ourbrainonlearningandmemory-blog

[ourbrainonlearningandmemory-blog]

More Than Just What You See in The Movies

By Alyssa Joanna P. Ramos 

Credit: https://science.howstuffworks.com/life/inside-the-mind/human-brain/amnesia5.htm

When one thinks of amnesia, they may think of the cases in the movies that they have watched in which the protagonist gets into some sort of accident, usually a car accident and suffers from partial or full memory loss. Although only fictional stories, people would not think of an idea such as this for a good plot line without a basis. These fictional stories are inspired by true events that actually happen daily where one suffers some sort of injury, resulting in amnesia in which they can no longer remember parts of their lives or even their whole life.

Amnesia is defined as any pathological loss of memory, which has many causes including head injury, illness, and alcohol to name a few. It is a brain injury that has a significant effect on the daily lives of those who suffer from it and it can be temporary or it can last for the rest of one’s life. Although most people are more familiar with amnesia due to head injury, in this article, we will be focusing on amnesia due to diseases, specifically Korsakoff’s syndrome and Alzheimer’s disease.

In terms of trying to find what specific part of the brain is responsible for the onset of amnesia in both Korsakoff’s syndrome and Alzheimer’s disease, it is honestly very difficult to pinpoint just one when investigating because of the many affected areas in the brain of the patients with the said diseases. Therefore, this is why rigorous investigation is still needed in order to find the cause of the onset of amnesia in these patients.

Korsakoff’s syndrome is defined as a disorder of memory that is common in people who have consumed excessive amounts of alcohol. The symptoms of this disease are detrimental and interfere with most daily functioning. For example, the most prominent symptom of this disease is sensory motor disruptions, most commonly tremors. Other symptoms include extreme confusion, changes in personality, and a higher chance of death from liver, gastrointestinal and heart disorders.

Pinel (2014) points out many different possible justifications of the syndrome in terms of brain damage. An example being damage to the medial diencephalon, which plays a large role in sensory nuclei relay. He also mentions damage to the neocortex, which plays a role in cognitive processes, the hippocampus, which plays a role in spatial memory, and the cerebellum, which plays a role in bodily movement. In examining the lesions of a Korsakoff patient’s brain, all damages that were mentioned might all contribute to the symptoms of disease itself. For example, the symptom of sensorimotor disruptions in the syndrome can easily be contributed to the cerebellum, which as mentioned, heavily involves movement; therefore, damage to the cerebellum can cause one to not longer have control over their movements. In terms of amnesia, knowing that the hippocampus has a significant role in spatial memory and that the neocortex has a role in cognitive functions, I would believe that damage in those parts of the brain would contribute to amnesia in the disease.

Pinel (2014) stated that lesions to the mammillary bodies were previously observed, which are known for recollective and spatial memory, therefore it is possible to attribute the responsibility of the onset of amnesia to this (p.285). However this was then challenged with more studies that showed no damage in mammillary bodies examined in certain Korsakoff syndrome patients. These studies brought it back to square one of not knowing specifically what damage of which part of the brain is contributing to the onset of amnesia in these patients. They also noticed damage of the mediodorsal nuclei in the brains of Korsakoff syndrome patients, which is also believed to play a role in memory and which could also be a step in the right direction in truly finding out what is responsible for the onset of amnesia. However, as mentioned previously, there are many different regions that are damaged in the brains of Korsakoff syndrome patients which are most likely all contributing to the symptoms of the syndrome, that it is difficult pinpoint what part of the brain is actually responsible for the loss of memory or if there is actually only one cause.

Credits: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWcdBOYy_bU

In Alzheimer’s disease, the symptoms are progressive, beginning with mild memory loss, leading to severe cognitive deficiencies which affect functions such as eating, speaking, recognizing familiar people and eventually leading to death (Pinel, 2014, p.286). In fact, according to Alzheimer’s Association (2017), 47 million people worldwide are affected by dementia, which is a syndrome that can be caused by Alzheimer’s disease and is the 6th leading cause of death in the United States.  Many people are also more aware of this disease instead of Korsakoff’s syndrome for it is a lot more prominent in the society.

In examining the brains of Alzheimer’s disease patients, they found that the levels of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine are quite low, due to the deterioration of the basal forebrain (Pinel, 2014, p. 286). This may be a reason for amnesia in Alzheimer’s disease patients, for if one’s brain is lacking acetylcholine; there will be a lack of transmission of information, which could be a reason for the loss of memory. Strokes in this area are also observed to contribute to amnesia (Pinel, 2014, p. 286). However, just like Korsakoff’s syndrome, it is difficult to truly say that the findings about acetylcholine is fully responsible for amnesia because of all the other areas that are affected in the brains of Alzheimer’s disease patients, such as damage to the medial temporal lobe and the prefrontal cortex, which also plays a large role in memory (Pinel, 2014, p. 286).

