Interdiction to Psychology - Essay Example

Question 3. As a volunteer at a local community center for older adults, you have often observed a group of adults walking in laps around the center or practicing tai chi. You wonder if these sorts of activities are beneficial for improving memory. Based on the research presented in this chapter, do you believe these activities are beneficial for improving memory in these adults? Why or why not? Can you make some specific predictions about what types of memory may benefit from these activities?

Answer Based on the analysis of this chapter, I can assert that adults who do physical exercises such was walking around and practicing Tai Chi stand to improve their memory as opposed to those who do not. Kramer et al (1999) claims that interventions such as physical exercise can help to increase the number of cells that are found in the hippocampus thus improving memory and performance. The anterior hippocampus is a part of the brain that is crucial for learning and the formation of memory. The size of the hippocampus tends to decrease with age thus it is associated with memory decline.

Aerobic exercise training is effective at reversing hippocampal volume loss and is accompanied by an improved memory function. Erickson and colleagues (2001) carried out a research study on 120 older adults to prove that aerobic training exercise increases the size of the anterior hippocampus thus leading to improvement of spatial memory. Additionally, exercise training increased hippocampus volume by 2% and reversed age related loss volume by one to two years. However, the control group had a decline in the hippocampus volume thus deducing that fitness prevented memory loss.

Aerobic activity is associated with spatial memory . It also has an effect on the short term and the long term memory of an individual. Aerobic exercise also helps in improving learning performance and improve memory consolidation in humans. This is also important in improved cognitive function where a person I able to retrieve memories. Work citedDemir M., Birkett M, Dickson L, Miller M. Psychological Science in Action .New York University Readers, 2012. Print .