Rohdina Harriott

Mrs. Ashlyn-Walden
UWRT 1104
3-12-16

Background Information

The brain is essentially the most significant organ in the body, next to the heart. All of the
amazing memories we make on a daily basis and important information we store away for future
references, all thanks are due to the brain. What happens when it ceases to function and all the
memories weve retained gets lost? How do we cope? Who will you remember? Who wont you
remember? These are all questions following the diagnosis of dementia, more specifically
Alzheimers. Alzheimers, often just referred to as Alz, is the 6th leading cause of death in the
United States and for every 67 seconds that passes, one person in the US develops the illness. It
is most common in folks ages 65 and older but can be developed in people younger (Burns,
Alistar, Iliffe, 338:467-471). Alz is a brain disorder that gradually destroys memory and our
ability to think, and ultimately the ability to carry out the simplest of tasks. It is also irreversible,
and patients are left with nothing but treatment that is made to slow the progression. In late
stages of Alz, you lose full function of basic motor skills and loss of function progresses
throughout the entire body, which in turn leads to death.
The reasoning behind my research is to determine what aspect of brain is most responsible
for our memory and the differentiation between normal forgetfulness and forgetting as a result of

Comment [1]: Overall, I really enjoyed reading your

assignment. I learned some things about Alzheimer's
and memory that I did not know before. I really like how
you conducted your study with the questions asked and
the chart created for their responses. I also like how
you discussed memory in a normal brain and
compared it to the Alzheimer's brain as well. Overall,
you did great!

Comment [2]: Great job on your background! I found it

very informative. Also the way you introduced the
whole general topic made me want to read and learn
more!

Alzheimers. In regards to my study, I plan to gather individuals who are in the early and mid
stages of Alzheimers and people who arent affected to determine the rate at which they forget
received information and compare them to individuals whose brain are deemed normal.
My connection with this topic is personal. My grandmother recently passed from
Alzheimers but I was relatively young when she was first diagnosed. Initially the doctors
misdiagnosed her and was taking pills for an illness she did not have. It wasnt until maybe a 5th
doctors visit that they finally did the MRI and realized it was Alzheimers. Mind you this took
place in Jamaica a decade ago, and not to say the doctors werent proficient there but not as
much as the ones in the US. I was around 8 or 9 when I noticed she would act different and often
forget minute things and then the 2 years following she could hardly remember her children and
so Id say hers progressed quicker than usual as she wasnt receiving the correct treatment. I
became fascinated with the disease because as I got older I saw what it did to her and knowing I
could not interact with her the same was difficult to accept. Knowing my situation and how I
relate, I will try to refrain from showing any bias in regards to how I approach my study as to
some I may be too emotionally invested in this topic.

Literature Review

Very often people will relate forgetfulness with old age. It is typically a common
statement to hear people say, I must be getting old at the event of misplacing an item or
lacking the ability to remember minute things. We all forget things from time to time even with a
healthy brain. In an experiment that was conducted by Eddinghaus in 1855 where he learned a

Comment [3]: I enjoyed the first couple sentences of

your literature review. Since your topic is about
Alzheimer's, maybe mention basic facts about the
disease before discussing forgetfulness in a healthy
brain or in comparison with it. I feel like this first
paragraph is veering away from your topic of
Alzheimer's.

list of nonsense syllables, it demonstrated the rate at which information is forgotten. After

Comment [4]: This sentence seems a little off to me. I'm

not 100% why though. Just a heads up.

