Sandra E. Trehub

Aging and Cognitive Processes

1 Neuroanatomical and Clinical Neuropsychological Changes in Aging and Senile Dementia.- Aging: Normal versus Pathological.- Neuroanatomical Changes.- Electron Microscope Observations.- Light Microscope Changes.- Gross Changes.- Clinical Neuropsychological Changes.- Conclusions.- References.- 2 Cellular Mechanisms of Alzheimers Disease.- References.- 3 Advances in the Psychophysiology of Aging.- Novel Descriptive Techniques: Windows into the Brain.- Event-Related Potentials.- Computerized Axial Tomography.- Intervention: Plasticity in the Aging.- Conclusions.- References.- 4 A Neuropsychological Approach to Perception and Memory in Normal and Pathological Aging.- Visual Perception: The Effects of Backward Masking on the Identification of Letters and Words.- Primary and Secondary Memory: Free Recall, Cued Recall, and Recognition of Words and Faces.- Procedural or Skill Memory.- Remote Memory.- Memory in Everyday Life.- Summary.- References.- 5 How Do Old People Know What to Do Next?.- Passive and Active Control of Momentary Changes in Selective Attention.- Recency Effects Determined by Stimulus Characteristics or by Previously Learned Associations.- Control of Efficient Interrogation of the Environment.- Search of Probable before Improbable Locations in Space.- Guiding Search on the Basis of Cues from Neighboring Background Items.- Detection of Possibilities for Developing and Using Optimal Scanning Strategies.- Detection of Constant Probability Bias and of Sudden Changes in the Relative Probabilities of Events.- Remembering What to Do Next.- Failures to Index Immediate Memory to Maintain Control in a Serial Task.- Conclusions.- References.- 6 The Development of Visual Information Processes in Adulthood and Old Age.- A Visual Information Processing Model.- Developmental Questions.- Peripheral Perceptual Processes.- Central Perceptual Processes.- Selective Attention and Pattern Recognition.- Developmental Implications.- References.- 7 The Appearance and Disappearance of Age Differences in Adult Memory.- Summary of Present Research.- Integration with Previous Research.- Conclusions.- References.- 8 General Encoding of Episodic Events by Elderly Adults.- Experiment 1.- Experiment 2.- Experiment 3.- Conclusions.- References.- 9 Learning and Memory Deficits in Institutionalized and Noninstitutionalized Old People: An Analysis of Interference Effects.- Interference.- Control of Learning and Memory Deficits.- Brain Mechanisms.- Empirical Studies.- Subjects.- Interference and Learning.- Cuing Effects.- Memory.- Concluding Comments.- References.- 10 Encoding Deficits in Aging.- References.- 11 Aging and Cognitive Deficits: The Role of Attentional Resources.- Theoretical Background.- Empirical Studies.- Aging and Divided Attention.- Depth of Processing and Aging.- Age Differences in Semantic Memory.- Summary of Empirical Results.- Conclusions: Possible Reasons for Age Decrements in Memory.- References.- 12 Classification Style Differences in the Elderly.- Method.- Subjects.- Materials.- Procedure.- Measures.- Results.- Discussion.- References.- 13 Changes with Age in Problem Solving.- The Longitudinal Study of Concept Problem Solving.- Results.- Summary of Results.- Current Status and Future Directions.- References.- 14 The Theory of Fluid and Crystallized Intelligence in Relation to Concepts of Cognitive Psychology and Aging in Adulthood.- Major Concepts.- Some General Features of Procedures.- A Few Comments in Defense of Procedures.- Subjects and Variables.- Subjects.- Variables.- Analyses and Results.- Sensory Detection in Relation to Decline of Intellectual Capacities.- Short-Term Memory, Concentration, Attendveness, and Speediness Related to Gf Decline.- Speediness, Carefulness, and Persistence in Relation to Gf Decline.- Spontaneous Alertness, Expectations, and Incidental Memory.- Multiple-Process Involvements in Gf Decline.- The Rise of Crystallized Intelligence.- Summing Up.- Brain Function in Relation to Gf and Gc.- Gf Relations to Neurological Gating Functions.- Possible Neurological Underpinnings of Gc in Relation to Total Function.- Lateralization Theory in Relation to Gf/Gc Theory.- Summary.- References.- 15 Reallocation of Mental Resources over the Productive Lifespan: Assumptions and Task Analyses.- Overview.- Assumptions in Empirical Cognitive Gerontology: Subject-Selection Practices.- The Comparability Problem.- The Volunteer Problem.- A Study of Cognition, Age, and Voluntarism.- Subject Selection and Classification.- Selection and Theoretical Classification of Tasks.- General Results.- Overall Conclusions and Theoretical Analysis.- References.- 16 Attention Switching in Higher Mental Process.- References.- 17 Studying Cognitive Performance in the Elderly: A Biopsychosocial Approach.- The Biological Issues.- The Nature of Normal Biological Aging.- Non-Specific Presentation of Illness in the Elderly.- Drugs and the Elderly.- The Epidemiology of Senile Dementia.- Social Psychological Issues.- Selection Bias.- The Epiphenomena of Aging.- Labeling and Learned Helplessness.- The Problem of Ecological Validity.- Conclusions.- References.- 18 Memory Functioning in Late Adulthood.- Five Problems of Potential Significance.- Fear of Memory Impairment.- The Meaning and/or Accuracy of Self-Assessment of Memory Problems.- The Progress of Memory Disability.- The Subjective Experience of Memory Impairment and the Strategies Employed.- Potential Effects of Self-Perceived and Attributed Memory Problems on Self-Concept and on Interpretations of Behavior.- Content of Memories in Old Age: Case Studies.- Case 1.- Case 2.- Case 3.- Case 4.- Case 5.- References.- 19 Plasticity and Enhancement of Intellectual Functioning in Old Age: Penn States Adult Development and Enrichment Project (ADEPT).- Objectives of ADEPT.- On Variability and Plasticity in Intellectual Aging.- Variability.- Plasticity.- Context and Hypotheses of ADEPT Research.- Intellectual Aging: Role of Performance Factors and Ecological Deficits.- Theory of Fluid-Crystallized Intelligence as Framework.- General Design Characteristics.- Subjects.- Measurement Battery.- Rationale and Substance of Training.- Assessment of Training.- Results of Intervention Studies.- Retesting or No-Feedback Practice.- Training of Figurai Relations Ability.- Training of Induction.- Training of Attention/Memory.- Conclusions.- Retest Effects.- Ability-Specific Training and Transfer.- Implications: Toward an Integrative View.- Summary.- References.

