Aging and older adulthood

left visual field declines

younger adults show leftward bias and older adults show a decline in this performance

short term memory changes

verbal and visual memory span decline with age, barely noticible

working memory changes

tends to decline slowly, could reflect an inability to shut out competing information

episodic memory changes

preformance on episodic memory tasks declines with age

remembering

recollects original learning incident and its context

knowing

feeling of familiarity but not knowing exactly

semantic memory changes

semantic memory is maintained as we age as measured by vocabulary

memory training

doesnt work unless it is done long enough and consistent enought to have only changes

mild cognitive impairment

cognitive changes that are noticeable, but don’t interfere with life/independence

amnestic MCI

primarily affects memory

nonamnestic MCI

affects thinking skills, decision making, and judgments

dementia

general term, loss of memory and other mental abilites

alzheimers early symptoms

difficulty remembering name and recent events, apathy and depression

alzheimers later symptoms

impaired judgement, disorientation, confusion, difficulty speaking, walking and swallowing

brain changes in alzheimers disease

shrinking of hippocampus, cerebral cortex

tangles

proteins which are necessary for axon growth aren’t properly regulated, form tangles within neurons

plaques

clusters of protein fragments, build up between cells

vascular dementia

dementia caused by brain injuries, often following stroke

vascular dementia symptoms

impaired judgement, decline in attention, inability in planning, restlessness, memory loss

risk factors for vascular dementia

age, history of heart disease, diabetes, smoking, weight

frontotemporal dementia

behaviour and speech are affected most

behavioural variant of FTD

changes in personality and behaviour, disinhibition, loss of sympathy, planning, impaired judgement, binge eating

primary progressive aphasia

affects language skills initially, difficulty speaking fluently, behaviour affected with progression

FTD movement disorder

involuntary automatic muscle function affected, can look like parkinsons disease