It is common among early symptoms for a person to be confused about when something happens or where they are. These cases usually involve: not remembering what day it is, being unable to recognize seasons or time intervals, or feeling lost at home.
The confusion about place and time is a classic feature used in the diagnoses of dementia.
Difficulty comprehending visual and spatial information
People with dementia may experience changes in their brain’s interpretation of visual information and spatial relationships. They may face: problems in judging distance (increasing the danger of driving), difficulties in reading or tracking lines of text, problems recognizing familiar faces, objects, or geographical locations.
Visual and spatial deficits have been found to develop relatively early in particular forms of dementia, according to studies by the National Institute on Aging.
Difficulty communicating
Naming a commonly used item becomes increasingly difficult, such as calling a watch a “hand-clock.” In addition, people with dementia may experience: repetition of certain phrases, and being unable to complete thoughts or sentences.
These problems are often mild at first but eventually become noticeable.
Misplacing things and losing the ability to retrace steps
While everyone occasionally misplaces their keys, forgetting due to dementia is not the same. It usually includes: placing things in odd places (for example, putting a phone inside a freezer), accusing people of stealing objects when they can’t find them, inability to “retrace one’s footsteps” to retrieve a misplaced object.
This situation tends to become extremely infuriating for both those who suffer from the condition and their family members.
Bad judgement and poor decision-making
Dementia may affect the sufferer’s rational thought process and good judgment. For instance: unusual and risky behavior when handling finances (giving money to telemarketers), abruptly becoming unhygienic or unkempt, failure to assess risk factors (walking into the path of traffic or forgetting about an appliance on the stove).
Changes in decision-making abilities tend to stem from changes in the brain’s frontal lobe.
