Memory Impairment In Psychology

894 Words4 Pages

Tiffany Stout
Cognitive Neuropsychology
Thought Paper 2
04/29/2015

Memory is that function in our brain that stores detailed information about everyday life (e.g. remembering where you parked the car, or if you turned off the coffee pot). Memory holds onto information for a short period of time like phone numbers or mental math. Memory can also store data for a long period of time. Long term memory allows us to recall information about past events in our lives that link us to the people who are in our lives, and to the communities where we live. As we age small changes occur that affect our memory. Slowing or delays in recalling names, dates, and events as well as simple forgetfulness (where did I put my wallet ) can be part of the normal …show more content…

Experiencing forgetfulness or amnesia for recent events, or being compelled to write reminders to do things or you will forget are symptoms of impaired function of memory. When forgetfulness, language and cognition processes become impaired to the point that a person can no longer perform these tasks without the assistance of another, memory is not functioning normal. Being unable to perform daily tasks such as paying bills, shopping, driving, taking medications or noticing that you’ve become forgetful are signs of impaired memory. Memory impairments that involve some of these symptoms are Amnesia, Alzheimer’s disease, and …show more content…

Seeing how my mother-in-law could not “deal” with it was frustrating. Having taken this class I understand more clearly the decline in memory that occurs with age and that when it gets to the point that you can no longer control your bodily functions, or perform daily tasks it is considered a memory disorder or impairment. I only experienced memory loss for a brief amount of time and I think because I was somewhat aware of my memory loss I can tell you today that losing even small pieces of my memory is not something that I want to experience ever again. I understand now because of this class the areas of the brain that are involved with memory loss and the different types of memory loss that can be