Posted on 04/18/2011 10:39:20 PM PDT by smokingfrog
There's still no foolproof way to predict who will develop dementia, but brain scientists say they have identified a new clue:
Cluelessness, as in an inability to tell when people are lying or using sarcasm.
A preliminary new study conducted at the University of California at San Francisco suggests that the neurodegenerative process responsible for dementia also causes deterioration of regions of the brain responsible for detecting insincere speech.
"These patients cannot detect lies," study author Dr. Katherine Rankin, of the university's Memory and Aging Center, said in a written statement. "This fact can help them be diagnosed earlier."
It might also help them hold on to their money, researchers say, as the blind faith resulting from dementia can make older people easy marks for online scams and dishonest telemarketers.
For the study, 175 older volunteers - more than half of whom had Alzheimer's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease), or some other neurodegenerative disease - watched videos of two people talking. At some points in the videos, one of the people would tell a lie or use sarcasm.
Healthy volunteers had little trouble spotting yerbal and non-verbal cues that indicated insincerity. Not so the volunteers with neurodegenerative disease.
And clueless may not be the only early sign of dementia, researchers say. Adopting a new political affiliation or religion late in life - changes sometimes attributed to a midlife crisis - may actually be the result of brain deterioration that might lead to dementia.
What's the study's take-away message? Older people should simply assume that everyone they talk to is lying.
Just kidding.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
I speak fluent sarcasm. But get this: A friend was diagnosed with dementia. His wife kept saying he was mean, so the Dr. put him on an anti-psychotic. We didn’t see much change, except he kept complaining about being dizzy and stuff. We could not see any signs of dementia.
The guy was always grouchy and sarcastically funny. He started to develop what looked like Parkinson’s sypmtoms. So, the doctor started giving him meds for Parkinson’s and tripled the anti-psychotic. He turned into a zombie that could hardly speak. He ended up in the hospital nearly dieing.
While in the hospital, he didn’t take the drugs for a few days and he got better - until they put him back on the anti-psychotic. By then, we discovered that Parkinson’s symptoms were a side effect of the anti-psychotic. Also, that it was not recommended for dementia patients.
We went with our friend and his wife to one of their Drs. appointments. The wife wanted our friend off the anti-psychotic medication. I was shocked when the Dr. told her he’d return to his sarcastic self. As if there is something wrong with that! I wish he would. He’s finally off the drugs, but isn’t the same man. And, it turns out he doesn’t have dementia. The doctor was wrong.
How about just leaving us crotchety old bastards to do what we do best. We will burst your overinflated egos, bring your grandiose, but irrational plans into the light of day, show that impetuous youth will trip over itself without some older guidance and generally help you to avoid making complete fools of yourselves. We are the balance, the rationality, the experience and the voice of reason. We are the foundation.
Totally Dude !
This statement ROCKS !!
Agreed.
This is quite useful to vendors of overpriced pseudo-collectible pseudo-coins.
Thank you. The tip jar is on the piano, and I’m here every night...
Only problem is, dementia is real. I went through this with my parents. You sink through levels. My dad kept up a facade that finally collapsed when he got lost driving to a doctor’s appointment. He did make it back home about six hours later, but this triggered an inexorable series of events, the details of which are not necessary to give. Suffice it to say that in short order it becane apparent that my dad did not know what month it was, or indeed what a month was, or what spring or summer was, and he sank from there. After this you look for any glimmer of communication from the abyss, and these do come, but they are only glimmers. It is impossible to imagine what it must be to be reduced to this state, which indeed is a sort of living death.
Failure to spot sarcasm and lies leads to a diagnosis of dementia? Could failure to spot these also lead to a diagnosis of stupidity?
How do you know when a telemarketer is lying?
When they are on the phone!
(Not that I would trust them in person, either, if anyone were dumb enough to admit they were a telemarketer. :-) )
I’d be in real trouble in that case. If it weren’t for sarcasm, I wouldn’t be able to communicate.
It does explain why scam artists consistently target old people—and not just of the political variety.
The study shows that these are the very people who will LATER have dementia.
Obama can go into dementia prediction when he is retired.
Cluelessness, as in an inability to tell when people are lying or using sarcasm.
THIS IS SERIOUS! The fact that Chairman O's approval is even double digit is evidence that dementia (e.g., cluelessness) is an epidemic in this country.
Or the election of Barack Obama?
paranoia-because-it-might-be-genetic ping
Wonder how many votes for the Democrats the SEIU drones were able to deliver from the nursing homes.....
LOL!!! Dementia should be rare among FReepers....
bttt
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.