Perceived self-efficacy and everyday problem solving among young and older adults

Self-motivated and directed learning across the lifespan

Self-motivated and directed learning is integral to knowledge base expansion for learners of all ages. Both motivational and cognitive processes drive self-motivated and directed lifelong learning, yet how these different processes operate together from childhood through adulthood is largely unknown. In this review, we discuss the role of personal motivators, such as beliefs in self-efficacy and personality traits in self-motivated and directed learning across the lifespan. We then consider the role of cognitive processes that contribute to knowledge base expansion in learners of all ages, specifically executive functions. We focus on working memory, inhibitory control, and task switching as potential determinants of lifelong learning. Finally, we integrate the two literatures, to discuss ways in which personal motivators may influence deployment of executive functions under self-motivated and directed conditions as a learner advances along a developmental trajectory. We also suggest ways to move the study of self-motivated and directed learning beyond observation and self-report measures thus affording experimental control. We aim to provide a more comprehensive understanding and novel insight to the mechanisms and processes of self-motivated and directed learning across the lifespan.

Oxytocin Release Increases With Age and Is Associated With Life Satisfaction and Prosocial Behaviors

Helping behaviors and life satisfaction generally increase after middle-age. Identifying the neural substrates of prosocial behaviors in older adults may offer additional insights into these changes over the lifespan. The present study examines the endogenous release of the neuromodulator oxytocin (OT) in participants aged 18-99 and its relationship to prosocial behaviors. OT has been shown to influence trust, altruism, charity, and generosity, yet the effect of age on OT release has not been well-established. Blood samples before and after a video stimulus were obtained from 103 participants in order to examine the impact of OT on prosocial behaviors. We found that OT release following a social prime increased with age (r = 0.49, p = 0.001) and that OT moderated the relationship between age and donations to charity. We tested for robustness by examining three additional prosocial behaviors, money and goods donated to charity during the past year and social-sector volunteering. OT moderated the impact of age on all three prosocial behaviors (ps < 0.05). The analysis also showed that participants' change in OT was positively associated with satisfaction with life (p = 0.04), empathic concern (p = 0.015), dispositional gratitude (p = 0.019), and religious commitment (p = 0.001). Our findings indicate that the neural chemistry that helps sustain social relationships and live a fulfilled life appear to strengthen with age.

The Applied Implications of Age-Based Stereotype Threat for Older Adults

Stereotype threat occurs when people feel concerned about the possibility of confirming, or being negatively judged by, a negative stereotype. This review highlights the applied implications of this phenomenon for older adults In clinical settings, older adults often feel that their physicians have negative expectations about their abilities because of their age. These feelings of age-based stereotype threat can increase older adults' subjective cognitive complaints and impair their performance on mental status examinations. Other research has shown that stereotype threat also adversely affects older adults' physical performance, motor learning, and driving performance. In workplace settings, older adults who experience stereotype threat also report lower job satisfaction, poorer work-related mental health, and greater intentions to resign or retire. Overall, this review provides evidence that the situational phenomenon of stereotype threat can affect older adults' performance in a variety of applied settings, and this can contribute to age differences in performance.

Remembering proper names as a potential exception to the better-than-average effect in younger and older adults

People see themselves as better than average in many domains, from leadership skills to driving ability. However, many people-especially older adults-struggle to remember others' names, and many of us are aware of this struggle. Our beliefs about our memory for names may be different from other information; perhaps forgetting names is particularly salient. We asked younger and older adults to rate themselves compared with others their age on several socially desirable traits (e.g., honesty); their overall memory ability; and their specific ability to remember scientific terms, locations, and people's names. Participants demonstrated a better-than-average (BTA) effect in their ratings of most items except their ability to remember names, which both groups rated as approximately the same as others their age. Older adults' ratings of this ability were related to a measure of the social consequences of forgetting another's name, but younger adults' ratings were not. The BTA effect is present in many judgments for both younger and older adults, but people may be more attuned to memory failures when those failures involve social consequences. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Not to worry: Episodic retrieval impacts emotion regulation in older adults

Interventions that increase the specificity of episodic memory and future-oriented problem solving have been shown to help both young adults and clinical populations regulate their emotions toward potential stressors. However, little is known about how episodic specificity impacts anxiety levels in older adults, who show reduced specificity of episodic memory, future simulation, and problem-solving performance. Although emotion regulation generally improves with age, older adults still experience worries pertaining to their health and interpersonal relationships. The current studies test how episodic specificity affects emotion regulation in older adults. In Experiment 1, participants received an episodic specificity induction (ESI)-brief training in recollecting details of past experiences-prior to generating steps to solve worrisome problems. Older adults provided more relevant steps and episodic details after the specificity induction relative to a control induction, but we found no difference in emotion regulation ratings between induction conditions. In Experiment 2, we contrasted performance on a personal problem-solving task (i.e., generating steps to solve one's own problems) intended to draw on episodic retrieval with an advice task focused on semantic processing (i.e., listing general advice for an acquaintance worried about similar problems). Participants provided more relevant steps and episodic details in the personal problem-solving task relative to the advice task, and boosts in detail were related to larger reductions in anxiety toward the target worrisome events. These results indicate that solving worrisome problems with greater levels of episodic detail can positively influence emotion regulation in older adults. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

