Age differences in processing information from television news: the effects of bisensory augmentation
Article Abstract:
Listening to the radio and watching television are dominant leisure time activities for older persons, and are an important source of news and information for all of us, but particularly for the elderly. Because this is true, it is important to understand how well an older adult retains information from these sources, and whether it helps to have two sources of input - pictures and words, for example, as in television. This study was undertaken with 12 university undergraduates (10 women, 2 men) between the ages of 17 and 20, and 12 adults from the community (9 women and 3 men) who ranged in age from 61 to 83 years. The groups were similar in vocabulary levels. They were told that the purpose of the experiment was to test memory for news segments under different media conditions. Each group was asked to listen (hearing only the audio track), listen and read (audio plus a transcript), or listen and watch television. Getting information on two levels (bisensory augmentation) was most helpful in the younger group. There was a good deal of age variance in memory performance in the listen and TV section of the testing. It is suggested that bisensory presentation can produce negative effects by exhausting the resources people use to process information. The authors suggest further studies to see how television might be adapted to facilitate how well an older person comprehends and remembers information presented. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)
Publication Name: Journals of Gerontology
Subject: Seniors
ISSN: 0022-1422
Year: 1990
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Retirement differences among the respondents to the retirement history survey
Article Abstract:
In 1983, Congress passed the Social Security Amendments, which will increase the normal retirement age for Social Security benefits from the current 65 years to 67 years by the year 2027; the purpose is to give elderly workers an incentive to continue their employment. However, the predicted effect of this change on work incentives is small. The earnings for single white women and men, and for married and single black men differ considerably from those of married white men, upon whom most retirement studies are based. In addition, data from the Retirement History Survey showed that married black men and single white women differed in trends of retirement as compared with white married men. Blacks and single white women have less wealth at retirement than married white men, and most of their financial resources are from their social security benefits. Hence the responses of blacks and single white women to changes in the social security system are likely to differ from those of white married men. The results show that in comparison with white married men, the wealth and substitution responses were larger for single white men and women and single black men. The findings indicate that retirement responses of white married men to changes in Social Security or pensions are not representative of the responses of the general population. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)
Publication Name: Journals of Gerontology
Subject: Seniors
ISSN: 0022-1422
Year: 1990
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Chronic pain in old and young patients: differences appear less important than similarities
Article Abstract:
In considering multidisciplinary treatment and rehabilitation programs for chronic pain, healthcare providers tend to think of the elderly as being either indifferent or hostile to psychological services, and as being unable to learn (cognitively impaired), and so the programs are not offered to them. But when elderly persons are offered such programs, they are as likely as young persons to both accept and complete the treatment. One difference found between a group of people under the age of 35 and a group over age 65 was that, prior to treatment, the older group had fewer cognitive coping methods (e.g. progressive muscle relaxation, deliberate use of mental distraction from pain) than the younger. The elderly rely more on external techniques, such as medication or external devices, yet the older patients were able to accept and use psychological techniques as readily as younger persons. In spite of the fact that the elderly have in general more physical disability than younger persons, the pain did not seem to affect the elderly more than the young in this specific study. While more research is called for, it is now deemed important to include elderly chronic pain sufferers in available multidisciplinary treatment and rehabilitation programs. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)
Publication Name: Journals of Gerontology
Subject: Seniors
ISSN: 0022-1422
Year: 1990
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