Conservation Abilities of Elderly Men and Women: A Comparative Investigation

Adult Cognition: Piagetian Based Research Findings

The work of Jean Piaget, widely recognized as pertinent to childhood cognition, has in recent years generated significant research based on adult samples. Because traditional Piagetian em phasis has been on young children the potential application of Piaget's theory to help in understanding and in explaining adult cognition has not been widely appreciated. Increasing in terest in adult development, however, has stimulated additional speculation and investigation in to the questions of adult cognition, including efforts to conceptualize adult cognitive develop ment in Piagetian terms.

Application of Piagetian concepts to the study of adult cognition has occurred across a wide range and heretofore only limited efforts have been made to organize a review of the Piagetian literature on adult cognition around selected central issues. This extensive review, based on adult samples, reports the research findings concerning three specific topical issues that are of interest to the adult educator. The topics reviewed include the necessity, universality and persistence of the formal operations stage. Based on the literature reviewed, it is concluded that each of the topics requires further study, analysis and conceptualization.

Cognitive developmental approach to dementia

Systematic observations of people suffering from dementia of the Alzheimer's type (DAT) reveal they regress in behavior and become childlike. These observations have been used to structure clinical research and therapeutic interventions for dementia patients. However, no concise framework explains successful caregiving. Models for care exist but they lack an adequate framework for the long-term care of a person with DAT. This state of the science review describes what is known about cognitive functioning in people with DAT. It examines studies based on cognitive functioning. It also then relates this information to an emerging theory tentatively identified as a "cognitive developmental approach" which may be useful for understanding people with dementia and for predicting caregiver requirements.

Cognitive performance on Piagetian tasks by Alzheimer's disease patients

The purpose of this study was to examine cognitive abilities in Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients using Piaget's child developmental theory. Thirty elderly AD patients and 30 elderly control subjects were given two traditional Piagetian measures, the Infant Psychological Development Scale and the Concrete Operations Test. Half of the AD subjects (15) were in Piaget's sensorimotor or preoperational stages, while the remaining half of the AD subjects and all elderly control subjects were in Piaget's concrete operational stage, chi 2 [1, N = 60] = 17.42, p less than .001. If subsequent studies confirm that AD patients' cognitive characteristics are similar to Piaget's theoretical model, nursing care might be individualized based on mental competence, thus minimizing the commonly observed caregiver overestimation and underestimation of the AD patient's ability to understand and cooperate.