Normal ageing slows recall but does not erase it: you forget a name and it comes back later. Alzheimer's disease affects the ability to form and retain new memories, so recent events disappear entirely and reminders do not help. Interference with daily function is the dividing line.
Normal ageing slows recall but does not erase it: you forget a name and it comes back later. Alzheimer's disease affects the ability to form and retain new memories, so recent events disappear entirely and reminders do not help. Interference with daily function is the dividing line.
Retrieval slows with age. Names take longer to surface, you walk into a room and pause to recall why, you misplace keys and then find them by retracing. The distinguishing feature is that the information is still there: a cue or a moment's delay brings it back. Learning something new may take more repetition than it once did, but it is still learned, and independence in daily life is unaffected.
The problem is encoding and retention rather than retrieval. A conversation from yesterday is not simply hard to recall, it is absent, and prompting does not restore it. Repeating the same question within a short period, because the answer did not register, is a characteristic pattern. Other domains are usually affected too: difficulty with familiar tasks, getting lost in known places, word-finding trouble beyond the ordinary, poor judgement with money, and changes in mood or personality.
Function is what separates them. Forgetting an appointment is ordinary; forgetting how to manage the calendar you have used for years is not. Another useful signal is who is worried: concern from a family member is a more reliable indicator than self-report, because people living with cognitive change frequently adapt around it. If somebody close to you has noticed more than you have, that is worth acting on rather than explaining away.
Clinical Neurology Specialists has been physician-owned since 1998, when Leo Germin, M.D., FAANEM founded it. Five board-certified neurologists and four advanced practice providers see patients at the Las Vegas and Henderson offices, each with its own AANEM-accredited electrodiagnostic laboratory.
Clinical Neurology Specialists is an adult outpatient neurology practice for patients 18 and older. The practice performs no surgery and operates no imaging suite, infusion suite or interventional pain programme, and provides no emergency or inpatient care.
Physician-reviewed. Reviewed by the physicians of Clinical Neurology Specialists — board-certified neurologists, AANEM-accredited electrodiagnostic laboratories, physician-owned since 1998. Reviewed 1 August 2026. This article is general education for adults 18 and older and is not a substitute for a consultation.
Sources and further reading: MedlinePlus: memory; National Institute on Aging; MedlinePlus: Alzheimer disease.
Adults 18 and older, at the Las Vegas and Henderson offices. Call 702-804-1212 or request an appointment online.