Perhaps one of the diseases most feared by the older population is dementia, but more specifically Alzheimer’s Disease. Characterized by confusion, difficulty completing simple tasks, personality changes, hallucinations, and memory loss, Alzheimer’s is a progressive disease that often leaves people upset, confused and completely dependent on others to survive. With a rapidly growing older population worried about memory loss, online cognitive training programs have recently exploded across the internet. NeuroNation, Luminosity, My Brain Training and many other sites promise to boost memory, attention, and other cognitive skills that could be lost to the aging process. While research has shown that engaging in such tasks does help the …show more content…
While they hypothesized that training can improve areas of functioning, they also stated that the skills developed from it cannot be transferred to untrained tasks. Participants were to practice reasoning, memory, planning, attention and visuospatial skills over the course of six weeks, again with the level of difficulty increasing throughout the regimen. Although the participants were able to improve specifically what they practiced, these improvements were not shown to transfer to other untrained tasks (Owen et al., 2010). Both teams present a thorough research study, however a more compelling argument was made in “Putting brain training to the test,” suggesting that while online cognitive training may improve cognitive function, those learned skills cannot be beneficially transferred to untrained tasks which in turn, does not lead to an overall improvement. The study discussed in “The Effect of an Online Cognitive Training Package in Healthy Older Adults: An Online Randomized Controlled Trial” presented several limitations that worked to decrease the legitimacy of it’s argument. The study was biased towards those who acquired education and had access to computers, thus and as stated by the authors, the results cannot be generalized to other populations, which is
In times past many people thought that memory loss was a normal occurrence for elderly people. This thinking was major reason for why Alzheimer’s disease was not caught until very later in the stages. Alzheimer’s disease is not a normal part of aging. After heart disease, cancer, and strokes, Alzheimer’s is the most common cause of death in adults in the Western world. “It is estimated that 4.5 million Americans over the age of 65 are affected with this condition. After the age of 65, the incidence of the disease doubles every five years and, by age 85, it will affect nearly half of the population” (Robinson).
Character Analysis Essay In the novel The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, William and his family live in a small town called Malawi. William is a student, that loves to learn. “...you will always find him in the town's library.” (pg 139 paragraph 2 by William Kamkwamba).
Many internet users have found it easier to memorize locations or sites of information than the actual information. According to Carr, this fact has depleted human beings the ability to reason creatively and make complex decisions. However, it is also important to acknowledge that Internet has the capability of improving brain activities of the old and the young. At such ages, the brain cells become exhausted and incapable of processing information actively. Exposure to internet information has the potential to engage the brains into work, which rejuvenates reasoning, and decision-making
In Chapter three I was introduced to the cognitive tool kit. First thing I did was looked up cognitive. I have seen and heard the term before however wanted to ensure I had the correct meaning of the word. Business Dictionary defined cognitive as psychological process involved in acquisition and understanding of knowledge, formation of beliefs, and attitudes, and decision making and problem solving. After reading the definition I came up with my own definition. Cognitive- Having the ability, skills and problem solving ability to respond intelligently as an independent and critical thinker. The cognitive capacities and values fostered by interdisciplinary studies are perspective thinking which is the ability to view a problem from an alternate viewpoint in order to gain a better understanding. The second Interdisciplinary Study capacity that involved is critical thinking. The ability to Analyze, critique and form an educated opinion is something I consider on of my strongest points. The third capacity is integration. Integration allows you to see the finish product of perspective viewing and the critical thinking process. The cognitive capacities and values are reflected in Maya Lin’s work allowed the visitor to place themselves in the solders shoes. Everything was calculated from the mirror reflected granted to the sloping. For those few moments the visitor went back in time and had an emotional attachment to the atmosphere. In Chapter four “The Rise of the
The PBHAC offers a variety of programs, such as Ageless Grace, Dementia Live, Mental Health First Aide and WISE. WISE is a wellness and prevention program that targets the older adults and is intended to support them in the aging process, make healthier choices, and avoid substance abuse. It provides important educational services for the elderly on subjects consisting of medication misuse/management, stress coping skills, depression, and substance abuse. Dementia Live™ is experiential educational course that stimulates the cognitive and sensory impairments, grants members with real-life situations of living with dementia. Greater understanding leads to more sensitive care. Ageless Grace is a cutting-edge brain fitness program based on neuroplasticity,
A major devastating and debilitating disease, Alzheimer 's is a public health issue that affects not only the United States but also countries all around the world. In 2010, there were 35.6 million people living with Alzheimer’s. Researchers and medical personnel expect this number to triple by the year 2050. The disease is costing America an exorbitant amount of money and has become a burden on families, caregivers, medical personnel, the healthcare system, and the nation’s economy. If attention is not focused on this major problem, “nursing homes will be overloaded, caregivers will be burned out, healthcare system will be overwhelmed, and federal and state budgets will be overtaxed” (Alzheimer’s Association, 2011).
