Information Processing

• In this section:
• Introduction
• Information Processing and MS
• Strategies to help

Introduction

People with MS find they often need more time to take in information and to make sense of it. It can also take them longer to formulate an appropriate response.

"People get so annoyed with me because I find I am always saying, "What did you just say?""

Information Processing and MS

You may have difficulties in processing sentences, which can be due to slowed processing; you might also find that you need a little extra processing time when you are having conversations. You might be experiencing attention and concentration problems and therefore you will be distractible (see attention section).

You may have to make a greater effort to concentrate. Because your information processing speed may be slow, you take in less information. Therefore you may think you have a memory problem.

People with MS report an overall slowing in their speed of information processing of visual information (eg making sense of lots of road signs in a short distance) and of auditory information (eg following a set of verbal instructions or making sense of a conversation happening at normal speed). If you are experiencing slowed processing you will also notice you take a long time to react to incoming information which can cause you to become frustrated.

Strategies to help

• Give yourself permission to take longer
• Break information into small steps
• Try to avoid situations where you have to think on your feet
• Turn off distractions like TV/radio/mobile phone
• Try to avoid over-stimulating environments
• Have patience
• Set yourself small, achievable goals and practice tasks as this will help your speed. Brain training is helpful for this
• Use positive self-talk – say to yourself: I know I can do this when I have a little more time
• Be brave and tell others what you need: "can you say that a little slower please?", "please repeat what you said"
• Allow yourself preparation time. Make notes in advance which you can refer to during a conversation or meeting
• Organise tasks that require more energy for when you know that you are not fatigued – ie the best time of day for you
• Take notes of important conversations (either during the conversation, or immediately afterwards)

PQRST Strategy

Read the PQRST strategy for reading a document, taking in information and making sense of it.