Doctor Randy L. Buckner
Lecture Abstract
Memory Function and Dysfunction: Insights from Molecular, Structural, and Functional Imaging Approaches
Memory allows us to construct perceptions that are experienced as episodes from the past. Mnemonic perceptions can be vivid and include content details such as a visual image or the sound of a voice. Memory is also fragile and declines in aging and dementia. In this talk, I will present a series of human functional imaging studies that illustrate how brain networks function during acts of memory, including studies that illustrate how content is represented during memory retrieval. Using these studies as a basis, aging and Alzheimer's disease will next be explored. Recent data from both molecular and structural approaches suggest that specific memory networks change in aging in ways that lead to mild memory difficulties and sometimes dementia. All individuals are affected by some level of age-associated decline, while only a portion are affected by pathological processes that lead to dementia. Moreover, mounting evidence further suggests that compensatory processes emerge in aging that may contribute to why some individuals are able to age gracefully.
