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 Printable version |
Decision making in the elderly: which tools for its evaluation by the clinician? |
Psychologie & NeuroPsychiatrie du vieillissement. Volume 8, Number 3, 201-7, septembre 2010, Synthèse
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 Résumé
Article gratuit
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Author(s) : Caroline Hommet, Thierry Constans, Boriana Atanasova, Karl Mondon |
Summary : Numerous decision-making situations occur in the activities of daily living. The consequences of the decision-making capacity disturbances may have a great impact on the patient's autonomy, financial management, and his or her reaction to a diagnosis as well as the ability to accept a therapeutic option or give informed consent. Decision-making is a complex and multi-dimensional process and brings into play attention, memory and executive functions, which are processed in the prefrontal cortex, particularly vulnerable in aging. A better comprehension of the mechanisms of decision-making, and of the resulting social consequences of their dysfunction may improve autonomy of the elderly. Unfortunately, we still lack appropriate tools to explore decision-making in routine practice. |
Keywords : decision making, aging, executive functions, ventromedial prefrontal cortex |
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