Neurocognitive Disorders And Aging

Front 1

What is a neurocognitive disorder?

Back 1

- Significantly reduced mental abilities, relative to ones prior level of functioning

Front 2

What are the Primary set of features for neurocognitive disorders?

Back 2

- Changes in cognitive functioning

-Must be:

1. Compared to a persons prior functioning

2. Distinguished from normal age-related changes

Front 3

What are the three types of neurocognitive disorders?

Back 3

- Delirium

- Amnestic Disorder

- Dementia

Front 4

What is Delirium Disorder?

Back 4

- Impaired Cognition and marked change in awareness

- " A clouded state of consciousness"

Front 5

What is Amnestic Disorder?

Back 5

- Impaired cognition confined to memory

- Other mental process remains intact

-difficulty storing new information

Front 6

What is Dementia?

Back 6

- Impaired Memory plus one other impaired cognitive function such as perception, attention and language use.

Front 7

What are the two sets of abilities that intelligence can be divided into?

Back 7

- Crystalized Intelligence

- Fluid intelligence

Front 8

What is crystalized intelligence?

Back 8

- Relies on using knowledge to reason; "crystallized" from previous experience

- assessed with verbal ability test

Front 9

What is Fluid intelligence?

Back 9

- Executive functioning

- relies on the ability to create new strategies to solve new problems, without relying solely on information previously learned

- assessed with visual motor skills, problem solving, and perceptual speed.

- decline at age 55 and more significantly at 65

Front 10

Memory Impairment can happen two ways, what are they?

Back 10

- Transient (lasting a few days to maximum of one month)

- Chronic ( lasting longer than 1 month)

Front 11

What is Confabulation and what disorder is it found in?

Back 11

- Creating stories to fill in gaps in memory

- Amnestic disorder

Front 12

What are the two causes of Amnestic Disorder?

Back 12

- Substance use

- General medical conditions

Front 13

What are the three brain areas involved in memory?

Back 13

- Hippocampus, mammillary bodies, and fornix

Front 14

Name four techniques and strategies to compensate for memory problems?

Back 14

- Mnemonics - help organize and retrieve information

- Writing Down information to be remembered

- Memory Aids - Diaries, notebooks, alarms, calendars, and PDA's

- Errorless Learning Techniques

Front 15

What is an errorless learning technique?

Back 15

- Explicitly guiding patient through learning a new skill rather than relying on trial and error

Front 16

Five characteristics of Delirium?

Back 16

- Patient has great trouble concentrating and focusing attention and cannot maintain a coherent and directed stream of thought

- in early stages, the person is frequently restless, particularly at night

- Vivid nightmares are common

- mistake unfamiliar for familiar

- illusions and hallucinations are common

Front 17

What happens in a 24-hour period of someone who has delirium?

Back 17

- Lucid intervals and become alert and coherent

Front 18

Which disorder is characterized by - swings in activity, erratic,

and rapidly shift from emotion to emotion?

Back 18

- Delirium

Front 19

What are the five symptoms that are unique to delirium?

Back 19

- Rapid onset

- Fluctuate within 24-hour period

- Hallucinations

- gradually improve

- not alert and focused

Front 20

What are five symptoms unique to dementia?

Back 20

- Gradual onset

- do not fluctuate

- no hallucination

- rarely improve

- consistently alert

Front 21

Two Symptoms common in both delirium and dementia?

Back 21

- Memory problems

- Problems with other types of cognitive functioning

Front 22

Two medical factors that can effect cognition?

Back 22

- Head injuries

- prescribed and illicit substances

Front 23

What is Aphasia?

Back 23

- Problems in producing or comprehending language

Front 24

What is Broca's Aphasia?

Back 24

- Problems in producing speech

- Results of damage to the left frontal lobe

Front 25

What is Wernicke's Aphasia?

Back 25

- Problems in both comprehension of language and meaningful utterances

- May speak fluently but non-sensical

- Result of damage to left temporal lobe

Front 26

What is synesthesia?

Back 26

- the production of a sense impression relating to one sense or part of the body by stimulation of another

Front 27

What is Hemi-Neglect?

Back 27

- is a common and disabling condition following brain damage in which patients fail to be aware of items to one side of space

Front 28

What is somatic re-mapping?

Back 28

- Unused somatosensory regions are 'taken over' by neighbouring regions

Front 29

What are the six cognitive domains in which deficits occur for dementia?

Back 29

- Complex attention

- executive functioning

- Learning and memory

- Language

- perceptual motor

- social cognition

Front 30

What are the four types of cognitive impairments in dementia?

Back 30

- Aphasia - overuse of the words thing and it

- Apraxia - problems with executing motor tasks

- Agnosia - Problems recognizing friends, family, or even themselves in the mirror

- executive function problems - difficulties planning, initiating, organizing, abstracting and sequencing

Front 31

What are the three stages of progression in Alzheimers?

Back 31

- difficulties in concentration/memory for newly learned material and may appear absent minded and irritable

- blames others from personal failings and may have delusions of being persecuted

- memory continues to deteriorate and the person becomes increasingly disoriented and agitated

Front 32

What is working memory?

