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Adaptation for growth as a common goal throughout the lifespan: Why and how
Rachel Wu and Carla M. Strickland-Hughes
Thriving in a constantly changing environment requires human learners to adapt. In turn, adaptation requires learning new information and skills (i.e., adaptation for growth). Although specific personal goals change across the lifespan, the need for adaptation for growth is common across all ages. Yet, research with older adults often focuses on adaptation to loss, whereas research with infants and children often focuses on adaptation for growth. However, recent aging research demonstrates the possibility of cognitive maintenance, or even growth, in older adulthood. Focusing more on gains rather than losses may lead to a better understanding of adaptation for growth, and ultimately functional independence in a dynamic environment. After briefly reviewing theories on cognitive growth across the lifespan, we present a novel theoretical framework to explain why and how human learners adapt to grow in a dynamic environment from infancy to older adulthood. This framework highlights the role of real-world skill learning on three intermediate elements of learning to adapt relevant for any age. A driving metaphor conceptualizes these three elements: (1) learning what to learn and how to learn (GPS), (2) motivation to learn and adapt (fuel), and (3) cognitive abilities for learning (engine). We propose that these three elements lead to functional independence in a dynamic environment. We explain how the new framework builds on and extends existing learning research with older adults. Implications and future directions to raise the standard for cognitive aging from loss prevention and maintenance to adaptation for cognitive growth are discussed.
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Chapter 22 – Applied Behavior Analysis for Health and Fitness
Matthew P. Normand, Jesse Dallery, and Triton Ong
Health promotion is among the foremost concerns of modern society. As with many problems of considerable social significance, most health problems are caused by what people do and what people do not do. People eat too much, exercise too little, and visit healthcare providers too infrequently, among many other things. Understanding and solving these problems is a task for the behavioral sciences, and applied behavior analysts have been addressing problems related to health and fitness since the earliest days of the field. The primary focus of this chapter is on applied behavior analysis research related to health promotion through diet, exercise, and medication adherence, as addressing these issues would significantly improve health across many populations. Health promotion is a problem that applied behavior analysts continue to address, but we still have considerable work to do.
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Memory training for older adults: A review with recommendations for clinicians
Robin Lea West and Carla M. Strickland-Hughes
Cognitive training programs for older adults span a very wide range of research, from case studies with people with dementia to extensive individual practice of specific information processing skills, and from comprehensive group training programs for healthy seniors to broad approaches that increase cognitive engagement. A primary target of these cognitive interventions is memory improvement. Improved memory is a key aim for several reasons. Foremost, as an integral process involved in everyday experience, memory capacity may affect older individuals’ ability to live independently (Fisher, 2012; Montegjo, Montenegro, Fernández, & Maestú, 2012; Stine-Morrow & Basak, 2011). Older adults themselves recognize the importance of memory, and have fears concerning memory loss (Dark-Freudeman, West, & Viverito, 2006). In part, these fears are realistic because cross-sectional and longitudinal studies report age-related declines in working memory, learning of new associations (see Chapter 3), and encoding of new long-term memories (Mather, 2010; McDaniel, Einstein, & Jacoby, 2008). Thus, memory is emphasized in training because it is essential, valued, and at risk for decline.
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Mercury rising: Exposing the vaccine-autism myth
Matthew P. Normand and Jesse Dallery
Environmentalist and attorney Robert F. Kennedy Jr. argues that childhood vaccines containing thimerosal are linked to autism and that the government has colluded with pharmaceutical companies to cover up this information. Psychology professors Matthew Normand and Jesse Dallery contend that studies have failed to uncover any specifi c link between autism and mercurycontaining thimerosal vaccines.
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Ethical practice of applied behavior analysis
J. Martinez-Diaz, T. Freeman, Matthew P. Normand, and Timothy E. Heron
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Basic behavioral research and organizational behavior management
Alan Poling, Alyce M. Dickinson, John Austin, and Matthew P. Normand
A selection of books and book chapters authored or edited by faculty in the College of the Pacific - Department of Psychology at University of the Pacific.
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