The developmental origins of musicality

The study of musical abilities and activities in infancy has the potential to shed light on musical biases or dispositions that are rooted in nature rather than nurture. The available evidence indicates that infants are sensitive to a number of sound features that are fundamental to music across cultures. Their discrimination of pitch and timing differences and their perception of equivalence classes are similar, in many respects, to those of listeners who have had many years of exposure to music. Whether these perceptual skills are unique to human listeners is not known. What is unique is the intense human interest in music, which is evident from the early days of life. Also unique is the importance of music in social contexts. Current ideas about musical timing and interpersonal synchrony are considered here, along with proposals for future research.

The Discrimination of Foreign Speech Contrasts by Infants and Adults.

TREHUB, SANDRA E. The Discrimination of Foreign Speech Contrasts by Infants and Adults. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1976, 47, 466-472. Infants 5-17 weeks of age were presented with foreign speech sounds which were contingent upon their nonutritive sucking. When the infants met a specified criterion of sucking decrement, a contrasting sound was substituted. Significant differences in response recovery for experimental versus control (no sound change) subjects were found for the contrast pairs [pa]-[p-a] and [za]-[ia]. Adults were presented with a comparable discrimination task for the foreign contrasts [za]-[ia] and the English contrasts [li]-[ri]. It was found that adults achieved perfect accuracy with English contrasts but readily confused the foreign contrasts. The implications of these results for theories of perceptual development are discussed.

Auditory Processing of Relational Information by Young Infants

The ability of 5-month-old infants to process relational information was assessed by means of a habituation-dishabituation paradigm with cardiac deceleration as the response measure. Infants were first habituated to a six-tone pattern and then shifted either to a transposition of the standard pattern or to a control pattern which comprised the elements of the transposed pattern in scrambled order. Dishabituation was not evident in the case of the transposed group but was clearly evident for the control group. These results indicate that infants can process relational information from tonal patterns.

