Forgetful of names

Wisconsin Dementia Physicians, Therapists & Caregivers

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“I went to introduce my friend to my neighbor and forgot both of their names…is forgetting names a sign of dementia?”

This is a common concern voiced by people as they age. However, it is important to realize that forgetting for a short period of time, even a well known friend’s name, is not necessarily a sign of dementia. It can be a result of stress, lack of sleep, infection or even a medication interaction.

In this case, forgetting names or appointments occasionally is normal. However, one of the more common early signs of dementia is when a person begins to forget more often and is unable to recall the information later such as multiple appointments that they have made and missed.

Forgetting is Not Necessarily a Sign of Dementia

If you have trouble at times finding the right word that you want to say that is normal, but people with dementia find that they not only often forget simple words, but they substitute unusual words making their speech or writing hard to understand. For example they may ask for “that thing for my mouth” or tell you they are “brushing with the oven” when trying to refer to a toothbrush.

“Now why did I come in here?”

If you occasionally forget why you came into a room or what you came in for, that’s OK. It is when you find it hard to plan or complete everyday tasks or lose track of the steps in planning a meal or placing a telephone that you may want to consult with your physician.

“Where are my keys?”

We have all misplaced our keys or wallet at some point, but usually they are quickly found. A person with dementia may put things in unusual places such as an iron in the freezer or a wristwatch in the sugar bowl or they may put their keys in the usual place, but forget where that place is for an extended length of time.

When should I be concerned about signs of dementia?

All of us can make questionable decisions from time to time. However, a warning sign of dementia is when someone begins dressing inappropriately wearing several layers on a warm day or little clothing in the cold. In addition, someone with dementia may also show poor judgment, like giving away large sums of money or becoming involved in “too good to be true offers.”

Balancing a checkbook can be a challenge for many people, but a lifelong banker may find even the easiest of mathematical equations to be too difficult if dealing with dementia. When something that once came quite easily becomes too hard, it may be a sign of a more serious problem.

It is OK to sometimes feel weary of work or social obligations. However, it is important to note that a person with dementia may become very passive, sitting in front of the TV for hours, sleeping more than usual or not wanting to do usual activities. These are also signs of depression, so it is a good idea to talk with a doctor.

Forgetting is something that everyone does from time to time; it is when it begins to affect your daily life or creates worries or concerns for ones safety that one must dig deeper. As previously mentioned it may be a medication interaction or stress induced. In the end, if you are still concerned that you or a loved one may be suffering from some type of dementia, talking with your doctor or signing up for a memory clinic is recommended.

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As I Get Older, Why Does My Memory for Names Seem to Deteriorate?

Neurology

November 1, 2012

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As I get older, why does my memory for names seem to deteriorate?
—Tony Karger, U.K.

Paul Reber, a psychology professor at Northwestern University, answers:

Forgetting someone's name is a common misstep. The structure of memory explains why you can often recognize the person's face and even come up with other details, such as where and how you met, but the name remains elusive.

We are often only able to piece together elements from a past event. When remembering what you had for dinner one week ago, for example, you can probably picture yourself sitting at a table with a plate of food in front of you. You can likely recall whether you were alone or with others or whether it was a casual night in or a fancy affair. Your brain, however, offers only crude brushstrokes. It does not create as complete a picture as a video recording would.

Vivid, accurate memory is actually a hard trick to pull off for the human brain. Our brain is not wired like a camera; it is composed of billions of neurons that perform many jobs besides remembering. During memory retrieval your brain cheats, filling in the gaps to concoct the most likely scenario. Let us say you remember sitting around the dining room table with friends. You conclude that you were eating roast chicken and mashed potatoes—your go-to menu when hosting guests. Your brain doesn't store a full picture of the evening, but recalling one aspect of the night can cue other elements, ultimately generating a full picture. This process of association is useful for filling in the blanks; however, it can also be unreliable, which explains why eyewitness accounts are surprisingly error-prone.

With names, the problem is that they are usually arbitrary. The fact that you met Tom on the sideline of a soccer field means he probably has a child the same age as yours, likely lives nearby and might have a job common to people in your area. All those elements create a reasonable picture of Tom, except none of these clues offers hints about his name. It could just as easily be Dick or Harry.

As we age and our memory starts to function less well, names are most likely among the first things to escape us. You can use tricks to help remember, such as rhyming the name with an object. What is easiest, however, is to keep in mind that everyone has difficulty with names, so you can be less embarrassed when one eludes you and less critical of others when yours escapes them.

This article was originally published with the title "As I Get Older, Why Does My Memory for Names Seem to Deteriorate?" in SA Mind 23, 5, (November 2012)

doi:10. 1038/scientificamericanmind1112-78

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"Whatever the child amuses himself with" - IA Kamchatka

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"Whatever the child enjoys"

Ukraine

June 11, 2022, 18:44

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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, responding to a TASS correspondent's request to comment on Ukrainian sanctions, said: "I don't think this is worthy of any specific step on our part. No matter what the child is amused by."

