Mishina Yu.V. Gender Differences in Age-Specific Changes of Cognitive Indicators

Abstract: The subject of the research is the gender differences in age-specific changes of cognitive functions. In particular, the research is devoted to preservability of elderly people's cognitive functions.  112 men and 93 women participated in the research. The object of the research is cognitive functions of elderly pepole. The topicality of the research is caused by the fact that our country's population is aging. The number of elderly people is growing each decade. Skilled employees are finding their selves out from the active life against their will. The psychological solution would be to identify cognitive resources allowing to save performance capability in the later period of life. The research methods include the assessment of cognitive functions depending on one's age, correlation and factor analysis. All volunteers participating in the research took valid psychological tests such as 'analogies', 'odd one out' tasks, Raven Progressive Matrices, visual acuity test, and self-esteem test. Data was processed using the «IBM SPSS Statistics 22» program. The main conclusions of the research are the following. Cognitive functions are subject to spontaneous reduction as a result of aging. One's level of education has an indirect influence on their preservability. The attenuant of the psychological function regress is cognitive experience linked with the constant intellectual activity. The important factor of the preservation of intellectual activity is the family welfare which provides the adequate self-esteem. The gender differences in age-specific changes of cognitive functions focus on the logical analysis for men, and the tendency for working with images for women. 

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