Premium
Clinical Use of Preserved Learning Capacity in Dementia
Author(s) -
Bird Michael
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
australasian journal on ageing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.63
H-Index - 34
eISSN - 1741-6612
pISSN - 1440-6381
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-6612.1998.tb00066.x
Subject(s) - extant taxon , dementia , observational study , psychology , observational learning , cognitive psychology , medicine , mathematics education , experiential learning , pathology , disease , evolutionary biology , biology
. Many health professionals continue to believe that people with dementia are incapable of new learning. There are conceptual and observational grounds for arguing that this belief is false, a view supported by experimental evidence summarised in this paper. Clinical cases are also presented showing that impaired but still extant learning can be used to ameliorate some behavioural problems. Patients were taught, using spaced retrieval and the method of fading cues, to associate a cue with more adaptive behavior. Uses and limitations of this clinical technique are discussed.