learning the syllables and being able to repeat without making any errors and testing the amount
forgotten by the method of relearning, shows after 20 minutes 0 percent of the processed
information was forgotten. As the time increased, within an hour more than 55 percent of the
information was forgotten and by the 6th day a whooping 75 percent was no longer remembered.
These learning and forgetting experiments have been repeated various times and the subjects in
the experiment did not report to have poor memories (Fernberger, 56-59).
In a short video by neuroscientist, Neil Burgess, he explains to us how we remember
things. In the case of trying to remember where we parked in a large parking lot, the
hippocampus comes into play. The hippocampus is located in the temporal lobe just a small
distance from the center of the brain. Our hippocampus is a form of storage for our long-term
memory and so when damaged, much like what happens to patients with Alzheimers, you forget
things like where you parked your car. The neurons that are contained in the hippocampus sends
out shocks as means of communication when we are in a specific place of our environment. The
brain over time gets familiar with our surroundings and marks it on an individual neuron in the
brain much like we do on a map. There are over 100 billion neurons in the hippocampus and
each are responsible for remembering different things so essentially we know where we are
parked or what direction to turn next when we are going home due to those specific neurons
being signaled (Burgess, TEDtalks). The hippocampus does a similar process when it comes to
episodic memories. If you ever find yourself trying to remember a past event in your life such as
your first day of high school, graduation or even the first time you rode a bike, youll not only
remember when it occurred but also where it did. This is due to the brain using special cells
within the hippocampus to mark or geotag every event in our life (J. Hamilton Brain Cells

Comment [5]: I found this research to be very

interesting. It's cool to actually be able to put a face on
how much information is stored and for how long. Even
though everyone's brains vary and have probably
evolved since 1855. I really found this informative.
Comment [6]: Continuing with my comment in the
previous paragraph, your second paragraph would be a
better introduction to your literature review than what
you have. I suggest combining references with studies
of a healthy brain like in the first paragraph and with
your references of an Alzheimer's brain. This might
help with understanding how a healthy brain differs
from an Alz brain.

Comment [7]: I feel like this second paragraph would

function much better as the first, or introduction
paragraph in this section. It seems to add more
information while also grabbing the readers attention.
Or perhaps combining the two paragraphs would work
to more effective keep the flow of the section.

Geotag Memories..). We typically remember almost every event following the age of three but
not prior and this is said to be due to childhood amnesia. As described by Sigmund Freud, we try
to repress memories from infancy and this was proven throughout a survey in 1948 by
Waldfogel. Waldfogel did an interrogation in which people has to state their earliest memories
throughout their life. There were a series of scarce memories prior to the age of 8 but no one
could recall events before the age of 3 (Eacott, 8:46-49). So for the events we do remember, the
timing of it and location are ultimately fused together by geotagging and this is actually the same
concept of a digital camera when a photo is taken it automatically tags its date, time and location
(J. Hamilton Brain Cells Geotag Memories..).
With Alzheimers, we become incapable of remembering anything overtime as the
hippocampus is being viciously attacked. The brain not only loses its ability to process
information but the flow of blood drastically decreases, denying the cells of oxygen and
deterioration of the nerve cells later occur. Amyloid, a type of protein, kills the nerve cells one
by one as it clumps together and turns into plaques. The signaling of the neurons that was talked
about earlier, ultimately comes to a stop which causes the neurons to no longer function as it
should (Healy, 134:23).
With the rapid increase of Alzheimers, everyone worries at the slightest memory
failure and fear they might suffer from the disease. What we need to understand is that there is a
difference between normal and abnormal memory. It is natural that as we get older, new
information that the brain receives will cause a delay in learning it and the brain starts to retain
less information as opposed to when younger. Not to say someone of an older age cant have a
better memory than someone younger than they are but typically as we age, this is what the brain
undergoes. Age related changes in memory differ in many significant ways from the changes in

memory caused by alzheimers disease (Albert, 352: 1703-1709). In the Building a Mystery
journal (Gaines, Whitehouse, 13:61-74), it talks about applying Mild Cognitive Impairment to
patients. MCI can mean two things, that an individual has early onset Alzheimers, one doesnt
or one will develop. Every form of progressive degenerative dementia symptoms may be

Comment [8]: I noticed in your bibliography you listed

12 sources but you only used 9 within your literature
review and background information. Maybe try to use
one of the sources you didn't use from your
bibliography page to reach the requirement of 10-12
sources. You could try to find a source about as to why
people get Alzheimer's and talk a little about that.

present but not always present enough to diagnose as dementia. In a study conducted
between folks with Alzheimers disease, and those without, showed the difference between a
normal ageing memory and one with the disease.