Therefore, to conclude, due to the large amount of evidence pointing to the different parts of the brain that are affected in both diseases, it is very difficult to say that only one factor or region of the brain is responsible for the onset of memory loss. In order to conclude the true cause of the loss of memory in both diseases or to even conclude if there is only one true cause, more rigorous experimentation and investigation is needed.

 References:

Alzheimer’s Association (2017). 2017 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures. Retrieved from https://www.alz.org/facts/

Pinel, J. P. J. (2014). Biopsychology (8thed.). Singapore: Pearson Education South Asia PTE. LTD.

[ourbrainonlearningandmemory-blog]

Concussion in a Nutshell

By Ma. Kathryn Gianina E. Buenafe 

Credit: http://www.medicalclinicsofnyc.com/concussion-update/

Getting hit on the head is one thing and it is another when you get a concussion from getting hit on head. These temporary disturbance can cause amnesia. Being able to experience such after the blow to the head is called posttraumatic amnesia or also known as PTA. There are many instances wherein you could get this such as from a car crash or any major accident that causes you to be unconscious and one major state that you can experience when in such accidents is a coma. This usually last for a couple of minutes but in some cases it can last for days, weeks, months and in worse cases years. This such state should not be taken so lightly because overall it cannot be determined when the person unconscious will wake up from a coma. The harder the blow to the head is the longer the possibly coma can be.

           Once the patient or victim wakes up, he or she will experience some confusion as to where the person is or at to what he or she is doing in this place. The patients are not to be tested yet by a neuropsychologist until the confusion subsides. The tests administered are to be analyzed so it can be known whether the person is experiencing amnesia or to be specific, retrograde or anterograde amnesia.

An example of retrograde amnesia is that of the “Bourne series” and of the character, Jason Bourne. He does not remember where he came from or who he is. In simpler terms, retrograde amnesia is not being able to recall anything before the brain-rattling head injury. While as for anterograde amnesia, an example would be that of the movie “50 first dates”. The character, Lucy Whitmore, was in involved in a car accident and was diagnosed with anterograde amnesia. Basically, anterograde amnesia is experienced when the patient does not recall anything after the brain-rattling head injury. Maybe at first the patient could respond normally but after a few minutes he or she can forget the conversation that occurred.

At times, this could take a couple of days to wear off. However, in some cases, the duration of these types of amnesia is short and in some it could possibly be permanent. There is no guarantee that the amnesia will fade or the person will regain his or her memories back. The family of the victim should be patient and understanding about the situation.

 References:

Pinel, J. P. (2014). BIOPSYCHOLOGY: pearson new international edition /biopsychology  

(8th ed.). PEARSON EDUCATION SOUTH ASIA PTE.LTD. 286-287

Levin, H.S., Papanicolaou, A., & Eisenberg, H. M. (1984). Observations on amnesia after non

missile head injury. In L. R. Squire & N. Butters (Eds.), Neuropsychology of memory (pp.247-257). New York: Guilford Press.

[ourbrainonlearningandmemory-blog]

Amnesia As Defined by Television Dramas

By Ricah de Guzman  

You probably know that some storylines of romantic movies, teleseryes or even series usually have typical plot where one of the main stars will encounter an accident that would result in different types of amnesia. This is evident in the Korean drama 'Boys Over Flowers' and a Filipino movie 'My Amnesia Girl'.

Credit: https://www.dramafever.com/news/the-cast-of-boys-over-flowers--where-are-they-now/

Boys Over Flowers was one of the most famous Korean Drama in Asia in 2008. It is story of four well-off senior high school men who study in an exclusive private school owned by the family of one of them, the male lead. These four students met a woman who belongs to an unfortunate family but she got the chance to study as well in the said school with a scholarship. After a typical cat and dog fight, they eventually fall in love and on the later part of the drama, the male lead got hit by a car. He was diagnosed with a partial (retrogade) amnesia. The doctor explained that he would not remember only the last person that was in his mind when the accident happened. The female lead tried to relive their memories with the help of the other three men but they failed because every time he remembered something, he mistakenly identified his vague memories with a different woman that he met in the hospital and who pretended to be the female lead as well. The other woman and the male lead held and engagement party inviting the female lead and the other three men. When the female lead finally got the chance to talk to him alone by the pool, she told her everything which he didn't believe at first. The striking phenomena that brought back his memory was when the female lead intentionally let herself fell into the pool.

Credit: http://silkenhut.com/my-amnesia-girl-pick-up-lines/my-amnesia-girl-pick-up-lines-2/

In a local setting, My Amnesia Girl was about a bride who was left in her wedding aisle when her groom suddenly walked out for no reason just before she reached the altar. After a few years of no communication, thy crossed paths at a grocery store and when the male lead approached the female lead, she pretended that she actually has amnesia and that she can’t remember anything after the incident in her wedding. So male lead’s friends assumed possible ways of how she could have acquired amnesia. Most of their assumption include a car accident and head injury.

 Due to huge complexity of human memory, it is undeniably confusing to characterize the different types of memory. Sometimes, even the professionals get it wrong and find it hard to explain the basics of human memory to the public. In everyday life, people experience memory loss due to preoccupation while others are due to memory disorder.

