tag:theconversation.com,2011:/global/topics/memory-decline-5972/articlesmemory decline – The Conversation2016-12-21T10:56:55Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/701022016-12-21T10:56:55Z2016-12-21T10:56:55ZWhy we become more forgetful with age – and what you can do about it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149109/original/image-20161207-18067-7no0jx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What's going on in the brain?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source"> Ozgur Coskun/shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>How is it that we are able to remember some events in great detail whereas other memories seem to fade away over time? Our memory changes with age, so that we may have a memory slip on a trip to fetch something from the next room, but we’re still able to recall important events from history with great detail. But why? </p>
<p>One important aspect of memory formation and retention is the associations we build between the information we later try to remember and other details. For example, when and where the event took place, who was there, or the feelings we felt at the time. These details not only help us as clues to search our memory, but they also allow the mental time travel we all experience when we recall those detailed memories, so that it feels like we can relive an experience in our minds.</p>
<p>Scientists refer to this experience as recollection, and some distinguish it from familiarity, which refers to the general feeling that we have experienced something before, but are not quite able to put our finger on all of the <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/quirks-memory/201208/nagging-feeling-familiarity-face">details of the event</a>. For example, you see someone at the supermarket or on public transport who instantly seems very familiar, but you cannot recall who they are. </p>
<p>The experience of familiarity is very fast – you can quickly detect that you may know the person – but recollecting the details of who they are comes a bit more slowly (hopefully before they approach you). This is an example of how the processes differ on a subjective, or what’s called a phenomenological, level. </p>
<h2>What’s going on in the brain</h2>
<p>Apart from the behavioural and phenomenological differences that make the familiarity versus recollection of a face seem distinct from each other, research <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17636547">has also indicated</a> that different areas of the brain underlie the phenomena. The hippocampus, within the medial temporal lobes of the brain, is strongly involved in forming the associations that help to give rise to recollection, whereas the nearby perirhinal and entorhinal cortices appear to be more important for familiarity.</p>
<p>Research has shown that the ability to retrieve details of an event and the phenomenological experience of recollection decline as people get older, whereas familiarity remains relatively the same <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19100756">regardless of age</a>. Studies have also shown that the structural integrity of the hippocampus <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15703252">declines</a> with increased age, whereas the entorhinal cortex showed minimal changes in volume. In other words, areas of the brain such as the hippocampus that are important for recollection tend to decline in volume, whereas the areas that support familiarity remain more intact as people get older. </p>
<p>Scientists also know that memory does not work as a flawless tape-recorder: it is often the case that we not only forget information, but also misremember it, even if we feel as if we recollect an experience vividly and accurately. That older adults are increasingly unable to retrieve specific details of an event means they could be more susceptible to <a href="http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/False_memory">experiencing false memory</a>.</p>
<h2>How to stop memories from slipping</h2>
<p>So what can be done to deter or reverse these changes in older age? While there is no magical pill or super food that can protect us, research suggests a number of strategies that can help ameliorate some of the more difficult impacts of ageing on our memories. </p>
<p>One popular suggested solution is to do as many crosswords and sudoku puzzles as possible. It is a perfectly intuitive idea: if we think of the brain like a muscle, then we should exercise that muscle as much as possible to keep it sharp and fit. Yet, so far there is scant evidence to support this belief. </p>
<p>At best, you can expect to get very good at doing crosswords and sudoku, but the transfer of those skills to other kinds of abilities that are further away, such as being better able to reason abstractly or remember more information, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26082279">is less supported</a> by research evidence.