My Problems Are Solvable: Idiographic Methods Offset Age Differences in Interpersonal Problem Solving Among Young, Middle-Aged, and Older Adults

This study tested the hypothesis that older adults retain high levels of everyday problem solving performance when confronting problems of maximal ecological relevance, identified through idiographic methods. Younger, middle-aged, and older adults completed a daily challenge questionnaire (DCQ) in which they reported problems of maximal personal relevance or idiographic problems. The large majority of the problems reported were interpersonal. We then assessed performance on an everyday problem-solving task in which participants generated solutions for idiographic problems as well as problems generated by group matched research participants representing each of two other age groups (e.g., older adults received their own problems plus problems generated by matched younger and middle-aged adults). Performance was measured by computing the total number of safe and effective solutions provided. Results fully supported our hypothesis; adults of all ages showed higher performance when solving their idiographic problems.

Problem Solving in Technology-Rich Environments and Self-Rated Health Among Adults in the U.S.: An Analysis of the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies

Problem-solving skills in the context of technologically complex modern societies have become increasingly important to health management in later life. This study is designed to investigate the associations between problem-solving skills in technology-rich environments (PSTRE) and health, and to explore whether age differences exist. Using data from the 2012/2014 Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), we used logistic regression to examine the relationship between PSTRE and self-reported health among a representative sample of American adults aged 35 years and older (N = 3,260). Overall, greater PSTRE (odds ratio [OR] = 1.012, p < .001) was significantly associated with better self-rated health even after adjusting for the sociodemographic characteristics. Yet, PSTRE was only partially predictive of health in some age groups. Our findings highlight the potential of PSTRE to reduce health disparities among middle-aged and older adults living in modern technology and information-rich societies.

Autobiographical Memory Specificity Predicts Social Problem-Solving Ability in Old and Young Adults

Based on recent research with young, depressed adults, age-related cognitive declines and decreased autobiographical specificity were hypothesized to predict poorer social problem-solving ability in older than in younger healthy adults. Priming autobiographical memory (ABM) was hypothesized to improve social problem-solving performance for older adults. Subsequent to cognitive tests, old and young participants’ specific ABMs were tested using a cued recall task, followed by a social problem-solving task. The order of the tasks was counterbalanced to test for a priming effect. Autobiographical specificity was related to cognitive ability and predicted social problem-solving ability for both age groups. However, priming of ABM did not improve social problem-solving ability for older or younger adults. This study provides support for the hypothesis that autobiographical memory serves a directive function across the life-span.

Examination of the Psychometric Properties of the Geriatric Fear of Falling Measure Among Community-Dwelling Older Adults in the United States

This current study investigated the construct validity and reliability of the Geriatric Fear of Falling Measure (GFFM) among community-dwelling older adults in the United States. Eighty-eight participants were assessed on the GFFM together with demographics, falls, and fear of falling and falls-efficacy measures at baseline and an 8-week follow-up visit. Cronbach's alpha, regression analyses, and correlation analyses were used to examine the psychometric properties of the GFFM. The results showed that the GFFM demonstrated good construct validity and reliability among community-dwelling older adults in the United States. Our findings provide evidence for the validity and reliability of the GFFM. Further study with a larger and diverse sample is needed to determine whether the GFFM has potential as a quick screening tool of fear of falling in clinical settings.

"Do it-yourself": Home blood pressure as a predictor of traditional and everyday cognition in older adults

BACKGROUND

Hypertension guidelines recommend home blood pressure (HBP) monitoring in adjunct to office blood pressure (OBP) for its greater reproducibility and prognostic utility in the prevention of cardiovascular outcomes, especially stroke. To date, the relationship between HBP and cognitive function remains unexplored.

METHODS

We examined HBP as a cognitive predictor in a multi-ethnic group of community-dwelling adults aged 60 and over (N = 133) using neuropsychological measures and analyzed the data using multiple regression analyses. We also employed "everyday cognition" measures that have been found to have higher prognostic utility for real-world functioning than traditional cognitive tasks.

RESULTS

Good to perfect HBP monitoring compliance over seven days was achieved by 88.7% of the participants with superior reliability (ICC≥.96) to office readings. Higher home systolic BP and pulse pressure predicted worse processing speed, executive function, and everyday cognitive function, whereas lower home diastolic BP predicted worse everyday cognition. Office readings were similarly associated with everyday cognitive function but with no other cognitive measures.

CONCLUSION

Our findings are the first to validate HBP as a predictor of neuropsychological function in older adults beyond cognitive screening. Differential relationships among blood pressure variables and specific cognitive domains were observed. With proper standardization and training, we demonstrated that HBP can be obtained in a multi-ethnic community-dwelling older adult cohort. Our findings emphasize the importance of employing blood pressure and cognitive measures that are adequately sensitive to detect vascular-related cognitive impairment in a relatively healthy population. Implications regarding proper HBP measurement for hypertension management, cognitive health, and everyday function are discussed.

The relationship between levels of resilience and coping styles in chiropractic students and perceived levels of stress and well-being

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between chiropractic students' coping styles and levels of resilience with their physical injuries, perceived levels of stress, and well-being.

METHODS

A questionnaire was distributed to the entire student body of the chiropractic program at Murdoch University, and gathered demographic variables and responses to the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, Perceived Levels of Stress Scale, Everyday Feelings Questionnaire, and Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations. Linear regression analysis was used to calculate for significant relationships.

