Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is one of the leading causes of disabilities and deaths among individuals below the age of 45 years, and as a result, over five million American citizens live with chronic mental or physical disabilities (Girgis, Pace, Sweet & Miller, 2016). Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI) contributes to a majority of the chronic disabilities, which is defined scientifically as Traumatic Brain Injury without main histopathological defects or imaging. In spite of unclear morphological abnormalities, mTBI victims often suffer from long-term cognitive deficits, behavioral disturbances as well as memory difficulties (Atkins, 2015). Recent research evidence that the rate of cognitive and memory dysfunction is linked to physiological changes which affect the hypothalamus and greatly impacts the phenotype of deficiency observed as well as the subsequent recovery (Girgis, Pace, Sweet & Miller, 2016).
Often, head injury is not linked directly to hippocampus injury. After some time following TBI injury, the organ undergoes atrophy and may exhibit deficit after long-term potentiation (LTP); a constant rise in synaptic strength considered as a model of learning and also memory (Girgis, Pace, Sweet & Miller, 2016). Recent studies on both the experimental models of Traumatic Brain Injury and human Traumatic Brain Injury revealed that hippocampus is very vulnerable after a brain injury (Atkins, 2015). This has also been noted in animals. A randomized study on Wistar rats suggested the possibility of spatial learning deficits after mild TBI (Dawish, Mahmood, Schallert, Chopp & Therrien, 2012). The authors also indicated the possibility of an increase in spatial leaning deficit with severity of a head injury. Also, further research findings have indicated anxiety symptom predicts hippocampal volume loss during the chronic stages of moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (Terpstra, Girard, Colella & Green, 2017). The authors reported that higher anxiety symptoms after a moderate-severe traumatic brain injury led to the loss in volume of the right hippocampal head and right hippocampal complex.
Human memory plays a significant role in a human brain as it assists in remembering all forms of memories such as common knowledge, personal memories, and automatic processes for short-term or long-term memories (Atkins, 2015). Memory and cognition are important in creation and development of human personality. Therefore, human memory forms a significant part of the cognitive function in an individual’s life. There are different forms of cognitive memories, however, many people group memories such as bad and good memories.
Also, cognitive memory can be verbal or visual. Verbal memories allow a person to recall a series of words heard after a short or long time. For instance, some individuals find it easier to memorize verbal information as compared to other forms of information (Girgis, Pace, Sweet & Miller, 2016). Visually, cognitive memory dramatically depends on the attention and skills of an individual as visual materials or elements needs constant analysis before they are memorized. Visual elements assist a person to locate objects or places as recognizing the exact details of the picture for long-term memories. Memories can also be categorized based on their segmentation, for instance, sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory (Girgis, Pace, Sweet & Miller, 2016).
Different research projects conducted on TBI primarily aimed at developing an acute neuroprotective treatment to prevent or control the long-term disabilities associated with TBI. For this reason, chronic survivors of TBI represent the underserved population of patients who can benefit from a therapy focusing on endogenous recovery mechanisms which occur after brain trauma (Atkins, 2015). Moreover, service dogs have indicated significant positive changes in individuals with ambulatory disabilities (Allen& Blascovich, 1996).
In our daily lives, memory forms a cognitive function that is used to store information such as our phone numbers, past events, appointments as well as historical dates. Memories also play a fundamental role in different cognitive activities such as reasoning, mental imagery, mental calculations among other cognitive activities (Girgis, Pace, Sweet & Miller, 2016). In improving our memories, it is essential for a person to focus on essential things in life that they need to memorize, associate examples with the information learned and what one feels emotional and organize the information into different categories. Other ways of improving memories involve regular recall of the information and identifying the information with the aim of understanding it.
In conclusion, Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI) contribute to a lot of chronic disabilities which is defined scientifically as Traumatic Brain Injury without the central histopathological defects or imaging. Recent research evidence that the rate of cognitive and memory dysfunction is linked to physiological changes which affect the hypothalamus and dramatically impacts the phenotype of deficiency observed as well as the subsequent recovery. For instance, the randomized control studies in Wistar rats indicated deficits in spatial learning after a TBI. Similarly, studies have noted a positive relationship between anxiety symptoms with hippocampal volume loss.
Different research projects conducted on TBI are primarily aimed at developing an acute neuroprotective treatment to prevent or control the long-term disabilities associated with TBI. Nonetheless, trained service dogs have indicated the possibility of improving social and well as emotional well-being of those with physical disabilities. Human memory plays a significant role in all activities as it assists in remembering all sorts of memories such as common knowledge, personal memories and automatic processes for short-term or long-term memories. Verbal memories allow a person to recall a series of words heard after a short or long. Memory forms a cognitive function that is used to store information such as our phone numbers, past events, appointments as well as historical dates. Memories also play a fundaments role in different cognitive activities.
- Allen, K., & Blascovich, J. (1996). The value of service dogs for people with severe ambulatory disabilities. JAMA, 275(T3).
- Atkins, C. M. (2015). Decoding hippocampal signaling deficits after traumatic brain injury. Translational stroke research journal, 2(4), 546-555.
- Dawish, H., Mahmood, A., Schallert, T., Chopp, M., & Therrien, B. (2012). Mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) leads to spatial learning deficits. Brain injury, 26(2), 151-165.
- Girgis, F., Pace, J., Sweet, J., & Miller, J. P. (2016). Hippocampal neurophysiologic changes after mild traumatic brain injury and potential neuromodulation treatment approach. Frontiers in systems neuroscience journal, 10, 8.
- Terpstra, A. R., Girard, T. A., Colella, B., & Green, R. E. (2017). Higher Anxiety Symptoms Predict Progressive Hippocampal Atrophy in the Chronic Stages of Moderate to Severe Traumatic Brain Injury. Neurorehabilitation and neural repair, 31(12), 1063-1071.
