Cognition and Dementia Flashcards
What is cognition?
Cognition & Dementia
- Cognition includes basic mental processes such as sensation, attention, and perception.
- It also encompasses complex mental operations like memory, learning, language use, problem solving, decision making, reasoning, and intelligence.
What role does sensation play in cognition?
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Cognition & Dementia
- Sensation is the initial process of detecting and encoding environmental stimuli, serving as the first step in cognition.
What is the role of attention in cognition?
Cognition & Dementia
- Attention is the cognitive process of selectively concentrating on one aspect of the environment while ignoring other things.
How does perception function in cognition?
Cognition & Dementia
- Perception involves interpreting and organizing sensory information to understand its meaning and context, forming a cognitive interpretation of our environment.
What is the role of memory in cognition?
Cognition & Dementia
- Memory allows for the encoding, storage, and retrieval of information, facilitating learning and knowledge retention.
How does problem solving manifest in cognitive processes?
Cognition & Dementia
- Problem solving involves using information and reasoning to make decisions or find solutions to complex issues.
What is the significance of decision making in cognition?
Cognition & Dementia
- Decision making is the process of choosing between alternatives based on reasoning and preferences, crucial for everyday actions and responses.
What is MCI ?
Cognition & Dementia
- Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a state intermediate between normal cognition and dementia, with essentially preserved functional abilities.
How does MCI affect daily functioning?
Cognition & Dementia
Individuals with MCI generally maintain their daily living skills and independence, despite experiencing some cognitive decline.
What is the likelihood of MCI progressing to dementia ?
Cognition & Dementia
- Approximately 10-15% of individuals with MCI develop dementia each year, and about one-third of those with MCI due to Alzheimer’s disease develop dementia within five years.
What percentage of U.S. adults over 65 have mild cognitive impairment ?
Cognition & Dementia
- 22% of U.S. adults over 65 have mild cognitive impairment.
What percentage of U.S. adults ages 65 and older have dementia ?
Cognition & Dementia
- 10% of U.S. adults ages 65 and older have dementia.
What is the annual progression rate from MCI to dementia ?
Cognition & Dementia
An estimated 10-15% of individuals living with MCI develop dementia each year.
How many people worldwide are living with Alzheimer’s and other dementias ?
Cognition & Dementia
Worldwide, 55 million people are living with Alzheimer’s and other dementias.
What is sustained attention ?
Cognition & Dementia
- Sustained attention is the capacity to attend to relevant information during continuous activity without getting distracted.
What is focused or selective attention ?
Cognition & Dementia
- Focused or Selective attention is the ability to concentrate on a specific task while ignoring surrounding distractions.
What is alternating attention ?
Cognition & Dementia
- Alternating attention is the ability to switch focus between tasks, adapting responses according to the demands of each task.
What is divided attention ?
Cognition & Dementia
- Divided attention involves managing multiple tasks at once, responding simultaneously to two or more relevant stimuli or tasks.
What are some clinical examples of challenges with attention ?
Cognition & Dementia
- A patient may struggle to stay focused on a TV program, stop a dressing activity to talk, or have difficulty with complex activities like cooking or driving due to issues with different types of attention.
How is memory defined in cognitive processes ?
Cognition & Dementia
- Memory is defined as the mental process that allows an individual to store experiences and perceptions for recall at a later time.
What is the role of learning in memory ?
Cognition & Dementia
- Learning is a crucial element of memory which involves acquiring new information or modifying existing knowledge.
What does storage or retention mean in the context of memory ?
Cognition & Dementia
- Storage or retention is the phase of memory where learned information is held over time, ready for retrieval when needed.
What is involved in the retrieval or recall process of memory ?
Cognition & Dementia
- Retrieval or recall is the process of accessing stored information from memory, which is crucial for using learned knowledge in practical applications.
What is immediate recall in memory ?
Cognition & Dementia
- Immediate recall involves the retention of information for a very short duration, typically just a few seconds.
Define short-term memory.
Cognition & Dementia
- Short-term memory mediates the retention of events or learning that occurred within a short timeframe, such as a few minutes or hours.
What is a clinical example of difficulties with immediate recall ?
Cognition & Dementia
- A patient may not remember instructions given just seconds before by a therapist for what to do next, indicating immediate recall issues.
Give a clinical example of short-term memory issues.
Cognition & Dementia
- A therapist may find that a patient has forgotten how to perform a newly learned transfer technique the day after it was taught.
What characterizes long-term memory ?
Cognition & Dementia
- Long-term memory involves the retention of information acquired over a long period, such as days, months, or years.
Provide a clinical example of long-term memory problems.
Cognition & Dementia
- Patients may struggle to recall significant past events like a child’s birth or their own work experiences, especially common in cases of brain injury or Alzheimer’s disease.
What are executive functions in cognitive psychology ?
Cognition & Dementia
- Executive functions are capacities that enable a person to engage successfully in independent, purposive, self-serving behavior, including volition, planning, purposive action, and effective performance.
What is volition in the context of executive functions ?
Cognition & Dementia
- Volition is the capacity to determine one’s own needs and wants, essential for initiating and choosing tasks.
Describe the planning component of executive functions.
