News reports of research into memory May 2008

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May 2008

Brain region involved in false memories identified

We’re all susceptible to false memories, but brain damage can produce false memories beyond the normal level. The pathological production of false memories is known as confabulation, and because the patients who suffer this have showed damage to various parts of the brain, the cause has been unclear until now. But a new study of 50 patients has found the common element: all those who confabulated shared damage to the inferior medial prefrontal cortex.
The study was published in the May issue of Cortex. Full reference
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-05/e-wym052808.php

Active social life may delay memory loss among older adults

Data gathered from 1998 to 2004 from the very large U.S. Health and Retirement Study has supported previous research suggesting that social activity is associated with slower cognitive decline. Indeed, memory decline among those with the highest social integration was less than half the rate among the least integrated. Social integration was assessed by marital status, volunteer activity, and frequency of contact with children, parents, and neighbors. The findings were independent of sociodemographic factors (such as age, gender, and race) and health status in 1998. The researchers found that the protective effect of social integration was largest among individuals with fewer than 12 years of education. There was no evidence that a poor or declining memory caused social withdrawal.
The study appeared online May 29 ahead of the July issue of the American Journal of Public Health. Full reference
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-05/hsop-asl052708.php

Incidentally, another study that appeared in the same issue found that larger social networks were associated with a lower risk of dementia in women aged 78 and older. The study examined 2249 members of a health maintenance organization who were free of dementia at the start of the study. 268 (12%) of these were identified as having dementia four years later. Full reference

Older adults with more schooling spend fewer years with cognitive loss

A seven-year study involving over 7,000 people 70 years and older has found that a 70-year old person with at least 12 years of education can expect to live 14.1 more years without cognitive impairment, which is two-and-a-half years more than 70-year olds with fewer than 12 years of education. They can then expect to spend 1 year with impairment, which is about 7 months less than a person with fewer years of education. The impairment is also likely to be more severe for the more educated, and associated with worse health. This is consistent with the idea of cognitive reserve — that education provides a “buffer” that enables people to continue functioning well despite physical damage in the brain. However, when the damage finally can no longer be compensated for, the effects will be greater. But it shouldn’t be assumed that it is all downhill from there — even the severely impaired may recover, depending on the cause. Overall, about 11% of the mentally impaired recover, presumably because the decline is caused by a treatable condition.
The study appeared in the June issue of the Journal of Aging and Health. Full reference
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-05/uosc-mlo051208.php

Long-term cognitive decline in bypass patients not due to surgery

Another study has come out supporting the view that coronary bypass patients have no greater risk of long-term cognitive decline than patients not undergoing surgery. The study involved 152 patients who had bypass surgery and 92 patients with coronary artery disease who did not have surgical intervention. Patients had memory and other cognitive tests at the beginning of the study period, and after 3, 12, 36 and 72 months. The results showed that there were no significant differences in cognitive scores between the two groups at the beginning of the study. Both groups showed modest decline in cognitive performance during the study period, but there were no significant differences in the degree of decline between the groups after six years. It was suggested that the decline in both groups was related to the presence of risk factors for vascular disease.
The study was published in the May 2008 issue of Annals of Neurology. Full reference
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-05/w-lcd051908.php
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-05/jhmi-bnt051908.php

Why cell phones and driving don't mix

A host of studies have come out in recent years demonstrating that multitasking impairs performance and talking on a cell phone while driving a car is a bad idea. A new study helps explain why. In two different experiments, subjects were found to be four times more distracted while preparing to speak or speaking than when they were listening. The researcher expects the effect to be even stronger in real-life conversation. It was also found that subjects could complete the visual task in front of them more easily when the projected voice also was in front. This suggests that it may be easier to have all things that require attention in the same space.
The study appeared in the April issue of Experimental Psychology. Full reference
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080531084958.htm

MS can affect children's IQ, thinking skills

Multiple sclerosis typically starts in young adulthood, but about 5% start in childhood or adolescence. A study of 63 children under age 18 with MS has found that they more likely to have low IQ scores than healthy controls. Five of the children with MS had IQ scores of less than 70 (none of the controls did), 15 had IQ scores between 70 and 89 (compared to two of the controls), and 31% of the MS children met the criteria for cognitive impairment compared to less than 5% of the controls. Low IQs were correlated with younger age at onset. About 30% of the children with MS also had language difficulties, which is not common in adults with MS. It may be that children are particularly vulnerable to the effects of MS because their brain is still developing.
The study was published in the May 13 issue of Neurology. Full reference
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-05/aaon-mca050608.php

