Neuropsychology of Aging
4
2019-2020
02018194
Psychology
Portuguese
Face-to-face
SEMESTRIAL
4.0
Compulsory
2nd Cycle Studies - Mestrado
Recommended Prerequisites
NA
Teaching Methods
Teaching methods:
Lecturing;
Evaluation methods:
Midterm exam (60%) and an individual essay (40%); optional participation in cognitive aging research projects (in this case, the weight of midterm exam is reduced to 45%).
Learning Outcomes
Objectives:
Knowing the main normative changes in cognitive processes of older adults in the context of brain aging;
Knowing cognitive changes in brain aging related pathologies.
Competencies:
Being able to discriminate normative changes from pathological ones in older adults’ cognition based on brain correlates.
Work Placement(s)
NoSyllabus
Models in cognitive neuropsychology of aging: right hemiaging model, HAROLD (Hemispheric Asymmetry Reduction in Older Adults), and PASA (Posterior-Anterior Shift in Aging), and other models.
Age-related changes in basic cognitive processes: attention (e.g., selective attention, sustained attention, divided attention); memory (e.g., episodic memory, working memory); executive functions; language (e.g., lexical, syntactical and pragmatic processing in language comprehension and production).
Clinical neuropsychology of aging: dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease, other dementias (e.g., semantic dementia), Parkinson’s disease, progressive nonfluent aphasia; cognitive impairments occurring in non-degenerative pathologies with higher incidence in older people (e.g., aphasias due to stroke); neuropsychology of psychiatric disorders in aging (mental disorders in older adults, comorbidity, differential diagnosis).
Head Lecturer(s)
Maria Salomé Ferreira Estima Pinho
Assessment Methods
Assessment
Synthesis work: 40.0%
Midterm exam (60% or 45% - 3 points are offered if the student participate in research projects): 60.0%
Bibliography
Cabeza, R., Nyberg, L., & Park, D. (2016) (Eds.), Cognitive neuroscience of aging (2nd ed). Oxford: OUP
Craik, F. I. M., & Salthouse, T. A. (2015) (Eds.), The handbook of aging and cognition. Hove: Psychology Press.
Engle, R. W., Sedek, G. von Hecker, U., McIntosh, D. N. (2005) (Eds.), Cognitive limitations in aging and psychopathology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Leitão, J. (2016). Linguagem e envelhecimento. In H. Firmino, M. R. Simões & J. Cerejeira (Eds.), Saúde mental das pessoas mais velhas (pp. 61-91). Lisboa: Lidel.
Verhaeghen, P. (2013). The elements of cognitive aging: Meta-analyses of age-related differences in processing speed and their consequences. New York: OUP.
Wang, W.-C., Daselaar, S. & Cabeza, R. (2017). Episodic memory decline and healthy aging. In Stein, J. (ed.), Learning and memory: A comprehensive reference (2nd ed., pp. 475-497). Amsterdam: Academic Press.
Wright, H. H. (2016). Cognition, language and aging. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.