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News reports of research into memory December 2001

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December 2001

The strength of the electrical activity between neurons has long been thought to be the critical factor in forming memories, but new research suggests that at least in two critical brain areas, memory may hinge more on the timing than on the strength of neural activity. It seems that, as subjects studied word lists, clusters of neurons in the rhinal cortex and the hippocampus—adjacent brain areas already implicated in memory—fired synchronized electrical bursts that paved the way for remembering those words later. Moreover, the coordination of cell activity in the same two brain regions plummetted for a fraction of a second just after participants remembered a word from the list, possibly signaling an end to a coordinated neural effort. "Memory may emerge when rhinal and hippocampal neurons synchronously oscillate and then desynchronize."
The report is due to appear in the December issue of Nature Neuroscience. Full reference
http://www.sciencenews.org/20011110/fob6.asp
http://news.bmn.com/news/story?day=011105&story=1

A new model suggests why and how many cognitive abilities decline with age, and offers hope for prevention. Research in the past few years has clarified and refined our ideas about the ways in which cognitive abilities decline with age, and one of these ways is in a reduced ability to recall the context of memories. Thus, for example, an older person is less likely to be able to remember where she has heard something. According to this new model, context processing is involved in many cognitive functions — including some once thought to be independent — and therefore a reduction in the ability to remember contextual information can have wide-reaching implications for many aspects of cognition. The model suggests that context processing occurs in the prefrontal cortex and requires a certain level of the brain chemical dopamine. It may be that in normal aging, dopamine levels become low or erratic. Changes in dopamine have also been implicated in Alzheimer’s, as well as other brain-based diseases.
The research appears in the December issue of the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. Full reference
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2001-12/apa-ocf121701.php
Full text of the article is available at http://www.apa.org/journals/xge/press_releases/december_2001/xge1304746.html

Researchers into intelligence and memory have always concentrated on verbal abilities — for the good reason that they are considerably easier to test. New research suggests that strong visuospatial skills and working memory may be at least as good as verbal skills and working memory as indicators of general intelligence. The study, involving 167 subjects, found a clear relationship between being good at complex visuospatial tasks, and being good at tasks involving the so-called “central executive” (which coordinates tasks, sets goals, etc). The study lends support both to the view that intelligence has both discrete components and a general aspect, and that this “general intelligence” may be related to executive functioning.
These findings appear in the December issue of the Journal of Experimental Psychology - General. Full reference
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2001-12/apa-npo121001.php
Full text of the article available at http://www.apa.org/journals/xge/press_releases/december_2001/xge1304621.html

Recent research has suggested that moderate alcohol consumption may have positive health benefits for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular functioning. Given the connection between dementia in old age and cerebrovascular disease, a recent Italian study analyzed data from 15,807 patients (65 years of age or older) to assess whether there is any link between alcohol consumption and cognitive function. Signs of cognitive derangement were found in 19% of the participants who reported regular alcohol consumption, and in 29% of those who abstained from alcohol. The quantity of daily alcohol consumption was an important factor. The risk of cognitive impairment was reduced among women whose daily alcohol consumption was less than 40 grams and among men who drank less than 80 grams. Higher levels of alcohol consumption showed an increased risk of cognitive impairment when compared with both abstainers and moderate drinkers.
The study was reported in the December issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research. Reference
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2001-12/ace-aad121001.php

A Dutch study suggests that light-to-moderate alcohol consumption could reduce the risk of dementia among older people. Light-to-moderate alcohol consumption (1 to 3 drinks per day) was associated with a 42% risk reduction of all dementia, and around a 70% reduction in risk of vascular dementia.
The study was reported in the 26 January issue of The Lancet. Full reference

Normally developing infants notice their mothers' facial expressions and emotions in the first six months of life and are able to recognize emotions from facial expressions by age 7 months. In a recent study reported at the first International Meeting for Autism Research in San Diego last month, 3- and 4-year-old autistic, developmentally delayed and normally developing children were shown photographs of faces depicting fear and a neutral expression while brain activity was monitored. It was found that the brains of normally developing and developmentally delayed children exhibited different activity depending on the picture being viewed. However, the brain activity of the autistic children remained the same when the different pictures were shown. Reference
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2001-12/uow-ahl120401.php

Methamphetamine abuse damages the nerve endings of human brain cells containing the chemical messenger dopamine. A recent study has found that methamphetamine-damaged brain cells may recover after prolonged abstinence from the drug. However, the extent of recovery may not be sufficient to restore full cognitive function, particularly in those who are did long-time, heavy users of the drug.
The report appeared in the December 1, 2001 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience. Full reference
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2001-12/niod-ise112801.php
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2001-12/bnl-bsa112901.php

A very exciting finding a couple of years ago, was that adult monkeys were found to be able to create new neurons in the neocortex, the most recently evolved part of the brain. However a new study, using the most sophisticated cell analysis techniques available to analyze thousands of cells in the neocortex, has found that those neurons that appear to be new are in fact two separate cells, usually one “old” neuron and one newly created cell of a different type, such as a glial cell — although new neurons were indeed found in the hippocampus and the olfactory bulb (both older parts of the brain).
The report appeared in the Dec. 7 issue of the journal Science. Full reference
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2001-12/uorm-std120601.php

In the first population-based study of cognitive impairment in the United States, nearly one in four older African Americans in Indianapolis were found to have measurable cognitive problems.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2001-11/nioa-cih110701.php
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2001-11/aaon-mla110501.php

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