Cognitive Key Question Flashcards
(11 cards)
What is our cognitive key question?
How can we use cognitive psychology to understand and treat dementia?
How many people in the UK are affected by dementia
1 million
How does dementia affect the brain?
Creates a decline in a person’s ability to think, understand and remember, which affects their ability to function normally.
What is the most common type of dementia?
Alzheimer’s, which affects those over 65.
Why is this a key issue in society?
We currently have no cure to dementia, so knowing how to help loved ones with the disease is important.
How can MSM explain dementia?
Sensory register is affected as they struggle to pay attention, meaning information is not then taken to the STM.
STM is affected by dementia as memories are not encoded properly.
We can help patients by leaving post-it notes to remember important things, e.g., take medicine.
How can WMM explain Dementia?
Dementia is a decline in CE functioning
Makes for difficulty paying attention and allocating tasks appropriately.
We should only give one stimuli at a time, e.g., turning off the TV/radio to talk to ensure there is only one type of information to process.
How can Tulving explain Dementia?
Episodic memories decrease over time but semantic remains. Lose most recent memories first.
We can use cues to trigger memories such as taking them to important places or showing them pictures of family members and asking who they are,
How can RM explain dementia?
Their schemas get muddled up so get things mixed up, e.g., children and grandchildren.
Using validation therapy to go with what they say, such as agreeing that their grandchild is their child, to prevent further stress or confusion.
Evidence to support WMM?
Baddeley - Alzheimer’s patients struggled to find Zs among other letters, suggesting this is a problem with their CE which is involved in problem solving and allocating tasks like this to the VSSP.
Jahn - LTM and WMM declined quickly with dementia
Evidence to support MSM?
Peterson and Peterson - Rehearsal without distraction made transfer to the LTM much easier. Also supports WMM due to dual task abilities.
