1. Memory Loss That Disrupts Daily Life
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What it looks like: Forgetting recently learned information, important dates, or events, and repeatedly asking for the same details.
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Normal aging: Occasionally forgetting names or appointments, but remembering them later.
2. Challenges in Planning or Solving Problems
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What it looks like: Struggling to follow a familiar recipe, keep track of monthly bills, or concentrate on numbers. Tasks take much longer than they used to.
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Normal aging: Making occasional errors when balancing a checkbook or managing household finances.
3. Difficulty Completing Familiar Tasks
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What it looks like: Trouble driving to a familiar location, managing a budget at work, or remembering the rules of a favorite game.
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Normal aging: Occasionally needing help to use a microwave setting or record a television show.
4. Confusion with Time or Place
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What it looks like: Losing track of dates, seasons, and the passage of time. Not knowing where they are or how they got there.
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Normal aging: Briefly forgetting what day of the week it is, but figuring it out shortly afterward.
5. Trouble Understanding Visual Images and Spatial Relations
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What it looks like: Difficulty reading, judging distance, or determining color/contrast, which can lead to problems with balance or driving.
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Normal aging: Vision changes related strictly to cataracts, presbyopia, or normal aging.
6. New Problems with Words in Speaking or Writing
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What it looks like: Stopping midway through a conversation with no idea how to continue, or repeating oneself. Struggling with vocabulary, calling things by the wrong names (e.g., calling a watch a “hand-clock”).
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Normal aging: Occasionally having trouble finding the right word.
7. Misplacing Things and Losing the Ability to Retrace Steps
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What it looks like: Putting items in unusual places (e.g., putting an iron in the refrigerator or car keys in the sugar bowl) and accusing others of stealing them.
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Normal aging: Misplacing keys or glasses occasionally, but being able to retrace steps to find them.
8. Decreased or Poor Judgment
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What it looks like: Experiencing changes in decision-making, such as falling victim to telephone scams, giving away large amounts of money, or neglecting personal hygiene.
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Normal aging: Making a questionable or bad decision once in a while, like skipping an oil change.
9. Withdrawal from Work or Social Activities
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What it looks like: Pulling away from hobbies, social activities, work projects, or sports. Avoiding social engagements due to changes that are hard to process.
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Normal aging: Sometimes feeling weary of work, family, and social obligations.
10. Changes in Mood and Personality
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What it looks like: Becoming easily confused, suspicious, depressed, fearful, or anxious. Getting upset easily at home, with friends, or when out of their comfort zone.
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Normal aging: Developing specific routines and becoming irritable if a routine is disrupted.
