Personality development in old age relates to physical health and cognitive performance: Evidence from the Berlin Aging Study II

We examine how late-life personality development relates to overall morbidity as well as specific performance-based indicators of physical and cognitive functioning in 1,232 older adults in the Berlin Aging Study II (aged 65–88 years). Latent growth models indicated that, on average, neuroticism and conscientiousness decline over time, whereas extraversion and openness increase and agreeableness remains stable. Higher morbidity and worse grip strength were associated with higher neuroticism. Lower grip strength was further associated with lower openness, attenuated increases in extraversion, decreases in agreeableness and accelerated declines in conscientiousness. Moreover, those with poor perceptual speed reported higher neuroticism and lower conscientiousness. We also found age- and gender-differential associations between physical health and cognitive performance with levels of and changes in personality.     

Biblical language instruction by the book: Rethinking the status quaestionis

Grammar‐translation pedagogy is the standard for biblical language instruction. Second language acquisition scholars have argued that grammar‐translation is ineffective and not empirically justified. Moreover, evidence suggests most seminary graduates do not use biblical languages effectively in ministry. Task‐based instruction is an important alternative pedagogy which focuses on the tasks students will be using the language for and designs the curriculum around those tasks. A task‐based approach de‐emphasizes translation and memorization of forms. Instead, the emphasis from the beginning is on biblical interpretation and exposition. Available software based resources offer new possibilities for task‐based teaching, as students can identify forms and vocabulary and have access to a library of resources. A task‐based pedagogy using these tools enables students to quickly develop skills in biblical interpretation that are normally reserved for the third or fourth semester of study. Task‐based pedagogy offers great promise for effective and efficient biblical language pedagogy.     

Impressions of the Church of Sweden: liberal and catholic with nuances of Lutheranism

The Church of Sweden is difficult to describe or to characterise, whether as a Folk Church, a national church, as catholic or liberal, or as, in some sense, Lutheran. This article refers to aspects of its complex relations with the Roman Catholic Church and with Lutheranism at large. The author detects, from ecumenical agreement and practice, an incipient new communion of churches, based on a common claim to be catholic and also to be open to developments in society. This group includes the Church of Sweden, the Church of England, the Episcopal Church in the USA, the Old Catholic Churches of the Union of Utrecht and the Philippine Independent Church, all of which are in communion with each other. The author's presentation is set out in relation to the Church of Sweden's liturgical and sacramental life, its church–state relations, and in an account of the rather asymmetrical shape of ecumenism in Sweden, in all of which the question of gender plays a role.     

Transfer of old ‘reactivated’ memory retrieval cues in rats

The present studies examined whether the retrieval of an old ‘reactivated’ memory could be brought under the control of new contextual cues. In Experiment 1 rats trained in one context were exposed to different contextual cues either immediately, 60 or 120 min after a cued reactivation of the training memory. When tested in the shifted context, subjects exposed shortly after reactivation treated the shifted context as the original context. This transfer diminished with longer post-reactivation delays. Experiment 2 replicated the basic finding and demonstrated that the transfer of the old retrieval cues was specific to the contextual cues present during exposure. These findings are consistent with previous research [i.e., Briggs, J. F., Fitz, K. I., & Riccio, D. C. (in press). Transfer of memory retrieval cues in rats. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review] showing the transfer of retrieval cues for a new memory, and demonstrating a similarity (in this case) between newly acquired and old reactivated memories.     

Dismantling the “age–prospective memory paradox”: The classic laboratory paradigm simulated in a naturalistic setting

Previous research has identified “the age–prospective memory paradox”—that adult ageing results in reliably poorer performance on laboratory-based tasks of prospective memory (PM), but improved performance on such tasks carried out in real-life settings. We hypothesized that even in their everyday environment, older adults might be worse at PM tasks that are triggered during an experimenter-generated ongoing activity. The present study used a task that captured the key features of the classic laboratory paradigm, but which was completed in a setting that met key criteria to be considered naturalistic. In their everyday setting, participants' PM was assessed, with the cue to remember occurring either (a) during their day-to-day activities, or (b) during an experimenter-generated ongoing task. The results confirmed previous naturalistic findings, in showing that older adults (n = 28) exhibited better PM than their younger counterparts (n = 65) when prompted during their everyday activities. However, older adults were also then subsequently less likely to show effective PM during experimenter-generated ongoing activity. Reproducing the paradox within a single dataset, these data indicate that older adults can effectively act on intentions during everyday activities, but have difficulty in prospective remembering during experimenter-generated ongoing tasks.     