Cognition & Dementia
- Planning involves identifying and organizing the steps and elements needed to carry out an intention or achieve a goal.
What does purposive action mean within executive functions ?
Cognition & Dementia
- Purposive action includes productivity and self-regulation.
- The ability to initiate, maintain, switch, and stop complex actions in an orderly manner to achieve specific goals.
What is meant by effective performance in executive functions ?
Cognition & Dementia
- Effective performance refers to the capacity for quality control, including self-monitoring and self-correction of one’s behavior.
Provide a clinical example of executive dysfunction.
Cognition & Dementia
- Family and hospital staff may note a patient’s poor judgment, difficulty adapting to new situations, or a lack of attention to the needs and feelings of others, indicating issues with executive functions.
What is dementia ?
Cognition & Dementia
- Dementia is a general term for the decline in cognitive ability severe enough to interfere with daily life, characterized by memory loss, impaired judgment, and deteriorated reasoning.
How does dementia affect daily life and independence ?
Cognition & Dementia
- Dementia leads to impairments in daily life and independent function, affecting behavior, feelings, and relationships.
What causes dementia ?
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Cognition & Dementia
- Dementia is caused by abnormal brain changes, leading to a decline in cognitive abilities across multiple areas.
What are the key features of Alzheimer’s disease ?
Cognition & Dementia
- Alzheimer’s disease is characterized by the buildup of amyloid plaques and tau tangles in the brain, leading to severe symptoms like disorientation and memory loss.
What is frontotemporal dementia ?
Cognition & Dementia
- Frontotemporal dementia
- Involves atrophy of the frontal and temporal lobes, significantly affecting behavior and language comprehension.
Describe Lewy body dementia.
Cognition & Dementia
- Lewy body dementia is caused by deposits of the protein alpha-synuclein in the brain, leading to movement symptoms, hallucinations, and sleep disorders.
What is vascular dementia ?
Cognition & Dementia
- Vascular dementia is caused by damage to blood vessels in the brain, impairing blood flow and leading to cognitive decline.
What is mixed dementia ?
Cognition & Dementia
- Mixed dementia is a condition in which abnormalities linked to more than one type of dementia occur simultaneously.
- Often involving Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia .
How prevalent is Alzheimer’s disease among dementia cases ?
Cognition & Dementia
- Alzheimer’s disease accounts for 60-80% of dementia cases, making it the most common form of dementia among older adults.
What are the symptoms of advanced Alzheimer’s disease ?
Cognition & Dementia
- As Alzheimer’s progresses, it leads to increasingly severe symptoms including deepening confusion, unfounded suspicions about family or caregivers, and serious memory and behavior changes.
Differentiate MCI vs. Dementia
Cognition & Dementia
- MCI: Cognitive changes are of concern to individual and/or family.
- Dementia: Cognitive impairment severe enough to infere with everyday abilities.
Signs of….
- Healthy aging = ?
- MCI = ?
- Dementia = ?
Cognition & Dementia
a) Healthy aging:
- Sometimes forgetting which words to use.
- Losing thngs from time to time.
- Missing a monthly payment occasionally.
b) MCI:
- Difficulty coming with words
- Losing things often ^
- Forgetting to fo to important events ^
c) Dementia:
- Losing things often ^
- Forgetting to fo to important events ^
- Trouble having a conversation and/or reading and writing
- Asking the same question or repeating the same story over and over.
- Difficulty with basic daily activities.
- Problems handling money or paying bills.
- Becoming lost in familiar places.
- Hallucinations, delusions and paranoia.
Cognitive Domain = Complex attention
Changes in everyday activities = ?
Cognition & Dementia
Complex attention - Changes in everyday activities:
- Normal tasks take longer, especially when there are competing stimuli
- Easily distracted, tasks need to be simplified
- Difficulty holding information in mind to do mental calculations or dial a phone number
Cognitive Domain = Executive functioning
Changes in everyday activities = ?
Cognition & Dementia
Executive functioning - Changes in everyday activities:
- Diffculty with multi-stage tasks
- ” “ Planning
- ” “ Organizing
- ” “ Multitasking
- ” “ Following directions
- ” “ Keeping up with shifting conversations
Cognitive Domain = Learning and memory
Changes in everyday activities = ?
Cognition & Dementia
Learning and memory - Changes in everyday activities:
- Difficulty recalling recent events
- Repeating self
- Misplacing objects
- Losing track of actions already performed
- Increasing reliance on lists/reminders
Cognitive Domain = Language
Changes in everyday activities = ?
Cognition & Dementia
Language - Changes in everyday activities:
- Word-finding difficulty
- Use of general phrases or wrong words
- Grammatical errors
- Difficulty with comprehension of others’ language or written material.
Cognitive Domain = Perceptual-motor/visuospatial function
Changes in everyday activities = ?
Cognition & Dementia
Perceptual-motor/visuospatial function - Changes in everyday activities:
- Getting lost in familiar places
- More use of notes and maps
- Difficulty using familiar tools and appliances
Cognitive Domain = Social cognition
Changes in everyday activities = ?
Cognition & Dementia
Social cognition - Changes in everyday activities:
- Disinhibition or apathy
- Loss of empathy
- Inappropriate behavior
- loss of judgement
