Learning Spanish Part Fourteen - Memory Part II

What exactly is happening when we grow old and begin to suffer those "Senior Moments" seems to be a deficit in two issues of memory functioning:
1) a slowing of the ability to use that area of the brain best suited for memory processing, and
2) what seems a refusal to use memory techniques and training appropriate for reversing memory losses in those areas of the brain we used to use when we were younger.

When we were younger and had a memory task to accomplish, our brains would select almost instantly the preferred region of the brain for memory processing. As we grow older and begin to suffer memory deficits, our brains are NOT using the preferred regions for memory processing but other regions not as effective for memory processing.

However, it is now possible, using proper memory training technique, to more fully access the preferred region of the brain for effective memory tasks at levels closely approximating that of young adults.

The specific memory issue with aging adults seems to be with the short-term memory. An older adult, for example, can recount a story that happened twenty years previously but cannot recall to whom he's already told the story. However, this does not appear to be an issue of concentration or attention but, rather, an issue of distracting influences.

Studies from The University of California at Berkley, using Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, show for the first time that memory problems are due more to trying to filter though irrelevant information than a problem of focusing on the information that is relevant.

In other words, just focusing on the information the older adult is trying to recall isn't enough. He also has to filter out the irrelevant information that is distracting. The problems with filtering through the distracting information may be what is the root cause of memory problems that too often accompany aging.

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