Aging & Social Change: Ninth Interdisciplinary Conference

Abstract

Considering the influence of historical-cultural aspects of higher psychological functions (Vygotsky, 1934/1984), we assume that language can not be reduced to the strict rules of the formal system, just like memory cannot be understood as a technical skill. Both activities were developed along the human history and are inter-constitutive (Oliveira, 2017). This work aims to publicize and discuss some of the results obtained in a qualitative and microgenetic longitudinal postdoctoral study that relates language and memory in the context of “normal” aging and in pathologies (aphasia and dementia). We have analyzed some clippings of video-recorded speech-language pathology sessions that took place at the State Reference Center for Elderly Health Care (CREASI), in the city of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. The units of analysis consist of utterances effectively produced in dialogical situations, which considered the singular history of the individuals as well as their social practices. The same principles also guide the linguistic-cognitive rehabilitation, in order to help the subjects to reorganize aspects of language and memory functioning. The clinical work is based on the so called “ethical-responsible dimension” (Bakhtin, 2010), which inserts researches in the process, as the “parter of real communication”. This mutual collaboration is a powerful therapeutical tool to minimize the effects of aging processes, especially on the pathological condition, which affects positively the individual’s quality of life. This study was approved by the Ethics Committee and research under opinion number 2.547.410.