Mildred: Mildred is who I consider to be the highest functioning resident that I have worked with, and at first it was incredibly difficult for me to identify where her memory loss existed. During conversation, it seems as though she is just a normal old lady. However, when playing games of cards, I noticed that her memory loss was triggered by critical thinking, as she was unable to remember the rules of the game after switching from a solitaire styled game to something similar to a high card draw. She was constantly reverting back to solitaire throughout the second game, until we switched back to the original game. Mildred has problems with critical thinking and memory, rather than simply general retention, so I aim to design retention tests involving that kind of critical thinking.
Tom: Tom is the next most functioning of the residents I'm researching, with strong conversation skills, but a much weaker memory of conversation itself. Tom's memory loss is triggered by the conversation or events moving too fast, such as when his wife and I were talking about his life and career, he was barely able to keep up, and was getting hung up on the fact that his wife said he could get an ice cream cone after going to his checkup. However, when I talked to him about his career again, at his pace, he was able to tell me exactly what he did and where he went without ever once getting hung up. I plan to design experiments with Tom and fast moving events, like the card game war, or talking with him at a different pace.
Jeanette: Jeanette's profile is much more apparent than the previous two (which will be a consistent trend with the remaining residents). Jeanette has forgotten what her current living situation is, as she believes, at different times, that she is visiting a restaurant, staying in a hotel, and at a mall. She expresses her memory loss through these stories she concocts about where she is and why she is there, an instance of which was when she was experiencing arm pain, she crafted a story about how another resident, sometimes standing or in a wheelchair, hit her with a metal pipe. Since Jeanette's memory loss has little effort to reveal, I hope to design retention tests around music and talking, seeing how her stories become more or less consistent in musical environments, or by playing games of cards or bingo.
Virginia: Virginia is a strange mixture of conscious that she is in a group home, but not exactly why. She believes she is there because she is about 90, and can tie all of her memory, walking, and staying awake issues to that. However, she also has moments of near total amnesia, where she will be wondering around without her walker, and completely forget where she is, where she is going, or anything related to her situation. As it seems that her main memory loss symptoms are triggered by something I have yet to determine, I will be designing simple experiments making use of music and card games to determine if there is any latent memory loss, and try to divulge what causes her amnesic episodes.
As I was observing live performances over the last few weeks, I would like to log in a few of the more overt reactions, which Tom tends to be the largest proponent of, singing along constantly throughout the performances. Jeanette will sing along as well, but not on the same scale as Tom, and she is more interested in the performers than the performance. Mildred will sing along quietly to herself, but will make no outgoing and audible singing. Virginia mostly nods along and taps her foot, etc. I have also noticed that one of the lower functioning residents, Mo, has some fairly overt reactions to specific types of music, mainly blues and New Orleans inspired songs, so I'll be looking into her over the course of the next week.
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