Aging memory

[Listener]

I used to be a bit of a tropical fish enthusiast. (You can't seriously breed chickens in a London flat so the fish became surrogate birds!)

An hour or so ago I was shown a picture, a photograph of a kingfisher taking it's prey (brilliant photography).

I was asked "is that a stickleback or a minnow?"

An appeal to my spectacles confirmed that the choice of the two would be minnow. The tiddler was definitely a little carp. It occured to me that it could be a bleak - or a young roach - or ....

I had no difficulty recalling the possibilities among the local freshwater carp (cyprinids?).

"It's obviously not a ..... "

Total mental block "you know - like the cichlids". No help at all really - what it wasn't in these terms was without a word in my memory.

It took some consultation of the internet to discover that the word that had vanished from my memory was "perch". I was trying to say that the fish was obviously not a percid (?). Perciforme fishes (like cichlids and damselfish etc) heve very distinctive features. (I'm not suggesting that a stickleback is definitely a kind of perch!)

What I would like to know is why the word "perch" had absented itself from a brain that (only a few years ago) would have merely used the word as every-day currency!

[SharonDee]

What I would like to know is why the word "perch" had absented itself from a brain that (only a few years ago) would have merely used the word as every-day currency!I'd like an answer to "why", too.

In my example, I was talking to a coworker who asked whether I'd found the manual I was looking for. "Yes," I replied. "It was in my overhead ..." I drew a blank. Frustrated, I told him that it had been in the square box that was suspended over my desk.

"Oh, your cabinet," he supplied.

"Yeah, that's it," I sheepishly confirmed. Again, this is an everyday word that should have leaped off my tongue. What the eff?

[Angakuk]

There is a word for this phenomenon, but I can't remember what it is.

ETA:
Anomic aphasia
A condition characterized by either partial or total loss of the ability to recall the names of persons or things as a result of a stroke, head injury, brain tumor, or infection'

Aphasia (http://www.healthatoz.com/healthatoz/Atoz/common/standard/transform.jsp?requestURI=/healthatoz/Atoz/ency/aphasia.jsp)

[inland wave]

Reading ability is impaired, and they may have difficulty finding the right word when speaking.

I have not found that my reading abilty is impaired, but finding that "right word when speaking," thing I can relate to.....
Check List:
Stroke- no
head injury-no
brain tumor-no
infection-just the normal stuff, allergies, flu, colds....nothing life threating
I do have to admit to trying new things lately that make me wonder if I am suffering from some kind of head injury that was infflected while I may have been sleeping or something to that effect...lets see, middle age something or other.....

[Petra]

This is why the word "thingy" is so important to me. Without it, I couldn't...ummm....hang on a minute, where's my glasses....


....now, where was I?...


Oh, yes, that's right! So, how's your mother? Is she well?

[Angakuk]

Reading ability is impaired, and they may have difficulty finding the right word when speaking.


Anomic or nominal aphasia primarily influences an individual's ability to find the right name for a person or object. As a result, an object may be described rather than named. Hearing comprehension, repetition, reading, and writing are not affected, other than by this inability to find the right name. Speech is fluent, except for pauses as the individual tries to recall the right name. Physical symptoms are variable, and some individuals have no symptoms of one-sided weakness or sensory loss.

I assume that the "inability to find the right name" applies to problems with writing, can't see how it would be relevant to reading.

[Doctor X]

Have you eaten any human brain?

--J.D.

[inland wave]

Reading ability is impaired, and they may have difficulty finding the right word when speaking.


Anomic or nominal aphasia primarily influences an individual's ability to find the right name for a person or object. As a result, an object may be described rather than named. Hearing comprehension, repetition, reading, and writing are not affected, other than by this inability to find the right name. Speech is fluent, except for pauses as the individual tries to recall the right name. Physical symptoms are variable, and some individuals have no symptoms of one-sided weakness or sensory loss.

I assume that the "inability to find the right name" applies to problems with writing, can't see how it would be relevant to reading.

[quote=Inland Wave]Reading ability is impaired, and they may have difficulty finding the right word when speaking.


