In general:
• while memories seem to be located in specific areas of the brain, it has been claimed recently that the path to the memory bank may involve the while brain
• the brain is known to be plastic. It adjusts, with or without conscious effort, to new experiences.
• with dementia, short-term memory is clearly affected. My experience with a neighbour showed that she was not registering her questions addressed to my sister, and my sister’s responses; but her long-term hates were durable.
• recent research apparently shows that the capacity to appreciate music or art is not lost through dementia.
• could joy from loving letters and interesting stories not be lost as well?
• Hinduism claims that the mind is an instrument of Consciousness. That is, mind is not tied to the brain. Yet, it taps into the brain.
• when my uncle died with his mind and memories intact, and was thus able to display both after his brain had been cremated, how much of any mind and its embedded long-term memories are reliably known to be lost through dementia (in its various forms)? Perhaps only the previous link has been suspended, not lost.
• could isolation from loved ones damage an individual with short-term memory problems? There is so little known as to what happens within the brain. Yet certain academics claim otherwise, but only in a speculative manner!
We humans are more complex than we know. And Consciousness seems to explain us, whether dead or alive – death providing a temporary respite to the soul from Earthly experiences. And (possibly) each soul remembering each bodily past: and occasionally allowing the prevailing mind in the current body to obtain a glimpse of a relevant past (as has happened to me).
RAJA ARASA RATNAM 