Ps124 Unit 7

Andrew Crockett

PS124: Introduction to Psychology

Unit 7 Assignment

05/12/2014

There is a long list of brain disorders dealing with dementia. One of the most frightening and common forms of dementia is known as Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s disease, or AD, is an age-related and irreversible brain disorder that develops over a period of years (www.ninds.nih.gov, 2014). Alzheimer’s disease can affect many area of the brain and can lead to memory loss, confusion, declination of cognitive abilities, and even death. In fact, according to the Alzheimer's Association, Alzheimer’s is the 6th leading cause of death in the United States alone with more than 5 million Americans living with the disease. While there are many treatments for the symptoms of AD there is no cure and indeed there appears to be no medicine than currently stop the progression of AD completely. While this may be the case there are means for which the disease can be studied for a hopeful cure in the future.

Alzheimer’s disease is a condition that disrupts the nerve cells, or neurons, and their connections with one another. This can lead to the death of neurons and tissue loss throughout the brain. Affecting almost all of its function including memory, learning, and other cognitive abilities. Some of the specific area of the brain affected are the cortex, which is the outer layer of the brain that influences memory, problem solving, thinking and movement. The cortex, as neurons die, actually shrinks as the spaces inside of the brain increase. The hippocampus, which is involved in functions such as the incorporation of new memories, spatial orientation and emotional feedback (Bailey, 2014). Among other areas of the brain affected are the frontal lobe, which influences intelligence, judgment and behavior. The parietal lobe which, among other functions, is very important in language processing. AD also affects the temporal lobe which also influences memory, visual association and more. (See...