Adaptational factors in memory function in the aged

Memory function in the aged is described as due to the interaction of a number of variables in addition to physiology, including affective state and environmental conditions. Depression can cause a series of behavioral patterns ranging from exaggeration of memory complaint, to simulation of organic dysfunction, to "pseudodementia" in which there is production of an actual organic mental syndrome. Stress and noxious environmental conditions also contribute to cognitive dysfunction. Custodial care is singled out as especially harmful, producing a form of "excess disability" termed "unorientation" in which apparently impaired memory results from an apathetic, withdrawn reaction to the environment. All these adaptational patterns are subject to prevention, modification, and in some cases, reversal.