Could someone please explain....

[username]

With the effects of aging on memory, is it true that complex tasks 'such as manipulating various types of information is often more difficult for elderly people"? I thought they'd have more trouble with simple things, but would be fine with complex?

[sisqo1111]

i also would like to know the answer to this question. have had issues with it! lol

[Amnesiac]

I'd say this statement is only partially correct - perhaps even wrong. Memory decline with age is a very ambiguous concept. The answers are not really that clear cut, and various types of research tell us different things so it makes it hard for us as students to comment on it. The one aspect i do know for certain is that procedural memories are practically immune to forgetting, whilst episodic memories can decline with aging. Also, there appears to be a slight decrease in the effectiveness of recall, however recognition remains unharmed.   

[roly182]

Aging has a considerable impact on the functioning of working memory - therefore manipulation of complex information is quite impaired as one ages. Amnesiac... your not a radiohead fan by anychance???

[Eriny]

Yeah. Even though it's not completely clear what effects aging has on the brain, generally:
- Working memory is slowed as is the nervous system generally.
- Motivation and confidence regarding mental tasks is diminished (a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy).
- Picking up new skills can take longer (although old people can still be just as good at a new skill as their younger counterparts).
- In LTM, episodic memory tends to diminish from ages 30-50.

So, to answer your question, an older person may have difficulty with this task, in that the task may take longer, but provided they don't give up they can still do it, potentially quite well.

[arthurk]

how do u remember this stuff didnt u do this all last year lol

Can anyone explain to me what response rate each partial reinforcement gives cause i keep thinking that fixed ratio and variable ratio would be the same steady fast rate as one you are pressing as fast as you can because you know that itll come every fifth time and the other is like u keep pressing it as fast as you can cause its around an average set of times but changing

[psychlaw]

She got a 50, so it would have been well encoded in her memory .

Hanna attends the opera regularly. She sits in a different seat at each performance. On her own recent attendance at the opera, she leaves her seat at interval to go to the toilet. Hanna’s ability to recall where she was sitting when she returns relies mainly on her

A) Semantic Memory
B) Procedural Memory
C) Episodic Memory
D) Short-term Memory

How is the answer not semantic memory?

[sisqo1111]

Is the answer C? Cause its her episodic memory; events...

Semantic memory is specific facts like knowing that Tuesday comes after Monday.

[arthurk]

semantic memories and episodic memories are interrelated so eh its hard to say which is which i remember doing this question tho and dont remember which i picked, im guessing the way they said where she was sitting is episodic memory, this was explained in the 2005 vcaa examination report looks like more people chose the incorrect answer of semantic rather than episodic. They then went to say that it was episodic memory as "Semantic’ was not correct because the question specifically stated, ‘John’s ability to recall where his seat is when he returns from the toilet relies mainly on his’.

[rh]

yeah i saw that question in the '05 exam (and got it wrong) too. but now i get that it's not semantic because john sits in a different spot each time so his seat location isn't a 'fact.' it's therefore an episodic memory because on that on that *specific* flight his seat was wherever.

it's the same for that question too psychlaw. her seat is irregular and doesn't stay the same each time so it can't be semantic because semantic memories are factual and impersonal. it's episodic because she was able to find her seat again based on her memories of that *specific* opera show.

[arthurk]

you make a good point haha i never took it that way that it could change, nice work its like where i sat last time in the movies that makes it sound more personal and is the same sorta thing

[username]

In the Lisachem 07 exam,

"What part does reinforcement play in classical conditioning?"

I thought reinforcement wasn't a part of classical conditioning, but operant conditioning?

Can someone please explain? >_<

[amyminchin]

They may be talking about the association between the cs and the ucs? OR perhaps it is a trick question and they want you to say what you just did. :S I hate ambiguity.

[arthurk]

my teacher said its a stupid question and don't worry about it, even after i told her the asnwer she was like just ignore it, so i concluded that lisachem makes crap exams