Just because you're forgetful doesn't mean you have early Alzheimer's disease. In this video, Dr. Oz guest Dr. Linda Lee reveals the factors that may contribute to being forgetful.
Recently Answered
-
2 AnswersA
See All 2 AnswersThe molecular basis of memory is poorly understood. There is some evidence that changes in the shape of certain proteins can play a role. The standard laboratory model for memory is called long-term potentiation and appears to involve a process called protein phosphorylation, in which a kind of decoration, called a phosphate, is added to the protein to stabilize the shape that holds on to the memory. There is also evidence that shape changes similar to what happens in prion disease may underlie memory.
-
3 AnswersA
Dr. Mehmet Oz, MD , Cardiology (Cardiovascular Disease), answeredSee All 3 AnswersEssentially, memory is the process of learning information, storing it, and then having the ability to recall it when you need it—whether to solve problems, tell stories, or save yourself on the witness stand.
Learning begins with those power connections in your brain: neurons firing messages to one another. Your ability to process information is determined by the junctions between those neurons, called the synapses. The ability of brain cells to speak to one another is strengthened or weakened as you use them. Essentially, the more you use those synapses, the stronger they get and the more they proliferate. That's why you may have strong neural pathways for your family history or weak ones for eighties music trivia. If something's exciting to you, then you learn it faster—and train those synapses to make strong connections. But if the information seems more boring, you can still learn and build those connections with repeated use. -
1 AnswerA
Dr. Mehmet Oz, MD , Cardiology (Cardiovascular Disease), answeredThough there's some evidence that nicotine (in the form of a patch, not the kind you smoke) plays some role in improving awareness, research also supports the memory-boosting effects of a less dangerous vice: caffeine. About five cups of coffee a day protects against cognitive impairment from both Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.
Remember, if you experience side effects like migraines, abnormal heartbeats, anxiety, or acid reflux, the benefits may not be worth the side effects.
By keeping you alert, caffeine will also help you assimilate knowledge and deposit it in your memory bank efficiently, improving the chance that you'll recall it correctly. -
1 AnswerA
Dr. Kelly Traver , Internal Medicine, answeredMood is important for memory. When a person is depressed, his or her memory is affected until the mood is normalized. You can improve your mood with exercise, counseling, and medication when indicated.
-
1 AnswerA
Discovery Health answeredStudies largely refute the long-held thinking that babies are unable to encode information needed to form the foundation of memories. One experiment, involving 2- and 3-month-olds, tested the babies' memories by attaching a ribbon to a mobile. When the babies kicked their legs, they learned the motion caused the mobile to move. They were placed under the same mobile later, without the ribbon. Even when the ribbon was gone, the infants remembered to kick their legs. The same experiment done on 6-month-olds revealed they picked up the kicking relationship much more rapidly, indicating that their encoding ability accelerated gradually, over time, instead of during one significant burst around the age of 3.
Memory encoding also could be related to an infant's development of the prefrontal cortex at the forehead. This area, active during encoding and retrieval of explicit memories, is not entirely functional at birth. By 24 months, however, the number of synapses in the prefrontal cortex has reached the level of adults.
The size of the hippocampus, at the base of the brain, also grows steadily until you are 2 or 3 years old. The hippocampus is what determines which sensory information to transfer into long-term storage.
-
1 AnswerA
Discovery Health answered
When you think back to your earliest memory, perhaps you recall images of a birthday party or scenes from a family vacation. If you think back to when that event occurred, chances are it was no earlier than your third birthday.
In fact, you may be able to remember only a few memories between the ages of 3 and 7, although photographs or other cues may trigger more.
This inability to remember your early life, including your birth, is called childhood amnesia. It is a term that conveys in a broader sense a condition Sigmund Freud coined in 1899, which he called infantile amnesia.
Freud proposed that people used infantile amnesia to repress traumatic, and frequently sexual, urgings during that period of their life. Freud claimed that humans create screen memories or altered versions of events to block those unconscious drives of the id and to protect the conscious ego.
-
1 AnswerA
Discovery Health answered
To create memories, humans must form synapses, or connections between brain cells. These connections encode sensory information from a particular event into our memory. Our brains then organize the information into categories and then link it to other similar data, a process called consolidation. For a memory to last, we must periodically retrieve the memory and retrace the initial synapses, which reinforces the connections.
-
1 AnswerA
Discovery Health answered
Implicit memory is housed in the cerebellum and is essential for newborns. It allows them to associate warmth and safety with the sound of their mother's voice, and to instinctively know how to feed. Studies have revealed there are few developmental changes in our implicit memory as we age. Even many adult amnesia cases have shown that implicit skills such as playing the piano or riding a bicycle can survive the brain trauma.