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         T h e  M e m o r y  K e y
         <http://www.memory-key.com>

Your resource for information about memory and memory improvement

               February 2008

<http://www.memory-key.com/newsletters/issue_119.htm>

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     THIS MONTH ON MEMORY-KEY.COM:

                NEWS
More study needed to determine if gingko biloba helps memory
Stress hormone impacts memory, learning in diabetic rodents
Gender differences in memory
A nap can help you learn
REM sleep deprivation reduces neurogenesis
Memory loss becoming less common in older Americans
Stroke risk factors may signal faster cognitive decline in elderly
Smoking marijuana impairs cognitive function in MS patients
Children's under-achievement could be down to poor working memory
Listening to music improves stroke patients' recovery
Different educational approaches appropriate for boys and girls?
Effect of schooling on achievement gaps within racial groups
What distinguishes human from animal cognition

          ALZHEIMER'S NEWS
Vitamin E or C does not reduce risk of dementia or Alzheimer's
PLMI factor in sleep disturbance for dementia patients
Computers better at diagnosing Alzheimer's
 
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"The Memory Key" is now available as a downloadable digital book!
Check it out at:
http://www.memory-key.com/shop/memkey_ebook.htm.

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Check out the e-book on "Effective notetaking" at:
http://www.memory-key.com/shop/notetaking_workbook.htm.

and the e-book on "Remembering intentions" at:
http://www.memory-key.com/shop/intention_ebook.htm

Note that you can now use your credit cards on Paypal.

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NEW: Sequel to Secrets available! Find out about my YA novels at:
http://www.fmmcpherson.com/

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                  NEWS
<http://www.memory-key.com/InfoCenter/news.htm>

February 2008
<http://www.memory-key.com/news/2008/news_2008Feb.htm>

More study needed to determine if gingko biloba helps memory
Though no significant difference in the development of memory problems was found over three years between those who took ginkgo biloba three times a day and those who took a placebo, those who reliably took the supplement did have a lower risk of developing mild memory problems than those who took the placebo. Further studies are needed.
http://www.memory-key.com/news/2008/news_2008Feb.htm#gingko

Stress hormone impacts memory, learning in diabetic rodents
A rodent study indicates diabetes can impair cognitive function through increased levels of a stress hormone.
http://www.memory-key.com/news/2008/news_2008Feb.htm#hormone

Gender differences in memory
No surprises, but a series of experiments looking at memory performance in men and women has revealed a number of gender differences, but environmental factors, such as education, seem to influence the magnitude of these sex differences.
http://www.memory-key.com/news/2008/news_2008Feb.htm#Gender

A nap can help you learn
A 45 minute afternoon nap improved performance on 3 different declarative memory tasks, but only when the subjects had reached a certain level of performance during training.
http://www.memory-key.com/news/2008/news_2008Feb.htm#nap

REM sleep deprivation reduces neurogenesis
A rat study points to REM sleep being important for neurogenesis and brain plasticity.
http://www.memory-key.com/news/2008/news_2008Feb.htm#sleep

Memory loss becoming less common in older Americans
A very large national study shows a downward trend in the rate of cognitive impairment among people aged 70 and older in the U.S., probably because today’s older people are much likelier to have had more formal education, higher economic status, and better health care.
http://www.memory-key.com/news/2008/news_2008Feb.htm#common

Stroke risk factors may signal faster cognitive decline in elderly
Analysis of the stroke risks of over 17,000 older adults has found that a higher stroke risk score was associated with a significantly higher rate of cognitive decline.
http://www.memory-key.com/news/2008/news_2008Feb.htm#Stroke

Smoking marijuana impairs cognitive function in MS patients
A small study has found that multiple sclerosis patients who smoked marijuana were slower on tests of information processing speed, and were more likely to suffer emotional problems.
http://www.memory-key.com/news/2008/news_2008Feb.htm#MS

