Memory Key News for August 2007

Thinking back on how much you remember from your schooldays, it’s apparent to most of us that despite all the time spent in school, we’ve forgotten most of what we learned. A new study points to what we were doing wrong. It seems that overlearning in a single session is wasted effort. Moreover, not only does studying need to be spaced, but the break between sessions should be at least a month.
http://www.memory-key.com/news/2007/news_2007Aug.htm#Cramming

Pointers for better learning

One of the crucial aspects to learning efficiently is being able to accurately assess your own learning process. A review of recent research has concluded that rereading or summarizing text can help, as well as techniques that focus attention on just the most important details of a text.
http://www.memory-key.com/news/2007/news_2007Aug.htm#learning

How to benefit from memory training

Brain and memory training programs are increasingly popular, but they don't work well for everyone. In particular, they tend to be much less effective for those who need them the most — those 80 and older, and those with lower initial ability. But a new study shows the problem is not intrinsic, but depends on the strategies people use.
http://www.memory-key.com/news/2007/news_2007Aug.htm#training

Age differences in cognitive benefits of exercise and mental stimulation

A mouse study has found that while physical exercise (a running wheel) and mental stimulation (toys), singly and together, improved memory in old mice, exercise alone or exercise and stimulation improved memory in middle-aged mice but not stimulation alone, and only exercise alone benefited young mice.
http://www.memory-key.com/news/2007/news_2007Aug.htm#exercise

Aging adults have choices when confronting perceived mental declines

A researcher who has been studying changes we make – or fail to make – in the way we process and regulate our reading as we age has found that older adults who remember more of what they’ve read tend to have developed strategies to deal with the decline in some cognitive abilities that tends to occur as we get older.
http://www.memory-key.com/news/2007/news_2007Aug.htm#choices

Brain network associated with cognitive reserve identified

An imaging study involving young (18-30) and older (65-80) adults has identified a brain network within the frontal lobe that is associated with cognitive reserve, the process that allows individuals to resist cognitive decline due to aging or Alzheimer’s disease.
http://www.memory-key.com/news/2007/news_2007Aug.htm#reserve

Caffeine may protect memory in older women

A four-year study involving 7,000 people aged 65 and older found that women (but not men) who drank more than three cups of coffee (or the equivalent in tea) per day had less decline over time on tests of memory (particularly verbal memory) than women who drank one cup or less of coffee or tea per day. These benefits increased with age.
http://www.memory-key.com/news/2007/news_2007Aug.htm#Caffeine

Removing ovaries before menopause increases risk of cognitive impairment

A large long-running study has found that women who had one or both ovaries removed before menopause were nearly two times more likely to develop cognitive problems or dementia compared to women who did not have the surgery.
http://www.memory-key.com/news/2007/news_2007Aug.htm#ovaries

Why learning takes a while

New findings about how new connections are made between brain cells sheds light on why it sometimes takes a little while before we truly ‘get’ something. It seems that, although connections are made within minutes, it takes eight hours before these connections are mature enough to transmit information.
http://www.memory-key.com/news/2007/news_2007Aug.htm#while

Maturity brings richer memories

New research suggests adults can remember more contextual details than children, and that this is related to the development of the prefrontal cortex. A number of studies have suggested that the PFC develops later than other brain regions.
http://www.memory-key.com/news/2007/news_2007Aug.htm#richer

Why do children experience a vocabulary explosion at 18 months of age?

At about 18 months children experience a vocabulary explosion, suddenly learning words at a much faster rate. A new study suggests that the reason for this has little to do with brain maturity or cognitive development but is the result of several simple factors, especially that a greater number of difficult or moderate words are being learned than easy words.
http://www.memory-key.com/news/2007/news_2007Aug.htm#vocab

Baby DVDs may hinder, not help, infants' language development

Random telephone interviews with more than 1,000 families found that for every hour per day spent watching baby DVDs and videos, infants eight to 16 months of age understood an average of six to eight fewer words than infants who did not watch them. Baby DVDs and videos had no positive or negative effect on the vocabularies on toddlers 17 to 24 months of age.
http://www.memory-key.com/news/2007/news_2007Aug.htm#DVD

The processes in reading

In a fascinating study, researchers have disentangled the three processes involved in reading and determined how much each accounts for reading speed.
http://www.memory-key.com/news/2007/news_2007Aug.htm#reading

Autism non-verbal not unintelligent

New findings suggest that the association of autism with low intelligence is a product of their language difficulties. Although normal children scored similarly on two popular IQ tests — the WISC (which relies heavily on language) and Raven's Progressive Matrices (considered the best test of "fluid intelligence"), autistic children scored much higher on the Raven’s Matrices than the WISC.
http://www.memory-key.com/news/2007/news_2007Aug.htm#Autism

Gene predicts better outcome as cortex normalizes in teens with ADHD

A particular gene variant involved in the thickening of brain areas that control attention not only increases risk for ADHD but is also associated with better clinical outcomes in ADHD.
http://www.memory-key.com/news/2007/news_2007Aug.htm#ADHD

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ALZHEIMER'S NEWS
<http://www.memory-key.com/Seniors/Alzheimers/Alzheimers_news.htm>

August 2007
<http://www.memory-key.com/Seniors/Alzheimers/Alzheimers_2007b.htm>

High stress and genetic risk factor lead to increased memory decline

A study has found that those low on stress or without the APOE-?4 gene performed better on memory measures than those with high stress or those with the APOE-?4 gene, while those with the gene and high stress levels showed the greatest memory impairment.
http://www.memory-key.com/Seniors/Alzheimers/Alzheimers_2007b.htm#stress

Women lose weight at least a decade before developing dementia

Another study has come out associating weight loss with later dementia. The study found that women who later developed dementia started losing weight up to 20 years before the disease was diagnosed. The association may be related to a loss in the sense of smell, and increasing apathy. The association was not found with men, probably because older men were less likely to be preparing their own food.
http://www.memory-key.com/Seniors/Alzheimers/Alzheimers_2007b.htm#weight

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LINKS PROBLEM

I’m afraid my web re-structuring produced a number of broken links that I didn’t catch. My apologies to those who were hampered by this; you’ll be pleased to know I’ve now fixed them. Please do let me know about any you come across that I have not caught.

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