Memory Care and Dementia Glossary
On the path of dementia one encounters many unfamiliar phrases and complex clinical terms. Having a strong grasp of these can be an essential part of ensuring the best care possible during this trying time.
Expand the sections below for definitions of some of the most common phrases relating to dementia and its care and treatment. We encourage you to share this page with anyone who may find them useful!
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A
Acetylcholine: A chemical in the brain (neurotransmitter) that appears to be involved in learning and memory. Acetylcholine is greatly diminished in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease.
Activities of Daily Living (ADLs): Personal care activities necessary for everyday living, such as eating, bathing, grooming, dressing and using the toilet.
Adjuvant Therapy: Treatment provided in addition to primary treatment.
Alleles: One of the different forms of a gene that can exist at a single locus (spot on a chromosome) or site.
Alzheimer’s disease: A dementia characterized by progressive mental impairment and by the presence of excessive neurofibrillary tangles and senile plaques.
Amyloid: A waxy translucent substance consisting of protein in combination with polysaccharides that is deposited in some animal organs and tissues under abnormal conditions (such as Alzheimer’s disease).
Amyloid Plaque: Build up of amyloid protein and a primary hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease.
Amyloid Precurser Protein (APP): A gene, when mutated, that causes an abnormal form of the amyloid protein to be produced.
Agnosia: Literally a condition of not knowing: the inability to recognize sensory stimuli. Color agnosia is the inability to recognize colors. Visual agnosia is the inability to recognize objects in the presence of intact visual sensation.
Agraphia: An acquired condition of impaired or absent writing ability.
Akathisia: A condition of extreme motor restlessness. It is accompanied by subjective feelings of anxiety and restlessness.
Akinesia: A state of lowered motor activity.
Amygdala: One of the structures of the limbic system set of brain structures, important in memory and in the regulation of emotion.
Anomia: Sometimes known as “dysnomia,” it is a condition in which the patient has difficulty finding correct words.
Aphasia: An acquired inability to use certain aspects of language. It can be either an expressive or a receptive language disorder. “Aphasia” is a very broad term that is made more useful by descriptive qualifiers indicating the type of language impairment involved.
Apraxia: Impaired ability to perform previously chained skills in a continuous behavior. Construction apraxia is an impairment in reproducing patterns; it is assessed by observing drawing and drafting or by having the patient build three-dimensional objects. Ideational apraxia refers to impairment in the idea of the required behavior; it is usually assessed by asking the patient to perform several linked behaviors. Ideomotor apraxia refers to the inability to demonstrate motor behaviors that were known in the past; it is assessed by asking the patient to pantomime a task, such as using a can opener or a pair of scissors.
Ataxia: Loss or failure of muscular coordination. Movement, especially gait, is clumsy and appears to be uncertain. Ataxic patients often sway while walking. Ataxia usually results from an inaccurate sense of position in the lower limbs. Difficulty with gait increases greatly when the patient is asked to walk with eyes closed.
Atonia: Complete lack of muscle tone.
Atrophy: Shrinkage of (brain) tissue due to loss of neuronal processes.
Auditory Verbal Dysnomia: An aphasic deficit characterized by impairment of ability to understand the symbolic significance of verbal communication through the auditory avenue (loss of auditory-verbal comprehension).
Autonomic Nervous System: That part of the nervous system concerned with visceral and involuntary functions.
B
Beta Amyloid: An amyloid derived from a larger precursor protein; it is a component of the senile or neuritic plaques characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease.
Beta-secretase: An enzyme that catalyzes the splitting of interior peptide bonds in a protein. Beta-secretase acts by trimming off a protein protruding from a brain cell. This small snip is thought to be the first step in the buildup of microscopic balls of debris known as amyloid that are toxic to brain cells.
Bradykinesia: A motor disorder, frequently seen in Parkinson’s disease, which results from rigidity of muscles and which is manifested by slow finger movements and loss of fine motor skills such as writing.
C
Cerebrovascular Disease: Disease of the cerebrum and the blood vessels supplying it.
Cerebrospinal: Of or relating to the brain and spinal cord or to these together with the cranial and spinal nerves that innervate voluntary muscles.
Cholinesterase Inhibitors: Class of drugs known to delay the breakdown of acetylcholine.
Corpus callosum: The brain structure that connects the right and left hemispheres.
D
Declarative Memory: Recalling newly learned information about people, places and things.
Delirium: An acute global impairment of cognitive functioning. Delirium is usually reversible and is mostly due to a medical cause.
Dementia: A condition, usually chronic, of global impairment of cognition that occurs in the absence of clouded consciousness. In many cases, such as in Alzheimer’s disease, the condition is progressive.
Donepezil: A drug currently approved in delaying progression in Alzheimer’s disease.
Dopamine: A neurotransmitter that is important in reward-motivated behavior. It is the neurotransmitter deficient in those with Parkinson’s disease.