Listening to music improves stroke patients' recovery
A Finnish study has found that if stroke patients listened to music for a couple of hours a day, their verbal memory and focused attention recovered better and they had a more positive mood than patients who did not listen to anything or who listened to audio books.
http://www.memory-key.com/news/2008/news_2008Feb.htm#music

Children's under-achievement could be down to poor working memory
A survey of over three thousand children has found that 10% of school children across all age ranges suffer from poor working memory seriously affecting their learning. The researchers have developed a new tool that enables teachers to identify and assess children's memory capacity in the classroom from as early as four years old.
http://www.memory-key.com/news/2008/news_2008Feb.htm#working

Different educational approaches appropriate for boys and girls?
An imaging study of some 50 children aged 9 to 15 revealed that girls showed significantly greater activation of the language areas of the brain when doing a language task than did boys, who showed greater activation of specific sensory brain areas. This may reflect slower maturity.
http://www.memory-key.com/news/2008/news_2008Feb.htm#approaches

Effect of schooling on achievement gaps within racial groups
Analysis of data from a national sample (U.S.) of 8,060 students, collected at four points in time, starting in kindergarten and ending in the spring of fifth grade, has found evidence that education has an impact in closing the achievement gap for substantial numbers of children. High-performing groups in reading were found among all races. Both African and Asian Americans showed high numbers of children who caught up with the initial group of high achievers over time. Hispanic children were almost all in the middle range, showing neither high nor low achievement. A different pattern was found in math. The pattern suggests that current schooling doesn't have as strong an impact on math achievement as it does in reading.
http://www.memory-key.com/news/2008/news_2008Feb.htm#racial

What distinguishes human from animal cognition
A new hypothesis now suggests that there are four key differences in human and animal cognition: the ability to combine and recombine different types of information and knowledge in order to gain new understanding; to apply the same "rule" or solution to one problem to a different and new situation; to create and easily understand symbolic representations of computation and sensory input; and to detach modes of thought from raw sensory and perceptual input.
http://www.memory-key.com/news/2008/news_2008Feb.htm#animal

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

February 2008
<http://www.memory-key.com/Seniors/Alzheimers/Alzheimers_2008a.htm>

Vitamin E or C does not reduce risk of dementia or Alzheimer's
A five-year study involving nearly 3000 people has found that use of Vitamin C or E or both was not associated with a reduced risk of developing dementia or Alzheimer’s.    http://www.memory-key.com/Seniors/Alzheimers/Alzheimers_2008a.htm#Vitamin

PLMI factor in sleep disturbance for dementia patients
A study of people diagnosed with both cognitive impairment and sleep disturbance found that periodic leg movement disorder was predictive of reduced total sleep time in older adults with Alzheimer’s and related dementias. This suggests treatment of periodic leg movements may be beneficial for sleep disturbed dementia sufferers.   
http://www.memory-key.com/Seniors/Alzheimers/Alzheimers_2008a.htm#sleep

Computers better at diagnosing Alzheimer's
A new method has been developed that allows a standard computer to spot the differences between brain scans from patients with proven Alzheimer’s disease and people with no signs of the disease at all.    http://www.memory-key.com/Seniors/Alzheimers/Alzheimers_2008a.htm#Computers

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The Memory Key website is named after my book "The Memory Key", a
practical user-friendly handbook designed to help people achieve
genuine, long-lasting memory improvement.
http://www.memory-key.com/AboutTheSite/about_book.htm

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Copyright © 2008 Capital Research Limited.
All Rights Reserved

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The Memory Key website is named after my book "The Memory Key", a
practical user-friendly handbook designed to help people achieve
genuine, long-lasting memory improvement.

http://www.memory-key.com/AboutTheSite/about_book.htm

www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1564144704/thememorykey-20

========================================

Copyright © 2008 Capital Research Limited.

All Rights Reserved

========================================

This issue may be FREELY distributed as long as the
entire issue is included.

Subscribers can easily change their email address at:
http://www.memory-key.com/newsletters/address.htm

If you are not already subscribed and you wish to receive it free
by Email each week, transmit "subscribe" as the subject header of
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