Earlier, Zelensky by his decree imposed indefinite sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin, his press secretary Dmitry Peskov, Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and almost all members of the Russian government, including Sergey Lavrov. In total, 35 people fell under the sanctions. nine0003

The topic was continued by the official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Maria Zakharova in an interview with pranksters Vladimir Kuznetsov (Vovan) and Alexei Stolyarov (Lexus) on the Vovan and Lexus channel on Rutube.

"Everyone is already tired of Zelensky in the West. To put it simply, he already got them all, he tired them out. There are people who are intrusive to the point of toothache just because they make you do something, not forget about some They (the West - TASS note) have a different attitude towards him: they understand that they have created a monster that neatly, and somewhere inaccurately, begins to devour them. " nine0003

According to her, Zelensky believed that the West would "cancel" any person pointed out by the Ukrainian president. "He begins to build and embed himself in the global agenda in some kind of invented world. I am sure that he absolutely believes that he rules the world," the diplomat noted.

"That is, they understand that they have raised such a monster that acts absolutely in the heat of some kind of visions. He works out something, but in something he has already become so confident in his power that he began to tire them" - concluded the diplomat. nine0003

As you know, Vovan and Lexus previously published a prank with former US President George W. Bush, where they introduced themselves as President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky. In the prank, Bush Jr. made a number of high-profile statements. In particular, he admitted that the United States had promised ex-USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev non-expansion of NATO, confirmed the work of US biological laboratories in Ukraine, and spoke emotionally about ex-President of Georgia Mikhail Saakashvili.

Do you think Zelensky is the only one? Well, okay, the middle-class actor accidentally became president and now he is clearly not coping with his role. But here is the Western European "political elite" - a bunch of people who do not know history and geography well, get confused in their own legislation and quietly hate each other. And these people are trying to solve world problems, dictate their will to other countries and read morality to them (particularly Boris Johnson is good at this). nine0003

Not far from them, old Joe also left, stumbling from time to time on the steps of the plane, holding out his hand into the void for a handshake and forgetting the names of colleagues and the names of countries. But here is the level of his “thought-out” argumentation.

Speaking at the Port of Los Angeles about inflation and his administration's price-cutting measures, Biden argued that the US had "never seen anything like Putin's tax on food and gasoline." In his version, "America can fight inflation from a position of strength like no other country in the world. " "But make no mistake, I understand that inflation is a real challenge for American families. Today's inflation report confirms what America already knows: Putin's price hike is hitting America hard: Gas station prices, energy, and food are half the monthly rise in prices in May," the head of state said. He commented on the report of the US Department of Labor, according to which consumer prices in the country grew by 8.6% in annual terms in May, which is the largest increase since December 1981 years old. "I'm doing everything in my power to blunt Putin's price hikes and bring down the cost of gas and food," Biden continued.

... Vladimir Putin once joked that "after the death of Mahatma Gandhi, there is no one to talk to." Today these words are filled with new meaning. Indeed, is it possible to conduct serious negotiations with these people, solve problems, agree on joint work? And, most importantly, to believe them?..

Iskander Khakimov, journalist

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Lenin and Pushkin - analytical portal POLIT.

Where Pushkin's life ends with a duel with Dantes, the story "Subject" begins Tatyana Tolstaya . Pushkin, according to the writer, who lived to the age of 80, aged, flabby, forgetting the names of friends and enemies, goes to Simbirsk to complete the "History of the Pugachev rebellion."

The text of Tolstoy's long-standing story follows:

"... the old man, wandering in the Volga twilight, stops, peers into the darkness of the past and the darkness of the future, and his raised chest heaves with a premonition of a close one, and tears well up, and something stirs, I remembered ... a leg, a head, a headdress, shady alleys ... and this one, like him ...

Boom! The nasty boy, with all his might, thrusts an icy snowball into the back of the old man's head. Such a pain! Through the mist that obscures his eyes, the old man, turning around in astonishment and anger, barely makes out narrowed Kalmyk eyes, a laughing, gap-toothed mouth, and snot caught in frost. "Monkey!" the little boy yells joyfully, dancing. "Look, monkey! Old monkey!"

I remembered my name! Dantes! Scoundrel! Beast... Consciousness doubles, but the hand is still strong! Pushkin, boiling up for the last, dying time, turning around in shock, beats, beats with a stick - backhand, on the small reddish head of the scoundrel, on impudent little eyes, on protruding ears, - on anything. Here's to you, here's to you! For the monkey, for the lyceum, for Vanechka Pushchin, for the Senate Square, for Anna Petrovna Kern, for my sister's garden, for the burnt poems, for the light of my eyes - Karamzin, for the Black River, for everything! Ghoul! For Saint Petersburg!!! For everything that cannot be helped!!! nine0003

"Volodya, Volodya!" - they shout anxiously from behind the fence. "What a disgrace!" - fearfully indignant gathering passers-by. "That's right, you need to teach these hooligans! ... How can you, - a child ... Call the policeman ... Lord, disperse! ... It is not allowed to crowd! But Pushkin no longer hears anything, and the blood thickens in the snow, and close over his black face and white head.

