Aging and possible cognitive declines have been a central concern in this year’s presidential election. Politicians, like everyone else, age. How worried should we be about potential cognitive declines in aging politicians?
People who are diagnosed with dementia often show symptoms of cognitive decline for years prior to their official diagnosis. A diagnosis of dementia generally occurs late in the disease progression. As I wrote recently, families can often see the signs in tasks that are cognitively demanding, especially in monitoring financial tasks.
It’s useful to consider whether aging political candidates show signs of meaningful cognitive declines. We often have very limited information concerning the physical and cognitive health of candidates. Nonetheless, we can observe a lot about cognitive ability in public events.
Memory problems are what people think about if they are concerned about dementia. But Alzheimer’s and dementia degrade most cognitive capabilities during the disease progression, including inhibitory control and language abilities.
Inhibitory Control. Inhibitory control is the ability to stay focused when engaged in a difficult task. Inhibitory control is also the ability to stop yourself from doing or saying something inappropriate, and especially attending to the context in limiting what you say. Inhibitory control is also important for managing your emotional response instead of overreacting.
In conversation, inhibitory control means sticking with the topic. All of us get distracted sometimes,........