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Bridging the Gaps : Summary of Dr. Small’s discussion about his book and research.

Dr. Small is  the Director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at Columbia University. Dr. Small's study is concentrated on the hippocampus, a brain circuit that is attacked by schizophrenia and other diseases, as well as Alzheimer's disease and cognitive aging. His discussion about his book Forgetting : The Benefits of Not Remembering can be found here : https://www.bridgingthegaps.ie/page/4/

His areas of expertise are dementia, memory impairment. His research interests include brain imaging, neural degeneration and repair, neurobiology of disease, neurobiology of learning and memory. 

His publications and research can be found here : https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31569988/

I selected this topic because neurology has always fascinated me. I reckoned, listening to Dr. Small’s talk about memory and forgetfulness, which has often been detrimental in my student life, will help me gain more insight into the topic. The discussion is about Dr. Small’s research in his book, ‘Forgetting : The benefits of not remembering’. The discussion starts with Dr. Small talking about his interest in neurology as a subject and what drew him to pursue this field. Dr. Small then gives insight into how our memory works, by comparing our brains to an information machine. As our computer stores memory/ information in a harddrive by ‘save function’ of the operating system, and then the information is accessed by ‘open function’. Using this blueprint, we can conclude that our hippocampus acts as an operating system storing information and accesses the information using the prefrontal cortex. Dr. Small also explains that on a molecular level, neurons act as information receivers and encoders. I also learned that balancing memories is remembering things and forgetting things in balance is necessary to lead a happy life. Dr. Small then explains the perils of photographic memory, by giving an example of a story by Jorge Luis Borges of Funes the Memorious. We also learn that  difference between forgetting with age and alzheimer's is that alzhimer’s targets one part of the hippocampal circuit and normal aging targets another totally different parts making them totally separate entities. If the question about Alzheimer's targeting one particular  part in the brain is answered, much insights can be gained into the disease. Also, the part of brain which is targeted by alzhimer’s is a hub which is constantly being simulated. Dr. Small also explains that even though all mammals have hyper connected hippocampus, this disease only affects humans because they have many more spokes which bombard our hub than other mammals. We also come to know that obesity and type 2 diabetes can reduce the risk of having alzhimers and living a cardiovascularly healthy life will significantly reduce our risk of developing alzhimers. Dr. Small then explains that memory isn't bad, but we need it in balance with forgetting for indulging and increasing creativity as it requires both. The discussion concludes with Dr. Small how balance of memories of remembering and forgetting is also essential to have a peaceful society especially in a polarised world.