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This is definitely not to imply that anyone who gets Alzheimer's or has memory issues is being judged for sin. Who knows the ways of Hashem in every situation? But in some cases, we see in Tanakh that if someone sins badly with the eyes, they might suffer blindness and other examples of measure for measure judgments and cause and effect.
Do our sources mention possible causes of memory loss?
I can think of two blemishes that can cause this:
(1) Anger. Pesachim 66b instructs that a sage who becomes angry loses his wisdom.
(2) Not fearing Hashem or not doing enough good deeds. ‘Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa said: anyone whose fear of sin precedes his wisdom, his wisdom is enduring, but anyone whose wisdom precedes his fear of sin, his wisdom is not enduring. He [also] used to say: anyone whose deeds exceed his wisdom, his wisdom is enduring, but anyone whose wisdom exceeds his deeds, his wisdom is not enduring.’ (Pirkei Avos 3:9)
P.S. Please do not think me a renegade; I am a Gentile, and just minding the shop while others are away.
P.P.S. To the moderators: I’m happy to field Gentiles’ questions, if I can, during Yomim tovim if no one else can / is willing. I’m unemployed - I’d be happy for the work ;)
Shabbat 147b features one version of a certain story about Rabbi Elazar ben Arakh. In this version, he forgets all of the Torah he learned because he was drawn to places with quality wine (Perugaita) and hot water baths (Deyomset):
"The Gemara relates that once Rabbi Elazar ben Arakh happened to come there, to Perugaita1 and Deyomset,2 and he was drawn after them, and his Torah learning was forgotten. When he returned, he stood to read from a Torah scroll and was supposed to read the verse: “This month shall be for you [haḥodesh hazeh lakhem]” (Exodus 12:2), but he had forgotten so much that he could barely remember how to read the Hebrew letters, and instead he read: Have their hearts become deaf [haḥeresh haya libbam], interchanging the similar letters reish for dalet, yod for zayin, and beit for khaf. The Sages prayed and asked for God to have mercy on him, and his learning was restored."
Another version appears in Kohelet Rabbah 7:7, where Rabbi Elazar follows his wife to Emmaus. None of his friends come with him and he eventually comes to forget basic laws:
"Rabbi Yoḥanan ben Zakkai had five disciples. As long as he was alive, they would sit before him. When he died, they went to Yavne, but Rabbi Elazar ben Arakh went to his wife in Emmaus, a place with good water [/beautiful waters] and a beautiful view. He waited for them to come to him, but they did not come. When they did not come, he sought to go to them, but his wife did not allow him to do so. She said: ‘Who is in need of whom?’ He said to her: ‘They are in need of me.’ She said to him: ‘A leather container [of food] and mice, which typically goes to which; the mice to the container, or the container to the mice?’ He heeded her and remained until he forgot his learning. Sometime later they came to him and asked him: ‘A wheat loaf or a barley loaf, which can be eaten faster with a relish?’ He did not know how to respond to them, or the meaning of “with relish [liftan].” Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yosei say: It is two food items joined [lefutin] together.
It should be noted that two other versions of this story appear in Avot D'Rabbi Natan version A and B (see here) but neither specifically say that he forgot his Torah learning. They just say that he did not become great in the field of Torah because he went to Dimsit2/Emmaus because of their 'beautiful waters'. It has been suggested by Judah Goldin in his Hebrew essay "משהו על בית מדרשו של רבן יוחנן בן זכאי" (Something About the Study Hall of Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai), The Tzvi Wolfson Jubilee Book, pp. 79-80 that these 'beautiful waters' symbolize study material that wasn't considered entirely acceptable in rabbinic circles, i.e., Hellenistic philosophical studies.3
These stories contain a lot of symbolism and a number of essays have discussed them. One particularly key point is, with regards to your question, that the Torah has also been compared to water (see for example Bava Kamma 82a, Taanit 7a, Beresheet Rabbah 41:9), so it seems that going after other sorts of 'watery' pleasures (whether physical or intellectual) brings about loss of truly important 'water' - Torah.
1 There are different views as to which place this name refers to. Sefaria translated it as Phrygia, but there are equally plausible suggestions that it refers to somewhere in the Galilee or in Transjordan.
2 Though in Shabbat 147b and Avot D'Rabbi Natan version A Deyomset/Dimsit is presented as a place-name, the word literally means 'hot water bath'.
3 Goldin also published an English version of this essay: J. Goldin, 'A Philosophical Session in a Tannaite Academy', Traditio 21 (1965), pp. 1-21 (JSTOR link) but I was not able to find this particular idea mentioned there, though it's possible I missed it. The Hebrew essay is not available online to my knowledge, but I can provide a scan if it interests you.
