ABPSY - CH. 14: late life and neurocognitive disorders Flashcards

Ageism refers to

1. a) the physical deterioration that accompanies old age.
2. b) the intellectual deterioration that frequently occurs as a person ages.
3. c) the diversity present among older adults.
4. d) prejudice against a person based on their age.

The age at which one is considered 'old,' which is now 65, is based upon

1. a) clear biological changes that begin at about that age.
2. b) social policy.
3. c) the age at which individuals begin to refer to themselves as old.
4. d) a scientific standard.

Which of the following age ranges fits the label “old-old”?

1. a) 65-74
2. b) 75-84
3. c) 85-94
4. d) 95+

Generally older adults

1. a) are lonely.
2. b) are unhappy.
3. c) complain about minor physical symptoms.
4. d) have mild cognitive losses.

People spend billions of dollars per year on cosmetics and __________ to reduce signs of aging.

1. a) plastic surgery
2. b) medication
3. c) hypnosis
4. d) perfumes

Approximately ________ percent of practicing psychologists conduct clinical work with older adults.

1. a) 20
2. b) 40
3. c) 50
4. d) 70

Compared with young people, people over the age of 60 tend to

1. a) experience more negative emotion.
2. b) experience less negative emotion.
3. c) experience more physiological reactivity in response to emotionally charged topics.
4. d) report more somatic symptoms.

Older people are actually likely to underreport __________, perhaps because of beliefs that these are inevitable parts of life.

1. a) sore muscles
2. b) somatic symptoms
3. c) dizziness
4. d) absent-mindedness

Social selectivity refers to

1. a) cultivating only one's most important social relationships.
2. b) restricting one's social interactions only to family members.
3. c) seeking out new social interactions.
4. d) seeking out solitary social activities.

Which of the following medical problems is a particular problem for older adults?

1. a) kidney disease
2. b) lung cancer
3. c) high blood pressure
4. d) insomnia

Which of the following statements is an example of a time-of-measurement effect?

1. a) Today's older adults are less likely to seek mental health services because when they were growing up, mental illness was stigmatized.
2. b) Because exercise has become widely promoted in the media, many older adults are now exercising and thus are healthier than predicted by earlier measures of their physical well-being.
3. c) Because of the effects of aging on the brain, older adults do worse than younger adults on measures of "fluid" intelligence.
4. d) In a longitudinal study, many of the elderly subjects died before the follow-up data was collected.

Deterioration of cognitive abilities among the elderly, to the point that social and occupational functions are impaired, is called

1. a) absent-mindedness.
2. b) dementia.
3. c) age-related forgetting.
4. d) none of the above.

The course of dementia may be all of the following EXCEPT

1. a) progressive.
2. b) static.
3. c) remitting.
4. d) affective.

The most prominent symptom of dementia is

1. a) difficulty remembering things.
2. b) disorientation.
3. c) aggressive behavior.
4. d) depression.

A state of great mental confusion is called

1. a) deterioration.
2. b) delirium.
3. c) deregulation.
4. d) all of the above.

A group of people age 40 is compared to a group age 70. This type of research is called

1. a) longitudinal.
2. b) time-of-measurement.
3. c) cross-sectional.
4. d) cohort effect.

As the hippies of the 1960s reach old age, research may find increased drug abuse among older adults. This increase would be a(n)

1. a) age effect.
2. b) cohort effect.
3. c) longitudinal effect.
4. d) time-of-measurement effect.

In cross-sectional research on aging,

1. a) two age groups are compared at one point in time.
2. b) people with different mental disorders are compared at one point in time.
3. c) the same group of people is followed over time.
4. d) people from different cultures are compared at one point in time.

Longitudinal studies involve

1. a) testing several different age groups on two or more measures.
2. b) testing age effects vs. cohort effects in a population.
3. c) testing one cohort over time.
4. d) testing the effects of time-of-measurement.

Which of the following statements is an example of selective mortality?

1. a) Today's older adults are less likely to seek mental health services because when they were growing up, mental illness was stigmatized.
2. b) Because exercise has become widely promoted in the media, many older adults are now exercising and thus healthier than predicted by earlier measures of their physical well-being.
3. c) Because of the effects of aging on the brain, older adults do worse than younger adults on measures of "fluid" intelligence.
4. d) In a longitudinal study, many of the elderly subjects died before the follow-up data was collected.

