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Is your brain less agile and your memory less reliable? Compared to last year, are you more easily confused and slower to process information? While these types of cognitive changes are common in individuals with Parkinson’s disease, they are also part of the normal aging process. A significant number of the elderly live with some memory deficiencies, collectively known as age-associated memory impairment.  While elders laughingly refer to these changes as “senior moments”, they are troubling to the individual.  Older Parkinson’s patients should expect to experience many “senior moments”. Keys will be lost, learning is slower, and nouns fleetingly disappear in mid-sentence.

While senior moments are common, not long after diagnosis, many individuals with Parkinson’s disease report a noticeable change in their executive functioning skills.  They may experience a generalized slowing in the cognitive process, poor attention spans and unexpected gaps in their working memory. The Parkinson’s patient typically reports having increased difficulties multi-tasking and slowness in processing information (a condition known as Bradyphrenia).  Although today’s doctors are paying more attention to these types of non-motor symptoms, they tend to focus on treating the movement component.  ...

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