Neighbors gossip for some time that the son of the Ulyanovs was beaten on the head by a visiting black man with a stick - the liberals are outraged, but point out that the real day will come soon, and that everything is darker before sunrise sun, the conservative gentlemen are gloating: it’s high time, the robber grew up all over Russia. However, the boy, after lying in bed for a week, comes to his senses and, in addition to bruises, there are no visible injuries on him, but in something the beating seems to be going on and also burr (Maria Alexandrovna secretly
hoped that this would be corrected, as happens with stuttering, but - no, it didn’t get better), also tears off the legs of toy horses (though he became a big neat man and, having torn off, after all, he will certainly glue it back to its original place,) is also diligent in learning ( from Latin - five, from algebra - five), and even his temper seemed to have become calmer: if earlier, no, no, yes, he would break a crystal vase or steal a meat pie to eat in a hut with laundress children, otherwise he would lie - and the eyes are clear, clear! - that's not it now. Let's say
Maria Alexandrovna is going to Kazan to her sister, and Ilya Nikolaevich is in a distant district with an inspection - to whom should the children be left? Before, it happened, the cook suggested: they say, I can manage here without you, and Volodenka is glad. Now he will step forward, stomp his foot, and loudly like this: "This will never happen!" And he will rationally analyze everything in such a way, judge and imagine why the cook cannot manage. It's a pleasure to listen. I completely stopped hanging out with the yard guys. The nose turns up: they say, lice can crawl from them onto a nobleman. nine0107 (Before, he loved living creatures: he would catch lice in a box, otherwise fleas or bedbugs, and observe. A pattern, he says, I want to reveal. There must certainly be a pattern.) Now if he sees dirt somewhere, his face immediately becomes such a squeamish one. And I started washing my hands more often.

Somehow beggars were walking by on a pilgrimage, stopped, as usual, muttered - asking for alms. Volodenka came out onto the porch, waved his hand haughtily: "Every cricket, know your hearth!" - spoke out. - "Come in! .. Walkers were found ..." Those mouths were closed, knapsacks were picked up, and God forbid, legs ...

And once, for fun, the elders started a home magazine, and the name came up with a kind of progressive, with a twist: "Iskra". Laughter! .. The international department compiled an advanced amusing one - "they write from abroad ...", well, and humor, of course. Hints were allowed ... Volodenka found out, came to the nursery so important, serious, and right away: "Is it allowed by the authorities? Isn't there a contradiction to order in the Fatherland? Isn't self-will seen?"
And it also seems like a joke, but there is something metal in the little voice ... Maria Alexandrovna is not overjoyed at the mediocre one. He confides to the diary his secret maternal joys and sorrows: Sashenka worries, - he is a rowdy, the younger ones are stupid, but Volodenka, red-haired, is a joy and support. And when
trouble happened with Sasha - he dared to break the law and contacted the socialists, raised his hand - against whom? - it’s scary to say, but after all, a mother’s heart is not a stone, you understand, gentlemen, after all, mother, mother! - who helped, supported, consoled in a terrible moment, if not Volodenka? "We'll go the other way, mother!" - He firmly said so. And for sure: he leaned even more on learning, he didn’t allow for a minute of pampering with all sorts of ideas, and he pulled others up, and if he noticed in his comrades the slightest vacillation and infirmity in loyalty to the tsar and the Fatherland, then he himself, putting on a cap on thinning hairs, set off and reported to the right place. nine0003

Ilya Nikolayevich died. We moved to the capital. They lived poorly. Volodechka began to smoke. Maria Alexandrovna was about to hint: Volodya, it’s ruining your health, and money too? ... - Volodechka screams: “Ma-alcha-at! Don’t dare to argue !!!” - even scared. And since then he smoked only expensive cigars: to spite his mother. Robela kept silent. He also liked expensive, French liqueurs. He began to look at women. On Saturdays I went to see madams. He leaves a playful note: "he went underground", he returns tipsy. The mother was afraid, after all, the doctor’s daughter, - “Vovochka, you should be more careful there, I understand everything, but what if the lues? He liked to listen to Offenbach's operettas: "Inhuman music, do you understand that, mamakhen? You drive from the theater in a reckless car - you just want to beat the driver, cattle, on the head: why doesn't he understand music?" nine0003

