25.01.2017The sick memory – from Freud to Alzheimer

Prof. Dr. Nikolai Axmacher, Neuropsychology, Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr-Universität Bochum

Remembering and memory are vital for our autobiographical identity; at the same time, loss of memory is one of the most common neuropsychological symptoms. This lecture will start by describing the function of healthy forgetting and will then focus on forms of pathological forgetfulness. It will become clear that memory may be affected for a variety of reasons: the suppression of autobiographical conflicts, the experience of psychological trauma, or, in a most dramatic way, as part of Alzheimer’s disease. Even though memory is fragile and an easily impaired psychological capability, there is cause for hope that innovative therapeutic approaches may in the future be able to treat even complex memory deficits.