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Hello folks! I understand the basic concepts behind PD's effects on physical abilities, but I have a question about how it affects cognition, memory, and other mental faculties. My mother is in residential nursing care in Europe. She was diagnosed with PD about six months ago, and is on Simenet and Deprenyl. She's in her eighties and has had several falls leading to bone fractures since she also suffers from severe osteoporosis. Sometimes her speech is quite impaired, so it's difficult for us to talk on the phone. Several murmers and whispers are all she can manage occasionally. I'm wondering whether in this situation I should just be patient and wait for her to get to a response, or whether I should just continue chatting anyway. In other words is she likely to be quite aware of me having to wait for her to reply, or does PD have a side-effect of slowing one's thinking process as well? Of course, her age is causing her to be a little foggy anyway, but it seems to me that if her slowness is predominently caused by motor control problems, then I can quite easily talk for a long period without wiaiting for a reply. On the other hand, if she has mental limitation as well, then my continued jabbering is just going to make her even more confused. Any opinions? John Murray, University of Michigan