RESULTS

Of 244 students, 194 (81%) completed the surveys. Being female and not having recovered from an injury within 12 months was significantly associated with lower levels of well-being and higher levels of stress. Being female, possessing an increased use of an emotional-based coping style, and having lower levels of well-being were associated with higher levels of stress (R² = 0.65, F(6,164) = 50.47, p < .001). Lower levels of well-being were associated with being female, higher perceived levels of stress, lower levels of resilience, and an increased use emotional coping styles (R² = 0.64, F[6,164] = 49.5, p < .001).

CONCLUSION

It is possible to identify chiropractic students at the university who are at risk of experiencing low levels of well-being and high levels of stress. These students may benefit from interventions aimed at enhancing their coping style choices and increasing their resilience levels. Future studies are recommended to see if these findings are consistent across chiropractic programs nationally and internationally.

Visual Acuity does not Moderate Effect Sizes of Higher-Level Cognitive Tasks

BACKGROUND/STUDY CONTEXT

Declining visual capacities in older adults have been posited as a driving force behind adult age differences in higher-order cognitive functions (e.g., the "common cause" hypothesis of Lindenberger & Baltes, 1994, Psychology and Aging, 9, 339-355). McGowan, Patterson, and Jordan (2013, Experimental Aging Research, 39, 70-79) also found that a surprisingly large number of published cognitive aging studies failed to include adequate measures of visual acuity. However, a recent meta-analysis of three studies (La Fleur and Salthouse, 2014, Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 21, 1202-1208) failed to find evidence that visual acuity moderated or mediated age differences in higher-level cognitive processes. In order to provide a more extensive test of whether visual acuity moderates age differences in higher-level cognitive processes, we conducted a more extensive meta-analysis of topic.

METHODS

Using results from 456 studies, we calculated effect sizes for the main effect of age across four cognitive domains (attention, executive function, memory, and perception/language) separately for five levels of visual acuity criteria (no criteria, undisclosed criteria, self-reported acuity, 20/80-20/31, and 20/30 or better).

RESULTS

As expected, age had a significant effect on each cognitive domain. However, these age effects did not further differ as a function of visual acuity criteria.

CONCLUSION

The current meta-analytic, cross-sectional results suggest that visual acuity is not significantly related to age group differences in higher-level cognitive performance-thereby replicating La Fleur and Salthouse (2014). Further efforts are needed to determine whether other measures of visual functioning (e.g., contrast sensitivity, luminance) affect age differences in cognitive functioning.

Positive affect predicts everyday problem-solving ability in older adults

OBJECTIVES

Increased symptom endorsement on the short form of the Centre for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) Scale has been previously associated with lower everyday problem-solving (EPS) ability in older adults. However, given the multifactorial and complex nature of depressive symptoms, it remains unclear whether certain symptoms/aspects of depression account for this relationship. We examined established factor scores on the full version of the CES-D to assess their utility as predictors of EPS in an older adult cohort.

METHODS

Community-dwelling older adults (n = 103; age: 51-91) were administered the CES-D along with a measure of EPS ability assessing both social and practical EPS. Regression analyses were used to determine the relationships between variables.

RESULTS

Analyses revealed that increased CES-D scores predicted worse EPS ability in older adults (β = -.17, p < .05) beyond the effects of age, gender, and education. Regression analyses examining each CES-D factor score revealed that decreased positive affect (loss of hope/enjoyment in life; β = -.21, p < .01) remained the only significant predictor of decreased overall EPS scores beyond demographic variables, while depressed affect, interpersonal, and somatic factors were not significant predictors. Positive affect predicted both practical, as well as social EPS scores.

CONCLUSIONS

Current results extend previous findings by showing that the relationship between increased depressive symptoms and decreased EPS ability in older age may be primarily driven by anhedonia as opposed to other depressive symptoms.

An episodic specificity induction enhances means-end problem solving in young and older adults

Episodic memory plays an important role not only in remembering past experiences, but also in constructing simulations of future experiences and solving means-end social problems. We recently found that an episodic specificity induction-brief training in recollecting details of past experiences-enhances performance of young and older adults on memory and imagination tasks. Here we tested the hypothesis that this specificity induction would also positively impact a means-end problem-solving task on which age-related changes have been linked to impaired episodic memory. Young and older adults received the specificity induction or a control induction before completing a means-end problem-solving task, as well as memory and imagination tasks. Consistent with previous findings, older adults provided fewer relevant steps on problem solving than did young adults, and their responses also contained fewer internal (i.e., episodic) details across the 3 tasks. There was no difference in the number of other (e.g., irrelevant) steps on problem solving or external (i.e., semantic) details generated on the 3 tasks as a function of age. Critically, the specificity induction increased the number of relevant steps and internal details (but not other steps or external details) that both young and older adults generated in problem solving compared with the control induction, as well as the number of internal details (but not external details) generated for memory and imagination. Our findings support the idea that episodic retrieval processes are involved in means-end problem solving, extend the range of tasks on which a specificity induction targets these processes, and show that the problem-solving performance of older adults can benefit from a specificity induction as much as that of young adults.

Age and self-relevance effects on information search during decision making

OBJECTIVES

We investigated how information search strategies used to support decision making were influenced by self-related implications of the task to the individual. Consistent with the notion of selective engagement, we hypothesized that increased self-relevance would result in more adaptive search behaviors and that this effect would be stronger in older adults than in younger adults.

