Late Adulthood: Physical and Cognitive Development

Abstract

In reflecting on one's own life, readers may recognize many examples of physical, psychological, social, and cognitive development that are shared by nearly all. The facts of birth and death and constant change are central to the processes of human development. Without constant change, how could one develop? To develop, something must leave a current form and transition to a new one, even if the change is imperceptibly small. Ask yourself, how different from my present form was I at the time of my first explicit memory? Explicit memories are long-term recallable images and words from earlier periods in life. How have your physical body, mental capabilities, or identity changed since that time?Both context and time are important to developmental change. If one examined deeply to find a way in which a person has developed without dependence on anything else, there would be no evidence. From a simplistic view we are reliant on air, water, and the many influencing physical systems of life. But if we are not isolated, meaning we are not in some type of developmental vacuum, then an individual is who he is because of the context he is embedded in. Because the world is different as a totality at each moment, each of us is also unique at each given time because of this embedded quality. For example, what changes do you notice in yourself and your context from 1 hour ago, 1 day ago, 1 month ago, 1 year ago? The greater gap between two comparative times makes it easier to recognize the differences accumulated by change, the differences that have cascaded from one time of life to another.Each time period of a person's life is unique, and, at the same time, one can notice commonalities shared with other time periods. As this chapter will also explore, some changes are unique and personal, whereas others are shared as a