Back 32

- Requires keeping information activated while operating on it in a specific way

- Relies on frontal lobes which operate less effectively in older people

Front 33

What five things can normal aging lead to?

Back 33

- Problems in recall

- slower mental processing

- difficulty sustaining high levels of attention

- difficulties in dividing attention

- problems in working memory

Front 34

What are implicit memories?

Back 34

- Unconscious stored information that guides a person to behave in certain ways

- well learned tasks like driving or typing

- not affected by aging

Front 35

What is explicit memories?

Back 35

- Can be voluntarily brought to mind

- facts, names

- recall is more difficult that recognition for people aged 65 and older

Front 36

What are Neurofibrillary tangles?

Back 36

- mass created by tau proteins becoming twisted together and destroying microtubules, leaving the neuron without a distribution for nutrients

- contributes to death of neurons

Front 37

What is Amyloid plaque?

Back 37

- Fragments of protein that accumulate on the outside surfaces of neurons

Front 38

What is Vascular dementia caused by?

Back 38

- reduced or blocked blood supply to the brain

Front 39

What are two ways blood vessels are involved in vascular dementia?

Back 39

- plaque builds up on artery walls

- clotted blood blocks the inside of arteries and prevent blood from reaching the brain

Front 40

What four diseases can cause vascular dementia?

Back 40

- HIV/AIDS

- Huntingtons disease

- Parkinsons Disease

- Lewy Bodies

Front 41

What can protect against developing Alzheimers?

Back 41

- Environmental factors

- Exercise

Front 42

What are the medications for mild to moderate cognitive symptoms of Alzheimers?

Back 42

- Cholinsterase inhibitors

Front 43

What are the medications for moderate to severe symptoms?

Back 43

- Memantine

Front 44

Can Cognitive disorders be present at birth?

Back 44

- because such deficits reflect a reduction of a previous ability, it can not be present at birth

Front 45

What is described as the primary set of symptoms?

Back 45

- the changes in cognitive functioning - the mental process- constitutes the primary set of symptoms

Front 46

What do undesired cognitive changes usually arise from?

Back 46

- medical diseasre or injury such as:

- parkinsons

- stroke

- head injury

- huntingtons

Front 47

What does crystallized intelligence rely on?

Back 47

- using knowledge to reason in familiar ways

Front 48

Does crystallized intelligence remain stable, or decrease with age?

Back 48

- Remains stable or increases with age

Front 49

How is crystallized intelligence assessed?

Back 49

- measures verbal ability

Front 50

what does fluid intelligence rely on?

Back 50

- ability to create novel strategies to solve new problems without relying solely on familiar approaches (executive function)

Front 51

what do "executive functions" include?

Back 51

- abstract thinking, planning, and exterting good judgment

Front 52

How is fluid intelligence assessed?

Back 52

- visual-motor skills, problem solving and perceptual speed

Front 53

Does fluid intelligence increase or decrease with age?

Back 53

- declines

Front 54

how can we explain the slowed information processing as people reach old age?

Back 54

- myelin sheaths coating the axon of neurons degrade or disappear, which causes neuron signals to dissipate and brain communication is impaired

Front 55

Two cognitive functions that decline with aging?

Back 55

- Processing speed

- attention

Front 56

What is an example of working memory?

Back 56

- Holding the steps of a recipe in mind while cooking and progressing from one step to the next requires working memory

Front 57

In contrast with younger adults, older adults often feel _________ when depressed?

Back 57

- Anxiety, agitation and memory problems

Front 58

Which symptoms appear similar to delirium?

Back 58

- Psychotic symptoms

- Mood anxiety or dissociative symtpoms

Front 59

Name Nine medical reasons for delirium?

Back 59

1. infections

2. dehydration

3. electrolyte imbalance

4. stroke

5. brain tumor

6. pneumonia

7. heart attack

8. head trauma

9. surgery

Front 60

What two brain abnormalities are associated with alzheimer?

Back 60

- neurofibrillary tangles

- amyoid plaques

Front 61

How do neurofibrillary tangles work?

Back 61

- internal support structure includes microtubules that create tracks from the cell body to the end of the axon; nutrients are distributed within the cell via microtubules. Protein (tau) helps stabilize the structure of the tracks. WIth alzheimers, tau protiens get twisted together

Front 62

People who have specific versions of what gene are more suseptible to late onset alzhiemers?

Back 62

- Apo E

Front 63

What is parkinsons disease categorized by?

Back 63

- Slow, progressive loss of motor functions

Front 64

what six medical reasons can cause dementia?

Back 64

1. parkinsons

2. lewy bodies

3. HIV

4. Huntingtons

5. Head Trauma

6. medications

Front 65

Parkingsons causes damage within which areas of the brain?

Back 65

- dopemine releasing neurons in the substania nigra

Front 66

What are Lewy Bodies?

Back 66

- consist of a type of protien that n some people builds up inside neurons that produce dopamine or acetlycholine and can cause neurons to die

Front 67

What does HIV Do?

Back 67

- Destroys white mater in the brain

Front 68

What is dementia?

Back 68

- Progressive disease that kills neurons and affects cognition, emotion and motor functions