METHOD

We examined search behaviors in 79 younger and 81 older adults using a process-tracing procedure with 2 different decision tasks. The impact of motivation (i.e., self-related task implications) was examined by manipulating social accountability and the age-related relevance of the task.

RESULTS

Although age differences in search strategies were not great, older adults were more likely than younger adults to use simpler strategies in contexts with minimal self-implications. Contrary to expectations, young and old alike were more likely to use noncompensatory than compensatory strategies, even when engaged in systematic search, with education being the most important determinant of search behavior.

DISCUSSION

The results support the notion that older adults are adaptive decision makers and that factors other than age may be more important determinants of performance in situations where knowledge can be used to support performance.

Complementary cognitive capabilities, economic decision making, and aging

Fluid intelligence decreases with age, yet evidence about age declines in decision-making quality is mixed: Depending on the study, older adults make worse, equally good, or even better decisions than younger adults. We propose a potential explanation for this puzzle, namely that age differences in decision performance result from the interplay between two sets of cognitive capabilities that impact decision making, one in which older adults fare worse (i.e., fluid intelligence) and one in which they fare better (i.e., crystallized intelligence). Specifically, we hypothesized that older adults' higher levels of crystallized intelligence can provide an alternate pathway to good decisions when the fluid intelligence pathway declines. The performance of older adults relative to younger adults therefore depends on the relative importance of each type of intelligence for the decision at hand. We tested this complementary capabilities hypothesis in a broad sample of younger and older adults, collecting a battery of standard cognitive measures and measures of economically important decision-making "traits"--including temporal discounting, loss aversion, financial literacy, and debt literacy. We found that older participants performed as well as or better than younger participants on these four decision-making measures. Structural equation modeling verified our hypothesis: Older participants' greater crystallized intelligence offset their lower levels of fluid intelligence for temporal discounting, financial literacy, and debt literacy, but not for loss aversion. These results have important implications for public policy and for the design of effective decision environments for older adults.

Understanding within-group variability of everyday cognition in aging Black/African American adults: a mimic (multiple indicators, multiple causes) model approach

BACKGROUND/STUDY CONTEXT: Everyday cognition represents the ability to solve problems within domains that are representative of issues faced by adults on a daily basis. The current study examined individual differences in everyday cognitive ability among aging Black/African American adults.

METHODS

Demographic data on age, gender, education, physical functioning, chronic illnesses, self-reported health, and depression were collected from 248 African American adults (mean age = 67.8 years, standard deviation = 8.47 years). A multiple indicators, multiple causes (MIMIC) modeling approach was used to examine the associations of individual characteristics with latent everyday cognitive ability and composite score indicators.

RESULTS

Age, depressive symptoms, and number of chronic illnesses were negatively related to latent everyday cognition. The individual characteristics of age, depressive symptoms, self-rated health, and education were directly associated with composite indicators of latent everyday cognition. This suggests that within this sample of older Black/African American adults that certain composite scores (i.e., telephone use, food preparation, and finances) may be particularly sensitive to these individual characteristics.

CONCLUSION

These results identify specific sources of variability in everyday cognitive ability among aging Blacks/African Americans. These individual differences should be accounted for when studying everyday cognition among Blacks/African Americans and when comparing the everyday cognitive ability of Blacks/African Americans with other groups.

Metacognitive awareness of the associative deficit for words and names

Older adults have considerable impairment in associative recognition despite minimal age differences in item recognition. The magnitude of this associative deficit varies by type of stimuli, strategy utilization, and other mediators and moderators ( Old & Naveh-Benjamin, 2008 , Psychology and Aging, 23, 104-118). Name pair stimuli have not been used to test the associative deficit hypothesis (ADH), although tests using name-face stimuli support the ADH. Additionally, metacognitive awareness of the ADH has not been investigated. We tested the ADH with word and name pair stimuli, and predicted that age-related associative deficits would be larger for words than names because names, unlike most common nouns, lack certain semantic properties that could be used to bind pairs of names together. Results supported the ADH for words but not names: Younger and older adults recognized equivalently fewer names on the associative test relative to the item test. As predicted, self-efficacy was higher for younger than older adults. Surprisingly, self-efficacy for the associative test was higher than for the item test but post-test estimates of performance success (postdictions) were higher for the item test than for the associative test, suggesting sensitivity by participants to different task demands in the item and associative tests following recognition attempts. Metacognitive accuracy was better for words than names and for the item test than associative test, and equivalent between age groups. Overall, participants overestimated their name recognition abilities. Our findings extend support for the ADH to a conceptually important and ecologically valid domain (names) and provide new data on metacognitive aspects of the ADH.