Recognition of emotional pictures: Behavioural and electrophysiological measures

The effects of emotional content of images on recognition memory were studied, bringing together electrophysiological (Event-Related brain Potentials, ERPs) and behavioural (accuracy and speed of recognition, and remember/know judgements) indices. In the study phase, participants assessed 120 images on the scales of valence and arousal. In the test phase, ERPs were recorded while participants viewed again the images, put together with 120 new, and were asked to make old/new decisions and remember/know judgements on them. A clear arousal bias was obtained for remember/know judgements, which revealed that correctly recognised arousing images (negative and positive) received more remember judgements than nonarousing images (neutral and relaxing). Moreover, a Late Positive Component (LPC) activation revealed an old/new effect enhanced by arousing images. The LPC activation was located in parietal areas (precuneus), which appears to be mostly related to successful retrieval based on recollection. The results obtained through different indices supported the emotional bias found in previous studies for arousing material, but do not clarify the effect of the emotional valence on recognition.     

Fear of falling and falls in older adults with mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to explore the influence of social importance on prospective remembering in younger and older adults as a possible factor contributing to the age-prospective memory paradox. Using a between-subjects design, 40 younger and 40 older adults worked on a time-based prospective memory task in which social importance was varied. Overall, younger adults outperformed older adults in the prospective memory task. Importantly, in contrast to younger adults, older adults' prospective memory performance was significantly better in the social importance condition than in the standard condition. This interaction was not reflected in participants' time-monitoring behaviour. Findings are discussed in the context of recent prospective memory theories.     

Verbal Learning Changes in Older Adults Across 18 Months

ABSTRACT

The major aim of this study was to investigate individual changes in verbal learning across a period of 18 months. Individual differences in verbal learning have largely been neglected in the last years and, even more so, individual differences in change in verbal learning. The sample for this study comes from the Zurich Longitudinal Study on Cognitive Aging (ZULU; Zimprich et al., 2008a Zimprich, D., Martin, M., Kliegel, M., Dellenbach, M., Rast, P. and Zeintl, M. 2008a. Cognitive ability structure in old age: First results from the Zurich Longitudinal Study on Cognitive Aging. Swiss Journal of Psychology, 67: 177–195. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and comprised 336 older adults in the age range of 65–80 years at first measurement occasion. In order to address change in verbal learning we used a latent change model of structured latent growth curves to account for the non-linearity of the verbal learning data. The individual learning trajectories were captured by a hyperbolic function which yielded three psychologically distinct parameters: initial performance, learning rate, and asymptotic performance. We found that average performance increased with respect to initial performance, but not in learning rate or in asymptotic performance. Further, variances and covariances remained stable across both measurement occasions, indicating that the amount of individual differences in the three parameters remained stable, as did the relationships among them. Moreover, older adults differed reliably in their amount of change in initial performance and asymptotic performance. Eventually, changes in asymptotic performance and learning rate were strongly negatively correlated. It thus appears as if change in verbal learning in old age is a constrained process: an increase in total learning capacity implies that it takes longer to learn. Together, these results point to the significance of individual differences in change of verbal learning in the elderly.     

Johannes Oecolampadius. An Exposition of Genesis

Abstract

The frequency with which Old Testament figures use mendacious means to achieve good and even holy ends presents a challenge to John Calvin's exegesis of the Hebrew Scriptures. Following Augustine, Calvin takes a hard line against all forms of intentional deception. He rejects the solution offered by some in the Christian tradition that there are situations that call for a ‘dutiful lie’ (mendacium officiosum). This necessitates some exegetical acrobatics on Calvin's part when he interprets texts in which liars are blessed, rewarded, and praised for their actions. Calvin does not, however, reject all forms of dissimulation, which is all the more surprising given his opposition to the half-truths employed by the Nicodemites. While Calvin strives for a consistent ethic of veracity in his exegesis, however, there remains the question of how consistently truthful Calvin was in his own practices, particularly in his use of Renaissance flattery and pseudonyms.     

The Church in St Ambrose of Milan

Abstract

A brief account is given of the life of St Ambrose and of modern scholarly views on his work. The Church was favoured by the Emperor Constantine and Christianity established as the state religion by the Emperor Theodosius. Ambrose might have been expected to have been interested in promoting the interests of the Church as an institutional and juridical organisation but he was in fact overwhelmingly interested in its spiritual aspect, as von Campenhausen asserts, opposed by Morino. The Church is seen in Ambrose's writings as the City of God and as the Kingdom of God into which believers are received. His understanding of the Church is markedly christocentric and biblical and is closely linked with his thinking on the Holy Spirit. This article also examines his attitude to the see of Rome, of which he did not recognise a general supremacy. The relevance for Christians today of Ambrose's experience of the Church as a unique spiritual fellowship is touched on.