I got a good apartment. Furnished with fashionable, plush furniture, with pom-poms. I called the janitor with a worker to hang curtains - they, obviously, inherited, dirty. Since then, he did not like workers, and ordinary people in general; "fu," he said, "ventilate after them." And I ran out of snuffboxes. He climbed under the ottoman, kept looking for a snuff box, cursing: "Proletarian cattle. .. It's not enough to shoot them..." Finish legal - and serve, serve. He squints and admires himself in the mirror: “What do you think, mother, will I reach the real secret? .. Or maybe it was better in the military unit? ..” He cuts out epaulettes from Christmas paper and tries on. I made orders for myself from beer caps, applied them to my chest. nine0003

The rogue really made an excellent career, and quickly: he knew with whom to make acquaintances, where to be talkative, where to remain silent. He knew how to please, he did not argue with his superiors. He had little contact with young people, peers, more and more with important old men, and especially with important old women. And he will give the fan, and stroke the pug, and praise the bonnet: with what, they say, the taste of the lace is chosen, very, very to the face! He was friends with Katkov himself, and
also knew how to approach: he would sigh, and, as if by chance, to the side: "what a lump, my friend! what a seasoned human being!", - and that was flattering. nine0003

There were oddities, too. I bought a dacha in Finland, not to breathe air and squirm in the bay, - I used to go back and forth, back and forth, and then I asked for a steam locomotive: let me ride. Well, the owner is a gentleman, he pays, they let him in. He will reach Finlyandsky, wander around the square, think ... Then back. During the Japanese war, everyone admired the military, regretted that he was a civilian. Once, when the troops were walking, I looked, looked,
couldn’t stand it, waved to the commander: “Your Excellency, would you allow a patriot to climb on an armored car? There is a lot of pain in his chest.” He sees - a decent gentleman, golden glasses, a beaver collar, why not let him in? - let go. nine0003

Vladimir Ilyich was planted, he is beaming... "Guys! Russian warriors! For the faith, the tsar and the Fatherland - cheers!" - "Hurrah-ah-ah-ah.!..." Even in the newspapers they printed: such a curiosity, really!

He was also a weirdo: he liked to stand on balconies. He courted ballerinas - well, it’s clear who didn’t court him - he asks for a visit and certainly asks: “my charm, wonderful child, let me on the balcony!”. Even in winter, in one vest. He comes out - and stands, looks around, looks ... He sighs and comes back. "What are you, Vladimir Ilyich?" It becomes clouded, reluctantly, inappropriately answers: "There are not enough people ..." And the people - as usual. nine0003

The patriot was extraordinary, earnest. When we won the war with the German - in 1918, he was already the Minister of the Interior then - who, if not him, most loyally asked for such a much-desired and glorious victory to give a salute of three hundred volleys in honor of His Majesty, and the same number in honor of Her Majesty, half a hundred more in honor of the Heir to the Tsarevich and a hundred pieces each to the adored Tsesarevnas? Even Nikolai Alexandrovich deigned to laugh and turn his head: we’ve had enough, my friend, we can’t even scrape so much gunpowder, all
came out . .. Then Vladimir Ilyich suggested that all foreigners be roughly punished so that they would think hard and remember what the Russian Empire is and what they are. But this project did not pass, except perhaps in part, in the southern provinces. He suggested - already in the twentieth or twenty-second year - to block all the rivers with fences, and already submitted a memorandum addressed to the highest name, but did not manage to clearly explain why this was. Here they noticed that Mr. Ulyanov was talking and forgetting. He began to call himself Nikolay, - patriotically, but incorrectly. He gave the Tsarevich the Heir for his name day a serso with a stick and the pre-war game "diabolo" - throwing a reel on a string, as if forgetting that the Tsarevich is a young man, and not a small child, and there was already an agreement with the bride. (However, the Tsarevich was very fond of him and was called "grandfather Ilyich"). I built a goat for Montenegrin princesses with my fingers! And under the Bulgarian Tsar Boris, he shouted: "Boriska to the kingdom!", Embarrassing Him too
Majesty, and those present. They forgave: they knew that grandfather, although bad, was the most honest direction.

He didn’t like to read, and the hack didn’t like it, but he peed himself, but only memos. In Zimny they loved it when he used to ask for an audience and stand at attention at the door of his office, waiting for a call, - a briefcase under his arm, his beard smells of cologne, his eyes are slyly screwed up. "Our Ilyich brought searchlights again! Well, show me what you have there?" We laughed, but in a good way. And he didn't mind his own business. Either he will offer to move the capital to Moscow, or he will write down, "How can we reorganize the Senate and the Synod," or even just trifles
is engaged. Where he will offer to dig a stream, where to tear down a rotunda. And he especially strove to rebuild the Smolny Institute: either cover all the furniture in white, or redraw the corridors. He liked to visit the local noble girls and patronized some, especially the goggle-eyed ones: he slipped a confection or halva in a piece of paper.

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