In most common types of dementias there is widespread degeneration in the cerebral cortex – such as the plaques and neuro fibrillary tangles which are the hallmark of Alzheimer's disease. In<unk> , there is targeted damage to regions lying under the cortex. The pathological process that result in<unk>  shows neuronal changes that involve primarily the thalamus, basal ganglia, and rostral brain-stem nuclei and mostly, some projections in the white matter from these regions to the cortex, with relative sparing of the cerebral cortex. It affects arousal, attention, mood, motivation, language, memory, abstraction, social skills (especially empathy), extrapyramidal functions, and visuospatial skills. Additionally, damage to the basal forebrain can cause amnesia and psychotic disorders.
Subcortical dementia
Semantic dementia
Vascular dementia
Lewy body dementias
Early-onset Alzheimer's disease
Dementia with Lewy bodies
Parkinson's disease dementia
Depression of Alzheimer disease