Does The Brain Affect Dementia?

Dementia is a cognitive disorder which causes a loss of brain functions which mainly affect memory .

Throughout this line of study, Alzheimer’s disease is a specific form of dementia. According to Alzheimer’s Association, dementia is a general term for a decline in mental ability that is severe enough to hinder daily life. Memory loss is a symptom of dementia and the most common type of dementia is Alzheimer’s. One of the most common and severe symptom of Alzheimer’s is difficulty remembering newly learned information. The changes of Alzheimer’s normally begin in the part of the brain that affects learning (Overview Alzheimer's Association). Some other symptoms of Alzheimer’s include gradual memory loss, the decline in capability to carry out everyday tasks and the loss of their language skills. According to Bialystok the rate of

The brain is the most complicated part of the human body. I will begin explaining certain parts and their

Last year my maternal Aunt Kate passed away. She had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) about eight years earlier. My maternal grandmother also had been diagnosed with AD before her death. Later this month I will accompany my 77-year-old mother to her neurologist appointment. While she has not been diagnosed with AD, she has been prescribed Donepezil (Aricept), one of the newer drugs that are thought to reduce the decline in memory in patients that have or might be developing dementia. Opportunities to learn more about AD and the effects on the brain are welcome. The Alzheimer’s Association website, ALZ.org, is filled with a wealth of this information. Especially interesting was Inside the Brain: An Interactive Tour. I

Certain qualities are consistently observed in the Alzheimer’s victim. These dysfunction’s, though, are not exclusive to Alzheimer’s disease. Consequently, declaring Alzheimer’s by these parameters is a matter of degree rather than an absolute. Characteristic dysfunction’s have been noted in Alzheimer’s victims, but the degree and severity of these varies from patient to patient. Thus, evaluation of the patient’s mental status must be made based on the sum, rather than a single characteristic. Memory is one of the first noticed deficiencies, beginning typically with the recent and short term memory, and progressing from there as the disease grows more severe. In addition, deterioration in language skills, attention span, praxis (performance of an action), and visuospatial skills are commonly seen. Also observed are changes in the actions and personality of the Alzheimer’s victim. These include changes in mood, motor activities, activities of daily living, socialization skills, psychotic disturbances, vegetative symptomology, and rise in anxiety levels. Again, the

Dementia is a term used to describe the symptoms of a number of illnesses which effect the function of the brain. It is an umbrella term describing the progressive decline in a person’s cognitive ability. The type and severity of symptoms varies with each type of dementia and is usually has a gradual onset, is progressive and irreversible. (1)

As mentioned above this disease affects three areas of the brain; the language (difficulty with

What is the brain’s role in the learning process? Does the learning process include the three major areas of the brain: hindbrain, midbrain, and forebrain? The brain is one of the most captivating organs in the body. It plays a huge role in how we learn and is made up of many components. Neurons are brain cells and people are born with over a billion of them. Neurons discharge signals to transmit information throughout the brain; these signals are called synapses. Neurons produce dendrites and they get larger as we learn. However, a dendrite gets bigger only if there is existing knowledge on something already learned. The brain consists of three areas and four lobes. The three parts are known as the hindbrain, midbrain, and forebrain. The four lobes of the brain are the frontal, parietal, occipital, and the temporal.

The brain is a very complex organ and it is divided up into different areas that control bodily functions. The brain contains at least 100 billion cells. In dementia some of these cells stop working. The part of the brain this occurs in will affect how that person thinks, remembers and communicates.

1.Understand what dementia is 1.1 Explain what is meant by the term 'dementia' A syndrome due to disease of the brain, usually of a chronic progressive nature in which there are multiple disturbances of higher cognitive function. These include impairment of memory, thinking and orientation, learning ability, language and judgement. 1.2 Describe the key functions of the brain that are affected by dementia The key functions of the brain that are affected by dementia are the temporal lobe, frontal lobe, parietal lobe, occipital, cerebrum lobe and the hippocampus. Temporal lobe- responsible for vision,memory, language, hearing and learning Frontal lobe- responsible for decision making, problem solving, control behaviour and

Evidence of significant cognitive decline from a previous level of performance in one or more cognitive domains — such as complex attention, executive function, learning, memory, language, perceptual-motor or social cognition.

Dementia effects your memory and a person’s ability to achieve a normal everyday task and activities.

“Alzheimer’s disease is an irreversible, progressive brain disorder that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills, and eventually the ability to carry out the simplest tasks individuals with AD may start having symptoms their mid-60s” (nih.gov). AD is a multifactorial and progressive neurodegenerative disease. “Parts of AD, for example, increased oxidative state, amyloid plaque deposition, and neurofibrillary tangle of tau protein in the central cortex the limbic system of the brain, have been related with Alzheimer 's disease. The disease was once thought to be a natural part of aging; it is an extremely incapacitating type of mental dementia. Albeit, some dementia

Dementia is one example of a neurological disorder. Jeffrey L. Cummings, and Michael R. Trimble (1995), explain that, “Dementia is a clinical syndrome characterized by an acquired persistent impairment in at least three of the following domains of function: language, memory, visuospatial skills, executive abilities, and emotion” (p.136). Patricia Lacks states in, Screening for Brain Dysfunction (1999), that Bondi, Salmon, and Kaszniak (1996, p.167) revealed that, “Recent research on dementia caused by Alzheimer’s disease suggests that the ‘hippocampus and entorhinal cortex are involved in the earliest stage of the disease and that frontal, temporal, and parietal association cortices become increasingly involved as the disease progresses”

1. The four major categories of cognitive disorders are: delirium which is an alteration in consciousness that manifest and progresses over a relatively short span of time where people have a decreased cognizance of their surrounding environment; dementia is an on-going atrophy of brain function that is pronounced by damage of memory, bewilderment and inability to focus; amnesia marked by an indicative loss of memory, against no loss of other cognitive functions that appear in dementia; there is also an inclusion of other cognitive disorders not particularly specified that may otherwise not be categorized properly on their own. A broad assortment of factors may lead to cognitive disorders, that could also encompass other general medical conditions such as brain infections or head injuries.