The Value of Removing Daily Obstacles via Everyday Problem-Solving Theory: Developing an Applied Novel Procedure to Increase Self-Efficacy for Exercise

The objective of the study was to develop a novel procedure to increase self-efficacy for exercise. Gains in one’s ability to resolve day-to-day obstacles for entering an exercise routine were expected to cause an increase in self-efficacy for exercise. Fifty-five sedentary participants (did not exercise regularly for at least 4 months prior to the study) who expressed an intention to exercise in the near future were selected for the study. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: (1) an Experimental Group in which they received a problem-solving training session to learn new strategies for solving day-to-day obstacles that interfere with exercise, (2) a Control Group with Problem-Solving Training which received a problem-solving training session focused on a typical day-to-day problem unrelated to exercise, or (3) a Control Group which did not receive any problem-solving training. Assessment of obstacles to exercise and perceived self-efficacy for exercise were conducted at baseline; perceived self-efficacy for exercise was reassessed post-intervention (1 week later). No differences in perceived challenges posed by obstacles to exercise or self-efficacy for exercise were observed across groups at baseline. The Experimental Group reported greater improvement in self-efficacy for exercise compared to the Control Group with Training and the Control Group. Results of this study suggest that a novel procedure that focuses on removing obstacles to intended planned fitness activities is effective in increasing self-efficacy to engage in exercise among sedentary adults. Implications of these findings for use in applied settings and treatment studies are discussed.

Using patient perceptions of relative benefit and enjoyment to assess auditory training

BACKGROUND

Patients seeking treatment for hearing-related communication difficulties are often disappointed with the eventual outcomes, even after they receive a hearing aid or a cochlear implant. One approach that audiologists have used to improve communication outcomes is to provide auditory training (AT), but compliance rates for completing AT programs are notoriously low.

PURPOSE

The primary purpose of the investigation was to conduct a patient-based evaluation of the benefits of an AT program, I Hear What You Mean, in order to determine how the AT experience might be improved. A secondary purpose was to examine whether patient perceptions of the AT experience varied depending on whether they were trained with a single talker's voice or heard training materials from multiple talkers.

RESEARCH DESIGN

Participants completed a 6 wk auditory training program and were asked to respond to a posttraining questionnaire. Half of the participants heard the training materials spoken by six different talkers, and half heard the materials produced by only one of the six talkers.

STUDY SAMPLE

Participants included 78 adult hearing-aid users and 15 cochlear-implant users for a total of 93 participants who completed the study, ages 18 to 89 yr (M = 66 yr, SD = 16.67 yr). Forty-three females and 50 males participated. The mean better ear pure-tone average for the participants was 56 dB HL (SD = 25 dB).

INTERVENTION

Participants completed the single- or multiple-talker version of the 6 wk computerized AT program, I Hear What You Mean, followed by completion of a posttraining questionnaire in order to rate the benefits of overall training and the training activities and to describe what they liked best and what they liked least.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

After completing a 6 wk computerized AT program, participants completed a posttraining questionnaire. Seven-point Likert scaled responses to whether understanding spoken language had improved were converted to individualized z scores and analyzed for changes due to AT. Written responses were coded and categorized to consider both positive and negative subjective opinions of the AT program. Regression analyses were conducted to examine the relationship between perceived effort and perceived benefit and to identify factors that predict overall program enjoyment.

RESULTS

Participants reported improvements in their abilities to recognize spoken language and in their self-confidence as a result of participating in AT. Few differences were observed between reports from those trained with one versus six different talkers. Correlations between perceived benefit and enjoyment were not significant, and only participant age added unique variance to predicting program enjoyment.

CONCLUSIONS

Participants perceived AT to be beneficial. Perceived benefit did not correlate with perceived enjoyment. Compliance with computerized AT programs might be enhanced if patients have regular contact with a hearing professional and train with meaning-based materials. An unheralded benefit of AT may be an increased sense of control over the hearing loss. In future efforts, we might aim to make training more engaging and entertaining, and less tedious.

Age differences in everyday problem solving

Reductions in everyday problem solving (EPS) are often reported in older age, although it has been suggested that problem context may modify this effect. We evaluated the impact of two aspects of problem context: age appropriateness (age-neutral vs. older-age content) and problem type (interpersonal vs. practical) on EPS performance in 175 adults aged 18–87. Older adults generated fewer solutions to ill-structured EPS vignettes than younger and middle-aged adults. Middle-aged adults demonstrated an advantage on practical problems. While all age groups demonstrated a relative performance advantage for interpersonal content on older age problems, older adults showed the least relative benefit in this condition. Thus older adults do not exhibit relative performance gains on EPS problems designed to be most salient and relevant to this age group.

Path analysis examining self-efficacy and decision-making performance on a simulated baseball task

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between decision-making self-efficacy and decision-making performance in sport. Undergraduate students (N = 78) performzed 10 trials of a decision-making task in baseball. Self-efficacy was measured before performing each trial. Decision-making performance was assessed by decision speed and decision accuracy. Path analyses examined the relationships between self-efficacy, residualized past performance, and current performance. The results indicated that self-efficacy was a significant and consistent predictor of decision speed (eight of nine trials), but not decision accuracy (four of nine trials). It was also found that experience does not have a meaningful effect on the relationship between self-efficacy and decision-making performance in sport.

Everyday problem solving across the adult life span: solution diversity and efficacy

Everyday problem solving involves examining the solutions that individuals generate when faced with problems that take place in their everyday experiences. Problems can range from medication adherence and meal preparation to disagreeing with a physician over a recommended medical procedure or compromising with extended family members over where to host Thanksgiving dinner. Across the life span, research has demonstrated divergent patterns of change in performance based on the type of everyday problems used as well as based on the way that problem-solving efficacy is operationally defined. Advancing age is associated with worsening performance when tasks involve single-solution or fluency-based definitions of effectiveness. However, when efficacy is defined in terms of the diversity of strategies used, as well as by the social and emotional impact of solution choice on the individual, performance is remarkably stable and sometimes even improves in the latter half of life. This article discusses how both of these approaches to everyday problem solving inform research on the influence that aging has on everyday functioning.

