News reports of research into memory May 2001
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May 2001
A study of 20 flight attendants suggests that people who undergo
repeated, frequent episodes of jet lag
without sufficient recovery time between trips may develop actual
tissue changes in the brain in an area that's involved in spatial
orientation and related aspects of cognitive function. The extent to
which this is due to sleep deprivation rather than time shifts per
se is unknown. These findings may also be relevant to shift workers,
medical trainees and others who work long hours.
The study appears in the June issue of the journal
Nature Neuroscience.
Full reference
We choose what to pay attention to, what
to remember. We give more weight to some things than others. Our
perceptions and memories of events are influenced by our
preconceptions, and by our moods. Researchers at Yale and New York
University have recently published research indicating that the part
of the brain known as the amygdala is responsible for the influence
of emotion on perception. This builds on previous research showing
that the amygdala is critically involved in computing the emotional
significance of events. The amygdala is connected to those brain
regions dealing with sensory experiences, and the theory that these
connections allow the amygdala to influence early perceptual
processing is supported by this research. Dr. Anderson suggests that
“the amygdala appears to be critical for the emotional tuning of
perceptual experience, allowing perception of emotionally
significant events to occur despite inattention.”
The study is reported in the May 17 issue of
Nature.
Full reference
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2001-05/NYU-Infr-1605101.php
Scientists from UCLA and Johns Hopkins
University have taken the first step in discovering how the brain,
at the molecular and cellular level, converts short-term memories
into permanent ones.
"Memories last different amounts of time," Frankland said. "You
might remember a phone number for just a few minutes, for example,
while certain childhood events will be remembered for a lifetime.
Our study reveals the role of a protein that must be present in the
cortex for information to be converted from short-term into lifelong
memories."
The study is reported in the May 17 issue of
Nature.
Full reference
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2001-05/UNKN-BrfU-1505101.php
Research has revealed significant differences in the gray matter
distribution between professional musicians
trained at an early age and non-musicians. It is most likely that
this is due to intensive musical training at an early age, although
it is also possible that the musicians were born with these
differences, which led them to pursue musical training.
The study was presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 53rd
Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, PA
Reference
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2001-05/AAoN-Mtdc-0705101.php
Researchers today reported the first evidence that a mother’s use
of MDMA (ecstasy) during pregnancy may result
in specific types of long-term learning and memory impairments in
her offspring.
The research was conducted by scientists from Children’s Hospital
Research Foundation and the University of Cincinnati College of
Medicine, on rats. It appears the damage to offspring occurs only if
the drug is taken during a particular critical period of pregnancy.
The study was published in the May 1 issue of the
Journal of Neuroscience.
Full reference
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2001-04/NIoD-Rfet-2904101.php
How much do we determine who we are? What
we like, what we dislike, how we dress, what we believe ... We've
long known our sense of identity is tied up with our memory, but
recent research goes further. It appears that our identity is
located in most people in the right frontal lobe, and that damage to
this part of the brain can result in dramatic changes to our "self"
- our beliefs, values, style.
The paper was presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 53rd
Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, on May 8.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2001-05/AAoN-Rdmk-0705101.php
The paper has now appeared in the September 11th issue of Neurology. Full reference
Tests of the human
capacity for believing false memories have typically involved giving
subjects a list of associated words and then testing their memory
for these words by offering a new list which includes not only the
previous words but also related words that were not presented
earlier. A strong tendency to falsely recognize such words is
characteristically found, but intriguingly, the subjects also tend
to rate true items higher than false items in terms of sensory
details. This suggests that, although people truly believe their
false memories, part of the brain at least, recognizes that they are
not as "real" as true memories. This has been something of a
conundrum in false memory research.
A recent study used magnetic resonance imaging to monitor brain
activity during such testing. The memory experience was made richer
by having the words read on video by alternating male and female
speakers. The findings were the same as in previous studies -
subjects rejected new words, but falsely recognized false words
related to the true words. The brain scans revealed that different
parts of the brain processed true and false memories differently.
The region that processes perceptual information, such as the
speaker appearance and voice, was more activated for true memories.
The study was reported in an article in the April 10 issue of
The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Full reference
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2001-05/DU-Rhun-0305101.php
A study that tested the cognitive abilities
of 5,925 women who were 65 and older once and then again six to
eight years later, found that the women who walked the least were
most likely to develop cognitive decline -- 24 percent of them had
significant declines in their test scores, compared to 17 percent of
the most active group. The least active women walked an average of
about a half mile per week, while the most active group walked an
average of nearly 18 miles per week.
While any exercise appeared to be helpful, the benefit increased
with every extra mile walked per week. Examples of activities that
would reduce the risk of cognitive decline were: playing tennis
twice a week, walking a mile per day, playing golf once a week.
The paper was presented by Kristine Yaffe at the
American Academy of Neurology’s 53rd Annual Meeting in Philadelphia,
May 5-11.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2001-05/AAoN-Wpwf-0805101.php
Brain scans of 70 men, ages 19 to 76 confirms that the brain's
gray matter, the cell bodies of nerve cells, declines
steadily from adolescence. But surprisingly, the white matter,
the fatty material that insulates the long extending branches of
the nerve cells and makes nerve signals move faster, in the
frontal parts of the brain appears to grow at least until the
late 40's, before beginning to decline. The growth of white
matter may improve the brain's ability to process information.
The study, from the Department of Veterans Affairs, appears in
the May issue of The Archives of General
Psychiatry.
Full reference
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/22/health/22VITA-3.html
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