nahemow)
1) The selective optimization with compensation models of aging
- Individuals engage in adaption throughout their lives. They are capable of
learning and changing and calling upon extra (reserve) capacity that they might
not need to use under ordinary circumstances.
- Selection: is a strategy of concentrating efforts on domains in which effective
functioning is most likely to remain high
- Optimization: is a strategy of focusing on behaviours that maximize not only the
quantity but also the quality of life
- Compensation: refers to substituting new strategies when losses occur
2) The ecological model of aging
