Showing papers on "Cognitive decline published in 1986"

Training the elderly on the ability factors of spatial orientation and inductive reasoning.

Abstract: We examined the effects of cognitive training with elderly participants from the Seattle Longitudinal Study. Subjects were classified as having remained stable or having declined over the previous 14-year interval on each of two primary abilities, spatial orientation and inductive reasoning. Subjects who had declined on one of these abilities received training on that ability; subjects who had declined on both abilities or who had remained stable on both were randomly assigned to the spatial orientation or inductive reasoning training programs. Training outcomes were examined within an ability-measurement framework with empirically determined factorial structure. Significant training effects, at the level of the latent ability constructs, occurred for both spatial orientation and inductive reasoning. These effects were general, in that no significant interactions with decline status or gender were found. Thus, training interventions were effective both in remediating cognitive decline on the target abilities and in improving the performance of stable subjects.

Hearing impairment and cognitive decline in senile dementia of the Alzheimer's type

Abstract: Hearing impairment has been hypothesized as contributing to symptoms of dementia. Data from a longitudinal study were analyzed to determine if auditory status predicted cognitive functional decline in senile dementia of the Alzheimer's type (SDAT). As part of a larger study, 156 consecutive SDAT outpatients had received a comprehensive medical evaluation including baseline screening for hearing impairment with the finger friction test and serial assessment of cognitive function with the Mini-Mental State examination. Age and cognitive function at entry to the study were greater among individuals with impaired hearing (N = 36) than with normal hearing (N = 120). The demographic profiles of the impaired and normal hearing groups were otherwise similar, as was the prevalence of depression. Intervening mortality rates were nearly identical. Decline in cognitive function one year later, however, was nearly twice as great in the impaired hearing group, a statistically significant difference (P less than .05, by one-tailed t test) even when controlled for age and initial cognitive function. These results, which need to be verified with sophisticated audiometric techniques, suggest that hearing impairment may be a prognostic indicator for subsequent cognitive dysfunction in SDAT. They are consistent with the hypothesized relationship between hearing impairment and dementia in SDAT as well as alternative hypotheses discussed in the text.

Controlled and automatic information processing in senile dementia: a review.

Abstract: The evidence on cognitive decline in senile dementia is reviewed with respect to the distinction between controlled and automatic processing. It is argued that controlled processing, which requires the attentional resources of the individual, declines in early senile dementia. However, automatic processing, which does not require attentional resources, is well maintained until late in the disorder. Implications of this view are drawn for the development of effective screening instruments which can be used for the early detection of dementia in the general population.

The record of independent living: An informant-completed measure of activities of daily living and behavior in elderly patients with cognitive impairment

Abstract: This paper describes the Record of Independent Living, a new measure of activities of daily living specifically designed for the evaluation of elderly patients experiencing cognitive decline.

Cognitive decline in advanced age: Future directions for the psychometric differentiation of normal and pathological age changes in cognitive function

Abstract: In the effort to delineate the cognitive changes that are associated with advanced age, it is necessary to discriminate not only between the cognitive abilities of the young and the aged, but also between the cognitive abilities of the demented and nondemented elderly. The identification of the qualitative characteristics of age‐dependent cognitive decline is made difficult by the obscurity of the latter distinction, which is in turn a consequence of the insidious nature of the dementing process (American Psychiatric Association, 1980). It is not particularly helpful to compare the cognitive profile of the normal elderly person with that of the more severely demented patient, because the global nature of the cognitive deterioration in the more advanced stages of senile dementia produces deficits on virtually any cognitive measure, and therefore adds little contrast to the qualitative description of age‐specific changes in cognitive function. The approach adopted in the present review was to examine the co...

Method of treating the symptoms of senile cognitive decline employing di- or trisubstituted urea cholinergic agents

Abstract: Certain trisubstituted alkyl, aryl, pyridinyl, piperidinyl, and piperazinyl urea compounds stimulate the release of acetylcholine and are thus useful agents for the treatment of senile cognitive decline characterized by decreased cerebral acetylcholine production or release. A method for treating the symptoms of senile cognitive decline is disclosed.

Tetrasubstituted urea cholinergic agents

Abstract: Certain tetrasubstituted alkyl, aryl, pyridinyl, piperidinyl, and piperazinyl urea compounds stimulate the release of acetylcholine and are thus useful analgesic agents for alleviating pain or as cholinergic agents which are useful for the amelioration of the symptoms of cognitive decline in the elderly. These compounds have the general formula ##STR1## wherein R1, R2 and R4 are phenyl or substituted phenyl, and R3 is pyridinyl. Pharmaceutical compositions including these compounds as well as methods for the preparation of the compounds are also disclosed.

