BraÑn Іnjury аnd Memory

brn njury, lso clled hed njury or trumtc brn njury refers to n njury where there s dmge to the brn becuse of n externl blow to the hed. brn njury or closed hed njury occurs when there s blow to the hed s n motor vehcle ccdent or fll. It s the most common land type of trumtc brn njury. However, former(a) brn njures, such s those cused by nsuffcent oxygen, po give-and-takeng, or nfecton, cn cuse smlr defcts n ny cse, the skull hts sttonry object nd the brn, whch s nsde the skull, turns nd twsts on ts xs (the brn stem), cusng loclzed or wdespred dmge.lso, the brn, soft mss surrounded by flud tht llows t to flot, my rebound gnst the skull resultng n and dmge (Anderson and Moore, 1995). Trumtc brn njury (TB) cn sgnfcntly ffect mny cogntve, physcl, nd psychologcl sklls. Physcl defct cn nclude mbulton, blnce, coordnton, fne motor sklls, strength, nd endurnce. Cogntve defcts of lnguge nd communcton, nformton processng, computer memory, nd perceptul sklls re common. Psychologcl sttu s s lso often ltered.d savement to dsblty ssues re frequently encountered by people wth TB. Mld Trumtc Brn njury (MTB) s chrcterzed by one or more of the observeng symptoms bref loss of conscousness, loss of memory mmedtely before or fter the njury, ny lterton n mentl stte t the tme of the ccdent, or focl neurologcl defcts. n mny MTB cses, the person seems fne on the surfce, yet contnues to melt chronc functonl problems. Some people suffer long-run effects of MTB, known s postconcusson syndrome (PCS)( Russ, et al. 1993).People sufferng from PCS cn experence sgnfcnt chnges n cognton nd personlty. Most trumtc brn njures result n wdespred dmge to the brn becuse the brn rcochets nsde the skull durng the mpct of n ccdent. Dffuse xonl njury occurs when the nerve cells re torn from one nother. Loclzed dmge lso occurs when the brn bounces gnst the skull. The brn stem, face upl lobe, nd temporl lobes re prtculrly vulnerble to ths becuse of ther locton ner bony protrusons. The brn stem s locted t the bse of the brn.sde from regultng bsc rousl nd regultory functons, the brn stem s nvolved n ttenton nd short-term memory. Trum in ths re cn led to dsorentton, frustrton, nd nger. The lmbc system, hgher up n the brn thn the brn stem, helps regulte emotons. Connected to the lmbc system re the temporl lobes whch re nvolved n mny cogntve sklls such s memory nd lnguge. Dmge to the temporl lobes, or sezures n ths re, hve been ssocted wth number of behvorl ds scores. The frontl lobe s lmost lwys njured due to ts lrge sze nd ts locton ner the front of the crnum.The frontl lobe s nvolved n mny cogntve functons nd s consdered our emotonl nd personlty control center. Dmge to ths re cn result n decresed judgement nd ncresed mpulsvty. Brn njury hs gret nfluence on memory especlly to the memory pf those wth mpred memory. would lke now to tke closer look to the types of the memory n order to see how t s connected wth brn njury. s t s known nformton gong nto the brn s processed t s everl stges. Frst mnutes we remember somethng refers to mmedte memory.t ncludes brefly sve nformton tht wll be not needed n short perod fter t ws receved. Wth people who hve hed njury, mmedte memory cn be good or t cn be bd. The problem for most hed-njured people, however, s wth short-term memory (STM). Ths knd of memory s defned s workng memory whch process nformton from the sensory regsters (Charles G. Morris and Albert A. Maisto). n cse one focuses the ttenton on stmulus n the sensory regster, t s utomtclly sved n ths/her STM. STM lsts untl the newborn nformton s stored nd tkes plce of the old one.Some of the nformton tht went through the STM wll dspper nd some wll be converted to your log-term memory (LTM). Studes suggest tht STM cn hold bout s much nformton s cn be repeted or rehersed n 1. 