Story perspectives

Attention Issues May Signal Early Dementia, Expert Warns

4/1/2026

Summary

Story summary

Andrea Tales, a Swansea University neuropsychologist, argues in her Routledge-published book A New Approach to Dementia: Examining Attention Impairment that changes in attention may precede memory loss in dementia.
Tales notes that attention issues are often overlooked because they are harder for the public to recognize.
Symptoms include distractibility, difficulty focusing, and planning challenges.
Current screening tools, such as the Mini-Mental State Examination, may not adequately detect these early changes.

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Story summary

Andrea Tales, a Swansea University neuropsychologist, argues in her Routledge-published book A New Approach to Dementia: Examining Attention Impairment that changes in attention may precede memory loss in dementia.
Tales notes that attention issues are often overlooked because they are harder for the public to recognize.
Symptoms include distractibility, difficulty focusing, and planning challenges.
Current screening tools, such as the Mini-Mental State Examination, may not adequately detect these early changes.