Using Hebb’s (1961) paradigm, it has been shown that older adults (OAs) fail to learn recurrent visuospatial supra-span sequence information (Turcotte, Gagnon, & Poirier, 2005); a deficit which has not been demonstrated on verbal versions of the same task or in younger adults (YAs). Since the Hebb paradigm is thought to rely on working memory and thus attention (Conway & Engle, 1996), one interpretation concerns an OA’s capacity to allocate the necessary attentional resources to carry out the various components of the task. Five studies investigated this proposal. The first three (Article 1) examined attention in a general manner by reducing the amount of attentional resources that a YA could devote to carrying out the visuospatial Hebb supra-span sequence learning task through the implementation of a verbal dual task (DT) procedure. The fourth (Article 2) further investigated the role of attention by using a DT induced at retrieval that overlapped extensively with the requirements (spatial and response features) of the visuospatial Hebb task. The final study (Article 3) aimed to use our previous findings to demonstrate learning among OAs in a visuospatial Hebb learning paradigm in which the motor response was replaced by a verbal response. Our findings confirm that attentional resources employed at the retrieval phase of the task appear to be particularly important for the demonstration of visuospatial sequence learning. The inclusion of a spatial and motor based DT at recall eliminated learning of the repeated sequence in YAs. Interestingly, the learning deficit of OAs was partially eliminated when the motor and spatial requirements at retrieval were reduced. Our findings offer strong support to the contention that supra-span learning of the Hebb type is not altered by the effect of age. However, learning deficits can be observed among OAs when the retrieval component of the task overly taxes attention-related processes. In the case of the visuospatial sequences, the basis of the deficit likely concerns an individual’s capacity to discriminate between responses made to previously presented sequences versus those that need to be made in reaction to the just seen sequence.

The rapidly growing rate of the older adult population has created a need to better understand younger adults’ self-perceptions of aging and current trends of ageism. The purpose of this secondary data analysis research project was to determine changes, if any, in participants’ self-perception of aging after the Socially Nutritious facilitator or nutrition ambassador volunteer training, which aims to develop knowledge and skills related to aging trends, older adult nutrition, preventing ageism, and communication and educational considerations when working with older adults. Findings indicate that participants with more frequent interactions with older adults had a more positive perception of their aging at pre-test than those with less frequent interactions. However, these differences diminished at post-test. Training that includes information about healthy aging, as well as addressing ageism, may lead to a more positive self-perception of aging.

Bakgrund: Inom politik och media beskrivs unga arbetslösa som oengagerade, lågutbildade och socialt inkompetenta. Denna uppfattning förstärks när allt fler unga inte lyckats komma in på arbetsmarknaden och blir långvarigt arbetslösa. För att åtgärda problemet att ta sig in på arbetsmarknad, sätts de in på arbetsmarknadsåtgärder. Stämmer medias bild över verkligheten? Hur ser åtgärderna egentligen ut och hur påverkas de unga vuxna över tid som arbetslös? Ligger ansvaret för arbetslösheten på personerna själva eller finns det andra bakomliggande faktorer? Hur kan systemet eventuellt förbättras? Metod: För att ta reda på svaren har vi gjort en systematisk litteraturstudie där vi använt oss av 29 artiklar. Resultat: Ju längre arbetslöshet, desto svårare förutsättningar att komma ut på arbetsmarknaden. I takt med tiden försämras dessutom den fysiska, psykiska och sociala hälsan hos individen, vilket medför dubbla negativa konsekvenser. Om man är utan fullständigt gymnasiebetyg eller körkort, är chanserna för jobb bland de minsta. Dagens satsningar ligger framför allt på aktiveringsinsatser. Trots detta avslutar 25 procent gymnasiet utan fullständigt betyg. Slutsats: Arbetslöshet måste åtgärdas så tidigt som möjligt. Ett av de bästa alternativen för både individ och samhälle, är satsningar på kompletta gymnasiebetyg och billigare körkortskostnader. Detta skulle medföra att fler får grundförutsättningar och kvalifikationer för de flesta arbeten som saknar krav på eftergymnasial utbildning.

Technological advances will allow virtual agents to increasingly help individuals with daily activities. As such, virtual agents will interact with users of various ages and experience levels. Facial expressions are often used to facilitate social interaction between agents and humans. However, older and younger adults do not label human or virtual agent facial expressions in the same way, with older adults commonly mislabeling certain expressions. The dynamic formation of facial expression, or motion, may provide additional facial information potentially making emotions less ambiguous. This study examined how motion affects younger and older adults in recognizing various intensities of emotion displayed by a virtual agent. Contrary to the dynamic advantage found in emotion recognition for human faces, older adults had higher emotion recognition for static virtual agent faces than dynamic ones. Motion condition did not influence younger adults' emotion recognition. Younger adults had higher emotion recognition than older adults for the emotions of anger, disgust, fear, happiness, and sadness. Low intensities of expression had lower emotion recognition than medium to high expression intensities.