Exclusive breastfeeding benefits children's verbal IQs

A very large study in Belarus has found that 6-year-olds whose mothers were part of a program that encouraged them to breast-feed had verbal IQs that were an average of 7.5 points higher than those of children in a control group. The significant factor is thought to be exclusive breastfeeding. At the end of three months, 72% of infants in the program were still breast-feeding to some degree, compared with 60% in the group that did not receive breast-feeding support. However, 43% of those in the program were being exclusively breastfed compared with 6% of infants in the control group. The effect seems to be predominantly on language: children in the program scored an average of 4.9 points higher on tests that specifically measured vocabulary, and while the overall IQ scores were 5.9 points higher for the children in the program, this was not statistically significant.
The report appeared in the May issue of Archives of General Psychiatry. Full reference
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-breastfeed6-2008may06,0,4266885.story
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-05/jaaj-bmi050108.php

Iron supplements might harm infants who have enough

U.S. infant formulas typically come fortified with 12 mg/L of iron to prevent iron-deficiency anemia, although Europe generally uses a lower amount. A study of 494 Chilean children has now showed that those who received iron fortified formula in infancy at the 12 mg level used in the U.S. lagged behind those who received low-iron formula in cognitive and visual-motor development by age 10 years. While most children who received the higher level formula did not show lower scores, the 5% with the highest hemoglobin levels at 6 months showed the poorest outcome. Adversely affected children scored 11 points lower in IQ and 12 points lower in visual-motor integration. This suggests that those who are not deficient in iron are adversely affected by giving them too much. It seems likely that more than 5% of U.S. infants will have high hemoglobin levels. More research is needed to confirm this finding.
The paper was presented May 5 at the Pediatric Academic Societies annual meeting in Honolulu. Full reference
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-05/uom-ism043008.php

Children more vulnerable to harmful effects of lead

A study has found that children are more vulnerable to the harmful effects of lead at age 6 than they are at younger ages. The study found that children's average blood lead concentrations peaked at 13.9 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood at age 2, then declined to an average of 7.3 micrograms per deciliter by age 6. For children with the same average blood lead levels through age 6, however, those who received more of their exposure at age 6 had substantially greater decrements in intellectual ability (with lower IQ and reduced volume of gray matter in the prefrontal cortex) than those more heavily exposed at age 2. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends public health actions be initiated at blood lead levels greater than 10 micrograms per deciliter, despite lower levels being consistently shown to be associated with adverse effects.
The Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center study was presented May 4 at the annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies in Honolulu.
http://www.physorg.com/news129129066.html
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-05/cchm-cmv050108.php

Green tea compounds beat OSA-related brain deficits

A study has found that rats intermittently deprived of oxygen during 12-hour “night” cycles, mimicking the experience of humans with obstructive sleep apnea, performed significantly better on a spatial memory task if they’d been treated with the polyphenols in green tea (administered through drinking water) than if they didn’t receive such chemicals. Their brains also showed less oxidative stress.
The study was published in the May 15 issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. Full reference
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-05/ats-gtc051308.php

Evidence mounts against DHEA use in treating cognitive decline

DHEA is a naturally-occurring hormone in the human body that declines with age. Previous research looking at the effect of DHEA supplementation on cognitive function and quality-of-life has produced inconsistent results. In the first long-term study (12 months) of healthy older adults, 110 men and 115 women aged 55-85 received either daily 50 mg doses of DHEA or a similar looking placebo pill for 1 year. It was found that, although youthful levels of DHEA were restored in the treatment group, the supplements had no benefits for cognitive function or quality-of-life in this representative sample.
The study was published online ahead of print in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. Full reference
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-05/w-ema052108.php

Computer model reveals how brain represents meaning

A new computational model has been developed that can predict with 77% accuracy which areas of the brain are activated when a person thinks about a specific concrete noun. The success of the model points to a new understanding of how our brains represent meaning. The model was constructed on the basis of the frequency with which a noun co-occurs in text (from a trillion-word text corpus) with each of 25 verbs associated with sensory-motor functions, including see, hear, listen, taste, smell, eat, push, drive and lift. These 25 verbs appear to be basic building blocks the brain uses for representing meaning. The effect of each co-occurrence on the activation of each tiny voxel in an fMRI brain scan was established, and from this data, activation patterns were drawn.
The findings are being published in the May 30 issue of Science. Full reference
http://www.physorg.com/news131290235.html
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-05/cmu-cmc052308.php

Plant flavonoid reduces inflammatory response in the brain

Cell and mouse studies have found that luteolin, a plant flavonoid available in abundance in celery and green peppers, has a dramatic effect on a key component of the inflammatory response in the brain. The findings have implications for research on aging and diseases such as Alzheimer’s and multiple sclerosis.
The study appeared online May 14 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Full reference
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-05/uoia-pff051908.php

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