neuropsychiatric features of aging

Clinical manifestations

• tonic underarousal & decreased sensory processing
• slowed neuronal processing & increased stimulus persistence
  • decreased psychomotor speed
• decreased complex, divided & sustained attention
• interference from redundant or irrelevant material
  • decreased attention, divided & sustained
• accentuation of certain personality traits
  • decreased excitability & impulsivity: more cautious
  • disengagement & fewer risk goal-oriented behaviors
  • decreased flexibility & tolerance for change
• classical aging pattern of intelligence
  • preserved crystallized intelligence (employing old information in old solutions)
  • decreased fluid intelligence (novel approaches, new information, new solutions)
  • relatively stable verbal IQ
  • progressive decline in performance IQ
• language:
  • diminished fluency, word finding & confrontation naming
  • vocabulary largely unchanged & may increase
  • richer narrative style
  • decreased active naming
• decreased primary & working memory
• diminished episodic & recent memory
• decreased retrieval of stored information; relative sparing of remote recall
• decreased perception & increased spatial segmentation
  • decreased visual-spatial skills & visuoperceptual function
• executive function: abstractions become more concrete
• cognitive changes with normal aging are NOT sufficient to interfere with activities of daily living (at least until age > 90)
• cognitive changes in late life likely due to brain pathology & mortality-related processes rather than normal aging

More general terms

• age-associated changes in the central nervous system

Additional terms

• psychosis, agitation & difficult behavior in the elderly
• subjective memory problems in the elderly