Aging--Psychological aspects

Facial recognition memory is a specialized system in the human brain, with an effect of familiarity playing a role in the brain activations involved. Previous studies examining the familiar face processing system have used college-aged subjects. However, memory disorders, like those associated with Alzheimer's disease, typically affect adults over sixty. In an attempt to reveal possible differences between young and older adults', two different age groups were subjected to fMRI analysis while viewing face images with varying familiarity (family, famous and novel). The result showed a significant difference in activations for various cortical areas including the precuneus, cingulate cortex, and fusiform gyrus. Among the differences, an overall trend of greater activation in the left hemisphere for younger subjects compared to the older group was revealed. The results have implications for the study of memory disorders afflicting older adults, like Alzheimer's disease.

The Boston Naming Test (60 items) and the newly developed Miami Naming Test (76 items) are designed to assess naming deficits and word-retrieval capacities. These two tests were compared in a sample of 106 Afro-Caribbean elders. Analysis included inter-rater, test-retest reliability and internal consistency using Cronbach's alpha. The correlation between the scores of both raters on the Boston Naming Test was r=.9974 and r=.9984 on the Miami Naming Test. The test-retest reliability scores were r=.936 for the Boston Naming Test and r=.931 for the Miami Naming Test. The alpha level for the Miami Naming Test was .95 and the Boston Naming Test was .94. The individual items for both tests were evaluated for their level of difficulty and the scores on the Miami Naming Test were compared to the Boston Naming Test and the Mini Mental State Exam results. Results indicated acceptable levels of reliability for both the Boston Naming Test and the Miami Naming Test. This study shed light on which items should be replaced or deleted and future directions for research on assessment of dementia on older adults of Afro-Caribbean background. This study was supported by Minority Supplement grant #NR07744-01 and was guided by design of the parent grant Culture Bias in Expressive Ability in Dementia funded by the National Institute of Nursing research.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not differences exist between perceptions regarding aging and the realities of aging between graduate and undergraduate education students within the College of Education at Florida Atlantic University. Data was gathered from 143 undergraduate and graduate students who were enrolled in various majors in the College of Education, on the Boca Raton and Davie campuses during the Spring 2002 semester. The Aging, Learning and Work Quiz (Galbraith and Venable, 1985), was the inventory that was utilized. It has six subscales: Biology, Psychology, Learning, Decision-Making, Work Performance and Health. Six hypotheses were tested that there was no significant difference between the dependent variables of Biology (Ho1), Psychology (Ho2), Learning (Ho3), Decision-Making (Ho4), Work Performance (Ho5), Health (Ho6) and one or more of the independent variables of Educational Level, Degree type, Gender, Age and Ethnicity. The seventh hypothesis tested was that there is no difference in the perception of aging between pre-baccalaureate individuals and post-baccalaureate individuals (Ho7) with regard to each of the dependent variables. The statistically significant results of the study were: (a) Biology (Ho1), there was a difference found between ethnic groups of White and Other (p < .045), with White's being more accurate in their perception of the biology aspects of aging, (b) Learning (Ho3), a gender difference was found (p < .003), with males being more accurate in their perception of an individual's ability to learn, retain information and accumulate knowledge, (c) Decision-Making (Ho4), a difference was found between Educational Psychology majors and Reading Education majors (p < .012), with Reading Education majors being more accurate in their perception of how aging affects decision-making ability, (d) Work Performance (Ho5), there differences found between Reading Education majors and Educational Psychology majors (p < .001), with Reading Education majors being more accurate in their perception of work. Differences were also found between majors of Other and Educational Psychology (p < .014), with Other being more accurate in their perceptions of Work, and (e) (Ho 7) there was a difference found between pre-baccalaureate and post-baccalaureate participants for the variable of psychology at the (p < .05), with post-baccalaureate participants scoring higher.