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Biomedical subjects

J E Birren

Publications and source records attributed to J E Birren.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1995

Aging and speed of behavior: possible consequences for psychological functioning.

Over 100 years of observations have established that slowness of behavior is a characteristic of becoming old, although it is now recognized that health, use of medications, and physical activity may modify the extent of the slowing. Early research indicated that there is a limited contribution to slowing by peripheral sensory-motor factors. Substantial evidence has pointed to the central nervous system as the locus of the slowing. Recent investigators have expressed divided opinions about whether there is a pervasive general slowing of behavior by the central nervous system or whether there are specific localized mechanisms. This is not unlike early disputed views of the brain as having localized or global behavioral functions: Both principles appear to be simultaneously true. Sufficient research has been conducted to indicate that there are specific factors as well as a general process associated with the slowing of behavior with advancing age. Whether such slowing is a primary or secondary cause of age differences in cognitive processes is a significant scientific issue. A marked broadening of research on aging has been accompanied by an interest in identifying both the neurophysiological correlates of slowing as well as its role in specific cognitive processes. Yet another aspect of the changing research picture is the trend to move beyond the mere use of chronological age as the sole basis for comparing performance differences. Measurement of more independent variables is suggested as part of clusters or causal complexes that will indicate sources of the changes in speed and other aspects of behavior. These causal complexes include biological indicators such as disease, physiological capacity for work, and length of life, as well as causal complexes of social factors involving such variables as education, occupation, and ethnicity. There has been considerable discussion of markers of aging. In this approach, factors found to be closely associated with advancing age are used as measures of the effectiveness of attempts to modify the course of aging, e.g. by diet, exercise, new learning, and drugs. Along with other biomarkers of aging, speed of behavior may prove to be a criterion for assessing the impact of interventions on the rate and processes of aging. As a marker of aging, speed needs further exploration that will compare the slowness observed in different subgroups of adults with a wide range of outcomes in their productivity, capacity for adaptation to life's demands, and health. The present status of information about slowness of behavior with advancing age indicates that it is one of the most reliable features of human life.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Adult↗
PubMed1993

The understanding of death and dying in a life-span perspective.

Fifty-four men and women from across the adult life span wrote two-page essays about death and dying. Content coding assessed the extent to which essays were concerned with death or dying (i.e., as a subject of discussion) and self, others, or more abstract conceptions (i.e., referent), as well as levels of impact, involvement, and acceptance. Structural analysis revealed that for both genders discussions of death were both more frequent and more complex than were discussions of dying, and individuals referred to others more often and in more simplistic terms than to self. The middle-aged writers placed greater emphasis on dying. All discussions were characterized by high impact and involvement and low levels of acceptance.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1991

Aging and slowing of behavior: consequences for cognition and survival.

It has been over a hundred years since Francis Galton observed that older persons responded more slowly than the young. Since then, slowness of behavior with age has become the most robust phenomenon seen in research on aging. Interest in the slowness of behavior with age, in fact, has been growing in scientific significance because of the relation of speed to cognitive functions, on the one hand, and to physical fitness and electrophysiological measurements on the other. In addition, speed of behavior may be viewed as a reliable marker of aging. This broader context gives rise to the question of how speed of behavior is related to the hierarchical organization of the functions of the central nervous system, a topic neglected by both general and developmental psychologists. Speed of behavior apparently limits certain intellectual components such as fluid intelligence and the important precognitive capacity of attention. Although there may be several speed factors, at least one broad one has pervasive influence on abilities. It appears that the relations among age, speed, and cognitive abilities are not similar to those of other domains of general psychology, and for that reason changes in speed and its role in behavior cannot easily be captured in terms of familiar metaphors of psychology. We must seek new metaphors that can characterize the complexity of aging as a process of transformation and also embrace the apparent contradictions seen in simultaneous increases and decreases in behavioral capacities with age. New research should be considered to take advantage of the robustness of the observed slowness of behavior with age and its widespread correlation with other behavioral and physiological functions. As one of the most reliable psychological markers of aging, it may be used in longitudinal studies to gain further insight into the organization of aging. One of the topics speed of behavior may contribute to is the relation of an energetic concept of aging involving metabolism and capacity for work to an informational or control concept--for example, gaining some insight into the relative contributions of "software" and "hardware" factors in human aging. It appears that in mammals a relatively large nervous system is related to a longer life span. Perhaps for humans, the eventual limiting factor on longevity is the integrity of the nervous system with its fixed long-lived neurons. Future studies of aging may well place greater emphasis on the part the central nervous system plays in aging owing to its role as the integrator of bodily functions.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Adult↗
PubMed1988

The nature of time: implications for research on aging.

Contemporary research on aging gives little evidence of recognition of the underlying concepts of time. Researchers have been much concerned with age as a variable but little with the explication of aging as a process. Most authors do not define aging as they use the term or explain how time enters their causal explanations. In this article major concepts of time are reviewed and distinctions are made between physical, biological, psychological, and social time or age, which all might be classified as a variant of calendar time or calendar age, respectively. Recent developments in gerodynamics, however, have given rise to the concepts of intrinsic time and intrinsic age, which are generated by the dynamics of the system. The implications of the major concepts of time and age will be drawn for research on aging.

Aging↗
PubMed1980

An analysis of doctoral dissertations on aging written in institutions of higher learning in the United States, 1969 to 1975.

This paper updates the 1971 Moore and Birren study using productivity of doctoral dissertations as an indicator of professional and research training in the field of aging. In comparison with the earlier study, in this current study, 1969 to 1975, there has been a marked increase in aging related titles in the social and health sciences and a drop in aging related titles in psychology with the biological sciences remaining about the same. Geographically, the three states with the largest elderly populations also have the largest productivity of dissertations in aging.

Academic Dissertations as Topic↗
PubMed1977

Age and male erectile responsiveness.

The purpose of the research was to determine (1) the difference in the rate of penile circumference increase per unit time between a group of young and a group of old normal males when exposed to the same erotic movie and (2) the correlation coefficient between penile shaft temperature increase and penile circumference increase. Ten males aged 19-30 years and ten males aged 48-65 years served as subjects. Each subject placed a thermistor and strain gauge on his penis and both outputs were recorded simultaneously on a two-channel recorder. The younger group responded at an erection rate 5.8 times faster than that of the older group. The correlation coefficient, based on the percent approach to oral temperature (98.6 degrees F) and the percent increase in penile circumference, was 0.75.

Adult↗
PubMed1976

A bibliography of doctoral dissertations on aging from American institutions of higher learning, 1973-1975.

This bibliography acts as the fifth supplement to the original title which covered 1934-1969. The supplements will include all titles of earlier years which were found after the original bibliography was published, Journal of Gerontology, 1971, 26, 391-422. Due to the nature of bibliographic control in regard to doctoral disserations, each supplement will try to cover the academic year rather than the physical year. This means that a dissertation issued in 1970 may be either in the original bibliography or in the supplements. The arrangement of the supplement is similar to the original bibliography.

Academic Dissertations as Topic↗
PubMed1975

Age differences in backward dichoptic masking.

An investigation of age differences in backward dichoptic visual noise masking was carried out with young, middle-aged and old subjects. Older subjects were found to be significantly more susceptible to the backward masking effect over longer delays between the target and masking stimuli. These results indicate a decrease with age in the rate at which stimuli can be cleared through the central mechanisms concerned with perceptual processing. These data appear to support the "stimulus persistence" and "arousal" models of aging.

Adult↗