News reports of research into memory December 2004

For index of all headlines, go to News & Views main page

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You can find links to the journals referred to on this site here: Journal links

December 2004

Maintaining physical activity linked to less cognitive decline in older men

Longer and more intense physical activity may help people maintain their cognitive skills as they age, according to a 10-year study of 295 men, born between 1900 and 1920, from the Finland, Italy and Netherlands Elderly (FINE) Study. The study showed that over 10 years the cognitive decline in men who had reduced their daily physical activity by an hour or more was 2.6 times greater than the decline in men who maintained their activity. Men who performed their daily physical activity with a lower intensity 10 years later had a 3.6 times stronger decline than men who maintained the intensity level. Men who engaged in activities of the lowest intensity had up to 3.5 times greater decline than men who participated in activities with a higher intensity. There was no decline among those who increased the duration or intensity of their activities. Activities of medium-to-low intensity, such as walking three miles per day, was associated with less cognitive decline than the lowest-intensity activity like walking less than three miles per day.
The study was published in the December 28 issue of Neurology. Full reference
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-12/aaon-mpa122104.php

Smoking is bad for the brain

465 participants in the Scottish Mental Survey (11 year olds tested in 1947), approximately half of whom were smokers, were tested again when they were 64. Smokers performed significantly worse in five different cognitive tests than did both former smokers and those who had never smoked. This drop in cognitive function held when factors such as education, occupation and alcohol consumption were taken into account. A link between impaired lung function and cognitive ageing has long been suspected, though the mechanism is unclear.
The study appeared in the January issue of Addictive Behaviors. Full reference
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99996765

Cigarette smoking exacerbates alcohol-induced brain damage

Heavy alcohol consumption is known to cause brain damage. A new imaging study has compared 24, one-week-abstinent alcoholics (14 smokers, 10 nonsmokers) in treatment with 26 light-drinking "controls" (7 smokers, 19 nonsmokers), and found that cigarette smoking can both exacerbate alcohol-induced damage as well as independently cause brain damage. The damage is most prominent in the frontal lobes (important in planning, decision-making, and multi-tasking among other functions). Independent of alcohol consumption, cigarette smoking also had adverse effects on brain regions involved in fine and gross motor functions and balance and coordination. Roughly 80% of alcohol-dependent individuals report smoking regularly.
The study appeared in the December issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research. Full reference
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-12/ace-cse120504.php

Word substitution mistakes have more to do with speech planning than with thought or attention problems

Why is it that we can look at something, know what it is and still call it by the wrong name? A new study suggests that the problem doesn’t lie in haste or a lack of attention, but rather in a fault in speech planning.
The study was published in the December issue of Psychological Science. Full reference
A full copy of the article is available at the APS Media Center at www.psychologicalscience.org/media.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-12/aps-sot120804.php

Early learning leaves lasting changes in brain

An owl study points to the importance of early childhood education, by demonstrating that early learning experiences forever change the brain's structure. While some parts of the brain remain relatively flexible throughout life, other parts lose the ability to make large-scale changes in connections early in life. Those brain regions that help sense and interpret the world are most affected by early childhood experiences.
The paper was published online on December 19 in Nature Neuroscience. Full reference
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-12/sumc-ell121704.php

How the brain is wired for faces

The question of how special face recognition is — whether it is a process quite distinct from recognition of other objects, or whether we are simply highly practiced at this particular type of recognition — has been a subject of debate for some time. A new imaging study has concluded that the fusiform face area (FFA), a brain region crucially involved in face recognition, extracts configural information about faces rather than processing spatial information on the parts of faces. The study also indicated that the FFA is only involved in face recognition.
The study appeared in the December 2 issue of Neuron. Full reference
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-12/cp-htb112304.php

How the brain recognizes a face

Face recognition involves at least three stages. An imaging study has now localized these stages to particular regions of the brain. It was found that the inferior occipital gyrus was particularly sensitive to slight physical changes in faces. The right fusiform gyrus (RFG), appeared to be involved in making a more general appraisal of the face and compares it to the brain's database of stored memories to see if it is someone familiar. The third activated region, the anterior temporal cortex (ATC), is believed to store facts about people and is thought to be an essential part of the identifying process.
The study was published in the January 1 issue of Nature Neuroscience. Full reference
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/4086319.stm

Third language area in brain identified

Broca's and Wernicke's areas are two, connected, regions of the brain long known to be involved in language. Now, a new imaging study has identified a third area, dubbed Geschwind's territory. This area connects Broca's and Wernicke's areas via a region of the parietal lobe of the cortex, and may be important for the acquisition of language in childhood. The area is apparently the last area in the brain to mature, the completion of its maturation coinciding with the development of reading and writing skills.
The study was published online on 13 December in the Annals of Neurology. Full reference
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-12/jws-bir120704.php

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