I don't like assuming everything is a straight punishment, but there's a slightly different lesson the Ramban notes in the ethical letter to his son: don't get conceited about how smart you are, as God can take it away:
וּבַמֶה יִתְגָּאֵה לֵב הָאָדָם? ... וְאִם מִתְפָּאֵר בְּחָכְמָה: "מֵסִיר שָֹפָה לְנֶאֱמָנִים, וְטַעַם זְקֵנִים יִקַח" (איוב יב כ). נִמְצָא: הַכָּל שָׁוֶה לִפְנֵי הַמָּקוֹם, כִּי בְאַפּוֹ מַשְׁפִּיל גֵּאִים, וּבִרְצוֹנוֹ מַגְבִּיהַ שְׁפָלִים. לָכֵן הַשְׁפִּיל עַצְמְךָ, וִינַשַֹּאֲךָ הַמָּקוֹם.
About what could a person feel hubris? If he basks in his wisdom, Job 12:20 says God takes speech away from the trusted, and reason from the elders. All are equal before God, as in His anger he can bring the haughty low, and as he wills, raise those who are down. Therefore view yourself as lowly, and let God lift you up.
I heard one rabbi explicitly say this referred to Alzheimer's.
Rabbi Nachman of Breslov brings down in his Sefer Hamiddos:
עַל־יְדֵי נִאוּף מְאַבֵּד אֶת הַזִּכָּרוֹן - Immoral behavior causes one to lose his memory.
UPDATE
In addition to just general memory loss, there are several sources that point to certain actions that lead to forgetfulness in Torah.
In Horayos 13b it details a series of food items that can lead to forgetfulness in Torah:
ת"ר חמשה דברים משכחים את הלימוד האוכל ממה שאוכל עכבר וממה שאוכל חתול והאוכל לב של בהמה והרגיל בזיתים והשותה מים של שיורי רחיצה והרוחץ רגליו זו על גבי זו ויש אומרים אף המניח כליו תחת מראשותיו חמשה דברים משיבים את הלימוד פת פחמין וכל שכן פחמין עצמן והאוכל ביצה מגולגלת בלא מלח והרגיל בשמן זית והרגיל ביין ובשמים והשותה מים של שיורי עיסה ויש אומרים אף הטובל אצבעו במלח ואוכל
§ The Sages taught in a baraita: There are five factors that cause one to forget his Torah study: One who eats from that which a mouse eats and from that which a cat eats, and one who eats the heart of an animal, and one who is accustomed to eating olives, and one who drinks water that remains from washing, and one who washes his feet with this foot atop that foot. And some say: Also, one who places his garments under his head. Correspondingly, there are five factors that restore forgotten Torah study: Eating bread baked on coals and all the more so one who warms himself with the heat of the coals themselves, and one who eats a hard-boiled egg [beitza megulgelet] without salt, and one who is accustomed to eating olive oil, and one who is accustomed to drinking wine and smelling spices, and one who drinks water that remains from kneading dough. And some say: Also, one who dips his finger in salt and eats it. (Sefaria translation & notation)
It is interesting to note that some of this is codified in halacha. Refer to the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 32:9
You should not eat the heart of an animal or bird, because it is harmful to your memory. Similarly, do not eat from a place where a rat or a cat has bitten, for that too is harmful to your memory.
In Shulchan Aruch in Orach Chaim 4:18 it speaks out about failure to wash one's hands in certain scenarios which can also lead to one forgetting their Torah learning:
The following things require washing the hands in water [after them]: One who rises from bed, goes out of the bathroom, or of the bath house, one who cuts his nails, takes off his shoes, touches his feet, or washes his head, some say: also one who goes among the dead, or touched the dead, one who cleanses his clothes of lice, has sexual intercourse, touches a louse, or touches his body with his hand. Anyone doing any of these and not washing his hands, if he is a scholar, his studies are forgotten, and if he is not a scholar, he goes out of his mind.
Finally, in Kiddushin 33b it writes:
אָמַר רַבִּי אֶלְעָזָר כׇּל תַּלְמִיד חָכָם שֶׁאֵין עוֹמֵד מִפְּנֵי רַבּוֹ נִקְרָא רָשָׁע וְאֵינוֹ מַאֲרִיךְ יָמִים וְתַלְמוּדוֹ מִשְׁתַּכֵּחַ שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר וְטוֹב לֹא יִהְיֶה לָרָשָׁע וְלֹא יַאֲרִיךְ יָמִים כַּצֵּל אֲשֶׁר אֵינֶנּוּ יָרֵא מִלִּפְנֵי הָאֱלֹהִים
§ Rabbi Elazar said: Any Torah scholar who does not stand before his teacher is called wicked, and he will not live a long life, and his studies will be forgotten, as it is stated: “But it shall not be well for the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow, because he does not fear before [millifnei] God” (Ecclesiastes 8:13).
