Memory News Digest

A large epidemiological study has found that older people with normal vitamin B12 status and high levels of folate had higher scores on a test of cognitive function, but when vitamin B12 is low, high levels of folate are associated with poor cognitive performance, as well as a greater probability of anemia.

http://www.memory-key.com/news/2007/news_2007Feb.htm#folate

Students who believe intelligence can be developed perform better

Research with 12-year-olds has found that those who believed intelligence was malleable did increasingly better over a two year period than those who believed their intelligence was fixed. Another study found that, when students showing declines in their math grades were taught that intelligence could be increased, they reversed their decline.

http://www.memory-key.com/news/2007/news_2007Feb.htm#intelligence

Implicit stereotypes and gender identification may affect female math performance

Relatedly, another study has come out showing that women enrolled in an introductory calculus course who possessed strong implicit gender stereotypes, and were likely to identify themselves as feminine, performed worse relative to their female counterparts who did not possess such stereotypes and who were less likely to identify with traditionally female characteristics.

http://www.memory-key.com/news/2007/news_2007Feb.htm#stereotypes

Reducing the racial achievement gap

And staying with the same theme, a study that came out last year revealed that a single, 15-minute intervention erased almost half the racial achievement gap between African American and white students. The intervention involved writing a brief paragraph about which value, from a list of values, was most important to them and why. The intervention may have helped protect against negative stereotypes.

http://www.memory-key.com/news/2007/news_2007Feb.htm#racial

Highly accomplished people more prone to failure than others when under stress

In a study involving 100 undergraduates, performance of students with strong working memory declined to the same level as those with more limited working memory, when the students were put under pressure. Those with more limited working memory were unaffected by the additional stress, probably because the less effective strategies that they use rely less on working memory.

http://www.memory-key.com/news/2007/news_2007Feb.htm#stress

African-American and poor children more affected by sleep problems

A study involving 166 8- and 9-year-old African-American and European-American children from varying socioeconomic backgrounds has found that sleep disruption has greater effects on cognitive performance for children from lower-income homes and African-American children.

http://www.memory-key.com/news/2007/news_2007Feb.htm#sleep

Size of brain areas does matter -- but bigger isn't necessarily better

In a fascinating mouse study that overturns our simplistic notion that, when it comes to the brain, bigger is better, researchers have found that there is an optimal size for regions within the brain. It now seems that the best size in one that is best tuned to the context of the neural system within which that area functions. It is known that significant variability in cortical area size exists in humans, and this may explain at least in part variability in human performance.

http://www.memory-key.com/news/2007/news_2007Feb.htm#Size

Post-natal choline supplements may reduce cognitive effects associated with prenatal alcohol exposure

A rat study has found that giving choline to rat pups exposed to alcohol during the equivalent of the third trimester, when there’s a spurt in brain growth, significantly reduced the severity of alcohol-related over-activity and spatial learning deficits, though not motor coordination deficits.

http://www.memory-key.com/news/2007/news_2007Feb.htm#choline

Breaking fish advice during pregnancy may benefit babies

A study involving nearly 12,000 women has found that children whose mothers ate the least amount of seafood during pregnancy showed the worst performance on tests of social development and verbal IQ, and beneficial effects were evident among children of women who ate more than the recommended guidelines.

http://www.memory-key.com/news/2007/news_2007Feb.htm#fish

'Off-pump' CABG surgery appears to have no benefit on cognitive or cardiac outcomes at 5 years

Confirming earlier reports, a five-year study of 281 cardiac patients has found no greater risk of cognitive decline five years after surgery in those who experienced a heart pump.

http://www.memory-key.com/news/2007/news_2007Feb.htm#pump

Odor can help memory, in some circumstances

Re-experiencing an odor experienced during declarative learning when in slow-wave sleep improved learning, but not when the odor was re-experienced during REM sleep. Nor did odor help procedural (skill) learning.

http://www.memory-key.com/news/2007/news_2007Feb.htm#Odor

Eye movement tasks can be used to assess fetal alcohol spectrum disorders

New research indicates than simple eye-movement tasks can be used to assess individuals with Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.

http://www.memory-key.com/news/2007/news_2007Feb.htm#Eye

A gene that influences intelligence

The gene CHRM2, that activates multiple signaling pathways in the brain involved in learning, memory and other higher brain functions, has been linked to performance IQ. Several variations within the CHRM2 gene (which is on chromosome 7) could be correlated with slight differences in performance IQ scores, and when people had more than one positive variation in the gene, the improvements in performance IQ were cumulative.

http://www.memory-key.com/news/2007/news_2007Feb.htm#gene

Common gene version optimizes thinking but carries a risk

On the same subject, another study has found that the most common version of DARPP-32, a gene that shapes and controls a circuit between the striatum and prefrontal cortex, optimizes information filtering by the prefrontal cortex, thus improving working memory capacity and executive control (and thus, intelligence) — but is also more prevalent among people who developed schizophrenia.

http://www.memory-key.com/news/2007/news_2007Feb.htm#Common

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ALZHEIMER'S NEWS

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

February 2007

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

Loneliness increases risk of Alzheimer's disease

A new four-year study of 823 older adults provides evidence that loneliness is a risk factor for Alzheimer’s, independent of social isolation (indicated by factors such as a small network and infrequent social activities).

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

Vasectomy may put men at risk for type of dementia

A small survey of men with Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA) has found that 40% of them had had a vasectomy, in comparison to 16% of controls. Preliminary evidence from the study also indicates a possible link between frontotemporal dementia and a vasectomy — but not with Alzheimer’s.

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

More on why high cholesterol might increase your risk of Alzheimer’s

A cell study provides more understanding of why there might be a link between cholesterol and Alzheimer's disease, and suggests a new approach to slowing Alzheimer’s.

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

Inhaled anesthetics might increase the risk of Alzheimer's

A study using a new imaging technique has been able to see why inhaled anesthetics might increase the risk of Alzheimer’s, why the injected anesthetic propofol is less dangerous, and why thiopental doesn’t increase the risk.

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

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