Where did the MIND go?

And when it left, why did it not leave a forwarding address? And did
it physically leave or is the mind still there with no street map or
phone book or index to help find the pieces that are actually there.

So off to Google I go.

Memory and Executive Function in Aging and AD

Multiple Factors that Cause Decline and Reserve Factors that Compensate

Randy L. Buckner, 

Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Washington University in St. Louis,
Department of Psychology, One Brookings Drive, Campus Box 1125, St.
Louis, MO 63130, USA

Available online 29 September 2004.

Abstract

Memory decline in aging results from multiple factors that influence
both executive function and the medial temporal lobe memory system.
In advanced aging, frontal-striatal systems are preferentially
vulnerable to white matter change, atrophy, and certain forms of
neurotransmitter depletion. Frontal-striatal change may underlie mild
memory difficulties in aging that are most apparent on tasks
demanding high levels of attention and controlled processing. Through
separate mechanisms, Alzheimer's disease preferentially affects the
medial temporal lobe and cortical networks, including posterior
cingulate and retrosplenial cortex early in its progression, often
before clinical symptoms are recognized. Disruption of the medial
temporal lobe memory system leads directly to memory impairment.
Recent findings further suggest that age-associated change is not
received passively. Reliance on reserve is emerging as an important
factor that determines who ages gracefully and who declines rapidly.
Functional imaging studies, in particular, suggest increased
recruitment of brain areas in older adults that may reflect a form of
compensation.