Memory performs numerous tasks in everyday life. For example, it serves to differentiate and store information. However, some diseases and ailments can limit the function of memory. Further consequences cannot then be ruled out.
What is memory?
Memory performs numerous tasks in everyday life. For example, it serves to differentiate and store information. Without memory, the storage of memories would not be possible. In this way, people would not be able to remember their first day of school, nor what they learned during their school years. The brain ensures that the available information reaches the memory. A distinction is made here between short-term and long-term memory. Complex procedures and processes decide which information is retained in the long term and which disappears over time. Memories are not only sorted and bundled. At the same time, a link with emotions takes place, which ensures that some memories are perceived as positive, while others trigger sadness. The information from which memories are knitted usually comes from all sensory organs, which combine in the brain to produce a complex picture. If particularly many senses are addressed, a content often remains longer in the memory. How important memory ultimately is in everyday life usually only becomes clear with the onset of certain diseases that limit it. These include dementia, for example.
Function and task
Important elements of memory represent short-term and long-term memory, as well as forgetting. Short-term memory plays a particularly important role. It is used almost continuously in everyday life. If short-term memory did not exist, it would be impossible for people to remember events that took place a few seconds ago. However, short-term memory does not have unlimited capacity. When the memory is full, old information is replaced by new elements. The same applies to situations in which distractions occur. Often, information is in the short-term memory for just 30 seconds before it is replaced by others. At the same time, however, short-term memory also allows people to acquire knowledge that can be retrieved permanently. If information is learned consciously and repeated regularly, it can leave short-term memory and pass into long-term memory. In contrast to the intermediate memory, the capacity here is unlimited. In this way, people usually manage to remember events that happened a very long time ago. Information that has succeeded in penetrating the long-term memory remains there. With the help of biochemical processes, remembering can be reconstructed. During forgetting, contents do not pass from short-term to long-term memory. If information is perceived as unimportant, it quickly leaves the memory and is forgotten. In the case of long-term memory, on the other hand, experts assume that the memory still exists, but it is difficult to consciously recall it. In everyday life, ultra-short-term memory is also important. This enables the storage of auditory and visual content, such as that which plays a role in a conversation. Without further evaluation by the brain, the information disappears within a few seconds. The memory thus serves to store content. These are important for remembering learned processes and information. Furthermore, one’s own life story would not be retrievable without memory. At the same time, it enables people to communicate as well as orient themselves in everyday life.
Diseases and ailments
If the function of memory is limited, most people quickly take note of how important the proper functioning of its components is. Depending on the person and life circumstances, the everyday forgetting is perceived as more or less pronounced. Especially with advancing age, many people notice a decline in their ability to think as well as in their memory. The basis here is the reduced energy supply of the brain. If at the same time a large load threatens, as it exists for example in the job, the effect can be strengthened. Thus, it is above all stress in everyday life that leads to a reduced functioning of the brain.But not behind every forgetfulness and concentration disorder such a strain can be localized. If intellectual limitations are noticed in several areas, this is an indication of a developing dementia disease. Dementia is characterized by a strong reduction of mental abilities and the ability to think. The disease is triggered by various causes. These in turn are responsible for a structural organic change in the brain. For example, dementia often develops from Alzheimer’s disease. In the context of Alzheimer’s disease, the degradation of nerve cells takes place. Damage to the brain due to changes in the blood vessels is the second most common cause of dementia. The result is a long-term disturbance of memory. Affected persons usually no longer succeed in remembering friends and relatives in the final stage. Amnesia can be diagnosed after an accident or a traumatic brain injury. Affected persons suddenly fail to recall memories from their memory, and memory gaps develop. Amnesias can involve information that is older or content that involves events that occurred immediately before. Depending on the cause, amnesia can be a short- or long-term condition. In the context of qualitative memory disorders, gaps in memory are replaced by invented elements. Such a phenomenon is particularly common in alcoholics. Furthermore, memory gaps can be triggered in sleep apnea, ADHD, epilepsy, by a concussion or a tumor in the area of the brain.