Although people who know me might picture me being in Ravenclaw, but Hufflepuff is actually the right house for me. I was sorted into the house Hufflepuff because the house characteristics suits my personality in many ways. I am kind, patient, hardworking and clever. I agree with the Sorting Hat that Hufflepuff is the right house for me.
Dementia is an extremely common disease among the elderly, with 4 million Americans currently suffering from the Alzheimer’s type alone. Figures show that 3% of people between the ages of 65-74 suffer from the disease, rapidly increasing to 19% for the 75-84 age bracket, and as high as 47% for the over 85s. Therefore, it is easy to see why Dementia is such a large part of many people’s lives, whether they are suffering from the condition themselves, or have an elderly relative who requires full time care just to undertake simple day to day tasks. The disease can be extremely traumatic for the patient and their families, as the person, who may have been extremely lively and bright throughout their
Smith et al. (2013) took a less studied approach to improving cognitive decline by testing the effects of aerobic exercise on adults (60-88 years old) already suffering from cognitive impairment. After 12 weeks of moderate exercise there was an improvement of memory and neural efficiency across all subjects.
The articles by Erikson et al., Gatz, Korol et al., and Draganski et al. explore the concept of increased physical activity and/or mental activity having effects on the cognitive function and development or deterioration of the brain as we age. Although I agree that physical exercise is critical in increasing cognitive function because of the health benefits it provides, as well as the increased blood flow and circulation throughout the body, I ultimately believe that a healthy brain is not achieved solely by physical exercise or mental exercise, but both. I think there is a link between physical and mental exercise, and that the combination of these two activities creates higher cognitive functioning of the mind as well as the body. The mind and body come together and meet to make an overall healthy individual.
A recent analysis was released based on 13 southern states where suspensions and expulsion rates are overwhelmingly higher for black students than they are of white students. The director of the Council of state Governments Justice Center, a nonprofit policy group, stated that “blacks are more likely to be expelled in situations where teachers or school leaders have discretion on deterring how to resound to behavior, such as when a student is deemed disrespectful or defiant or violates a dress code.” Educators are prepared for educating students but are not prepared to deal with personalities that they don’t understand. “People are doing their jobs or living their lives, and do not understand themselves as agents of oppression.”(Young pg.42) Studies have shown that students who are expelled or suspended are more likely to get into trouble and end up with criminal backgrounds, than students who are not removed from school. (New York Times)
Out of the rapidly inclining population in the world, there are people who develop dementia every 66 seconds(“2016 Alzheimer’s Disease”). Being such a common disease in the elderly, there are 47.5 million people in the world with this disease(“2016 Alzheimer’s Disease”). Once families start to realize that their parents and grandparents have developed this, they start to wonder if they are able to live on their own. Within a few months, a decision is made whether if it is best for them to be put into a nursing home. Most often, those with dementia do happen to end up in nursing homes. Many wonder if being put into a nursing home will actually cause their dementia and their ability to live on their own to worsen. With the effects of activities, this could change. Activities help slow the deterioration of the brain(Smith). The activities and exercises performed by nursing homes to help improve the overall cognitive development in dementia patients. Nursing homes should induct purposeful daily activities to improve cognitive, social, and psychological development in dementia care
Cognitive aging is worthy of study for many reasons. The more knowledge that is uncovered about cognitive aging, the closer to possibly finding ways to slow the process down, decrease the intensity of the symptoms, or maybe prevent it all together. If there are possible ways of doing so it is important to find them. The “what” and “when” of cognitive aging has made advances, but the “why”, “where”, and “how” are still to be uncovered. We further our knowledge of the “why”, “where”, or “how”, or uncover the full truth, without knowing the full truth about the “what” and “when”. Finding out more about one might lead to learning more about another. Expanding our knowledge on cognitive aging has the potential to increase someone’s quality of life. It has the potential to increase that family member’s quality of life. Cognitive aging effects more than the victim, it effects their
One of the largest arguments against brain training is that the benefits of training are not applied to real life. Essentially, opponents to brain training are arguing that brain training is like teaching to the test. Participants do well on the “exams” because that was what they were trained for. Conversely, once participants are sent out into the real world, they are unable to apply what they learned to tasks that differ from those on the test. While intimal brain training studies failed to demonstrate real world application, more recent studies have proven
There is a widely held belief that commercially available computerized brain-training programs improve cognitive function. 2 Although society has accepted this correlation of “brain games” and increased cognitive ability, it has yet to be proven.1 Regardless of this, there has been a recent spawn of enterprises dedicated to creating these games. Of these enterprises, the most well-known companies are Lumosity and Brain Age.1 These companies even argue that brain training is as good as physical training.4 Websites like