Dysarthria: Acquired impairment in motor aspects of speech. Dysarthric speech may sound slurred or compressed. Spastic dysarthria, associated with pseudobular palsy, is low in pitch and has a raspy sound, with poor articulation. Flaccid dsyarthria, associated with bulbar palsy, has an extremely nasal aspect to its sound. Ataxic dysarthria is associated with cerebellar palsy and produces deficits in articulation and prosody. Hypokinetic dysarthria, found with parkinsonism, results in low-volume speech and less emphasis on accented syllables; there are also articulatory initiation difficulties. Hyperkinetic dysarthria results in prosodic, phonation, and articulatory deficits; the loudness and accents of speech are uncontrolled. Many disorders present with combinations of the different types of dysarthria.
Dysfluency: A disturbance of the fluency of speech.
Dysphagia: Difficulty in swallowing.
Dystonia: Involuntary, slow movements that tend to contort a part of the body for a period of time. Dystonic movements tend to involve large portions of the body and have a sinuous quality that, when severe, resembles writhing.
E
Early onset dementia (Presenile Dementia): Severe deterioration of mental functions before the age of 65.
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F
Frontotemporal dementia: This term covers a range of conditions, including Pick’s disease, frontal- lobe degeneration and dementia associated with motor neuron disease. All are caused by damage to the frontal lobe and/or the temporal parts of the brain, the areas responsible for behavior, emotional responses and language skills.
G
Gamma secretase: An enzyme partly responsible for plaque buildup in the brain characteristic of Alzheimer’s.
Geriatric psychiatrist: A specialist in the branch of medicine concerned with both the prevention and treatment of mental illness in older people.
H
Hippocampus: An area buried deep in the forebrain that helps regulate emotion and memory.
Hydrocephalus: Abnormal accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid within the cranium, producing enlarged ventricles and compression of neural tissue.
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K
Korsakoff’s syndrome: Deterioration of the brain and cognitive abilities (particularly memory) caused by chronic and severe alcohol abuse and resulting thiamine deficiency.
L
Lewy Body dementia (LBD): A disorder characterized by distinct cognitive impairment with fluctuating confusion, disturbance of consciousness, visual hallucinations, delusions, falls, and significant parkinsonism. Lewy bodies are abnormal proteins that occur in both LBD and Parkinson’s disease. In LBD, they occur throughout the brain, including the cerebral cortex.
M
Mild cognitive impairment (MCI): A syndrome of memory impairment that does not significantly affect daily activities and is not accompanied by declines in overall cognitive function.
Micrographia: Writing with very minute letters or only on a small portion of a page. Sometimes seen in patients with Parkinson’s disease.
N
Neurodegenerative: Relating to or characterized by degeneration of nervous tissue.
Neuroleptics: Another term for antipsychotic medication.
Neuropsychiatrist: A specialist in the medicine concerned with both neurology and psychiatry.
Neuropsychological: Concerned with the integration of psychological observations on behavior and the mind with neurological observations on the brain and nervous system.
Neuropsychologist: A psychologist who has completed special training in the neurobiological causes of brain disorders, and who specializes in diagnosing and treating these illnesses using a predominantly medical (as opposed to psychoanalytical) approach.
Non-pharmacological: Various strategies aimed at managing problematic behaviors, including therapy, changes in the home or environment and the use of appropriate communication techniques.
Nystagmus: A spasmodic movement of the eyes, either rotary or side-to-side.
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P
Paraphasia: A disturbance in the verbal output of a patient. A literal paraphasia involves the substitution of letters in a word, for example, “ridilicous” for “ridiculous.” Semantic or verbal paraphrasia involves the substitution of one word for another. The two words are usually in the same semantic class: for example, “shirt” for “pants.”
Paranoid delusion: An abnormal mental state characterized by suspiciousness and/or persecutory trends.
Parathesia: Abnormalities of sensation, especially tactile and somesthetic sensation.
Parkinson’s disease: A disorder that primarily affects the motor functions of the cerebellum. Parkinson’s disease is characterized by tremors and gait disturbances.
PET: Stands for positron emission tomography, which is a highly specialized imaging technique using short-lived radioactive substances. This technique produces three-dimensional colored images.
Pick’s disease: Another name for frontotemporal dementia, a form of dementia that affects the frontal and temporal lobes and that is characterized by early loss of social grace and inhibition.
Plaque: A localized abnormal patch on a body part or surface.
Pseudodementia: Any form of apparent cognitive impairment that mimics dementia. A common form is pseudodementia secondary to depression.
Q
R
S
Senile dementia: Severe deterioration of mental functions in persons over age 65.
Senile plaques: Areas of incomplete necrosis found in persons with primary neuronal degenerative diseases of the brain. Senile plaques can also be found, in the absence of overt pathology, in most elderly people.
Synapse: The space between the terminal end of an axon and another cell body. Neurotransmitters are released in the synapse and carry signals from one nerve cell to another.
T
Transient ischemic attacks (TIAs): Brief episodes of insufficient blood supply to selected portions of the brain.
U-X
U
V
Ventricles: The spaces within the brain through which cerebrospinal fluid circulates.
W
Wernicke’s aphasia: An acquired inability to communicate verbally because of impairment of receptive abilities. Associated with lesions in the posterior portion of the dominant hemisphere.
