The normal aging process is associated with declines in certain cognitive abilities, such as processing speed and certain memory, language, visuospatial, and executive function abilities.
In abnormal aging, declines in cognition are more severe and may include other thinking abilities, such as rapid forgetting or difficulties navigating, solving common problems, expressing oneself in conversation or behaving outside of social rules.
The most important changes in cognition with normal aging are declines in performance on cognitive tasks that require one to quickly process or transform information to make a decision, including measures of speed of processing, working memory, and executive cognitive function.
There are different forms of dementia including Alzheimer's disease, frontotemporal disorders, and Lewy body dementia. MCI is a condition in which people have more memory or thinking problems than other people their age but can still do their normal daily activities.
Slower inductive reasoning / slower problem solving. Diminished spatial orientation. Declines in perceptual speed. Decreased numeric ability.
Two of the most common characteristics of older adulthood are struggles with memory and attention (focus). Cognitive aging includes processing things more slowly, finding it harder to recall past events, and failing to recall information that was once known.
With advancing age, healthy adults typically exhibit decreases in performance across many different cognitive abilities such as memory, processing speed, spatial ability, and abstract reasoning.
The main sign of mild cognitive impairment is a slight decline in mental abilities. Examples include: Memory loss: You may forget recent events or repeat the same questions and stories. You may occasionally forget the names of friends and family members or forget appointments or planned events.
Alzheimer disease is the most well-known condition associated with cognitive impairment. Approximately 5.5 million people are affected by Alzheimer disease in the US, and the worldwide prevalence is estimated to be more than 24 million.
Delirium, or acute confusion, is a common condition in older adults affecting up to 30% of all patients over age 65 admitted to the hospital. Delirium is characterized by a disturbance of consciousness and a change in cognition that develop over a short period of time.
Neuropsychological impairments spanning many cognitive domains including episodic memory, visuospatial skills, verbal fluency, and psychomotor speed have been reported consistently in late-life depression.
“Cognitive decline may begin after midlife, but most often occurs at higher ages (70 or higher).” (Aartsen, et al., 2002)
One of the hallmarks of cognitive aging is a generalized slowing of processing speed, which is reflected in both perceptual and cognitive operations (e.g., Birren, 1970). Generally, it takes longer for older people to process information and give a response.
Cognitive impairment in older adults has a variety of possible causes, including medication side effects; metabolic and/or endocrine dysfunction; delirium due to illness (such as a urinary tract or COVID-19 infection); depression; and dementia, including Alzheimer's disease, vascular dementia, Lewy body dementia, and ...
Cognitive Disorders
Alzheimer's disease. Attention deficit disorder. Dementia with Lewy bodies disease. Early onset dementia.
1. Memory loss that disrupts daily life: forgetting events, repeating yourself or relying on more aids to help you remember (like sticky notes or reminders). 2. Challenges in planning or solving problems: having trouble paying bills or cooking recipes you have used for years.
Some of the more common triggers for dementia like a change in environment, having personal space invaded, or being emotionally overwhelmed may be easier to handle if you mentally practice your response before you react.
Introduction: The five-word test (5WT) is a serial verbal memory test with semantic cuing. It is proposed to rapidly evaluate memory of aging people and has previously shown its sensitivity and its specificity in identifying patients with AD.
While memorization skills and perceptual speed both start to decline in young adulthood, verbal abilities, spatial reasoning, simple math abilities and abstract reasoning skills all improve in middle age.
The legal age is also known as the age of legal majority. This is the age at which a person gains the legal status of an adult. The legal age is set by state law and can differ from state to state. However, almost all states set the base legal age as 18 years old.
When an elderly person demonstrates difficulty with multi-step verbal information presented quickly, the person is exhibiting problems with working memory. Working memory is among the cognitive functions most sensitive to decline in old age.