The aging mind: potential and limits.
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Publication Details
Output type: Book review
Author list: Baltes
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Publication year: 1993
Journal: The Gerontologist (0016-9013)
Volume number: 33
Issue number: 5
Start page: 580
End page: 94
Number of pages: -485
ISSN: 0016-9013
eISSN: 1758-5341
Languages: English-Great Britain (EN-GB)
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Open access status: closed
Abstract
Research on the aging mind has moved from a simple growth vs decline view to a conception of a joint consideration of potential and limits. This development is illustrated by research on two categories of cognitive functioning: the cognitive mechanics and the cognitive pragmatics. The cognitive mechanics (comparable to fluid intelligence) are primarily determined by the evolution-based neurophysiological architecture of the mind, whereas the cognitive pragmatics (comparable to crystallized intelligence) primarily reflect the impact of culture. Testing-the-limits research on basic memory serves as a prototypical instantiation of the aging of cognitive mechanics; research on wisdom and the cognitive management of the self are prototypical examples of the aging of cognitive pragmatics. In the cognitive mechanics, as one would expect from a phenomenon which is largely genetically and biologically controlled, there is definite aging loss. Conversely, in the cognitive pragmatics, which is primarily culture-based, there is evidence for stability and positive change in persons who reach old age without specific brain pathology, and who live in favorable life circumstances. A model of successful aging, selective optimization with compensation, is presented to illustrate how individuals and societies might effectively manage the age-related shift toward a less positive balance between gains and losses and the associated dynamics between culture-based growth and biology-based decline in level of functioning.
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