Oh, I don't know... ;)
Posted on 01/08/2008 2:15:47 PM PST by blam
Lack Of Imagination In Older Adults Linked To Declining Memory
ScienceDaily (Jan. 8, 2008) — Most children are able to imagine their future selves as astronauts, politicians or even superheroes; however, many older adults find it difficult to recollect past events, let alone generate new ones. A new Harvard University study reveals that the ability of older adults to form imaginary scenarios is linked to their ability to recall detailed memories.
According to the study, episodic memory, which represents our personal memories of past experiences, "allows individuals to project themselves both backward and forward in subjective time."
Therefore, in order to create imagined future events, the individual must be able to remember the details of previously experienced ones extract various details and put them together to create an imaginary event, a process known as the constructive-episodic-simulation.
Harvard psychologists Donna Rose Addis, Alana Wong and Daniel Schacter supported the hypothesis using an adapted version of the Autobiographical Interview in which young and older participants responded to randomly selected cue words with past and future scenarios.
When compared with young adults, the researchers found that the older adults displayed a significant reduction in the use of internal episodic details to describe both past memories and imagined future events.
The results of the study "Age-Related Changes in Simulation of Future Events" appear in the January 2008 issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
Adapted from materials provided by Association for Psychological Science.
Sounds like a lot of horse-pucky to me. More likely, older citizens have enough real-world experience to know what is likely to be possible, and what isn’t. For instance, by the time you’re sixty, you know that you’re VERY unlikely to be “president of the United States”, so you don’t waste time “projecting” that particular scenario.
What?
Expect a lot of this garbage science if the GOP runs anybody over the age of 50 for President. It’s not like we haven’t seen it before. ;-)
On the upside, your body is too old to do it anymore, but your memory is so bad that you thought you actually did it, which feels just as good anyway.
Insightful.
I'm 64 and don't waste time 'projecting' anything. I care very little what people think...especially of me.
(I'm also smart enough to recognize that I'm not as aloof as I made that sound.)
I can’t imagine that.
Vitamin D and Viagra. The increased circulation is good for everything from memory to pressed clothes.
Nevermind. I forgot what I was going to post.
(I can't imagine what it was.)
I'm 60, and I mostly project reaching 63 and retiring so I can spend my days learning all the stuff I didn't have time to get into because of work (could "probably" retire today, but having the Social Security cushion (for however long THAT lasts) will make it easier).
I assume your interest in paleo-history, ethnology and related subjects is a post-retirement avocation?? I certainly have enjoyed the articles you post in those areas (and, of course, look forward to many more).
I imagine dying in bed at the age of 100....
shot by a jealous husband
I imagine dying peacefully in my sleep like my uncle gene...
not screaming in terror like his passengers in the backseat
I imagine becoming a democrat just before I die.
Better one of those dirty RATS go than a good conservative.
No...I don’t have a death wish.
I know I’m going to die
I just imagine I’m going to die last.
Oh, I don't know... ;)
Just look at some of the posts I've made. You'll see
Thanks blam, interesting article.
LOl, another confabulation by some psychologist! In order to have good imagination you have to have ‘experience’ to remember?
Very young people have little experience to go on and it’s a proven fact that older people remember things in the past better than details in their present everyday lives!
Young people have their whole lives ahead of them to “imagine”, while the elderly don’t waste time projecting too far into the future.
Did Al Gore contribute to this study? LOL
.
Gotta read this
LOL!
Imagination is silly, you go around willy-nilly
.
One idiot did not know how to set up the parameters for this “study” so he or she got two more idiots
That did not triple their IQ
They set up a silly template base on what results they wanted to get
My longterm memory is great thank you
I use three (3) basic rules:
1 - We all tend to seletively recall the positive memorie if we are smart
2 - We all try to recall negative memories if we wish to avoid repeating if we are truly intelligent
3 - loading.... loading..... loading.....
AAADD- KNOW THE SYMPTOMS.....PLEASE READ!
Thank goodness there’s a name for this disorder.
Somehow I feel better,even though I have it!!
Recently, I was diagnosed with A.A.A.D.D. -
Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder.
This is how it manifests:
I decide to water my garden.
As I turn on the hose in the driveway,
I look over at my car and decide it needs washing.
As I start toward the garage,
I notice mail on the porch table that
I brought up from the mail box earlier.
I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car
I lay my car keys on the table,
put the junk mail in the garbage can under the table,
and notice that the can is full.
So, I decide to put the bills back
on the table and take out the garbage first.
But then I think,
since I’m going to be near the mailbox
when I take out the garbage anyway,
I may as well pay the bills first.
I take my check book off the table,
and see that there is only one check left.
My extra checks are in my desk in the study,
so I go inside the house to my desk where
I find the can of Coke I’d been drinking.
I’m going to look for my checks,
but first I need to push the Coke aside
so that I don’t accidentally knock it over.
The Coke is getting warm,
and I decide to put it in the refrigerator to keep it cold.
As I head toward the kitchen with the Coke,
a vase of flowers on the counter
catches my eye—they need water.
I put the Coke on the counter and
discover my reading glasses that
I’ve been searching for all morning.
I decide I better put them back on my desk,
but first I’m going to water the flowers.
I set the glasses back down on the counter,
fill a container with water and suddenly spot the TV remote.
Someone left it on the kitchen table.
I realize that tonight when we go to watch TV,
I’ll be looking for the remote,
but I won’t remember that it’s on the kitchen table,
so I decide to put it back in the den where it belongs,
but first I’ll water the flowers.
I pour some water in the flowers,
but quite a bit of it spills on the floor.
So, I set the remote back on the table,
get some towels and wipe up the spill.
Then, I head down the hall trying to
remember what I was planning to do.
At the end of the day:
the car isn’t washed
the bills aren’t paid
there is a warm can of Coke sitting on the counter
the flowers don’t have enough water,
there is still only 1 check in my check book,
I can’t find the remote,
I can’t find my glasses,
and I don’t remember what I did with the car keys.
Then, when I try to figure out why nothing got done today,
I’m really baffled because I know I was busy all damn day,
and I’m really tired.
I realize this is a serious problem,
and I’ll try to get some help for it,
but first I’ll check my e-mail....
Do me a favor.
Forward this message to everyone you know,
because I don’t remember who the hell I’ve sent it to.
Don’t laugh — if this isn’t you yet, your day is coming!!
Makes sense to me. ;o)
"Did Al Gore contribute to this study?"
I don't remember. lol
Lol, thanks for the laugh DC, I NEEDED a good laugh!!
Glad to oblige! ;o)
Yes, but, I retired at age 51.
Every time I imagined something, life handed me a surprise. After all the ups and downs of life, I realize I enjoyed the surprises, the people I met, and the things I learned most of all. I’m glad I was never one for personal five year plans. Now, I spend life pretty much like geopyg (#24), and something surprising happens nearly every day.
[something surprising happens nearly every day]
Yes, surprising things happen nearly every day. Some good, some bad.
I saved that joke too, it is a good one.
.
bumps on the roads and on the nodes
Some bumps become mountains. Don’t know about your nodes, lol.
.
Hoo nodes?
I suspect perspicacity at work.
Children have less details to remember, because they don't as much to remember from their past as adults do.
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