PSYC 635 Week 1 DB Forum 1 Example

Discussion Board Forum 1: Thread and Two Replies

PSYC 635 Adult Psychology, Discussion Board Forum 1 (thread and two replies)

Thread by [Student Name]

The prompt and the classmates' posts are composites standing in for the course's own forum; the textbook and the journal article are real and described from their published sources; the requirements follow Liberty's public course guide for PSYC 635.

Thread

My neighbor Walt is seventy-four, a retired civil engineer, and he finishes the Sunday crossword in ink before his grandson finds a pencil. Cavanaugh and Blanchard-Fields (2018) frame aging as the product of biological, psychological and social forces acting together, and neuroscience now lets researchers watch part of that interaction directly. The chapter on neuroscience makes a point that surprised me: a brain that loses volume with age is not simply a weaker version of a younger brain, because it can also change the way it organizes work.

One clear example is the HAROLD model proposed by Cabeza (2002), which stands for hemispheric asymmetry reduction in older adults. Reviewing functional imaging studies of memory retrieval, working memory, perception and inhibitory control, Cabeza found that tasks producing activity mainly in one prefrontal hemisphere in young adults often produced activity in both hemispheres in older adults. Two explanations compete: the extra activity may compensate for decline elsewhere, or it may reflect a loss of specialization in which regions no longer work selectively. Cabeza noted that the bilateral pattern appeared most clearly in older adults who performed well, which favors compensation. If the spread were only a loss of specialization, the strongest older performers should show it least, not most.

For people like Walt, this suggests that skilled performance in later life may rest on a brain working harder and more broadly to reach the same answer. Walt may simply be spending more neural effort than his grandson to get to the same word. Does that change how you think about "decline" in the adults you know?

Reply to Danielle

Danielle, I agree that imaging makes aging research feel concrete, but chapter 1 gives a reason for caution. Most studies behind the HAROLD model compare young and older groups at one time, a cross-sectional design. Cavanaugh and Blanchard-Fields (2018) explain that such designs confound age with cohort, so differences in education, health or familiarity with scanners could shape what the images show. Longitudinal imaging, which follows the same adults across years, is the stronger test of whether bilateral activity truly emerges as a person ages. A sequential design, adding new cohorts at each wave, would go further by separating age effects from the era in which each group grew up. Until more of that work exists, the model is best read as a well-supported pattern rather than a settled account of individual change.

Reply to Marcus

Marcus, your question about older students returning to graduate school is a good one. Cabeza (2002) proposed that high-performing older adults recruit additional prefrontal regions; if so, learning may cost them more effort even when the results match those of younger classmates. That suggests fatigue, not ability, is the likelier barrier. Practical supports such as shorter study sessions, quieter settings and fewer simultaneous demands might let that extra effort go where it counts, which is encouraging for adults beginning a new career at fifty or sixty. It also suggests that instructors should judge older students by the quality of their work rather than by how quickly they produce it. A slower first draft may reflect a brain doing more work, not less understanding.

References

Cabeza, R. (2002). Hemispheric asymmetry reduction in older adults: The HAROLD model. Psychology and Aging, 17(1), 85-100. https://doi.org/10.1037/0882-7974.17.1.85

Cavanaugh, J. C., & Blanchard-Fields, F. (2018). Adult development and aging (8th ed.). Cengage Learning.