Dementia, in any form, is a heartbreaking disease that can take away one’s thinking and judgement abilities before they pass. To save face, people with dementia often pretend to know answers to questions, even if they really don’t. This often hides the severity of the disease and exasperates the fears and frustrations of the people who care for them. The act of pretending to know answers to keep up appearances is referred to as “saving appearance responses” (SARs), and a research group has performed the first statistical analysis of SARs in patients with various forms of dementia.
