News reports of research into memory June 2007

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June 2007

Distress-prone people more likely to develop memory problems

Data from two large, long-running studies, the Religious Orders Study and the Memory and Aging Project, has revealed that those who most often experience negative emotions such as depression and anxiety (according to self report) were 40% more likely to develop mild cognitive impairment than those who were least prone to negative emotions. This follows on from an earlier study showing that people who are easily distressed are more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease than more easygoing people.
The study was published in the June 12 issue of Neurology. Full reference
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-06/aaon-dpm060507.php

Improved attention with mindfulness training

More evidence of the benefits of meditation for attention comes from a study looking at the performance of novices taking part in an eight-week course that included up to 30 minutes of daily meditation, and experienced meditators who attended an intensive full-time, one-month retreat. Initially, the experienced participants demonstrated better executive functioning skills, the cognitive ability to voluntarily focus, manage tasks and prioritize goals. After the eight-week training, the novices had improved their ability to quickly and accurately move and focus attention, while the experienced participants, after their one-month intensive retreat, also improved their ability to keep attention "at the ready."
The study was published in Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience. Full reference
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-06/uop-mtc062507.php

Brain scans show how meditation affects the brain

An imaging study comparing novice and experienced meditators found that experienced meditators showed greater activity in brain circuits involved in paying attention. But the most experienced meditators with at least 40,000 hours of experience showed a brief increase in activity as they started meditating, and then a drop to baseline, as if they were able to concentrate in an effortless way. Moreover, while the subjects meditated inside the MRI, the researchers periodically blasted them with disturbing noises. Among the experienced meditators, the noise had less effect on the brain areas involved in emotion and decision-making than among novice meditators. Among meditators with more than 40,000 hours of lifetime practice, these areas were hardly affected at all. The attention circuits affected by meditation are also involved in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
The study was published online before print June 27 and in the July 3 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. Full reference
Full text is available at http://tinyurl.com/3d6wx4
http://www.physorg.com/news102179695.html

Blind people are 'serial memory' whizzes

In a demonstration of the benefits of mental training, a study tested the memory of 19 congenitally blind individuals and individually matched sighted controls. Those who were blind recalled more words than the sighted, but their greatest superiority was the ability to remember longer word sequences according to their original order. This is probably a result of blind people’s everyday reliance on serial-memory strategies to identify otherwise indistinguishable objects. The finding that the blind showed a better memory for all of the words regardless of where they fell (rather than the first and last word advantage more typically found) suggests that the key to their success may lie in representing item lists as word chains, perhaps by generating associations between adjacent items.
The study was reported online ahead of print June 21, and later in the July 3 issue of Current Biology. Full reference
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-06/cp-bpa061407.php

Being treated as oldest linked to IQ

The question of whether there is an IQ advantage to being the first-born has long been debated. Now analysis of IQ test results of 241,310 Norwegians drafted into the armed forces between 1967 and 1976 has revealed that the average IQ of first-born men was 103.2 while second-born men averaged 101.2 and third-borns, 100.0. However, second-born men whose older sibling died in infancy scored 102.9, and if both older siblings died young, the third-born score rose to 102.6. This suggests the advantage lies in the social rank in the family and not birth order as such.
The findings were reported in the June 22 issue of Science. Full reference
http://www.nature.com/news/2007/070618/full/070618-14.html

Combining brain scans and behavioral tests aids early identification of at-risk readers

A study of 73 struggling readers aged 8 to 12 has found that standard tests of early literacy skills given at the start of the school year accurately predicted end of year performance for around two out of three children. A brain scan while they read two words and said whether they rhymed also had respectable, though slightly smaller, predictive power. But together, the two tests were able to predict the children’s future decoding skill four out of five times. Although probably not suitable as widespread screening instruments, brain scans might be considered for use in children showing early reading problems, especially to differentiate children who have a true language disorder from those who simply need time to mature.
The findings were reported in the June issue of Behavioral Neuroscience. Full reference
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-06/apa-cbs060607.php

Discriminating fact from fiction in recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse

