Mike the Amnesia Man

Main Ideas:

Mike suffers from Amnesia, resulting from a car crash in his Junior year of high school. Before his accident, he was an A-B student, was the president of his class, and was very involved in sports. During the accident he fractured his back, and 4 months after he went through a series of comas, seizures, and awake periods. Through rehabilitation, his cognitive functions returned to normal, but his memory never returned in full. He remembers everything prior to his coma, but nothing after.


Vocab:

Cerebral cortex: the furrowed outer layer of gray matter in the cerebrum of the brain, associated with the higher brain functions, as voluntary movement, coordination of sensory information, learning and memory, and the expression of individuality

Long term potentiation (LTP): is the long-lasting improvement in communication between two neurons that results from stimulating them simultaneously.^[1] Since neurons communicate via chemical synapses, and because memories are believed to be stored within these synapses,^[2] LTP and its opposing process, long-term depression, are widely considered the major cellular mechanisms that underlie learning and memory.

Hippocampus: a complex neural structure (shaped like a sea horse) consisting of grey matter and located on the floor of each lateral ventricle; intimately involved in motivation and emotion as part of the limbic system; has a central role in the formation of memories

Temporal lobe: The lower lateral lobe of either cerebral hemisphere, located in front of the occipital lobe and containing the sensory center of hearing in the brain.