I found that sentence in the article....I was just getting jiggy with it??

[inland wave]

Have you eaten any human brain?

--J.D.

NO, but something tells me you have......

[Ex-zombie]

I do have to admit to trying new things lately that make me wonder if I am suffering from some kind of head injury that was infflected while I may have been sleeping or something to that effect...


What exactly has Ding been up to?

[Doctor X]

To take it serious for a moment, the brain makes mistakes. Happens all the time, particularly when stressed. The question is whether or not the problem is persistent and consistent.

A person with anomic dysphasia will consistently have problems with naming. Technically "dys" is more appropriate than "a" since "a" implies other lack of the skill. Not that anyone is ever that precise.

--J.D.

[Angakuk]

A person with transient anomic aphasia will not have a consistent problem with naming. The genesis of such transient phenomena are poorly understood. I know because I read it on the back of a cereal box. Can't recall the brand name at the moment. Damned transient anomic aphasia!

The term dysphasia has been eclipsed by the modern usage of the term "aphasia" particularly in the field of speech/language pathology so as not to confuse with the swallowing disorder "dysphagia." Aphasia literally means no speech. But the speech impairment in aphasia could range from complete absence of speech to difficulty in naming a few objects. Aphasia is generally tested on the basis of comprehension of speech, fluency of speech, repetition and naming of objects. On this basis, aphasia can be classified as global aphasia, wernicke's aphasia, broca's aphasia, conduction aphasia, transcortical motor aphasia, transcortical sensory aphasia, anomic aphasia.
Dysphasia - K12 Academics (http://www.k12academics.com/dysphasia.htm)

[Doctor X]

A person with transient anomic aphasia will not have a consistent problem with naming.

That is a different entity.

The term dysphasia has been eclipsed by the modern usage of the term "aphasia," . . .

That non-specialists do not know the terminology is no concern to me.

--J.D.

[Listener]

Thanks folks - I thought you would come to my aid :)

Anomic aphasia

A condition characterized by either partial or total loss of the ability to recall the names of persons or things as a result of a stroke, head injury, brain tumor, or infection.

The word transient seems to apply in my example and SharonDee's example.

I'm not aware of any stroke, head injury etc. so the supplied information seems to be a touch incomplete. Giving the phenomenon a name (aphasia) doesn't really answer my question ...

Perhaps getting older is a kind of head injury? ... or maybe lack of use of a word can trigger anomic aphasia. Neither of these things apply in Sharon's case though.

I can't say I had forgotten. I recognised the word as soon as I saw it - and I've had no recurring difficulty with recalling it.

There's another example. I recently met someone that I thought I recognised ....

"Excuse me - are you the person I think you are?"

"Who do you think I am?"

"You used to be the (position supplied) at (place of work supplied) when I worked there"

"I still am" :)

We had a short conversation about the people we used to work with - some still worked at the same place, some had retired .. etc.

I had no difficulty recalling the names of the colleagues we discussed - but I still can't recall the name of the person I was talking with - even though her name had once been a significant one for me at work.

(It's an interesting exercise to recall the faces of former acquaintances - at various times in life. There are some I can name instantly and some memories just simply won't furnish the former acquaintance's name.)

It's a strange feeling. I have a kind of confidence that if I dig around in the murky depths for long enough the name will surface - and I will recognise it. There could be some Freudian explanation why I should forget her name (some unpleasant memories associated with it) but I can't claim anything Freudian about being stuck for the word "perch".

[inland wave]

To take it serious for a moment, the brain makes mistakes. Happens all the time, particularly when stressed. The question is whether or not the problem is persistent and consistent.

A person with anomic dysphasia will consistently have problems with naming. Technically "dys" is more appropriate than "a" since "a" implies other lack of the skill. Not that anyone is ever that precise.

--J.D.

I can totally relate to the stress related forgetfulness. They have infomercials late at night that advertise programs that are suppose to help individuals develop said skills in the memory department. I don't recall them ever televising testimonials that the product/programs work.