Role of age and environment in memories essay
It is important to say that age and environment play considerable role in how memories are formed and maintained, as when a person is older, his memory becomes weaker. Environment also matters in the formation of the memory, as it determines a person’s mood, health condition, influence of other people, etc. The gradual decline in cognitive function begins from 30 years old, and continues into the old age. It involves all kinds of cognitive function, although some of the speech (vocabulary, the amount of information in memory and comprehension) resist the influence of age better than the executive functions (planning, design, selection of objects of a given type). The most obvious signs of aging that appear in the memory and ability to learn and solve problems may be caused by a progressive decrease in the rate of information processing. The ability to learn, store and play new information, remember names and focus during the activity decreases with age, especially in those over 70 years old. Moreover, the memory can be reduced with relative preservation of other intellectual functions. There is also a certain difficulty in remembering the names of objects and dates of events, despite the persistence of memory on the actual events or various traits of the person.
This type of memory disorder is known as benign senescent forgetfulness, or age-related memory disorders. With this type, unlike Alzheimer’s disease, growth disorders not occur for many years and it is minimal, so this type of memory impairment has not significantly affected the professional and everyday activities. Benign senescent forgetfulness occurs to varying degrees in the majority of elderly persons and can sometimes create a clinical problem to be solved: it is the only component of the overall process of aging or an early sign of Alzheimer’s disease. The solution to this problem is usually possible on the basis of a careful assessment of cognitive status for months or years. The repetition of words heard, for example, a sequence of numbers, orientation in time and space, the ability to learn and remember certain terms, mathematical ability and expense, as well as memory (especially long-term memory) remain at a higher level in aging than in Alzheimer’s disease. High intellectual level, well – organized work and improvement of hearing compensate much progressive impairment in aging. Personality changes with age. Many older people are more stubborn, wordy, rigid and conservative in their views, in others there are opposite changes: excessive flexibility, insecurity and gullibility. Often, these changes represent a strengthening of the personality traits that existed throughout life. Older people are more cautious, and many of them are insecure and need firm guarantees of success for a decision. These changes may affect the results of psychological testing. Studies of identical twins in the elderly have shown that the formation of these traits is more important genetic factors than the influence of the environment. Enterprising, energetic personality with diverse interests, leading to a wide range of communication easier confronts the aging process than people of the opposite qualities. Persons with a tendency to depression are more confused about the prospects of aging and prone to anxiety, feelings of hopelessness, and suspicion. This may explain the three-fold increase in the number of suicides in the late middle and old age. In this period of life the most common mental illness is an alarming depression.
All in all, the modern environment is aggressive, and it is replete with adverse factors that have the greatest impact on the central nervous system. It is not surprising that its consolidation and optimization of learning processes have become one of the key problems of neurobiology.
