www.lhurg.com/cognition.jpg (this is used for a basis for HCI concepts when designing UI but it illustrates my point)
if you look at it from a cognitive science perspective the brain is just the same as a computer. Which is very logical seeing as how the things you do the most in life/frequently are the easiest to accomplish. If I try to go back and recall something I heard 5 years ago it will take a while but it will eventually dawn on me... as opposed to trying to remember how to do something I did yesterday.
I would not say experience translates to memories. You have memories of the event and can process information based on that. It is amazing what your brain does to accomplish a thought, but what is all boils down to is building relationships between what you know, what you predict and the risk you are willing to accept.
Alzheimer's is just corruption of your brain cells. I would call it disk fragmentation.