Key membership and implied harmony in Western tonal music : developmental perspectives

We investigated the role of key membership and implied harmony in adults’ and children’s perception of tone sequences. Listeners were evaluated on their ability to detect three types of changes in one note of a well-structured Western tonal melody. In one change (out-of-key) the new note was not in the basis key, in another (out-of-harmony) it was in the key but not in the implied harmony, and in the third (within-harmony) it was in both the key and the implied harmony. Adults and 7-year-olds performed better on the out-of-key and out-of-harmony changes than on the within-harmony change, reflecting their implicit knowledge of key membership and implied harmony. Five-year-olds performed better on the out-of-key change than on the other two changes, reflecting the influence of key membership but not implied harmony. We consider the developmental precedence of key membership over implied harmony in the context of cross-cultural and theoretical perspectives.

Maternal Singing Modulates Infant Arousal

We examined the effect of maternal singing on the arousal levels of healthy, non-distressed infants. Mothers sang to their 6-month-old infants for 10 minutes, after which they continued interacting for another 10 minutes. To estimate infant arousal, we gathered saliva samples from infants immediately before the mothers began singing and 20 minutes later. Laboratory analyses of the saliva samples revealed that salivary cortisol levels converged from baseline to post-test periods. Specifically, infants with lower baseline levels exhibited modest cortisol increases in response to maternal singing; those with higher baseline levels exhibited modest reductions. This convergence of arousal levels was confirmed by reduced variability in cortisol values from baseline to post-test. These findings are consistent with the view that maternal singing modulates the arousal of prelinguistic infants.

Infants' and adults' perception of scale structure.

Adults and 9-month-old infants were required to detect mistuned tones in multitone sequences. When 7-tone versions of a common nursery tune were generated from the Western major scale (unequal scale steps) or from an alternative scale (equal steps), infants detected the mistuned tones more accurately in the unequal-step context than in the equal-step context (Experiment 1). Infants and adults were subsequently tested with 1 of 3 ascending-descending scales (15 tones): (a) a potentially familiar scale (major) with unequal steps, (b) an unfamiliar scale with unequal steps, and (c) an unfamiliar scale with equal steps. Infants detected mistuned tones only in the scales with unequal steps (Experiment 2). Adults performed better on the familiar (major) unequal-step scale and equally poorly on both unfamiliar scales (Experiments 3 and 4). These findings are indicative of an inherent processing bias favoring unequal-step scales.

Developmental changes in masked thresholds

Masked thresholds for octave-band noises with center frequencies of 0.4, 1, 2, 4, and 10 kHz and for a 1/3-octave-band noise centered at 10 kHz were obtained from listeners 6.5 months to 20.5 years of age at two levels of a broadband masker (0 and 10 dB/cycle). Thresholds declined exponentially as a function of age for all stimuli tested. The rate and extent of this decline, but not its asymptote, were independent of the frequency or bandwidth employed. The time course for this change parallels that found for electrophysiological maturation of more central auditory processes.

Developmental Changes in Infants' Sensitivity to Octave-Band Noises

Abstract Localization responses to octave-band noises with center frequencies at 200, 400, 1000, 2000, 4000, and 10,000 Hz were obtained from infants 6, 12, and 18 months of age. During an experimental trial, an octave-band noise was presented on one of two speakers located 45° to each side of the infant. A head turn to the noise (correct response) was rewarded by activating an animated toy on top of the speaker. The intensity of the noise was varied over trials (method of constant stimuli) to determine thresholds at each center frequency. Thresholds for the lower frequencies were approximately 5–8 db higher in the 6-month-old infants compared to the older infants. However, there were no consistent differences among groups at the higher frequencies. Infant thresholds were found to be 20–30 db higher than adult thresholds at the lower frequencies. At the higher frequencies thresholds for infants were approaching those of adults.

Maternal singing in cross-cultural perspective

Mothers were recorded OS they informally song o song of their choice, once to their infant ond once in the infant’s absence. Paired excerpts from different mothers were then presented to adult listeners, who were required to identify the infant-directed song in each pair. In Experiment 1, with singers ond listeners of North American origin, infant-directed excerpts were identified with a high level of accuracy. Mothers in Experiment 2, oil of lndion descent, sang Hindi songs in both contexts. Listeners of tndion ond North American origin identified the infant-directed excerpts significantly better than chance, with women outperforming men ond native Hindi speakers outperforming native English speakers. These findings document a distinctive style of singing to infants, some aspects of which ore recognizable across cultures and musical systems. Cross-cultural differences in singing style and the relotians between infantdirected song and speech ore discussed.