In this assignment, it was required to view a documentary from the BBC called How Does Your Memory Work? The documentary explores how memory develops, how humans are able to remember, problems associated with memory, and more. One of the concepts examined in the video was childhood amnesia, which is the phenomenon where an adult is unable to recall memories below the ages of 3-5. Memory is not fully developed in a child at that point, therefore adults generally cannot remember that far back in their childhoods. The undeveloped memory also affects a child’s ability to form autobiographical memories (Gillings, 2008).
Autobiographical memories are personal memories that happened to oneself, as opposed to remembering facts. Researchers such Professor Mark Howe believe that a sense of self, or self awareness, is needed in order to form autobiographical memories. Howe conducted an experiment in which several toddlers looked at themselves in a mirror before their mothers applied paint on their noses, unbeknownst to the children. When the children looked in the mirror again, only two of them pointed towards their own noses instead of pointing at the mirror, indicating that they knew there was a change with their own selves instead of a change with the mirror. This, in turn, indicated that the two children had a sense of self.
Afterwards, the children placed a stuffed lion in a file cabinet, the intent of which was to create a new memory for the toddlers. Two weeks later, the same children who recognized themselves in the mirror were the only ones who were able to remember where they put the stuffed lion. This serves as evidence that self-awareness is needed in order to remember autobiographical memories. Since a toddler’s memory is usually not yet fully developed, children tend to lack a sense of self, which is key to recognizing events that happened directly to oneself (Gillings, 2008).
As people grow older, the human memory develops and improves. Humans generally get better at remembering the past and thinking about the future around the age of five. By the age of nine, children can think about both the past and the future efficiently. The peak of memory is when a human is 25 years old, as the brain is able to remember more than 200 pieces of information at a time. However, even from the age of 20, the brain starts to get smaller, and memory begins to fade at the age of 27. At 40 years old, around 10,000 cells in the brain die each day. As a person grows older, the blood flow to the brain gets unhealthier. This causes the white matter in the brain, which enables parts of the brain to interact with each other, to die, and in turn impairs memory. Plus, a human loses about half of the chemical messengers in the brain from when they are around 20 years old to 90 years old, also impairing memory (Gillings, 2008).
The documentary also discussed problems that can occur with memory. An example of this is seen in the case of John Forbes, whose memory was never fully developed due to being born prematurely. Forbes cannot recall much of his past and he also has trouble remembering both long-term and short-term memories (Gillings, 2008). Short-term memory is the phase of memory where information is held for a short amount of time, and long-term memory is the phase where information is stored for a much longer period of time (Licht, Hull, & Ballantyne, 2016). This requires Forbes to either write down what he needs to remember, or repeat it and depend on routine in order to remember, which makes daily life a struggle. A cause of this may be because of a dysfunction in the most critical structure in the brain regarding memory: the hippocampus.
In Forbes’ brain, this structure is nearly half the size it’s supposed to be (Gillings, 2008). The hippocampus is crucial for creating memories and sending memories to other parts of the brain for storage (Licht et al., 2016). His inability to recall the past also affects how he thinks about his future. Past memories are vital in order to imagine the future, as the same parts of the brain that are used for remembering are also used for thinking about the future. Therefore, Forbes cannot imagine what his future will be like (Gillings, 2008).
Another problem associated with memory that is discussed in the documentary is Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s disease is a sickness in the brain that causes functions like cognitive thinking and memory to become impaired (Licht et al., 2016). Toxic proteins grow in regions of the brain, which in turn inhibits these types of cognitive functions. It can have terrible effects on a person, and this is seen in the case of John Stevenson, who was diagnosed with the illness when he was 53 years old. This makes it nearly impossible for him to perform normal, everyday tasks on his own, like getting a glass of water or brushing his teeth; he needs help with doing virtually anything. He even has trouble remembering his own children. Stevenson’s wife, Mary, described Alzheimer’s disease as viewing a completely different individual, and only sometimes seeing who the person was before the disease struck. However, Stevenson doesn’t give up because of his ailment. He continues to try his best to do daily tasks, and goes on runs frequently to keep on living (Gillings, 2008).
References
- Gillings, A. (Director). (2008). How does your memory work [Video file]. In Films On Demand. Retrieved September 8, 2016, from http://fod.infobase.com.proxy154.nclive.org/p_ViewVideo.aspx?xtid=39692
- Licht, D., Hull, M., & Ballantyne, C. (2016). Presenting psychology. New York, NY: Worth Publishers.
