Memory News Digest

A study has found that the particular order in which events are experienced is also strengthened during sleep, probably by a replay of the experiences in "forward" direction.

http://www.memory-key.com/news/2007/news_2007Apr.htm#temporal

Sleep protects against interference

Those who slept between learning 20 pairs of words and being tested on them not only did better than those who were tested on the same day, but they did dramatically better when given a similar list to learn just before testing.

http://www.memory-key.com/news/2007/news_2007Apr.htm#interference

Sleeping helps us put facts together

And in yet another sleep study, researchers found evidence that sleep also helps us see the big picture — relational information that needs to be inferred from the information given. The researchers intend to explore whether meditation can provide a similar benefit.

http://www.memory-key.com/news/2007/news_2007Apr.htm#facts

Does migraine protect your memory?

A large, long-running study has found that, while women who suffer migraines performed worse on cognitive tests at the beginning of the study, their performance declined 17% less over 12 years than women without migraine. The benefit was restricted to women over 50 who experience migraine with aura.

http://www.memory-key.com/news/2007/news_2007Apr.htm#migraine

Seeing red worsens test performance

A study has found that seeing the color red before a test results in worse performance for students, possibly because the color produces anxiety.

http://www.memory-key.com/news/2007/news_2007Apr.htm#red

Research explains how lead exposure produces learning deficits

It appears that exposure to lead during brain development produces learning deficits by reducing neurogenesis, and by altering the normal development of newly born neurons in the hippocampus.

http://www.memory-key.com/news/2007/news_2007Apr.htm#lead

Low dose aspirin does not protect women against cognitive decline

Evidence that aspirin and other anti-inflammatory drugs may protect against dementia is not supported in a very large, long-running study of older women.

http://www.memory-key.com/news/2007/news_2007Apr.htm#aspirin

Gender differences in the brain

Results from an extremely large internet survey looking at sex-linked cognitive abilities has found that cognitive abilities decline with age more steeply in men than in women, and some differences in specific cognitive abilities depended on sexual orientation as well as gender.

http://www.memory-key.com/news/2007/news_2007Apr.htm#Gender

Sex and prenatal hormones affect cognitive performance

A study involving rhesus macaque monkeys has found that the tendency to use landmarks for navigation rather than spatial information is typical only of females. However, males whose testosterone exposure had been blocked early in gestation were more able to use the landmarks to navigate than normal males.

http://www.memory-key.com/news/2007/news_2007Apr.htm#hormones

Monkeys can reflect on their thoughts

A study involving two rhesus macaque monkeys has shown that a monkey can reflect on its own thoughts and assess its performance. The study also points to a means of testing nonverbal humans, such an infants and autistic children.

http://www.memory-key.com/news/2007/news_2007Apr.htm#reflect

Brain's speech site revisited and revised

Scanning of the brains of the two patients that caused the 19th century anatomist Paul Broca to locate the speech center in a region of the brain now known as Broca’s area has revealed inconsistencies between the area originally identified by Broca and what is now called Broca's area.

http://www.memory-key.com/news/2007/news_2007Apr.htm#speech

How memory networks are formed

A mouse study reveals that the level of a protein called CREB is critical in how neurons "decide" which ones to connect to when forming a memory code.

http://www.memory-key.com/news/2007/news_2007Apr.htm#networks

Mutation improves memory, may lead to memory-enhancing pill

A mouse study has found that carriers of a defective version of a gene that normally increases levels of a natural memory-blocking protein showed improved performance in memory tests.

http://www.memory-key.com/news/2007/news_2007Apr.htm#Mutation

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ALZHEIMER'S NEWS

<http://www.memory-key.com/Seniors/Alzheimers%20news.htm>

April 2007

<http://www.memory-key.com/Seniors/Alzheimers_2007a.htm>

Diabetes associated with increased risk of mild cognitive impairment

A study involving nearly 1000 older adults has found that diabetes was related to a significantly higher risk of developing amnesic mild cognitive impairment.

http://www.memory-key.com/Seniors/Alzheimers_2007a.htm#Diabetes

DHA-rich diet may curb onset of Alzheimer’s

Mouse studies have revealed that the omega-3 fatty acid DHA may slow the growth of beta amyloid and tau, the proteins that lead to the lesions typical of Alzheimer’s. The results also suggest that DHA works better on its own than when paired with omega-6 fatty acids.

http://www.memory-key.com/Seniors/Alzheimers_2007a.htm#DHA

Enhanced environment restores memory in mice with neurodegeneration

Mouse studies have found that enriching the environment with toys and other sensory stimuli restored memories and neurons "lost" due to neurodegeneration, supporting recent suggestions that the memories are still there; they are simply inaccessible.

http://www.memory-key.com/Seniors/Alzheimers_2007a.htm#environment

Commonly used pain medications do not prevent Alzheimer's

Contradicting earlier indications, a large study has found that long-term use of over-the-counter pain medication naproxen and prescription pain reliever celecoxib had no apparent effect on delaying Alzheimer’s.

http://www.memory-key.com/Seniors/Alzheimers_2007a.htm#pain

Brain structure changes years before memory loss begins

Another study provides evidence that people who develop dementia or Alzheimer's disease experience brain structure changes — specifically gray matter loss in key memory processing areas —years before any signs of memory loss begin.

http://www.memory-key.com/Seniors/Alzheimers_2007a.htm#structure

Statin treatment improves spatial memory in Alzheimer's mice

Treatment with the cholesterol-lowering statin drug Simvastatin significantly improved spatial in mice genetically bred to have an Alzheimer’s-like disease. The benefits were more pronounced in males.

http://www.memory-key.com/Seniors/Alzheimers_2007a.htm#Statin

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