Cognitive Key Issue: How can knowledge of memory be used to help people with Dementia?

AO1 (describe)

• Dementia describes a set of symptoms that may include memory loss and difficulty with thinking, problem solving or language.
• Caused when the brain is damaged by diseases such as Alzheimer's or a series of strokes.
• Dementia is progressive which means the symptoms gradually get worse.
• In the UK, 1 in 6 people aged 80 and over have dementia.
• There are 60,000 deaths a year that are directly attributable to dementia.
• Financial cost of dementia to the UK is £26 billion a year.
• For individuals, dementia can cause them to become easily confused, they can forget short term and long term memory.
• In later stages, they may be unable to function on their own and may forget family members.

AO2 (link strategies to cognitive models)

• Use Mental Pictures:
• Picture things in their mind
• Visual stimulation goes into the visuo-spatial sketchpad and if they're hearing the same thing alongside the mental picturing then there is stimulation in both the phonological loop and the visuo-spatial sketchpad - these both lead into the central executive so they go into long-term memory more easily, helping them to retain information better.

AO2

• Jogging your memory:
• Retracing your footsteps physically or mentally
• This links to the working memory model also because the information is in the sensory memory (physically retracing footsteps) therefore the individual will likely pay more attention to where they are. This may combine with information from long-term memory more easily in the central executive so they will be more likely to remember something they've forgotten.
• Also links to schemas. The person will have a schema relating a room or an area to certain experiences such as putting an object somewhere or spending time with someone. By retracing their steps, they will recall the rest of their schema. (may be inaccurate due to nature of schemas warping information to individual's expectations)

AO2

• Using words and rhymes:
• If the individual has dementia, they can remember people's names better because they can rehearse it, it goes through the phonological loop and strengthens it. This then goes to the central executive and will enter long term memory more easily.

AO2

• Breaking information into smaller chunks:
• Links to working memory model - STM can only ±7 chunks of information - info goes in more easily into central executive and long term memory.