Which pairing correctly matches a common age-related cognitive change with a mitigation strategy?

Which pairing correctly matches a common age-related cognitive change with a mitigation strategy?

• A. Processing speed decline — mitigate with retrieval practice; Episodic memory decline — mitigate with chunking
• B. Processing speed decline — mitigate with mnemonic devices; Episodic memory decline — mitigate with sleep
• C. Processing speed decline — mitigate with practice and chunking; Episodic memory decline — mitigate with retrieval practice and cues
• D. Processing speed decline — mitigate with reduced cognitive load; Episodic memory decline — mitigate with listening to music

Answer: (C)

As people age, two common cognitive changes are slower processing speed and weaker episodic memory. The best way to address each is to pick strategies that directly support the specific challenge. Processing speed slows because mental operations take longer. Using practice helps by making tasks more automatic, so you can perform them faster with less mental effort. Chunking groups information into meaningful units, which reduces the number of items you have to hold and manipulate in working memory, making processing feel quicker and more efficient. Episodic memory—the ability to recall personal past events—benefits from retrieval practice, which strengthens memory traces through repeated recall. Cues—contextual or associative prompts—help trigger access to stored memories that might be hard to retrieve on their own. So pairing processing speed with practice and chunking, and pairing episodic memory with retrieval practice and cues, fits the way aging affects these processes. Other options mix in strategies that don’t directly target the specific decline as effectively (for example, mnemonic devices don’t address speed as directly, and sleep or music-based approaches are less tightly aligned with the particular deficits).

As people age, two common cognitive changes are slower processing speed and weaker episodic memory. The best way to address each is to pick strategies that directly support the specific challenge.

Processing speed slows because mental operations take longer. Using practice helps by making tasks more automatic, so you can perform them faster with less mental effort. Chunking groups information into meaningful units, which reduces the number of items you have to hold and manipulate in working memory, making processing feel quicker and more efficient.

Episodic memory—the ability to recall personal past events—benefits from retrieval practice, which strengthens memory traces through repeated recall. Cues—contextual or associative prompts—help trigger access to stored memories that might be hard to retrieve on their own.

So pairing processing speed with practice and chunking, and pairing episodic memory with retrieval practice and cues, fits the way aging affects these processes. Other options mix in strategies that don’t directly target the specific decline as effectively (for example, mnemonic devices don’t address speed as directly, and sleep or music-based approaches are less tightly aligned with the particular deficits).