People who suffer from memory loss as a result of a brain injury may be heartened by new research, which suggests that the brain appears to have a mechanism that can replace a function that has been lost. Researchers at the University of California - Los Angeles (UCLA) have found that when an area of the brain is damaged, another area may step up to compensate.
Brain injuries can be devastating to an individual and his or her family. Although most brain injuries are minor, such as mild concussions, and symptoms such as memory loss may be temporary, more than half a million head injuries per year are serious enough to require hospitalization.
Symptoms of Brain Injuries
A brain injury can result in changes to personality; moods; mental facility and comprehension; speech and language difficulties; loss of senses, such as sight, hearing or smell; and seizures and paralysis. If a person has suffered head trauma, you should be on alert for a variety of symptoms, such as:
- Loss of consciousness
- Convulsions
- Fatigue
- Severe headaches
- Personality changes
- Nausea or vomiting
- Lack of coordination
- Slurred speech
- Changes to the pupil or blurry vision
If you notice several of these symptoms, the victim needs immediate emergency treatment.
Compensating for Memory Loss
In the case of memory loss, it appears that when a region of the brain known as the amygdale (which is believed to be vital for the formation and storing of new memories with emotional content) is damaged and is no longer viable, another region, called the bed nuclei, may compensate for that function by forming memories, although at a much slower rate. Bed nuclei are a set of gray matter wherein the neurons receive information and communicate with lower brain regions that control stress responses and defensive behaviors. Studies suggest that this idea of compensation may relate to other regions of the brain as well.
These findings raise the hopes of those with memory loss as a result of brain trauma and may raise expectations for patients who have suffered a stroke or have Alzheimer's disease.
