Week 8- Dementia Cognitive Hierarchy &
Neurocognitive Disorders – Assessment, Dementia
Types, and Intervention Strategies
cognitive hierarchy
cognitive abilities presented as a hierarchy with self-awareness at the top and arousal and
orientation at the bottom
Order of cognitive hierarchy
self-awareness --> executive functions --> memory --> attention and processing --> arousal and
orientation
Cognitive domains impacted by neurocognitive disorders
- complex attention
- executive function
- learning and memory
- language
- perceptual-motor function
- social cognition
complex attention
involves sustained attention, divided attention, selective attention, processing speed
executive function
involves planning, decision making, working memory, responding to feedback, error correction,
overriding habits and mental flexibility
learning and memory
involves immediate memory, recent memory (free recall and recognition memory), and long
term memory
language
involves expressive language (naming, fluency, grammar, and syntax) and receptive language
perceptual-motor function
, involves coordination of our bodies' movements in response to what is happening around us, it
is our ability to interact with the environment around us by combining the use of our senses,
like vision and touch, and motor skills
Social cognition
the processes by which people come to understand others, controlling desired acts, expressions
Types of dementia
Alzheimer's Disease
Vascular Dementia
Lewy Body Dementia
Frontotemporal Dementia
Mixed dementia
Alzheimer's
Plaques and tangles damage and kill nerve cells
Accounts for 60-80% of dementia
- people typically live the longest
Plaques
deposits of protein fragments (beta-amyloids) that build up in spaces between cells
Tangles
twisted fibers of another protein (tau) that build up inside cells
Vascular dementia
Caused post-stroke
20% of dementia
- decline in thinking skills caused by blockage or reduced blood flow to the brain
Lewy Body Dementia
progressive dementia that leads to a decline in thinking, reasoning, and independent function
because of abnormal deposits that damage brain cells over time
Lewy body symptoms
- confusion and alertness varies
- slowness, gait imbalance
- delusions and hallucinations
- difficulty interpreting visuals
Neurocognitive Disorders – Assessment, Dementia
Types, and Intervention Strategies
cognitive hierarchy
cognitive abilities presented as a hierarchy with self-awareness at the top and arousal and
orientation at the bottom
Order of cognitive hierarchy
self-awareness --> executive functions --> memory --> attention and processing --> arousal and
orientation
Cognitive domains impacted by neurocognitive disorders
- complex attention
- executive function
- learning and memory
- language
- perceptual-motor function
- social cognition
complex attention
involves sustained attention, divided attention, selective attention, processing speed
executive function
involves planning, decision making, working memory, responding to feedback, error correction,
overriding habits and mental flexibility
learning and memory
involves immediate memory, recent memory (free recall and recognition memory), and long
term memory
language
involves expressive language (naming, fluency, grammar, and syntax) and receptive language
perceptual-motor function
, involves coordination of our bodies' movements in response to what is happening around us, it
is our ability to interact with the environment around us by combining the use of our senses,
like vision and touch, and motor skills
Social cognition
the processes by which people come to understand others, controlling desired acts, expressions
Types of dementia
Alzheimer's Disease
Vascular Dementia
Lewy Body Dementia
Frontotemporal Dementia
Mixed dementia
Alzheimer's
Plaques and tangles damage and kill nerve cells
Accounts for 60-80% of dementia
- people typically live the longest
Plaques
deposits of protein fragments (beta-amyloids) that build up in spaces between cells
Tangles
twisted fibers of another protein (tau) that build up inside cells
Vascular dementia
Caused post-stroke
20% of dementia
- decline in thinking skills caused by blockage or reduced blood flow to the brain
Lewy Body Dementia
progressive dementia that leads to a decline in thinking, reasoning, and independent function
because of abnormal deposits that damage brain cells over time
Lewy body symptoms
- confusion and alertness varies
- slowness, gait imbalance
- delusions and hallucinations
- difficulty interpreting visuals