As many as __________ percent of elderly people have at least one major medical condition.

1. a) 40
2. b) 50
3. c) 70
4. d) 80

The prescribing of multiple drugs to a person is called

1. a) drugging.
2. b) polypharmacy.
3. c) over dosage.
4. d) all of the above.

Psychoactive drugs can be dangerous when used with the elderly because

1. a) they are not tested on the elderly, only on young people.
2. b) side effects are more common.
3. c) toxicity is more of a problem.
4. d) all of the above.

The consequences of being a certain chronological age are called

1. a) age effects.
2. b) cohort effects.
3. c) time-of-measurement effects.
4. d) none of these answers are correct.

The consequences of growing up during a particular time period with its unique challenges and opportunities are called

1. a) age effects.
2. b) cohort effects.
3. c) time-of-measurement effects.
4. d) none of these answers are correct.

Impairment in which of the following areas is the most prominent symptom of dementia?

1. a) memory
2. b) abstract thinking
3. c) judgment
4. d) language

What is an early sign of Alzheimer's disease?

1. a) loss of sensation or motor control on one side of the body
2. b) difficulty comprehending speech
3. c) difficulty remembering new material
4. d) clouded states of consciousness

Alzheimer's disease is the result of

1. a) age-based slowing of all bodily processes.
2. b) low social and intellectual stimulation.
3. c) tangled abnormal protein filaments called neurofibrillary tangles.
4. d) side-effects of long-term medication, such as anti-Parkinson's medication.

In what brain areas are abnormalities found in Alzheimer's patients?

1. a) frontal cortex
2. b) sensory cortical areas
3. c) hippocampus
4. d) both a and c

Alzheimer's disease is partly characterized by

1. a) plaques between neurons.
2. b) pick bodies within neurons.
3. c) cerebellum deterioration.
4. d) swelling in the cortex

Plaques, which develop as part of Alzheimer's disease, are

1. a) protein deposits that are outside neurons.
2. b) cholesterol remains from poor diet.
3. c) composed of serotonin and fatty deposits.
4. d) equivalent to neurofibrillary tangles.

Which of the following has been shown to play a role in the development of Alzheimer's disease?

1. a) head injury
2. b) immune system functioning
3. c) an abnormality on chromosome 19
4. d) all of the above

Which of the following may serve as a protective factor against Alzheimer's disease?

1. a) low fat diet
2. b) strong baseline mental abilities and continued engagement in cognitive activities
3. c) an active lifestyle involving daily exercise and social interaction
4. d) high spatial relations skills

Frontal-temporal dementias (FTD) are characterized by

1. a) early onset Alzheimer's disease.
2. b) primarily Acetylcholine disturbance.
3. c) problems with executive function such as planning and problem solving.
4. d) Huntington's chorea.

Dementia with Lewy bodies can be divided into the following subtypes:

1. a) occurring with Alzheimer’s or occurring without Alzheimer’s
2. b) occurring with Alzheimer’s or occurring with Parkinson’s
3. c) occurring with Parkinson’s and occurring without Parkinson’s
4. d) none of the above

The symptoms of dementia with Lewy bodies are similar to those of

1. a) Parkinson's.
2. b) Alzheimer's.
3. c) Huntington's chorea.
4. d) Both a and b.

Which of the following diseases can produce dementia?

1. a) meningitis
2. b) encephalitis
3. c) HIV
4. d) all of the above

Standard treatment for Alzheimer's disease includes

1. a) behavior therapy to maintain cognitive skills.
2. b) helping the victim recognize deterioration and make plans.
3. c) drugs to reduce toxic neurotransmitter levels.
4. d) drugs to increase acetylcholine levels.

Psychological treatments for individuals with Alzheimer's

1. a) focus on helping the individual admit to and understand their cognitive deficiencies and limitations.
2. b) are usually psychodynamic.
3. c) focus on helping patients and families deal with the effects of the disease.
4. d) can remove their memory deficits.

Compared with care giving for other disorders, care giving for people with __________ requires much more time.

1. a) delirium
2. b) schizophrenia
3. c) bipolar disorder
4. d) dementia

Which of the following predicts resiliency among caregivers?

