People who even forget what they ate during dinner, They can describe an ordinary Monday evening from fifteen years ago as if they had just experienced it.

Actually this Our brains play tricks on us…

Brain functions change with age.

There are many reasons why older people forget the recent past and remember distant memories as if it were yesterday. biological and psychological The process is happening. Changes in memory-related brain areas due to aging affect memory performance in several ways.

Memory actually works in two main types: short-term and long-term memory. As we age, the areas of the brain that manage short-term memory in particular become weaker hippocampus And prefrontal cortexweakens over time. This also affects the ability to learn and remember new information.

Short-term memory is processed in the frontal parts of the brain, such as the prefrontal cortex.

Although this information is forgotten in a short period of time, distant memories are typically formed earlier in life, that is, in childhood or adolescence, and these memories are stored more permanently in different parts of the brain. long term memory This type is very good at preserving old memories, as they have been recalled and reinforced many times.

Moreover, memories with great emotional significance It is encoded more strongly, making it easier for older people to remember important events from the past.

The hippocampus shrinks as we age.

hippocampus, memory for long term storage Although it takes on a great task, its volume decreases over time and it has difficulty creating new memories.

There is also a decrease in the function of the prefrontal cortex. This The region is responsible for functions such as attention, planning and short-term memory. As we age, our ability to retain and process immediate information diminishes. This is why older people quickly forget an event they have experienced.

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