Why Working Memory May Fade

Comments

Working memory and driving
Non Expert

8/31/2011 12:47:00 PM

 I wonder if this "switching" and "interruption" problem can, in part, account for difficulties with highway driving - when speed, stimulation, etc. are peak - among older drivers. I have interest but no specialized knowledge on this topic, but my observation is that, even with good vision, there seems to be a decline in highway driving ability with age, even as young as 50, including poorer ability to handle "interruptions" (approaching vehicles, changes in route, lane changes, bridges and tunnels, etc., especially at high speeds), sometimes causing panic behind the wheel.

Elder distraction vs. memory
Ronald Brill, Emotional Health Educator

8/23/2011 2:09:45 PM

 Over the past 5 years my wife, a former therapist, has experienced Mild Cognitive Impairment we've found other memory distractive factors first explained by her neuropsychologist. As left hemisphere factual (extrinsic) memory has declined, her right hemisphere experiential (intrinsic) memory has emerged far more dominant. This is often in the form of vividly recalled dreams of childhood traumatic events. Once we both realized her panic attacks invariably were worst in the morning, she's been able to better control these recalled childhood traumatic experiences upon waking. Though her short-term memory remains impaired, the debilitating and severely distracting anxiety attacks have been greatly diminished -- along with devastating effects that raise emotional and physical stress levels. Neuroscience research has found the stress hormone cortisol is a factor in degrading functions of the hippocampus -- the brain's regulator of memory, learning and attention. The aforementioned subconscious dreaming process leads to vivid "reliving" of child trauma in the "present" – as though she was “now” that young and frightened child. This phenomenon and resulting stressful anxiety attacks have, for the most part, been counteracted by her ability to recognize these involuntary distractions in waking life began while dreaming.