Chapter 15 - Neurocognitive disorders and ageing Flashcards
What are neurocognitive disorders?
Psychological disorders with a primary symptom of significantly reduced mental abilities relative to one’s prior level of functioning.
What is the difference between normal and abnormal cognitive changes?
Normal cognitive changes are associated with aging, while abnormal changes are significant reductions in mental abilities.
Define crystallized intelligence.
Using knowledge to reason in familiar ways; knowledge crystallized from previous experience remains stable and increases with age.
Define fluid intelligence.
Creating new strategies to solve new problems; relies on executive functioning, abstract thinking, planning, and good judgment, which begin to decline with older age.
How does processing speed change with age?
Older adults have a slower processing speed and acquire new information at a slower rate.
What cognitive functions decline with age?
Attention, working memory, and multitasking abilities.
How is depression in older adults different from younger adults?
Older adults are less likely to be diagnosed and may exhibit different symptoms, such as anxiety, agitation, and memory problems.
What is aphasia?
A problem using language.
What is Broca’s aphasia?
Problems producing speech; characterized by slow, choppy, telegraphic speech.
What is Wernicke’s aphasia?
Problems in comprehending language and producing meaningful sentences; speech is fluent but nonsensical.
What is agnosia?
Problems understanding what is perceived, with no impairment in sensory abilities.
What is prosopagnosia?
Inability to recognize faces.
What is apraxia?
Problems carrying out movements; issues with voluntary movements.
Define delirium.
A disturbance in attention and awareness, with rapid development of symptoms.
What are common symptoms of delirium?
Decreased awareness, difficulty maintaining attention, perceptual alterations, and mood swings.
What is dementia?
A general term for a set of neurocognitive disorders characterized by deficits in learning new information or recalling learned information.
What is the most common cause of dementia?
Alzheimer’s disease.
What are neurofibrillary tangles?
Masses created by tau proteins that twist together and destroy microtubules.
What are amyloid plaques?
Protein fragments that accumulate on the outside of neurons, especially in the hippocampus.
What characterizes dementia due to Parkinson’s disease?
Slow progressive loss of motor function, trembling hands, shuffling walk, and muscular rigidity.
What percentage of people with Parkinson’s disease develop dementia?
Approximately 50%.
What is the effect of HIV on cognition?
HIV destroys white matter and subcortical brain areas, causing dementia.
What can antiretroviral medications do for cognitive functioning in HIV patients?
They can slow or even reverse brain damage, resulting in improved cognitive functioning.