The accuracy of “recovered memories” has long been a contentious issue. A new study has attempted to settle some of the controversy by classifying people who reported being sexually abused as children according to how they remembered the event: “spontaneously recovered” (the participant had forgotten and then spontaneously recalled the abuse outside of therapy, without any prompting), “recovered in therapy” (the participant had recovered the abuse during therapy, prompted by suggestion) or “continuous” (the participant had always been able to recall the abuse). Interviewers who were blind to the type of abuse memory then attempted to confirm or refute the abuse events from outside sources. There were 71 participants who had continuous memory of the event, and 57 participants who had discontinuous memory — of these 41 recalled it spontaneously and 16 in therapy. It was found that spontaneously recovered memories were corroborated about as often (37% of the time) as continuous memories (45%), suggesting that such memories are likely to be just as accurate as memories that have persisted. However, in no case could events that had been ‘recovered’ in therapy be verified. Moreover, evidence that suggestion during therapy possibly brings about these ‘memories’ comes from the finding that individuals who recalled the memories outside therapy were markedly more surprised at the existence of their memories than were individuals who initially recalled the memories in therapy.
The results were published in the July issue of Psychological Science. Full reference
The study is part of an ongoing research project examining recovered memories. For more information, go to www.personeel.unimaas.nl/e.geraerts.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-06/afps-sdf061307.php

Narcolepsy drug alleviates post-chemotherapy fogginess

A trial involving 68 breast cancer survivors suffering from ‘chemo-brain’ has had positive results with modafinil (Provigil), a drug that promotes wakefulness. The women who took modafinil for eight weeks reported major improvements in memory, concentration and learning.
The findings were presented on June 3 at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in Chicago.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-06/uorm-bpa052207.php

For cognitive benefits of estrogen, timing is everything

The evidence of the cognitive effect of estrogen on post-menopausal women has been conflicting. Now a study of rhesus monkeys suggests that there is a very critical window of opportunity in which estrogen therapy may be helpful. This window may be around the time of perimenopause. The study also revealed that the cognitive benefit of estrogen is apparently through the increase of small, highly plastic dendritic spines in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.
The study was published online June 25 and in the July 3 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Full reference
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-06/tmsh-sfe062207.php

Low doses of ecstasy associated with decline in verbal memory

A three-year study involving 188 volunteers (average age 22) who initially had not used Ecstasy but reported that they were likely to try it soon, has revealed that there were no statistically significant differences at the beginning of the study in any of the neuropsychological test scores between those who later tried Ecstasy and those who didn’t, but at follow-up, performance on immediate and delayed verbal recall and verbal recognition were significantly lower in those who had used Ecstasy (mean cumulative dose, 3.2 tablets; median cumulative dose, 1.5 tablets) compared with those who hadn’t. Only verbal memory appeared to be affected.
The report appeared in the June issue of Archives of General Psychiatry. Full reference
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-06/jaaj-ldo053107.php

Smoking interferes with thinking and memory in recovering alcoholics

Another study has added to the accumulating evidence about the additional impairment smoking causes to alcoholics. The small study found that, after six to nine months of abstinence from alcohol, recovering alcoholics who were also chronic smokers showed a significantly lower rate of improvement in tests of memory, reasoning, judgment, and visual/spatial coordination than non-smoking recovering alcoholics. Smokers also had lower overall scores on most neurocognitive measures tested.
The study appeared in the July issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research. Full reference
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-06/uoc--siw062907.php

Brain's voluntary chain-of-command ruled by not 1 but 2 captains

Previous research has shown a large number of brain regions (39) that are consistently active when people prepare for a mental task. It’s been assumed that all these regions work together under the command of one single region. A new study, however, indicates that there are actually two independent networks operating. The cingulo-opercular network (including the dorsal anterior cingulate/medial superior frontal cortex, anterior insula/frontal operculum, and anterior prefrontal cortex) is linked to a "sustain" signal — it turns on at the beginning, hums away constantly during the task, then turns off at the end. In contrast, the frontoparietal network (including the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and intraparietal sulcus) is active at the start of mental tasks and during the correction of errors. The findings may help efforts to understand the effects of brain injury and develop new strategies to treat such injuries.
The findings were published in the June 26 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Full reference
http://www.physorg.com/news101478606.html

'Have I been here before?'

Researchers have identified a neuronal mechanism that our brains may use to rapidly distinguish similar, yet distinct places. The study reveals that that a particular protein signalling molecule (the NMDA receptor) in a particular network of brain neurons (the dentate granule cells of the hippocampus) is crucial in rapidly recognizing and amplifying the small differences that make each place unique. The work could lead to treatments for memory-related disorders, as well as for the confusion and disorientation that plague elderly individuals who have trouble distinguishing between separate but similar places and experiences.
The report appeared in the June 7 early online edition of Science. Full reference
http://www.physorg.com/news100444183.html
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-06/uob-ib060607.php
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=0D7230B5-E7F2-99DF-33A3DA38AE4500AC&chanID=sa011