 In the case of the partial retrogade amnesia, this is usually caused by brain trauma or a hard blow in the head from striking an object without breaking it. Hence, it could be possible that when the male lead of the Korean drama got hit by the car, it caused his head to create highly asymmetric lesions to the inferior and anterior-medial temporal lobe. However, there has been no evidence provided by the professionals that it is possible to forget a particular person just because she was the last one you think about. If ever there is, it’s a very rare condition. While in the case of the Filipino movie, My Amnesia Girl illustrated how normal people view amnesia and there are assumptions being created in the their minds as to how it could possibly happened. Disregarding the fact that the female lead pretended to be amnesiac, the case that she could have had is also an example of post-traumatic retrogade amnesia.

 However, just like what was set by the media to be the treatment of Amnesia, love and reliving past moments may still be useful and might contribute to regaining back the memory but family members should not depend on this too much for there are necessary steps as well to help a person regain his memory back depending on the applicability and severity of the case.

[ourbrainonlearningandmemory-blog]

Library of Memories: On Filing and Storage in the Brain

By Veniz Airylle M. Pili 

Credit: https://pastebin.com/HSKXvBZR

Memories, as defined by Pinel (2011), are the changes in the brain influenced by the person’s learnings and experiences in which these are stored and can be accessed and activated willfully or unconsciously. However, many of us wonder where exactly do these memories get “stored” in the brain, and if they are stored in such specific sites of the brain, what are the processes that make the storage of memories possible? Contrary to the preconceived notion by many people that memories are contained in a specific area of the brain, no such thing has been shown by experiments on brain lesions in relation to retrograde memory. Even with a damage on a specific region of the brain, some long-term memories are still perfectly retained. Hence, memories are not contained within a specific brain region, but rather are stored diffusely throughout the brain and can actually become more invulnerable as these drastic changes occur (Pinel, 2011).

One study in the 1920s on identifying the part of the brain that is responsible for memory storage had been conducted by no other than Karl Lashley, a behavioral psychologist (Costandi, 2009). What Lashley did was he trained rats to find their way out of a miniature maze. He would then severe specific regions of the brain one at a time with the assumption that the absence of a certain part of the brain would cause impairment in recall tasks in rats, which leads us to the obvious conclusion that these rats will have a difficulty in remembering how to get out of the maze. However, the rats with brain damages were still able to escape the maze. Lashley then drew the conclusion that memories are not stored in a specific part of the brain, but rather, they are stored in all areas, such that these parts of the brain are due to how they were mostly activated in association to the experience and learning of the person.

Credit: https://gizmodo.com/cyborg-rats-solve-mazes-better-and-faster-than-normal-r-1763530847

According to Pinel (2011), there are specific areas that are observed to be involved in the storage of information. These are the hippocampus, the perirhinal cortex, the mediodorsal nucleus, and the basal forebrain—each are respectively involved in spatial memory, object memory, implication of memory by Kosakoff’s, and by Alzheimer’s disease as presented by brain damage. In addition, it has been observed that areas of secondary sensory cortex are involved in the storage of sensory memories. This is shown as the inferotemporal cortex participate in the visual perception of object, along with the perirhinal cortex (Bussey & Saksida, 2005). This idea is supported by a study conducted by Naya, Yoshida, and Miyashita (2001) wherein they experimented on monkeys that were tasked to learn the relation between the items in a pair of visual images; the monkeys’ activation of neurons in the inferotemporal cortex and perirhinal cortex were being closely observed and recorded while they were performing the said task (Pinel, 2011). Results have shown that activation of neurons was observed in the inferotemporal cortex when a pair of pictures were presented, and alternatively, the perirhinal neurons are first activated when the monkeys were asked to recall. This goes to show that the inferotemporal cortex does have a role in the retrieval of visual memories.

Credit: https://redice.tv/news/monkey-brain-net-raises-prospect-of-human-brain-to-brain-connection

In terms of memories associated with heightened emotions, amygdala seems to be involved in these memory processes as cited by Pinel (2011). However, it is important to clarify that the amygdala is not necessarily the area storing these kinds of memories, but rather, it is involved in the strengthening of memories in correspondence to the emotion felt during the experience and storing of memory (Paz et al., 2006; Roozendaal, McEwan, & Chattarji, 2009). Recently, the prefrontal cortex has been observed to play a role in memory storage despite previous studies (Pinel, 2011). Cerebellum and striatum are also believed to be a part of memory processes. Cerebellum is observed to be active during the storage of memories related to sensorimotor skills, whereas the striatum is associated with the storing of information that help examine relationships between stimuli and responses (Pinel, 2011).

 References:

Costandi, M. (2009, February 10). Where Are Old Memories Stored in the Brain? Retrieved December 4, 2017, from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-memory-trace/

Pinel, J. P. J. (2014). Biopsychology (8thed.). Singapore: Pearson Education South Asia PTE. LTD.