Lakshmi Manasa Maddi: Week 13 - Retention of Memories
Lakshmi Manasa Maddi - Week 13: Retention of Memories
Usually we hear that clear differences in the quality of one’s memory are typically seen between two divisions of younger and older individuals. As we as human beings let new brain cells get produced and integrated into our mind, the memories that people envision are created and not easily found. We tend to experience our lightest peak of memory around our 20s, and this slowly declines as we age into our 50s and 60s.
The location where these neurons where we store information and memories is called the dentate gyrus which slowly declines in its activity overtime. Within this region in our brain, the hippocampus functions to produce many more cells that aid in improving your ability to retain information faster and for a longer period of time. However, when you grow older as years pass by, a substance called Dementia forms within the nerves of your cells which causes different types of proteins to grow around your neuron system. The proteins that are formed here work around to create new memories that are associated with better learning habits and emotional resistance. This part that is found within the brain “compartment” tends to restore and keep its Neocortex intact so that the brain is able to store multiple pieces of information in one place at once. All of these subcomponents have an ending location called the amygdala of which serves the role of making decisions, and control the emotional side of you in terms of how you respond to certain scenarios and situations.
All of these singular parts put together like puzzle pieces within your brain and tend to play out in explaining how information navigates itself through this “wire-like” system. Our ability to be conscious to make the right decisions, recollecting memories at the right moments, being alert enough to recollect things and keeping the habit of having emotional control over yourself are just some of the things that the brain works towards. Without a place to store our memories, simply try to imagine how our lives would be if we aren’t able to remember the friends and family who live with us everyday! Having these familial attachments with the ones we love and respect is vital to living a happy lifestyle.
Hi Manasa! Your final two sentences reminded me of a book I read back in elementary school. I don't remember the title of the book at all, but it was about this dystopian society where the people would forget everything every two years or so. They had to write down everything they did everyday or they would keep forgetting their friends and family. In the end, I think they kept forgetting things because of the pollen of some tree that bloomed every two years. The memory unit in psych was actually the one I was the worst at, so the information in your blog is actually relatively new to me. I also didn't know dementia was a substance. I always thought it was a disease or something like that.
ReplyDeleteI had no clue that dementia was a substance. I knew it wasn't a specific disease and more of a general condition, but never did I consider dementia to be anything more than just a diagnosis for somebody that was losing brain functions (usually memory loss and judgment). There are many stories and movies that have been created around the retention of memories; the most famous one I have watched was "The Notebook," but there are many others that display just how horrifying and terrible memory loss truly is. I hope that one day they will come up with a cure for the general symptoms of Demetria, but for now we must wait.
ReplyDeleteHi Manasa, thank you for providing such detailed information about the process of memory. I never really knew how it worked till now. And I definitely didn't know dementia was a substance. I always thought it was just a name for a disease, but now the name background makes a lot more sense. So in essence, according to what you're saying, everyone has dementia as they grow older. I guess some just have more severe forms of it. I always though dementia was one of the worst diseases to have because as you point out, memory is so important to maintaining familial relationships with the ones we love. Thank you for this interesting post, and I look forward to your next one.
ReplyDeleteWow, Manasa, your blog post really showed me that I need to learn more about neurology. I had no idea that dementia was an actual substance in your brain. I had always thought that it was a disease. In any case, I think suffering from dementia or any other brain illness that deals with memory loss would just be so horrid. I have heard some really emotional stories of mothers with Alzheimer forgetting their own children, as well as some frightening kidnapping/identity theft stories. I can not imagine the emotional and mental stress that forgetting important details and memories would have on a person. I sincerely hope that one day neurologists discover some cure or preventive treatment that can help prevent the formation of dementia.Your blog really highlights the complexities of the brain and neural networks that allow us to function on a day to day basis, so thank you for this educational blog post.
ReplyDeleteThe concept of my mental functions and abilities decaying over time is one of my biggest fears in the future, whether it be for myself or people I know. Watching simple things like reaction time and long term memory slowly decay as a person shifts away from how they normally is one of the worst parts of mental old-age conditions in my opinion. However, your blog post this week was very informative as to the nature of dementia, as I never really understood how it impacted the brain directly. Understanding how the disease actually progresses gives me some hope that somehow and eventually better steps can be taken to avoid or alleviate some of its effects. I really and genuinely hope that some form of treatment can be developed some time in the near future so depressingly-inevitable diseases like this can be avoided entirely.
ReplyDeleteHi Manasa! I really liked how informative your blog was about the way that our memory works. I was particularly surprised by the information about dementia, as I had no idea that the condition was also the name of a substance that forms in the nerves of cells. After reading that our memory peaks at around age 20, I am now curious about the rate at which our memory peaks. Speaking just from personal experience, it feels as if we gain memory at a much faster pace during our childhood than in our teenage years. Nonetheless, it is interesting that so many parts of our brain work together to process memory, and that it even extends to using memory to control emotions and recollecting memories based on a situation.
ReplyDeleteHello Manasa, I like your blog post because it shows how our ability to retain information deteriorates over time. I wonder if dementia is also affects the brain's production of myelin. Myelin is a chemical in the brain that wraps around neurons in the brain. The more myelin there is, the more something comes natural to us. For example, if someone practices a golf swing enough, myelin will keep wrapping around the neurons responsible for the action, so it will start to come more natural to that person. However, myelin production decreases over time. I wonder if dementia is the reason for this.
ReplyDeleteHi Manasa. I enjoyed your blog's explanation of the neuroscience behind memory and memory loss. The deterioration of the mind with age is something that scares me. Memory is integral to who we are and losing it sounds just awful not only for those who are afflicted but also the people around them. It's as though you're seeing a person fade away slowly and painfully. There's a music project on YouTube called "Everywhere at the End of Time." It essentially takes an old jazz song and distorts and eventually destroys it through six phases. By the end of the sixth phase all you can hear of the melody is pure static. It was created to demonstrate the effect of dementia on the mind in music form. It's quite disturbing and very sad. I hope that treatment for this condition that is inevitable for many can be developed further in the coming decades.
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