Long-Term Memory In Louise Owen's Condition

Louise’s illusions all have a beginning stage. One of these delusions is the fact that she views the world in a superficial perspective, only connection self worth to beauty. An example of this, is seen when she is given the symbolic representation of a prostitute when she marries her first husband, seducing him with her charm and beauty. This provides background information about her character, stating that this superficial view has been a part of her since a young age. This twisted perspective also feeds into her other misconception, which is that her son, Patrice, must be intelligent because of his beautifully sculpted face and body, but, is in fact dumb. In the quote “Louise did not question the intelligence of her ten-year-old Adonis. He spoke very little, but she attributed this speechlessness, like the silence of the gods, to

Memory is defined as “the mental capacity to encode, store, and retrieve information” (American Psychological Association, 2002). It is a part of the means by which humans function. The process of forming and recalling memories involves various complex neurological processes and disruptions to these processes can result in loss of memory or the inability to form new memories. Amnesia is a memory disorder, in which, due to trauma or a head injury, certain parts of the memory is inaccessible. The two main types of amnesia are anterograde amnesia and retrograde amnesia. Anterograde amnesia refers to the inability to create new memories (Mastin, 2010). “Retrograde

Amnesia is characterized as loss of memory, or the failure to recollect certainties or occasions. We have two sorts of recollections: the short-term (late, new) and long haul (remote, old) recollections. Fleeting memory is modified in a piece of the cerebrum called the worldly flap, while long haul memory is put away all through broad nerve cell systems in the transient and parietal projections. In Alzheimer's malady, fleeting memory stockpiling is harmed first.

The author didn’t mention the memories of traumatic abuse she had been repressing in her life. The repressed memories didn’t affect her much until severe problems struck when she was 16 years old and studying for her A-Level. Started from depression, the problem was worsened that she could wake up the next morning forgetting how she would hurt herself with bruises and cuts on her body or how she fell asleep (Survivor Blog, 2009).

Amnesia can occur depending on the type and on the cause of amnesia. When the brain is injured, it can interfere with memories because it damages the brain structure that forms the limbic which is what controls the emotions and memories.This can affect many lives because the person could forget a distant relative to a family member as well as it might cause mood swings from being depressed into angry. There is amnesia called neurological amnesia. Neurological amnesia is when the brain gets damaged somehow and what will happen is memory's might get erased or lost. Neurological amnesia can be caused through stroke, seizures, lack of oxygen through the brain like heart attack and long term alcohol drinking. Another type of amnesia is dissociative

The essay mentions that certain forms of brain damage can affect explicit memory, leaving implicit memory intact. Other forms of damage, therefore can affect implicit memory, leaving explicit memory intact. Explicit memories are those that require conscious effort, often involve recall, fact, and evidence. Implicit memories are those that do not require effort, and are more reactions to events, emotions etc. This being said, there have been cases studied, brain scans, and experiments done to show this and to show that damage to some areas have more of an effect on certain parts of memory. Damage to one lobe of the brain could possibly cause problems reading and writing, functions that lie in the explicit memory, but damage to another area of

Many are mistaken and believe that a person with Alzheimer’s cannot remember anything. Instead it is a declining memory that is typically shown primarily in the loss of short term memories. Short term memories can be measured in minutes or days, for example remembering a meal you had recently or what movie you watched during the day. Strangely, Alzheimer’s Disease doesn’t affect the part of your brain that stores long-term memories, meaning one may remember the address of the first house they lived in when they were five years old, but not the address of their current

From a cognitive aspect, learning something new is best done through discussion or physically performing a task. It was stated that at her age, she doesn’t feel like she does a lot of learning. When questioned about memory and concentration, it was revealed that her memory is “spotty”. Family members interjected during this part of the discussion that her memory was more selective than spotty. Giving the example that she could remember the address of where she lived in college, but could not remember what she ate for dinner the night before. Even though difficulty with memory seems somewhat of a concern from a nursing perspective, she nor her family members had concerns about significant memory problems. Concentration was not of concern either. She stated that it is easy to sit down and concentrate on a task.

Perhaps it’s an abnormality in the disease, a sort of selective memory she has retained where she cannot remember my birthday but she can recall the melody to her favorite folk song. Or perhaps it’s a determination deep inside that refuses to part with

What is most interesting is that the movie seems to be based off of a real incident. Smith et. al (2010) wrote about a special case of a patient named FL. She was in a car accident in 2005 and reported difficulty retaining information from one day to the next. She describes her memory as unaffected over the course of the day but when she falls asleep, the memory for each day disappears. FL also, is able to recall things from before her accident. Lucy, a fictional character created for a movie, shares many things in common with FL, thus showing that the film is accurate to the disorder. It also is interesting to know that FL like Lucy was somehow able to remember something’s. According to Smith et. al (2010), “For some tests, unbeknownst to FL, material learned on the previous day was intermixed with material learned on the same day as the test.” In other words, FL sometimes mixed in previously learned material that she did not recall learning due to her impairment with material that she learned that day. This idea of intermixing material was also accurate

However, her disorder is practically identical to a real form of amnesia known as anterograde amnesia. Patients suffering from anterograde amnesia lose the ability to recall memories made after the event which caused brain trauma. Anterograde amnesia is caused by damage to the hippocampus which is considered to be a key location for memory. This was discovered through the case of Henry Molaison, who had his hippocampus removed to stop severe seizures. The surgery cured Molaison but left him with acute memory loss. Lucy’s long term memory, sensory memory and procedural memory are all perfectly functioning, the damage is sustained to her short term memory and declarative memory. In addition, only her retrieval process appears to be performing incorrectly which is realistic as legitimate anterograde amnesia sufferers may manifest memories through other means such as the film’s example of dreams and

Steve Jobs once said, "You and I have memories longer he road that stretches out ahead". The brain is so detailed and holds so much information in every little area. There are so many things happening in the brain at once, and one of the most fascinating things would be memory. The memory has various abilities that make it so complex, including the memory system, how it functions, and memory retrieval, along with the capacity to memorize certain ideas easier

Since memory is layered, loss can occur in many different areas. (King, 2016 Pg. 216, 217) In Retrograde Amnesia, long-term memory is what is affected. Long-term memory is more permanent than any other type of memory. It allows for lasting memories, that can sometimes be stored for life. Long-term is complex, and the brain uses many components in order to successfully create memories in this section. When you think about that wonderful beach trip you took several years ago, that is your

The movie 50 First Dates is about a tragic head injury and its effects on memory that takes place in Hawaii. In the movie, the main character, Lucy, experiences a terrible car accident that involved hitting a tree and resulted in short-term memory loss. Lucy had her long-term memory and was able to recall everything prior to the actual accident. However, Lucy was unable to retain and store new memories after a night’s sleep. Each morning Lucy would wake up and think it was Sunday, October 13th, her father’s birthday. Lucy’s father and brother worked hard each night in order to undo any changes for the next day.