So, you should certainly keep doing crosswords if you enjoy doing them, but do not believe or <a href="http://www.psychologicalscience.org/publications/brain-training.html">buy into the hype</a> that such brain training will ward off cognitive decline or dementia.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149112/original/image-20161207-18057-1e9o4i4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149112/original/image-20161207-18057-1e9o4i4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149112/original/image-20161207-18057-1e9o4i4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149112/original/image-20161207-18057-1e9o4i4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149112/original/image-20161207-18057-1e9o4i4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149112/original/image-20161207-18057-1e9o4i4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149112/original/image-20161207-18057-1e9o4i4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Exercising the mind.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">jgolby/shutterstock.com</span></span>
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<p>The method more likely to help is to simply engage in more physical exercise, particularly aerobic exercise. The <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12661673">research</a> regarding the benefits of exercise not only to your physical health but also to your mental health and abilities is much more settled than that of brain training. This does not have to be strenuous exercise that involves running marathons. Something as simple as brisk walking, or anything that gets your heart pumping and causes you to break a sweat, shows strong benefits to your memory performance. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21282661">Research</a> has also indicated that areas of the brain such as the hippocampus which are important for memory show increases in volume as a result of aerobic exercise. </p>
<p>So the best advice for improving your memory is to use that half hour you might have spent doing a sudoku puzzle to go for a nice walk with a friend instead.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/70102/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vanessa Loaiza received funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation.</span></em></p>What’s going on in the brain when something seems familiar but we don’t know why.Vanessa Loaiza, Lecturer, Department of Pyschology, University of EssexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/355422014-12-23T20:07:09Z2014-12-23T20:07:09Z‘Remember when we…?’ Why sharing memories is soul food<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67746/original/image-20141219-31052-18vt7o4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Sharing stories around the dinner table fosters greater self-esteem and resilience in young people.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/hchalkley/74443292">Howard Chalkley</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Families and friends share memories all the time; “You’ll never guess…”, “How was your day?”, and “Do you remember when…” are rich daily fodder. </p>
<p>Sharing memories is not only a good way to debrief and reminisce, we’re beginning to realise the process plays an important role in children’s psychological development and protects our memories as we advance in age. </p>
<h2>Telling stories draws us together</h2>
<p>We share memories of the past for <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/741938207#preview">many reasons</a>. By telling a sad or difficult story – perhaps a fond memory of someone we have lost since last Christmas – we strengthen shared connections, offer sympathy and elicit support. </p>
<p>By telling a funny or embarrassing story – perhaps the time the dog stole the Christmas ham – we share feelings of joy or recognition of difficulties overcome, large or small. By sharing similar or not-so-similar experiences, we empathise with and understand one another better.</p>
<p>Talking about the past also <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/741938210#.VJLD7VpWJ_t">helps create and maintain</a> our individual and shared identities. We know who we are – whether as individuals, groups or communities – because our memories provide a database of evidence for events we have experienced and what they mean to us.</p>
<p>Even when some people missed out on an event, sharing a memory of it can shape their identity. <a href="http://www.psychology.emory.edu/cognition/fivush/lab/FivushLabWebsite/papers/FivushBohanekZaman2010.pdf">Developmental psychologist Robyn Fivush</a> and her team demonstrated this when they asked American adolescents to recount “intergenerational” stories: events from their parents’ lives they learnt via memories shared within the family, often around the dinner table. </p>
<p>Fivush found that the adolescents she tested could easily retell many of their parents’ memory stories. Most importantly, they made strong connections between these second-hand family memories and their own developing sense of identity: “my dad played soccer when he was young, so that got me started”. </p>
<p>Children who showed these kinds of family memory-self identity connections reported higher levels of well-being.</p>
<h2>Teaching children how to remember</h2>
<p>For young children, telling memory stories teaches them <em>how</em> to remember. From as young as two years of age children begin to show signs of autobiographical memory: memories of themselves and their lives. </p>
<p>Although these earliest memories often are fleeting (it is not until our third or fourth birthday that we start forming memories that last into adulthood), they are important because they show that children are learning how to be a rememberer. </p>
<p><a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2006.00960.x/abstract">Research by developmental psychologists</a> consistently shows that the way parents and others talk to young children about the past is crucial for their memory development.</p>
<p>One of the best ways is to use what we call a “high elaborative” style. This involves prompting the child’s own contributions with open-ended questions (who, what, why, how) and extending on and adding structure to the child’s sometimes limited responses. Together, the parent and child can then jointly tell a memory story that is rich, full and comprehensible. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67753/original/image-20141219-31046-2hi3e8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67753/original/image-20141219-31046-2hi3e8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67753/original/image-20141219-31046-2hi3e8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67753/original/image-20141219-31046-2hi3e8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67753/original/image-20141219-31046-2hi3e8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67753/original/image-20141219-31046-2hi3e8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67753/original/image-20141219-31046-2hi3e8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Children whose parents use this elaborative reminiscing style subsequently show stronger and more detailed memories.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/seandreilinger/316275418">sean dreilinger/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