Entering the Conversation

After thoroughly reading through my sources and determining that the hippocampus is the
aspect of the brain in charge of memory loss, I believe more focus should be done on this
specific aspect of the brain for research. Forgetting is normal, it is a part of life though some tend
to have better memories than others, we all forget something whether it may be to return a call,
do an assignment or the name of someone youve recently met. It is extremely crucial that the
hippocampus remains healthy for complete function to be carried out. When damaged we can
begin to draw concerns, as it will no longer be just forgetting the name of someone youve just
met but the names of those closest to you. But what really occurs with the activity of the
hippocampus when we receive information? How long does it take for the hippocampus to retain
any given information? I believe a study can be designed to demonstrate the rate at which
information is lost between people with Alzheimers and people without, while undergoing
functional analysis to monitor the hippocampal activity.

Comment [9]: I would like to hear or see more from this

study. It doesn't seem like a proper ending to a section.
It just feels like something is missing.

To conduct this study, I would gather (with consent from families) about 4 patients, 2 from
the early stage of Alzheimers and 2 from the mid and another 4 individuals who do not suffer

Comment [10]: I agree with Sam!

from any form of dementia. The early stage patients will be ages 50 and 60, the mid stage are 70
and 80. The ages of the four people who do not have the disease are 25, 45 and 65 and 85. They
will all be placed under a functional analysis screening tool while being asked a series of
questions. Each patient will be asked the same 6 memory questions, ranging from least to most
difficult and expected to give their response within a certain time frame. In order to see how long

Comment [11]: So far I really like your plan of study. I

think it would be wise to gather more than 4 patients.
Maybe gather like 15 patients, 5 in the early stage and
5 in the mid stage and 5 without Alzheimer's. Also,
instead of searching for a specific age, try using a
range of ages like between ages 50 and 60. This would
help gather a range of information and facts for your
results.

the memory is retained, we will do 2 minutes from when the question is asked to receive their
answer. This will be repeated three times to see if there are any changes in answers. The
questions that will be asked are as followed:

1. What did you do prior to coming here?

2. What did you have for breakfast this morning?

3. What is your home address? (Street name, town, state, building number, zip code)

4. You will be given the names of five animals that you will be asked to repeat them in the
order they are given: cat, cow, dog, elephant, horse, sheep.

5. What did you do yesterday morning?

6. What was the first question we asked?

Comment [12]: Would it not be beneficial to also study

people diagnosed with Alzheimer's? I feel like to get a
proper comparison it would be helpful to see how just
how much someone can remember at certain stages of
Alzheimer's and compare that with the other test
subjects.

Questions asked

Time to
respond

What did you do prior to

coming here?

2 minutes

What did you have for

breakfast this morning?

2 minutes

What is your home address?

(Street name, twon, state,
building number, zip code)

2 minutes

You will be given the names

of five animals that you will
be asked to repeat in the
order they are given: cat,
cow, dog, elephant, horse,
sheep.

2 minutes

What did you do yesterday

morning?

2 minutes

What was the first question

we asked?

2 minutes

Time
taken to
respond

Was the
answer
correct?

Was the answer Did answer

incorrect?
change
throughout any of
the 3 rounds?

After the study is conducted and all information is received we will carefully review our
data. We will compare the results from the first round of the study to the third. This will help us
to reach the understanding of the hippocampal activity when affected by Alzheimers and when
it isnt as well as the timing and how long it takes to retain the information. As Ive stated earlier,
some people tend to have better memories than others, this can also show any significant

differences amongst the hippocampal activity of the 4 people that do not have Alzheimers. For
instance why do two people with normal memory, remember things at a different pace.

Conclusion

Comment [13]: Overall I feel that your study is good,

but it could use some added information and study
stratagies. Along with the above comment of adding
more test subjects, and broadening the subjects
requirements. I feel like some advanced medical
machinery like an EEG or something could be added to
the study to see just how the brain is functioning.