1. a) When the patient has more severe behavioral problems.
2. b) When the caregiver has high levels of social support.
3. c) When the caregiver works in mental health services.
4. d) When the caregiver is committed to changing the behavior of the patient.

Delirium, but not dementia, is characterized by

1. a) slow onset.
2. b) cognitive confusion.
3. c) daily fluctuations
4. d) poor judgment.

After being released from a brief hospitalization for minor surgery, 70-year-old Mrs. Bee seemed distractible and disoriented. She did not even recognize her husband when he came to pick her up from the hospital. After they returned home, they discussed their plans for the weekend and Mrs. Bee seemed fine, but as night came on, she could not sleep and began accusing Mr. Bee of throwing away her belongings while she was away. Which of the following disorders best fits Mrs. Bee's symptoms?

1. a) delusional (paranoid) disorder
2. b) early dementia, probably Alzheimer's disease
3. c) delirium
4. d) depression

Delirium can occur only

1. a) after age 70.
2. b) following a stroke.
3. c) after a significant life stressor such as loss of a spouse.
4. d) None of the above. Delirium can occur at any time.

Stress following surgery is a common precipitant for the onset of

1. a) Alzheimer's disease.
2. b) delirium.
3. c) Parkinson's disease.
4. d) hydrocephalus.

If you are talking to a person with delirium, it may feel like you are talking

1. a) to someone who has suffered amnesia.
2. b) to a child.
3. c) to someone who is depressed.
4. d) to someone who is drunk.

Delirium that is not treated

1. a) resolves itself.
2. b) reoccurs.
3. c) can be fatal.
4. d) progresses into dementia.

Individuals with dementia are at high risk for

1. a) delirium.
2. b) meningitis.
3. c) schizophrenia.
4. d) dehydration.

Which of the following is not a reason for why rates of psychopathology are so low late in life?

1. a) Older adults may underreport symptoms.
2. b) Cohort effects.
3. c) People with mental illness are at risk for early death.
4. d) Dementia masks most other psychopathology.

More than ________ percent of older adults with generalized anxiety disorder reported that their anxiety symptoms began before the age of 65.

1. 25
2. b) 50
3. c) 70
4. d) 95

Most psychological disorders that occur in late life were initially experienced between the ages of ________ and ________.

1. a) 18; 44
2. b) 45; 50
3. c) 55; 65
4. d) 70; 80

Which of the following is NOT a methodological issue when studying psychological disorders in late adulthood?

1. a) selective mortality
2. b) response biases
3. c) cohort effects
4. d) lack of anonymity

Adults with diagnoses of psychological disorders are more likely to die earlier due to

1. a) substance abuse
2. b) cardiovascular disease
3. c) compromised immune function
4. d) all of the above

Depression in older adults can be distinguished from depression in younger adults by higher levels of

1. a) cognitive symptoms.
2. b) suicidal ideation.
3. c) hostility.
4. d) agitation.

Depression in older adults is often linked to

1. a) medical illnesses.
2. b) dopamine changes.
3. c) retirement.
4. d) social isolation.

Which of the following is not an established intervention for depression in older adults?

1. a) psychotherapy
2. b) antidepressant medication
3. c) St. John's Wort
4. d) electroconvulsive therapy

The idea that some people may be able to compensate for neurocognitive diseases by using alternative brain networks or cognitive strategies such that cognitive symptoms are less pronounced is called

1. a) cognitive reserve
2. b) cognitive adjustment
3. c) mental compensation
4. d) none of the above

The DSM-5 criteria for Delirium include of the following criteria EXCEPT

1. a) disturbance in attention and awareness.
2. b) a change in cognition, not better accounted for by a dementia.
3. c) symptoms caused by Alzheimer’s disease.
4. d) evidence that symptoms are caused by a medical condition.

The difference between dementia and delirium is that

1. a) dementia has a gradual deterioration.
2. b) delirium has a rapid onset.
3. c) dementia is not explained by another medical condition.
4. d) all of the above.

One of the most common triggers of delirium is

1. a) hip surgery.
2. b) loneliness.
3. c) loss of employment.
4. d) none of the above.

Delirium is characterized by:

1. anxiety
2. memory loss
3. frank disorganization
4. sad mood

T/F: most people develop major memory problems late in life.

T/F: sexual interest declines as people age

T/F side effects of medications are of less concern as people age because more people adjust over time.

T/F: most people become unhappier as they age.