Judgment in Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer's disease

Judgment is the capacity to make decisions after considering available information, contextual factors, possible solutions and probable outcomes. Our aim was to investigate previous research studies regarding assessment of judgment in older adults with different degrees of cognitive impairment. To this end, a search of Pubmed and Lilacs electronic databases for studies published from January 1990 until August 2011 in English, Spanish and Portuguese was carried out. The terms used were "judgment" combined with the terms "dementia" or "Mild Cognitive Impairment" (MCI) or "Alzheimer's disease" (AD). Some studies showed that MCI and AD patients had impaired judgment. There is a lack of specific methods to measure judgment capacity, and data on judgment abilities in older adults with MCI and dementia are scarce. No studies with specific measures of judgment capacity in other dementias were found.

Creating patient and family education web sites: design and content of the home parenteral nutrition family caregivers web site

When managing chronic illnesses, caregivers repeatedly seek online information about providing complex, long-term care but often neglect to find information about how to care for themselves. Poor health among caregivers is not only detrimental to their own well-being but may also result in harm to those for whom they care. For this reason, caregivers need access to information and activities about caring for themselves in addition to the information about managing home care they are already likely to seek. The HPN Family Caregivers Web site was developed to guide caregivers through the process of caring for themselves by establishing a caregiving routine, self-monitoring their mental and physical health, and practicing good sleep hygiene, while also managing the complexities of home care. While Web site information, activities, and algorithms for managing chronic illnesses need to be specific to each population, the content guiding caregivers to care for their own health is universal.

Age-related effects of blood pressure on everyday cognitive function in community-dwelling women

OBJECTIVES

Blood pressure is an indicator of vascular health that has been associated with cognition and quality of life in older age. Few studies have examined blood pressure across everyday cognitive tasks, which may have superior predictive functional utility than traditional cognitive measures. We explored blood pressure as a predictor of everyday problem solving (EPS) performance in middle-aged and older women.

METHOD

Community-dwelling women (age: 51-91) with low-normal blood pressure to mild hypertension underwent traditional and everyday cognitive testing. EPS was determined by the number of safe/effective solutions generated for real-world scenarios.

RESULTS

Analyses revealed that lower systolic blood pressure and pulse pressure were associated with worse EPS ability after controlling for age, education, and traditional cognitive abilities.

DISCUSSION

These results support that blood pressure may be an important predictor of everyday cognitive abilities in older age. Potential implications for real-world functioning are discussed.

Goal orientation and self-efficacy in relation to memory in adulthood

The achievement goal framework (Dweck, 1986, American Psychologist, 41, 1040) has been well-established in children and college-students, but has rarely been examined empirically with older adults. The current study, including younger and older adults, examined the effects of memory self-efficacy, learning goals (focusing on skill mastery over time) and performance goals (focusing on performance outcome evaluations) on memory performance. Questionnaires measured memory self-efficacy and general orientation toward learning and performance goals; free and cued recall was assessed in a subsequent telephone interview. As expected, age was negatively related and education was positively related to memory self-efficacy, and memory self-efficacy was positively related to memory, in a structural equation model. Age was also negatively related to memory performance. Results supported the positive impact of learning goals and the negative impact of performance goals on memory self-efficacy. There was no significant direct effect of learning or performance goals on memory performance; their impact occurred via their effect on memory self-efficacy. The present study supports past research suggesting that learning goals are beneficial, and performance goals are maladaptive, for self-efficacy and learning, and validates the achievement goal framework in a sample including older adults.

The SeniorWISE study: improving everyday memory in older adults

We tested whether at-risk older adults receiving memory training showed better memory self-efficacy, metamemory, memory performance, and function in instrumental activities of daily living than participants receiving a health promotion training comparison condition. We followed participants for 26 months. The sample was mostly female (79%) and Caucasian (71%), with 17% Hispanics and 12% African Americans; average age was 75 years, and average education was 13 years. The memory training group made greater gains on global cognition and had fewer memory complaints, but both groups generally maintained their performance on the other cognitive measures and instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) throughout the 24-month study period. Black and Hispanic participants made greater gains than Whites did on some memory performance measures but not on memory self-efficacy. The unexpected finding that minority elders made the largest gains merits further study. This study contributed to the knowledge base of geropsychiatric nursing by providing evidence for an effective psychosocial intervention that could be delivered by advanced practice nurses.

Treating depression in disabled, low-income elderly: a conceptual model and recommendations for care

BACKGROUND

The treatment of depression in low-income older adults who live in poverty is complicated by several factors. Poor access to resources, disability, and mild cognitive impairment are the main factors that moderate treatment effects in this population. Interventions that not only address the depressive syndrome but also manage social adversity are sorely needed to help this patient population recover from depression.

METHODS

This paper is a literature review of correlates of depression in late life. In the review we propose a treatment model that combines case management (CM) to address social adversity with problem solving treatment (PST) to address the depressive syndrome.

RESULTS

We present the case of Mr Z, an older gentleman living in poverty who is also depressed and physically disabled. In this case we illustrate how the combination of CM and PST can work together to ameliorate depression.