Our memory is essentially one of our most important tools in life. Almost, if not everything
we do is based off our memory. Our daily routines, such as brushing our teeth, going to school,
to work, eating at specific times are all because we have them stored in an extremely sacred
place, that can either make us or break us. It is strange to think how unnoticed the hippocampus
goes when it has such a major job.

Bibliography

Albert, Marilyn S.. The Ageing Brain: Normal and Abnormal Memory. Philosophical
Transactions: Biological Sciences 352.1362 (1997): 17031709.
(Albert, 352: 1703-1709)

Barnes, R. F., Raskind, M. A., Scott, M. and Murphy, C. (1981), Problems of Families Caring
for Alzheimer Patients: Use of a Support Group. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 29:
8085. doi: 10.1111/j.1532-5415.1981.tb01233.x
(Barnes, Raskind, Scott, Murphy, 29:80-85)

Comment [14]: Overall really good job on the paper. In

its current state I would give it a "B". Your conclusion
seems pretty short though. Perhaps add some
conclusion information that you have sound from
conducting this assignment?

Comment [15]: I call tell your paper is in MLA format,

just make sure this is the right format for your major.
For APA or MLA format, your references/works cited
page must have hanging indent citations. Also, make
sure to change your spacing so everything including
your citations in the references/works cited page is
double space.

Burns, Alistair, and Steve Iliffe. Alzheimer's Disease. BMJ: British Medical Journal 338.7692
(2009): 467471. Web...
(Burns, Alistar, Iliffe, 338:467-471)

Eacott, Madeline J.. Memory for the Events of Early Childhood. Current Directions in
Psychological Science 8.2 (1999): 4649.
(Eacott, 8:46-49)

Fernberger, Samuel W. "How We Remember." The Scientific Monthly 39.00963771 (1934): 5659. JSTOR. Web. 11 Mar. 2016.
(Fernberger, 56-59)

Gaines, Atwood D., and Peter J. Whitehouse. "Building a Mystery: Alzheimer's Disease, Mild
Cognitive Impairment, and Beyond." Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology 13.1 (2006): 61-74.
Web. 11 Mar. 2016.
(Gaines, Whitehouse, 13:61-74)

Hamilton, John. "Brain Cells 'Geotag' Memories To Cache What Happened - And Where." NPR.
NPR, 28 Nov. 2013. Web. 11 Mar. 2016.
(J. Hamilton Brain Cells Geotag Memories..)

Hamilton, J. (2015, July 21). Women's Brains Appear More Vulnerable To Alzheimer's Than
Men's. Retrieved March 12, 2016, from http://www.npr.org/sections/healthshots/2015/07/21/425054345/womens-brains-appear-more-vulnerable-to-alzheimers-than-mens
(J. Hamilton, Womens Brains Appear More Vulnerable..)

Healy, Bernadine. "Pumping The Neurons." U.S. News & World Report 134.23 (2003): 29.
Academic Search Complete. Web. 12 Mar. 2016.
(Healy, 134:23)

Neil Burgess: How Your Brain Tells You Where You Are. Dir. Neil Burgess. Perf. Neil Burgess.
TED Talks. TEDSalon, Nov. 2011. Web. 11 Mar. 2016.
(Burgess, TED Talks)

Schuff, N., N. Woerner, L. Boreta, T. Kornfield, L. M. Shaw, J. Q. Trojanowski, P. M.

Thompson, C. R. Jack, and M. W. Weiner. "MRI of Hippocampal Volume Loss in Early
Alzheimer's Disease in Relation to ApoE Genotype and Biomarkers." Brain 132.4 (2008): 1067077. Web. 09 Feb. 2016

Wilson, Robert S., and David A. Bennett. Cognitive Activity and Risk of Alzheimer's Disease.
Current Directions in Psychological Science 12.3 (2003): 8791. Web..
(Wilson, Bennett, 12:87-89)