Higher Mental Functions in Early, Middle and Late Adulthood: A Neuropsychological Analysis

The paper addresses the age-specific changes in higher mental functions in early, middle and late adulthood basing on A.R. Luria's model of three functional brain units and the concept of interspatial brain asymmetry. The heterochronous and multidimensional character of the changes in higher mental functions is most prominent in early and mid-adulthood when improvements both in visual perception and certain aspects of speech are accompanied by a decrease in visual-spatial abilities. The functions of obtaining, processing and storing information are to a great extent subject to the negative effects of age, mainly with right-hemisphere deficiencies. Research subjects in late adulthood showed a decrease in all the explored characteristics except for the ability to program and control free forms of activity.

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