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In Memory of Memory

We all fantasize of spending a lifetime of happiness with our chosen partner and building a library of sweet, meaningful memories with them and our families. Memories that can make us live even without any riches at our old age, memories we would all save and treasure.

50 First Dates is the Adam Sandler movie we all love. It's a movie reminding us of how our memories of yesterdays are necessary for tomorrow. And who wouldn't go for great lengths of trying to prolong a woman's memory (like videotaping each day) if that wife-to-be is as beautiful as *Drew Barrymore*, right? Moments we have spent with our loved ones are as priceless as life itself.

A very quite unfamiliar scene greeted and surprised me one lazy afternoon that I decided to walk around nearby blocks. In the community park, an old couple (both in their 70s in my estimate) was strolling around like teens having a date way back in time when parks were a romantic dating place. Anyway, the man still looked sturdy enough despite his bald head. The old lady looked more lethargic and weak.

Astounded by the unfamiliarity, I tried to have conversation/interview with the aged couple. I want to ask a question or two on how to have a marriage or a relationship to last that long, something that is almost non-existent these days. Luckily, the old man was welcome to anyone for a conversation. But five minutes into our conversation (with the old man doing most of the talking), I noticed that the old woman was very unsuspecting of what was going on beside her. Looking so oblivious, I gave her a "hi, how are you ma'am" and what I got in return dropped my jaw to the ground. "Who are the two of you?" she asked. It was Alzheimer's disease, the old man finally confessed. The date was one of the old man's attempts to remind his wife of the life they had shared and worked hard for.

Back home, I went online and researched the latest stuff about memory and Alzheimer's. Browsing through, I found an article from the July 11th issue of Current Biology discussing about the latest findings in studies of memory and sleep. Reading through, I discovered that somewhere in the premise of 50 First Dates was a confusing strand of logic. Anyway, it's a movie (very commercial at that) so expecting a very scholarly fact and logic flow will likely be frustrating in the end. But still, I love the movie for eternity.

Jeffrey Ellenbogen of the Harvard Medical School and his colleagues from the University of Oregon and the University of Pennsylvania did an experiment that tried to establish the link between sleep and memory. Five groups of 12 people each were assigned a list of 20 word pairs to memorize.
Two groups (the Sleep group) memorized the pairs at 9 PM and were asked to return at 9 AM the following day after a night sleep to test their memory. Another two groups (the Wake groups) memorized the words at 9 AM are were asked to return at 9 PM after a full day. The final group was trained at 9 PM and was asked to return after 24 hours.

One from the Sleep and Wake group was tapped for an additional task. Called Sleep-1 and Wake-1 respectively, they were given a second list of 20 word pairs (half of which are the same as the first group's list) for their memory test. After memorizing the second list, the groups were then subjected to a distraction exam before their memory test. The following results were obtained: Wake group with 82 percent, Sleep group at 94 percent, Wake-1 group at 32 percent, Sleep-1 at 71 percent, and the 24-hour group at 71 percent average.

The results established the link between sleeping and retaining recent memories. Cramming can only be good if one is to take the exam right after the reviewing. Further, it suggests that sleeping can help retain not only memories of events but memories of learned skills or the non-declarative memory (like Lucy's drawing skill in 50 First Dates). The results are now being further studied to possibly help improve current therapies available for memory-deficient patients.

But what the study failed to take into account is the possibility of episodic memory turning into non-declarative memory which was the case in Lucy retaining not only her drawing skill but the face of Henry (the retention was meaningless though).

I wish that someday, an in-depth study could finally reveal more on how we can best handle the complexities of the mind. Memories amount more than any inheritance or accumulated wealth through time. A lost memory is like a life that was lived, then was gone meaninglessly. This is an even scarier thought for old singles or divorced parties who will not have a loving partner to bring them to the park to help bring back their memories.