3 pages describing some of the explanations or theories for why we age (natural selection process, genetics, biological,

3 pages describing some of the explanations or theories for why we age (natural selection process, genetics, biological, etc. (ch. 2); age changes in the memory system (ch 4); and the process of partner selection (ch 6). I don’t expect you to read everything in these chapters, but a good digest of the summaries at the end of each chapter should be helpful. For a deeper understanding into some concepts you will need to review some portions of the chapter. Be sure and read carefully the lecture and Power Point presentation.

Evolutionary theories of Aging

Introduction

Evolutionary theories of length of living and aging explain the differences that are seen in the rate of aging and records of longevity across different biological species. The appeal to understand of life span and aging has come from the observation of life cycle in some biological species (Gavrilov et., al 2001).  These theories have been related closely to the genetics of aging because it is only possible in manifestations of aging that are heritable. The logical foundations of the evolutionary theories in the modern world have been compelled in relation to the 1950’s.

Evolution theory of Aging

The evolution aging theory tries to give an explanation as to how the evolution aims at designing of organisms and also be able to achieve reproductive success. The life history theory has been seen as a mathematical method of optimization models that have specific biological constraints. From the evolutionary perspective aging has been considered as an investable performance of declined force of the natural selection. Claims have been made that the evolutionary model has explained the observed age trajectory of the curves of mortality. The declarations that theory of evolution aging are considered as a dominating status in biological theories of longevity have remained justified.

Theory of programmed death

The initial idea in the programmed death theory is to eliminate the aged, old or the worn-out population. This is in relation to the duration of life where an individual has their own number of successor. These are therefore weeded out by natural selection and this happens after they have left the successors. The programmed death theory has explained the aging theory in the perspective of the programmed purpose to eliminate the old to cleanup a space for the living and for the younger generations.

Mutation Accumulation Theory

This theory has considered aging as a natural selection by product. According to the mutation accumulation theory, aging is considered as a nonadoptive trait. This is because natural selection has been take as negligent of events that have happened in the animals that have lived for long (Kirkwood, T. B. 2005). This explanation has been seen to be similar to the evolutionary explanation of ultimate blindness and vision determination of cave animals. According to this theory an individual that has deleterious mutation is considered to have less chances of reproduction and this effect is expressed early in life.

Antagonistic pleiotropy Theory of Aging

This theory is relying on two assumptions. The first assumption is that genes can have an impact on more than a trait. The second assumption states that an effect is brought to the individual fitness in antagonistic ways through pleiotropic effects. This therefore shown that that the pleiotropic genes bring opposite effects on fitness in different ages.  The pleiotropic genes have explained the favorable effects on the deleterious ones and fitness on the old age and young ones respectively which have therefore demonstrated the aging process (Kaplan et., al 2005). This theory therefore explains why we may go along with the cost of longevity of the species and the induction of death.

Age changes in memory system

The study of cognitive aging has come into the world of science in human behavior through a realization in human longevity. The study of aging and memory has taken a particular significance in the center issue that is related to increased longevity and the heightened ability to increase the life span (Schacter et., al 2008). Over the past few years there has been a review on the relationship between the memory system and aging. Important aspect of aging is that the processing of information declines.   One of the most Aging affects the information processing speed. The older people have slower processing sensory information as compared to the younger people.  Most of these changes in the memory system that relates to age is due to the changes in the nervous system where there are various translation sensory mechanisms.

Changes in retrieval of information and storage occurs in all ages. As people grow they tend to change in different ways. These include physiological and biological. These changes include both aging in the brain, neurophysiological changes and neuroanatomical changes. There is a relationship between aging and the brain system. Despite the relationship between cognition and brain being dynamic and changing in the life span, there are more factors in the brain that are related with memory system. Understanding the cognitive changes helps in understanding the constrain and focus on neurobiological aging theories similar to the ways the theories of cognitive aging are being adapted to put into details the new researches in the memory system change in relation to aging brain.

Process of partner selection

The process of partner selection is related with the theories of social relationship.  Social relationships are considered as the recurrent, dynamic partner’s interaction with others. These theories include convoy, attachment, socio emotional and the evolutionary theory. The attachment theory is related to the strong bond of affection that is formed by an infant to the primary care giver. These are related with certain features that include separation from the figure of attachment and feeling of security.  The convey model is the social relationship change of network throughout one’s life.  This relates to the network effect and the serve to protect and shape the relationship.  According to the socio emotional theory, the social relationships are dependent on age.

The role of the process of partner selection is to build an alliance capacity. During partner selection it is important to be able to distinguish between the partner related factors and the task related factors in analyzing the partner selection process. In the process of partner selection evolutionary psychology is important due to its role in human evolution. This is because the human species have had the biological systems that are related to filter theory, exchange and evolutionary perspective.

References

Gavrilov, L. A., & Gavrilova, N. S. (2002). Evolutionary theories of aging and longevity. The Scientific World Journal, 2, 339-356.

Hughes, K. A., & Reynolds, R. M. (2005). Evolutionary and mechanistic theories of aging. Annu. Rev. Entomol., 50, 421-445.

Kaplan, H. S., & Gangestad, S. W. (2005). Life history theory and evolutionary psychology. The handbook of evolutionary psychology, 68-95.

Kirkwood, T. B. (2005). Understanding the odd science of aging. Cell, 120(4), 437-447.

Schacter, D. L., Addis, D. R., Hassabis, D., Martin, V. C., Spreng, R. N., & Szpunar, K. K. (2012). The future of memory: remembering, imagining, and the brain. Neuron, 76(4), 677-694.