Researching Episodic Memory and Alzheimer ’s Disease

Alzheimer’s disease now affects approximately 5.5 million Americans, and it is estimated that 16 million people will be living with the disease by the year 2050. To put this in perspective, while deaths from heart disease have decreased by 14 percent since 2000, deaths from Alzheimer’s disease have increased by 89%.
It is interesting to note that 35 percent of caregivers (family and friends) of Alzheimer’s or other dementia patients report that their own health has declined compared to 19 percent of caregivers of older people with no dementia. This illness can cause intense suffering not only for those with the disease, but for those who love and care for them as well.
Thankfully, there is a lot of promising research underway that will hopefully benefit those with Alzheimer’s disease. In a study published on May 10, 2018, in the journal Current Biology, neuroscientists at Indiana University (IU) reported the first evidence that non-human animals can mentally replay past events from memory. This discovery could potentially help advance the development of new drugs to treat Alzheimer’s disease.
The study was led by IU professor Jonathon Crystal who says:
“The reason we’re interested in animal memory isn’t only to understand animals, but rather to develop new models of memory that match up with the types of memory impaired in human diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease.”
Dr. Crystal goes on to explain that most preclinical studies on ...

Source: World of Psychology - May 24, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Janet Singer Tags: Aging Alzheimer's Brain and Behavior Memory and Perception Research Alzheimer's disease Episodic memory Memory Loss Source Type: blogs