Relationship: Abnormal protein fragments in the brain (Alzheimer disease) causing Amnesia.

Alzheimer disease

• Abnormal protein fragments kill brain cells
• Amyloid plaques
• Neurofibrillary tangles
• Begin at the Hippocampus, destroying brain cells and connections
• Making it harder for the retrieval and creation of memory (memory store and creation)
• Damages Medial Temporal Lobe where Explicit Memories are heavily involved in.
• Explicit memory
• Episodic (Affected)
• Semantic (Affected)
• Causing difficulty to speak, understand, recall and regulate motor processes (e.g. heart beat, breathing, eventually causing death).

PET scan – Positron Emission Tomography scan

• Requires the injection of radioactive substance.
• Of which emits gamma ray received by the scanner.
• Monitors glucose and metabolism.
• Produces colour map of the brain activity.




Mosconi – Alzheimer longitudinal study
[A]	To find the earliest signs of Alzheimer’s disease in the brain.
[P]	Kept track of 53 normal subjects for over 9 to 24 years Scanned them using a PET scanner (measures metabolic rate)
[F]	Those who had reduced metabolic rate in the Hippocampus developed into Alzheimer disease.
[C]	Shows that technology can pick up initial signs of brain deterioration. Using technology can provide accurate results.
[E]	Ethical consideration: Causes physical harm in subjects Injection of radioactive substance is bad for the body






Relationship: Volume of Hippocampus in relation to Spacial Memory.

MRI – Magnetic Resonance Imaging

• Technology that measures brain activity by detecting associated changes in concentration of oxygen in the blood.
• Deoxygenated haemoglobin is more magnetic than Oxygenated haemoglobin.
• Requires the patient to be still in a small area for a long time.
• May spark claustrophobia
• People with metal parts on their body cannot use a MRI machine because MRI has a strong magnetic field.

Maguire et al. – Taxi driver study
[A]	Investigate the function of Hippocampus in spacial memory.
[P]	Participants were 16 mentally and physically healthy right handed male taxi drivers. Age range from 32 to 62. Controls were 50 mentally and physically healthy right handed male. Age range and distribution was similar to the taxi drivers. Participants and controls were scanned with the same MRI machine. The amount and density of the grey matter in the hippocampus (which translates into the processors) was counted.
[F]	Taxi drivers have a significantly larger hippocampus. The volume of the hippocampus correlates with the amount of time as a taxi driver.
[C]	MRI can be used to detect the active areas of the brain.
[E]	Observing the concentration of deoxygenated haemoglobin is an accurate measure for brain activity.




Relationship: Brain Damage causing Amnesia.

The case study of Clive Wearing (Brain damage)
Description	Suffered damage in Hippocampus due to a contraction of a virus. His disease left him with extensive brain damage (parts of his temporal lobes). Suffers from Retrograde and Anterograde amnesia. MRI scanning show damage to the hippocampus and some of frontal regions. Episodic memory and some of his semantic memory are lost. He can still play piano, conduct music and remember his wife. He still has his implicit memory including his emotional memory for his wife.
[E]	Ecological validity: High, study of a real life case. Low potential ability to generalise because cases are individual. Ethics: Patient’s name was disclosed under consent.