Neuropsychology of Aging

Year
4
Academic year
2019-2020
Code
02018194
Subject Area
Psychology
Language of Instruction
Portuguese
Mode of Delivery
Face-to-face
Duration
SEMESTRIAL
ECTS Credits
4.0
Type
Compulsory
Level
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)

No

Syllabus

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.