Preventing Dementia: Early Detection and Precise Brain Training Strategies

[Health Medical Network/Editorial Department]There is more than one type of dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease is the most common, accounting for about 60%-70% of all cases. The earlier the prevention and delay of this type of dementia, the better the effect , because brain cognitive degeneration occurs earlier than we thought. Professor Zhang Yuling of the Department of Psychology of National Taiwan University pointed out that the brain begins to develop since we were born. It is divided into four lobes, and the left and right hemispheres have a total of eight lobes. They are responsible for complex cognition and emotions such as thinking, memory, and learning. The peak period of development of each area Different, in terms of memory, the peak of human memory and thinking ability is about 20 years old, and then it gradually declines. It is suggested that brain training should be like fitness, and the earlier you start, the better.

The key to the prevention of dementia with fast and accurate detection methods

In the four seasons of life, body and brain functions will gradually degenerate with age, but there is a boundary between normal aging and dementia, which can be judged objectively from the test scores. Professor Zhang mentioned that there are many different testing tools for dementia detection, which can measure whether the mental function performance of patients is significantly beyond the level of normal aging changes.

The Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) is currently the most widely used in Taiwan. It is a 30-question questionnaire used to assess cognitive impairment. The biggest advantage of this questionnaire is that the test time is only 10-15 minutes, but relatively speaking, the sensitivity of this questionnaire is also low, and most of the symptoms are already very obvious when it is judged as dementia by MMSE.

To achieve the goal of health promotion, there is a need for a simpler and more sensitive detection method, so that people do not need to go through medical treatment, but can directly screen for possible mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in the community in the future high-risk group. MCI is a high-risk group for Alzheimer’s disease. If there is no active intervention, the probability of being diagnosed with dementia will increase greatly in the future. According to data, one-third of MCI patients will turn into dementia within 1 to 3 years wisdom.

Professor Zhang shared that the National Taiwan University research team has been investing in research and development in this area, and has been able to combine complex clinical neuropsychological tests with AI technology to analyze whether a case has MCI within one minute, with an accuracy rate of over 80%. It is not just dementia. The early detection tool is a multi-functional intelligent care robot that can accompany the elderly to talk, give exercise advice, cognitive exercise, and assist medical care. The care robot is still in the research and development stage. The effectiveness of smart prevention.

Develop precise brain training: improve memory and delay degeneration

Dementia is a combination of multiple causes, the most common being Alzheimer’s disease, the pathogenesis of which is not yet clear. Symptoms are not limited to memory loss, but also include language, judgment, attention and other aspects of mental function decline . Given the deficiencies of patients, giving “brain training prescription” can delay degeneration?

Professor Zhang pointed out that in order to provide effective training prescriptions, it is necessary to be able to diagnose the problem of cognitive degeneration in the individual case. In the case of memory, memory formation involves three main stages: registration, storage, and retrieval.

Through test analysis, clinical psychologists can more accurately determine which stage the memory loss problem originated from, and then provide different training strategies for different problem points. For example, strategies that associate new concepts with their areas of concern can be used in patients with poor memory registration to improve their ability to receive new information. For patients with poor memory storage ability, a multi-sensory memory strategy can be used, that is, using both vision and hearing, and using pictures with stories to enhance the ability of the hippocampus to integrate information. In addition, repeating silently in the mind can also enhance memory, but the effect depends on the number of repetitions and the length and irregularity of the interval time. This method is called “retrieval practices”. Professor Zhang’s research shows that through strategy training, the memory performance of mild cognitive impairment can be comparable to that of peers, and the effect can last for at least 14 days (because the experiment only tracked 14 days).

These training methods have a theoretical basis. The hippocampus is the area of ​​the brain responsible for processing memory and plays a very important role in learning new things. It has a property that it is good at integrating information from different senses. This means that when we learn something new, we listen, smell, and see at the same time, giving multi-dimensional information, which can make the memory retain a deeper impression. Even though the hippocampus may be damaged for some reason, processing information in multiple dimensions can fill in or make up for what may be missing.

The sooner dementia prevention starts, the better

Dementia is usually diagnosed at an advanced stage, and it is difficult to detect it early all over the world. Although age is the main risk factor for dementia, it does not mean that dementia is an inevitable result of aging. In fact, early-onset dementia (symptoms appearing before the age of 65) accounts for about 9% of all cases, so the earlier the prevention of dementia, the better. Professor Zhang strongly suggested that daily life can be achieved through exercise, balance Diet, a balanced life, and early brain storage to prepare for aging, if supplemented with simple and highly sensitive cognitive tests on a regular basis, can provide more effective prevention of dementia. This is also the ongoing goal of Professor Zhang Yuling and her research team: prevention and care of dementia, combining AI to make diagnosis and brain training prescription more accurate.

Article source: Ruijin Anti-Aging Care Research and Education Foundation

Interview/Zhang Yuling, Professor of Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Organized/Guo Ciming

Professor Zhang Yuling

Current job title: Professor, Department of Psychology and Research Institute, National Taiwan University

Expertise: Applied Clinical Neuropsychology / Cognitive Aging / Early Detection of Dementia / Learning and Memory / Executive Function / Brain Imaging / Cognitive Test Development / Cognitive Training / Brain Plasticity

Main research directions:

1. Develop sensitive indicators and clinical tests that can be used as early detection of dementia to improve the predictive power of disease onset.

2. To explore the possibility of delaying the onset of dementia and brain plasticity through aging cognition intervention and promotion programs.

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Source: Health and Medical Network
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