Chronometric analysis: Clinical applications in aging and dementia

Abstract: Reaction time (RT) measurement offers increased clinical precision in the neuropsychological assessment of age‐related dementia. Chronometric procedures are generally well accepted and reliable and demonstrate both diagnostic and functional sensitivity to cognitive decline. This review focuses on the use of RT for the evaluation of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and introduces the timed card‐sorting task as a convenient measure of response time for use in the clinical setting. Methodological issues and hypothesized attentional mechanisms underlying RT slowing in AD are discussed.

Dementia in movement disorders.

Abstract: Of all the movement disorders, Huntington's disease has been most consistently associated with dementia, while it is only over the last decade that intellectual and cognitive decline have been recognized as common features of Parkinson's disease. It is now known that the pathology in these two conditions reflects differential involvement of the striatum. The Huntington lesion is primarily in the caudate, while the Parkinson lesion preferentially affects the putamen. Both conditions have more diffuse pathology, and dementia may also occur in a wide range of other extrapyramidal diseases, such as progressive supranuclear palsy, the parkinsonism-dementia complex of Guam, and certain spinocerebellar degenerations. Clinicopathological correlations will be reviewed in these disorders of primarily subcortical pathology, and comparisons will be made with Alzheimer's disease, a disorder of predominantly cortical pathology.

Use of clonidine in memory enhancement

Abstract: Disclosed is a method of treating cognitive decline in a normal aged primate by administering thereto a therapeutically effective amount of 2-[(2,6-dichlorophenyl)-amino]-2-imidazoline or a nontoxic, pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof. Administration is preferably in amounts of at least about 0.001 mg/day.

Use of alpha-21 selective adrenergic receptor agonists in memory enhancement

Abstract: Disclosed is a method of treating memory disorders and cognitive decline, e.g., age-related cognitive decline, in a primate by administering thereto a therapeutically effective amount of an alpha-2 agonist having a high affinity for the alpha-2I subtype, e.g., guanfacine and guanabenz or a nontoxic, pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof. Particularly preferred is the use of alpha-2I selective agonists such as guanfacine.

Everyday Memory: With Equal Practice Does Age Influence Forgetting in a Two Year Period?.

Abstract: Memory studies involving older adults have typically been conducted in laboratory settings and have usually employed experimental tasks. Most results support cognitive decline. Most naturalistic experimental studies relate to spatial memory and test younger respondents. Where older respondents are tested, the old sometimes outperform and sometimes underperform the young. Practice has not always been controlled. The rate at which respondents forget has not been examined. In this study, a 'continuation of my previous work (Sinnott, 1986), younger and older respondents were given equal practice on everyday items and tested three times within a two year period. Results demonstrated effects for time, but similar forgetting rates for young and old .on almost all items. On two of three atypical items, the old forgot more slowly than the young. These results suggest that for everyday memory items, at least, although absolute performance may be influenced by age and passage of time, the rate of forgetting may not be so influenced.

Macrocytosis and cognitive decline in Down's syndrome.

Abstract: Nigeria (Lambo, 1964). They hint that such col laboration is “¿ undesirable on moral grounds―.This authoritative censure is made in connection with a reference to our co-operative relationship with tradi tional healers in a different culture area, that of the Northwest Coast Indians of North America. The therapeutic ceremonials described (Jilek & Todd, 1974) have nothing to do with witches, witchcraft or sorcery. The witch-doctors referred to in our article endeavour to assist, by means of a culture-congenial traditional psychotherapy and sociotherapy, those North American Indians who under the impact of rapid socio-cultural change are showing symptoms of anomic depression and anxiety. While working with tribal societies in three continents, I have had the experience that friendly contacts and monitoring collaboration with tradi tional practitioners who have an established role in their community is more beneficial to the patient than ignoring or condemning them. Such collabor ation becomes a necessity in the planning of compre hensive primary health and mental health care in a developing country with limited professional manpower resources (Jilek, 1985). WOLFGANG G. JILEK Department of Psychiatry University of British Colwnbia Vancouver, B.C. Canada V6T2AJ

Geriatric Psychiatry: A Model for Evaluation

Abstract: An overview of psychiatric disorders seen in older patients is reviewed. Dementing illnesses are discussed. A specific method of assessing the patient with cognitive decline in a clear sensorium is presented.