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News reports of research into memory May 2002

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May 2002

Current estimates suggest that more than one million elderly in Europe and about 750,000 elderly in North America become cognitively impaired each year. Recent research suggests that deficiencies of folate or vitamin B-12 and elevations of plasma homocysteine (tHcy) may be partly responsible. A British study of 331 participants in a longitudinal survey found significant negative effects on cognition in the elderly subjects who had deficiencies of folic acid or vitamin B-12 and elevated tHcy. In the older group (aged 76-78), increased levels of tHcy correlated both with lower serum folate and vitamin B-12 concentrations and with lower cognitive test scores. In the younger group (aged 61-63),higher folate concentrations correlated with higher scores on one of the assessment tests, but otherwise no effects of B vitamins or tHcy were apparent.
The findings were published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Full reference 2
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-04/ajoc-nsa041902.php

We all know the power of smell in triggering the recall of memories. New research has found the specific area of the brain involved in this process - a section of the hippocampus called CA3. The hippocampus has long been known to play a crucial part in forming new memories. It appears that the CA3 region of the hippocampus is crucial for recalling memories from partial representations of the original stimulus.
The findings appeared in the July 12 issue of Science. Full reference
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-05/bcom-tr052902.php
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_2017000/2017321.stm

The part of the brain known as the cerebellum has been most closely associated with motor coordination skills. Experiments with rats suggest that it may also be involved in remembering strong emotions, in particular, in the consolidation of long-term memories of fear.
The findings appeared in the June 11 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (USA). Full reference
http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/112660399v1
http://news.bmn.com/jscan/biology?uid=18768

An imaging study looked at brain activity in 19 children (7 - 10 years old) while saying a word in response to a written word. These images were compared with those from 22 adults (average of 25 years old). The study highlighted two brain regions in particular - regions in the left frontal and left extrastriate cortex that are known to be critical in language processing and thought to undergo substantial development between childhood and adulthood. Six subregions within these areas were identified, and two of these revealed differences in brain activity between the children and the adults.There was less activation in a left frontal region and greater activation in posterior left extrastriate cortex in children than in adults. It may be that the left frontal region is immature in children, leading to an alternative strategy that produces more activation in extrastriate regions. Or it may be that more experience is needed before the processing resources of this region can be used.
The research is published in the May 24 issue of the journal Science. Full reference
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-05/wuso-wad052102.php

Several studies have suggested estrogen may be beneficial for cognitive functioning in women. New research using rats suggests estrogen may be very specific in what types of learning it helps - and what types it may impair. In rats, it appeared to enhance place-learning, at the expense of response learning. It is suggested that postmenopausal women may experience a shift into a problem-solving mode more common to men. "Women may actually get better at performing a task from a different approach, but they are not used to doing it that way, so they view the change as an impairment."
The findings were published in the June issue of Behavioral Neuroscience. Full reference http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-05/uoia-emd051502.php

A theory that infants' experience in viewing faces causes their brains (in particular an area of the cerebral cortex known as the fusiform gyrus) to "tune in" to the types of faces they see most often and tune out other types, has been given support from a study showing that 6-month-old babies were significantly better than both adults and 9-month-old babies in distinguishing the faces of monkeys. All groups were able to distinguish human faces from one another.
The study was published in the May 17 issue of Science. Full reference
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-05/uom-ssi051302.php
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_1991000/1991705.stm
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-05/aaft-bbl050902.php

Memory codes - the representation of an object or experience in memory - are patterns of connected neurons. The neurons that are linked are not necessarily in the same region of the brain. Exciting new research has measured the electrical rhythms that parts of the brain use to communicate with each other and found that the thalamus regulates these rhythms. "Memory appears to be a constructive process in combining the features of the items to be remembered rather than simply remembering each object as a whole form. The thalamus seems to direct or modulate the brain's activity so that the regions needed for memory are connected." The authors suggest that tips of the tongue experiences (when only part of a memory is recalled) may occur when the rhythms don't synchronize with the regions properly.
The study was published in the April 30 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (USA). Full reference
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-05/uoaf-mi050902.php

In a series of experiments, subjects were found to remember photographs of colored natural scenes significantly better than black and white images, regardless of how long they saw the images. Falsely colored natural scenes were remembered no better than scenes in black and white. If shown the images in color but tested on them in black and white (and vice versa), the images were not remembered as well. It may be that color helps by providing an extra 'tag' on the stored memory code stored.
The findings were reported in the July issue of the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition. Full reference
http://www.apa.org/journals/xlm/press_releases/may_2002/xlm283509.html

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