5 to 2 seconds. The next type of memory or syng, the next stge of trnsformton the nformton s the nformton tht we recll fter dy, week or yer. t refers to Long-term memory (LTM). LTM hs quite dfferent cpcty thn STM. nformton s not stored for short perod, but cn be stored for mny yers.We encode our memores n mny wys, ncludng shpes, sounds, smells, tstes, nd other wys. When we ttempt to remember lst of tems we re usully more lkely to remember the frst tems (prmry effect) nd the lst tems thn the mddle tems. Ths s clled the serl poston effect. For most hed-njured people, ther long-term memory tends to be good. fter one get hed njury, short-term memory snt workng, so nformton hs hrd tme gettng to long-term memory. For exmple, hed-njured people my double or trple ther usul convey tme n preprng for test the next dy.By the tme they get to the exm, they re completely blnk on the mterl. The lttle events of the dy re sometmes forgotten, mkng lfe fly by when the one looks bck t events tht hve hppened snce the njury. When spekng of brn njury nd memory t s mportnt to menton two common thngs tht hppen wth people wth hed njures retrogrde nd nteror grde mnes. mnes mens yo u confounded memory tht you once hd. ts s f someone hs ersed prt of your pst. Retrogrde mnes mens you hve deep in thought(p) memores for events PROR to the ccdent.For some people, retrogrde mnes cn cover just mnute or even few seconds. n other words, theyll recll the cr comng rght t them but re unble to recll the moment of mpct. For other people, retrogrde mnes my ffect longer perods of tme. The lst three or four hours pror to the ccdent re gone. hd one ndvdul who hd lost the lst yer of hs lfe. s people get better from ther hed njures, long-term memores tend to return. However, memores tend to return lke peces of jgsw puzzle these bts nd peces return n rndom order.n generl, the smller the degree of retrogrde mnes, the less sgnfcnt the hed njury s (Spreen et al. , 1995). nother form of memory loss s clled nteror grde mnes. n ths cse, events FOLLOWNG the ccdent hve been ersed. good prt of tht s due to the brn njury tself. Complex systems n the brn re njured. The chemcl blnce n the brn s upset. s brn chemstry normlzes nd brn systems begn workng, memory lso strts to work. ve hd ptents who hve spent severl months n the hosptl but re only ble to recll the lst to two to three weeks of ther sty.There re resons why the STM does not work n those who hve brn njury. The reson les n the wy the brn works. s we know the nformton flows n through the mddle of our brn nd brnches out lke tree. Before tht nformton goes to dfferent res, t goes through chnnelng/flterng system. ts lmost lke ml roomths nformton goes nto ths box, nd tht letter goes nto tht box. When the brn s njured, these mddle res get pressed upon becuse of swellng (pressure pushes defeat on the brn). The mddle sectons of the brn re lso restng on the bone of the skull.Becuse of forwrd nd bckwrd attempt of the brn n n ccdent, they get sheered or torn. problem develops when there s lrge flow of nformton comng n whch the brn cnt process, or when nformton s not beng sent to the rght plce. So the ml room o f the brn s not dong ts job. There s lso second type of memory problem. Once nformton s stored n the brn, the brn hs hrd tme fndng t. For exmple, you sw move but you cnt recll the nme of the ctor n the move. You cn vsulze who the ctor s, but cnt come up wth hs nme.People typclly descrbe tp of the tongue type of thng know wht wnt to sy but just cnt get t out. ts lmost s f the brn s syng, serchng, serchng nd not fndng. Severl mnutes lter, t just comes to you. So there re bsclly two knds of memory problems storge problems nd retrevl problems. n concluson would lke to sy tht t s very mportnt to mprove the memory nd mke regulr exercse whch wll contrbute to ths process. The known fct s tht people use ther memory not to the fullest extent nd not even to the hlf of ther rememberng bltes.Bibliography 1. Ashley MJ. Traumatic brain injury rehabilitation. Boca Raton, FL CRC Press 1995. 2. Anderson, V. & Moore, C. Age at scathe as a Predicator of Outcome Following Pediatric Head Injury A Longitudinal Perspective, Child Neuropsychology, 1995, 1, 187-202. 3. Charles G. Morris and Albert A. Maisto. Understanding Psychology. 4. Russ, R. M. , et al. Predictors of Outcome Following puckish Head Trauma Follow-Up Data From the Traumatic Coma Data Bank, Brain Injury, 1993, 7, 101-111. 5. Spreen, O. Risser, A. & Edgell, D. Developmental Neuropsychology, Oxford University Press, 1995.