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<p>Consider this example from <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15248370903155825#.VJLF0VpWJ_t">one of our studies</a> where a mother and her four-year-old son reminisce about a favourite Christmas ritual:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Mother: … and you and Daddy put the Christmas tree up together, and then you put on decorations! What decorations did you put on?</p>
<p>Child: Um… the Christmas balls!</p>
<p>Mother: That’s right! Daddy bought Christmas balls and stars to hang on the tree. What colours were they?</p>
<p>Child: Red and gold.</p>
<p>Mother: Red and gold. Pretty red balls, and gold stars.</p>
<p>Child: And there was the paper circles too.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Notice how the mother guides the progress of her son’s recollections. She is mindful too of letting him contribute as much as he is able, scaffolding his memories with appropriate, open-ended and informative cues. She also reinforces and praises his contributions.</p>
<p>Not surprisingly, children whose parents use this elaborative reminiscing style subsequently <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2006.00960.x/abstract">show stronger and more detailed memories</a> of their own past experiences. </p>
<p>Preschool children who are exposed to this style of reminiscing also develop <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0885201495900039">stronger comprehension</a>, vocabulary and literacy <a href="http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=36939&fileId=S0305000998003651">skills</a>. And because we tend to remember and talk about emotionally meaningful events – events that make us happy, sad, scared – elaborative reminiscing <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15248370903155825#.VJLF0VpWJ_t">helps children</a> understand and learn to navigate difficult emotions and emotional memories. </p>
<p>These early practices have long-term consequences. Older children whose families narrate and discuss emotion-rich stories around the dinner table <a href="http://www.emory.edu/news/Releases/familymeals1129128206.html">report</a> higher levels of self-esteem and show greater resilience when faced with adversity.</p>
<h2>It’s fine to disagree</h2>
<p>Conversations about the past often require some degree of negotiation. Many studies <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.3758%2FBF03193423#page-1">highlight the value</a> of collaborating in recall. That is, giving everyone a voice rather than letting one narrator dominate; particularly one voice that narrates other people’s memories as well as their own.</p>
<p>But what if someone seems to be telling the memory wrong? You’ve probably experienced the frustration of a brother, sister or cousin down the other end of the Christmas table <a href="https://theconversation.com/serial-murder-mystery-and-the-science-of-memory-34248">mixing up the details</a> of an event you both experienced. Or worse yet, claiming and recalling a childhood experience that you know happened to you and not to them.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67754/original/image-20141219-31573-tazvv2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67754/original/image-20141219-31573-tazvv2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67754/original/image-20141219-31573-tazvv2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67754/original/image-20141219-31573-tazvv2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67754/original/image-20141219-31573-tazvv2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67754/original/image-20141219-31573-tazvv2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67754/original/image-20141219-31573-tazvv2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">It’s fine to disagree so long as everyone gets a voice.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/zz77/8927676593">Evgeni Zotov/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
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<p>With young children still learning to remember, contradicting or ignoring their memory contributions – even if they contain source errors or inaccuracies – can shut the conversation down and discourage joint remembering.</p>
<p>But as we get older, we realise that others may have a different perspective on events. We realise that 100% accuracy <a href="https://theconversation.com/total-recall-truth-memory-and-the-trial-of-oscar-pistorius-25496">is not</a> the only or even the most important goal of remembering. As adults, disagreements about the past may in fact be a sign of a <a href="https://www.cogsci.mq.edu.au/members/profile.php?memberID=509">robust remembering system</a>. </p>
<h2>Scaffolding memory as we age</h2>
<p>Sharing memories may also “scaffold” or support memory as we age. In a <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211368114000540">study just published</a>, we first asked older adult couples (aged 60 to 88 years old) to individually remember various events experienced with their spouse over the past five years. All had been married for over 50 years, making them long-term, intimate life and memory partners. </p>
<p>One week later, we asked half of the couples to talk in detail with their spouse about their events and half to talk in detail with just the experimenter.</p>
<p>Compared with young adults, older adults working alone typically find it difficult to recall autobiographical memories in great detail. But when our older couples remembered with their spouse their memory stories were more detailed than the stories of couples who remembered alone. </p>
<p>Although collaboration did not lead young couples (aged 26 to 42 years old) to remember more, those who reported closer relationships with their spouse tended to recall more details of events shared with that spouse, even when they remembered alone. In other words, at this earlier stage of life, shared experiences and memories might primarily be serving intimacy and identity goals.</p>
<p>For older couples who have invested in strong, intimate relationships, they increasingly might need and look for external memory scaffolding as their internal memory abilities decline. These older couples may then start to reap the cognitive benefits of what they sowed with their partner, families and friends in a long life of living and remembering together.</p>
<p>If you have no immediate kin close by or close, do not despair. This research shows that it is <em>how</em> we talk about the past with loved ones that counts, not simply the biology of <em>who</em> we talk to. So this Christmas, come together with your “families”, whoever they are, and share one of the greatest, uniquely human, gifts of all: the gift of memory stories.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/35542/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amanda Barnier receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Penny Van Bergen has previously received funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>Families and friends share memories all the time; “You’ll never guess…”, “How was your day?”, and “Do you remember when…” are rich daily fodder. Sharing memories is not only a good way to debrief and reminisce…Amanda Barnier, Professor of Cognitive Science and Australian Research Council Future Fellow, Macquarie UniversityPenny Van Bergen, Senior Lecturer in Educational Psychology, Macquarie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.