Effects of Alzheimers On Response Times

Effects of Alzheimers On Response TimesJohn C. HembyPhysiological PsychologyDr. Colleen Miron in that respect ar m any(prenominal) advances in science that has allowed us to understand, cope and in some cases treat certain sicknesss of the brain. However, there is much we still do not hit the sack about many of them. Alzheimers would be one of these dis stages. The text states that Alzheimers is defined as a persistent, degenerating disorder that inhibits the brains cells or neurons and thence resulting in memory loss, language skills and rapid changes in behavior (Kalat, 2012). This usually occurs in the older aged population, around the age of sixty-five and isnt considered to be a normal part of the aging process. According to an Alzheimers organization website, a person is diagnosed with Alzheimers every sixty-seven seconds and that there are before long more than 5 million Ameri disregards that have this disease (Help End Alzheimers, n.d.).One of the issues of having this d isease deals with enumeration or recollection of numbers by counting. The text states that individuals with Alzheimers cannot recall learning certain skills i.e. golfing and are often surprised when they do well (Kalat, 2012). This look into in this article is important because it shows how well a person with Alzheimers can quickly recall how many numbers are in a certain area just by aspect at it. This is a simple experiment in that it will be easy to measure the reaction eons and the task of counting isnt that labyrinthian in comparison to golfing. According to the article, individuals that have Alzheimers sometimes have difficulty with ocular enumeration. This means that a person with Alzheimers has difficulty counting visual numbers or tracking down a number in a specific area, i.e. looking for number 42 in a numerical list of 1-100. This study is unique in that finding the reaction time difference between older adults that have Alzheimers and those that dont would be a qu antifiable aspect and gives more proof to the damage that the brain receives from this disease. The researchers in this article are doctors Maylor, Watson and Muller and they studied the subject of visual enumeration in patients with Alzheimers in the year 2005. The hypothesis of the study was that the participants with Alzheimers would have a significant increase in solvent time in counting numbers, subitizing numbers(readily knowing a number just by looking at the amount of figures in a picture) and finding numbers in comparison to older adults that did not have Alzheimers (Maylor, Watson, and Muller, 2005).The study was conducted using participants from a resident nucleotide that specialized in the care of people with dementia. These participants were already diagnosed with dementia by professional health providers (Maylor, Watson, and Muller, 2005). There were a total of 12 participants whom had Alzheimers and their average age was 81 years old with 4 men and 8 women in the st udy. The other participants had an average age of 79 and only 8 participants with only 3 being men and 5 were women. The researchers alike gave the participants a Mini-Mental State Examination or MMSE, and the control group scored higher than the Alzheimers participants 17.3 was the average for the Alzheimers participants and 29.4 was the average for the control group (Maylor, Watson, and Muller, 2005). Last, all of the participants were volunteer(prenominal) and did not receive any payments for their participation. The researchers used a laptop to be used as a visual for the participants. The laptop also measured rejoinder times (RT) and synched the displays. The participants utilized the spacebar key on the laptop as the response button. They put the screen at eye level with a distance of 60 cm. Then a researcher put in the responses with their own keypad. The stimuli on the screen were red circles displayed on a black background. They randomly generated the stimuli in order to avoid any counting ahead (Maylor, Watson, and Muller, 2005). The experimenter conducted the tests individually in a room that was either at the resident facility or at the home of the control group participant and the room had nothing but the laptop and the devil people conducting the experiment. The initial test was the MMSE and then an enumeration task, a mental block of demonstration on the task, 3 turns of practice trials and last, there were 3 turns of experimental trials (Maylor, Watson, and Muller, 2005). The participants were required to press the spacebar for how many circles they saw.The results of the study indicated that the Alzheimers participants were laggard than the control group, 1.4 seconds to be exact. The data was analyzed by using ANOVAs to demonstrate the difference in response time and the accuracy of the numbers between the two groups. However, they had the same accuracy in seeing how many items were currently present on the monitor (Maylor, Watson, and M uller, 2005). There were some differences in the results with the numbering portion of the experiment. The participants with Alzheimers had a significant reduction in response time in comparison to the control group in the subitization part. The second part, counting, the Alzheimers participants were significantly slower than their counterparts as well. The hypothesis was supported by the results of the experiment (Maylor, Watson, and Muller, 2005).The conclusion of this study shows a definitive, qualitative answer between Alzheimers and normal older adults response time. This in turn shows where to start on how to improve those with Alzheimers response time especially since there isnt any issue with their accuracy (Maylor, Watson, and Muller, 2005). There were several issues with this study. First, instead of using a cross sectional study, the researchers should have utilized a longitudinal study that way they could see how slower the participants got overtime as their Alzheimers progressed. The second issue is that they should have acquired individuals that had just become diagnosed with early stages of Alzheimers in the study they give no indication on what stage these participants were at. Last, there was an issue with the amount of participants in the study. The average was too generalized and needed a larger group to narrow down the averages (mean) in order to acquire a higher quality of data.There are some different avenues of onrush for future studies on this particular subject. The first approach could be that men and women may suffer from Alzheimers differently, therefore in the future the men and women should be separated into different groups. This would show if there were any differences between the sexes. The next idea is that according to the text, those that drink coffee are less likely to have Alzheimers (Kalat, 2012). So for a future research idea, one should have the participants drink coffee for a while before starting the experiment. Thi s could show if the effects of Alzheimers are mitigated when given a stimulant, i.e. caffeine. The last idea would have to be instead of utilizing numbers, use matching words. For example, gauge a participants reaction time by having a word on the screen and then the participant has to choose a synonym for that word i.e. happy equals jovial. This would show if a participant with Alzheimers can recall a larger vocabulary and in a timely manner.ReferencesHelp End Alzheimers. (n.d.). Retrieved December 19, 2014, from http//www.alz.org/Kalat, James W. Biological Psychology, 11th Edition. Cengage Learning, 01/2012. VitalBook file.Maylor, E. A., Watson, D. G., Muller, Z. (2005). Effects of Alzheimers disease on visual enumeration. The Journals Of Gerontology. Series B, Psychological Sciences And Social Sciences, 60(3), P129- P135.