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News reports of research into memory November 2002

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November 2002

PET scans of the prefrontal cortex reveal that older adults who perform better on a simple memory task display more activity on both sides of the brain, compared to both older adults who do less well, and younger adults. Although this seems counter-intuitive – the older adults who perform less well show activity patterns more similar to that of younger adults, this supports recent theory that the brain may change tactics as it ages, and that older people whose brain is more flexible can compensate for some aspects of memory decline. Whether this flexibility is neurological, or something that can be taught, is still unknown.
The study appeared in NeuroImage. Full reference
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/19/health/aging/19AGIN.html?8vd

Among aging rats, those that have difficulty navigating water mazes have no more signs of neuron damage or cell death in the hippocampus, a brain region important in memory, than do rats that navigate with little difficulty. Nor does the extent of neurogenesis (birth of new cells in an adult brain) seem to predict poorer performance. Although the researchers have found no differences in a variety of markers for postsynaptic signals between elderly rats with cognitive impairment and those without, decreases in a presynaptic signal are correlated with worse cognitive impairment. That suggests that neurons in the impaired rat brains may not be sending signals correctly.
The report was presented at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in Orlando, Florida, 3-7 November. Full reference
http://news.bmn.com/conferences/list/view?rp=2002-SFN-3-S4

Pre-term infants tend to be slower at processing information than babies born full term. New research shows this deficit in processing speed (which can be shown, for example, in slower learning of new faces) is present at five months, and still evident at twelve months. Previous research has also indicated that a number of the medical risks suffered by pre-terms (such as respiratory distress syndrome)have an effect on processing speed. A deficit in processing speed has implications for measures of intelligence, language and academic achievement, such as reading, arithmetic and spelling.
The research is published in the November issue of Developmental Psychology. Full reference
Full text of the article available at: http://www.apa.org/journals/dev/press_releases/november_2002/dev386895.html
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-11/apa-pis110402.php

Earlier research has demonstrated that semantic knowledge for different classes of inanimate objects (e.g., tools, musical instruments, and houses) is processed in different brain regions. A new imaging study looked at knowledge about people, and found a unique pattern of brain activity was associated with person judgments, supporting the idea that person knowledge is functionally dissociable from other classes of semantic knowledge within the brain.
The report appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA. Full reference
http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/99/23/15238?etoc

We’ve long known that emotionally charged events are easier to remember than boring ones. New research suggests that the reason is the flood of emotion, not the personal meaningfulness of the event. Subjects asked to memorize a list of words did better if they subsequently watched a gory film of a bloody dental extraction, rather than a dull video on tooth brushing.
The study was reported at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in Orlando, Florida. Full reference
http://www.nature.com/nsu/021104/021104-5.html

New research provides the first neuro-imaging evidence that the brain's frontal lobes play a critical role in planning and choosing actions.
The study was published in Nature Neuroscience. Full reference
http://qnc.queensu.ca/story_loader.htm?id=3dc6a29d000a9

It appears that the area of the brain thought to play a key role in encoding long-term memory matures in spurts. A new study demonstrates that a major spurt happens after a person's first year and then takes a second year to fully mature. Babies exposed to a series of actions when they were 9, 17 or 24 months old, were tested four months later. Those babies who had been 17 or 24 months old recalled the actions well, but the younger babies didn’t. The dramatic growth that occurs in the brain between 8 and 12 months may be required for long-term memory.
The study was published in the October 31 issue of Nature. Full reference

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