CONCLUSIONS

The combination of age, disability, and social adversity complicates the management and treatment of depression. CM and PST are interventions that work synergistically to overcome depression and manage social problems.

Everyday challenges in context: the influence of contextual factors on everyday problem solving among young, middle-aged, and older adults

The authors examined the experimental effects of social context on everyday problem-solving performance by older, middle-aged, and younger adults. Participants were presented with six everyday problems constructed by framing two behavioral challenges in social contexts representative of the lives of older, middle-aged, and younger adults. As predicted, participants performed best when problems were situated in contexts representative of their own age group. Older adults also outperformed the other age groups on problems set in older adult contexts, suggesting that when problems are set in ecologically relevant contexts, one may not observe previously reported age-related declines in performance.

Developing a tool for measuring the decision-making competence of older adults

The authors evaluated the reliability and validity of a tool for measuring older adults' decision-making competence (DMC). A sample of 205 younger adults (25-45 years), 208 young-older adults (65-74 years), and 198 old-older adults (75-97 years) made judgments and decisions related to health, finance, and nutrition. Reliable indices of comprehension, dimension weighting, and cognitive reflection were developed. Comparison of the performance of old-older and young-older adults was possible in this study, unlike previous research. As hypothesized, old-older adults performed more poorly than young-older adults; both groups of older adults performed more poorly than younger adults. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that a large amount of variance in decision performance across age groups (including mean trends) could be accounted for by social variables, health measures, basic cognitive skills, attitudinal measures, and numeracy. Structural equation modeling revealed significant pathways from 3 exogenous latent factors (crystallized intelligence, other cognitive abilities, and age) to the endogenous DMC latent factor. Further research is needed to validate the meaning of performance on these tasks for real-life decision making.

The effects of age, control beliefs, and feedback on self-regulation of reading and problem solving

The authors examined the effects of adult age and control beliefs on self-regulatory responses to feedback using a false-feedback paradigm. Young and older adults read and attempted to solve a series of problems and periodically received either high- or low-performance feedback. Self-regulatory processes were assessed in terms of task-specific beliefs consisting of self-efficacy and performance expectations as well as degree of attention allocated to reading the mysteries. Results showed that high-performance feedback increased self-efficacy and performance expectations relative to low-performance feedback and that these effects were comparable across levels of preexisting control beliefs and across age groups. However, the effects of feedback on attention were moderated by age and preexisting control beliefs. Older adults in the high-performance feedback condition who had high levels of control beliefs allocated more attention to the text than did their low-control peers. These findings suggest that positive feedback may encourage older adults to engage more fully in a reading task, but only when they possess a strong sense of control.

A survey of neuropsychologists' practices and perspectives regarding the assessment of judgment ability

Judgment is an important aspect of cognitive and real-world functioning that is commonly assessed during neuropsychological evaluations. This study utilized a brief, online survey to examine neuropsychologists' practices and perspectives regarding available judgment instruments. Participants (n = 290, 17% response rate) were randomly selected members of the International Neuropsychological Society and the National Academy of Neuropsychology. Respondents rank-ordered the following issues that should be incorporated into assessments of judgment (from most to least important): safety, ability to perform activities of daily living, and problem solving/decision making about medical, financial, social/ethical, and legal matters. A majority of respondents reported that they "often" or "always" assessed judgment when evaluating patients with traumatic brain injury (89%), dementia (87%), and psychiatric disorders (70%). Surprisingly, the top-ranked instruments were not tests of judgment per se, and included the WAIS-III Comprehension, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, and WAIS-III Similarities. Further, 61% of respondents were slightly confident, and only 23% were very confident, in their ability to assess a patient's judgment skills with their current tests. The overwhelming majority (87%) of respondents perceived a need for improved measures. Overall results indicate use of varied techniques by neuropsychologists to evaluate judgment and suggest the need for additional tests of this cognitive domain.

A framework for cognitive interventions targeting everyday memory performance and memory self-efficacy

The human brain has the potential for self-renewal through adult neurogenesis, which is the birth of new neurons. Neural plasticity implies that the nervous system can change and grow. This understanding has created new possibilities for cognitive enhancement and rehabilitation. However, as individuals age, they have decreased confidence, or memory self-efficacy, which is directly related to their everyday memory performance. In this article, a developmental account of studies about memory self-efficacy and nonpharmacologic cognitive intervention models is presented and a cognitive intervention model, called the cognitive behavioral model of everyday memory, is proposed.

Collaborative everyday problem solving among same-gender friends in early and later adulthood

To investigate potential age-related differences in performance gains (compensation and optimization) and losses (failure to actualize potential) of collaboration with a familiar partner, the authors compared pairs of older (N = 75; 69% women) and younger (N = 75; 52% women) age-homogeneous same-gender friends who interacted or worked alone to generate strategies for solving interpersonal and instrumental problems. Two indexes of strategy fluency (total and unique number of strategies) and 2 indexes of strategy type (content of strategy repertoires and strategy selected as most effective by older and younger adults) were examined. Strategies generated by interacting pairs were compared with nominal pair scores. Nominal pair scores indexed dyadic potential and were created by pooling the performance of 2 individuals who worked alone. Age differences in strategy fluency and type were largely similar to prior research based on individual problem solvers. Interacting pairs produced fewer strategies than nominal pairs, but there were no differences in strategy type. For interpersonal problems, older adults were relatively more likely to actualize their dyadic potential.

