A mathematical model for the decay of short-term memory with age.
A mathematical neural net model based on our previous studies (Anninos et al, 1970; Anninos, 1972) is proposed here to show that the short-term memory of events decays with man age. In particular, in this work we try to explain why recent memories die out with age before the establishment of permanent memory. As it was shown we lose some connections due to the loss of a large number of neurons with age, and in our model this corresponds to a smaller hysteresis loop which, according to our assumption, represents the short-term memory of an event. Thus we showed that if we decrease the number of connections even further the hysteresis loop will vanish to a single curve which, according to Katchalsky & Oplatka (1969), corresponds to a memory-less system.
D000200:Action Potentials; D000375:Aging; D006801:Humans; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology; D009475:Neurons, Afferent / Q000502:physiology; D013569:Synapses