When old memories become dominant?

Yes, I believe it is common for older memories to become clearer. My mom's neurologist explained that the part of the brain that holds newer memories is affected by age and dementia well before the older ones. However, one thing I've noticed with my mom is that not all of her old memories are correct. Actually, quite a few of the ones I can recall either never happened or happened differently than she remembers.

Piper,

That’s interesting.

I was attending this caregiver support group for awhile. It was led by a social worker and meetings were held at an assisted living facility close to my home.

Some of the people in the meetings were the elderly who lived there.
This is an assisted living facility in a wealthy area. The amenities are very nice. There is a woman living in the facility who attends the meetings. She is married to a man that has dementia. His memories are fading but is remembering from way back in his past.

This man used to be an excellent pool player. On the third floor there is a pool table, a poker table and other games that they entertain themselves with.

The woman told her husband that she had some shopping to do. She still drives and in good shape. She walked with her husband to the game room.

She saw to it that one of his buddies would stay in the room with him and they could shoot a few games of pool while she was running her errands.

The men and a few others were in the game room. His friend asked him to play a game of pool. His wife said he hadn’t played in years but she thought he might enjoy playing again if he remembered how.

He started playing and something clicked. He beat his buddy and everyone in the room. His name is Charlie.

So his wife got back to the facility. His friend walked him back to their room. She said to her husband, “So Charlie, how did you enjoy shooting pool again?” He told her that he didn’t play pool. She asked his friend if Charlie remembered how to shoot pool. The friend then told her he beat everyone in the room.

Isn’t it odd how the brain works?

I read somewhere that with Alzheimer's our memories are like books on a floor to ceiling bookshelf. The ones at the top are the newest and most easily lost, the ones at the bottom are foundational and may be retained until the end. Scattered among the years (shelves) are big books (important memories) and smaller books, the bigger memories might hang around longer but the order they are stored in can get jumbled.

oooh, I've found a youtube video that explains it much better than I did:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SpQxD90lyE&feature=emb_logo

My mom also is frequently recalling very old memories from her childhood and 20's. I am no expert, but maybe it is just part of the progression of the disease. I spent a few hours with her last weekend, and while we would talk about the game on television in front of us she would keep going back to things about her mother, her childhood friends, and events that occurred when I was a kid. I have heard all these stories before, but she still gets upset and cries as she rehashes history. I started noticing a new set of old photos in the living room now on display of her parents as kids, mom's high school graduation photo, mom and dad's wedding announcement and my 7th grade school picture. I wonder if it gives them comfort to reflect on simpler times.