Enrichment Effects on Adult Cognitive Development: Can the Functional Capacity of Older Adults Be Preserved and Enhanced?

In this monograph, we ask whether various kinds of intellectual, physical, and social activities produce cognitive enrichment effects-that is, whether they improve cognitive performance at different points of the adult life span, with a particular emphasis on old age. We begin with a theoretical framework that emphasizes the potential of behavior to influence levels of cognitive functioning. According to this framework, the undeniable presence of age-related decline in cognition does not invalidate the view that behavior can enhance cognitive functioning. Instead, the course of normal aging shapes a zone of possible functioning, which reflects person-specific endowments and age-related constraints. Individuals influence whether they function in the higher or lower ranges of this zone by engaging in or refraining from beneficial intellectual, physical, and social activities. From this point of view, the potential for positive change, or plasticity, is maintained in adult cognition. It is an argument that is supported by newer research in neuroscience showing neural plasticity in various aspects of central nervous system functioning, neurochemistry, and architecture. This view of human potential contrasts with static conceptions of cognition in old age, according to which decline in abilities is fixed and individuals cannot slow its course. Furthermore, any understanding of cognition as it occurs in everyday life must make a distinction between basic cognitive mechanisms and skills (such as working-memory capacity) and the functional use of cognition to achieve goals in specific situations. In practice, knowledge and expertise are critical for effective functioning, and the available evidence suggests that older adults effectively employ specific knowledge and expertise and can gain new knowledge when it is required. We conclude that, on balance, the available evidence favors the hypothesis that maintaining an intellectually engaged and physically active lifestyle promotes successful cognitive aging. First, cognitive-training studies have demonstrated that older adults can improve cognitive functioning when provided with intensive training in strategies that promote thinking and remembering. The early training literature suggested little transfer of function from specifically trained skills to new cognitive tasks; learning was highly specific to the cognitive processes targeted by training. Recently, however, a new generation of studies suggests that providing structured experience in situations demanding executive coordination of skills-such as complex video games, task-switching paradigms, and divided attention tasks-train strategic control over cognition that does show transfer to different task environments. These studies suggest that there is considerable reserve potential in older adults' cognition that can be enhanced through training. Second, a considerable number of studies indicate that maintaining a lifestyle that is intellectually stimulating predicts better maintenance of cognitive skills and is associated with a reduced risk of developing Alzheimer's disease in late life. Our review focuses on longitudinal evidence of a connection between an active lifestyle and enhanced cognition, because such evidence admits fewer rival explanations of observed effects (or lack of effects) than does cross-sectional evidence. The longitudinal evidence consistently shows that engaging in intellectually stimulating activities is associated with better cognitive functioning at later points in time. Other studies show that meaningful social engagement is also predictive of better maintenance of cognitive functioning in old age. These longitudinal findings are also open to important rival explanations, but overall, the available evidence suggests that activities can postpone decline, attenuate decline, or provide prosthetic benefit in the face of normative cognitive decline, while at the same time indicating that late-life cognitive changes can result in curtailment of activities. Given the complexity of the dynamic reciprocal relationships between stimulating activities and cognitive function in old age, additional research will be needed to address the extent to which observed effects validate a causal influence of an intellectually engaged lifestyle on cognition. Nevertheless, the hypothesis that an active lifestyle that requires cognitive effort has long-term benefits for older adults' cognition is at least consistent with the available data. Furthermore, new intervention research that involves multimodal interventions focusing on goal-directed action requiring cognition (such as reading to children) and social interaction will help to address whether an active lifestyle enhances cognitive function. Third, there is a parallel literature suggesting that physical activity, and aerobic exercise in particular, enhances older adults' cognitive function. Unlike the literature on an active lifestyle, there is already an impressive array of work with humans and animal populations showing that exercise interventions have substantial benefits for cognitive function, particularly for aspects of fluid intelligence and executive function. Recent neuroscience research on this topic indicates that exercise has substantial effects on brain morphology and function, representing a plausible brain substrate for the observed effects of aerobic exercise and other activities on cognition. Our review identifies a number of areas where additional research is needed to address critical questions. For example, there is considerable epidemiological evidence that stress and chronic psychological distress are negatively associated with changes in cognition. In contrast, less is known about how positive attributes, such as self-efficacy, a sense of control, and a sense of meaning in life, might contribute to preservation of cognitive function in old age. It is well known that certain personality characteristics such as conscientiousness predict adherence to an exercise regimen, but we do not know whether these attributes are also relevant to predicting maintenance of cognitive function or effective compensation for cognitive decline when it occurs. Likewise, more information is needed on the factors that encourage maintenance of an active lifestyle in old age in the face of elevated risk for physiological decline, mechanical wear and tear on the body, and incidence of diseases with disabling consequences, and whether efforts to maintain an active lifestyle are associated with successful aging, both in terms of cognitive function and psychological and emotional well-being. We also discuss briefly some interesting issues for society and public policy regarding cognitive-enrichment effects. For example, should efforts to enhance cognitive function be included as part of a general prevention model for enhancing health and vitality in old age? We also comment on the recent trend of business marketing interventions claimed to build brain power and prevent age-related cognitive decline, and the desirability of direct research evidence to back claims of effectiveness for specific products.