Chapter 11 Late life and neurocognitive disorders Quiz 2

Question 1

age effects

Answer 1

the consequences of being a given chronological age

Question 2

Alzheimer’s disease

Answer 2

a dementia involving a progressive atrophy of cortical tissue and marked by memory impairment, intellectual deterioration and loss of motivation

Question 3

cohort effects

Answer 3

the consequences of having been born in a given year and having grown up during a particular time period with its own unique pressures, problems, challenges and opportunities

Question 4

cognitive reserve

Answer 4

the idea that some people may be able to compensate for impacts of disease in the brain by using alternative brain networks or cognitive strategies such that cognitive symptoms are less pronounced

Question 5

delirium

Answer 5

a state of great mental confusion in which consciousness is clouded, attention cannot be sustained and the stream of thought and speech is incoherent. The person is probably disoriented, emotionally erratic, restless or lethargic and often has illusions, delusions and hallucinations

Question 6

dementia

Answer 6

deterioration of mental faculties — memory, judgement, abstract thought, control of impulses, intellectual ability — that impairs social and occupational functioning, and eventually changes the personality

Question 7

dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB)

Answer 7

a form of dementia that often co-occurs with Parkinson’s disease; characterised by shuffling gait, fluctuating attention and cognition, and hallucinations and delusions

citation for accuracy before use.

Question 8

disorientation

Answer 8

a state of mental confusion with respect to time; place; and identity of self, other persons and objects

Question 9

frontotemporal dementia (FTD)

Answer 9

dementia that begins typically in the mid- to late 50s, characterised by deficits in executive functions such as planning, problem solving and goal-directed behaviour as well as recognition and comprehension of emotions in others

Question 10

mild cognitive impairment

Answer 10

cognitive decline, based on self/other reports and objective tests, which do not impact on function/daily activities

Question 11

neurofibrillary tangles

Answer 11

abnormal protein filaments present in the cell bodies of brain cells in patients with Alzheimer’s disease

Question 12

plaques

Answer 12

small, round areas composed of remnants of lost neurons and beta-amyloid, a waxy protein deposit; present in the brains of patients with Alzheimer’s disease

Question 13

polypharmacy

Answer 13

prescription of multiple medications to an individual, traditionally defined as the use of five or more medications

Question 14

selective mortality

Answer 14

the tendency for less healthy individuals to die more quickly, which leads to biased samples in long-term follow-up studies

Question 15

social selectivity

Answer 15

the late-life shift in interest away from seeking new social interactions and towards cultivating those few social relationships that matter most, such as with family and close friends

Question 16

time-of-measurement effects

Answer 16

a possible confound in longitudinal studies whereby conditions at a particular point in time can have a specific effect on a variable that is being studied over time

Question 17

vascular dementia

Answer 17

a form of dementia caused by cerebrovascular disease, most commonly occurring after strokes. Because the areas of the brain affected by disease can vary, the symptoms of vascular dementia vary as well