About memory

• A large study found teenagers' grades suffered significantly and linearly, for each hour spent watching TV, using the internet or playing computer games.
• Of these activities, the most harmful was watching TV.
• Hours spent doing homework or reading for pleasure were each associated with a significant increase in GCSE grades.
• The amount of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity had no effect on grades.

• A stress hormone has been found to be associated with more amyloid-beta protein, in mice and human neurons.
• The finding helps explain why stress is a risk factor for Alzheimer's.
• A previous 38-year study supports this with the finding that women who scored highly in "neuroticism" in middle age, had a greater chance of later developing Alzheimer's.
• This link was largely accounted for by chronic stress experienced by these women over the four decades.

• A large study shows stroke is associated not only with an immediate drop in cognitive ability, but also with faster declines in some cognitive functions.
• The finding points to a need for better long-term care.

• On average, older adults with low levels of vitamin D showed much faster decline in episodic memory and executive function.
• Older adults with dementia had significantly lower levels of vitamin D compared to those with MCI or normal cognition.
• Low vitamin D was more common in African-Americans and Hispanics, compared to whites.

• Type 2 diabetes is known to increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease.
• In a reasonably large study, diabetes was found to be linked with higher levels of tau protein, regardless of the presence of dementia.
• Diabetes was also linked with greater brain shrinkage.
• The finding adds to evidence that diabetes increases the risk of cognitive impairment in old age.

• Difficulties in remembering past events and imagining future ones are often experienced by those with multiple sclerosis.
• A trial involving patients with MS has found that training in mentally visualizing imaginery scenarios can improve their ability to recall past events.
• Deficits in event memory and imagination have also been found in older adults, so this finding might have wider application.

• A large study links high levels of motor vehicle emissions around the home to poorer academic performance in children.
• The findings support other studies that found similar results looking at vehicle pollution around schools.

Idiosyncratic brain activity among older people watching a thriller-type movie adds to evidence that:

• age may affect the ability to perceive and remember the order of events (explaining why older adults may find it harder to follow complex plots)
• age affects the ability to focus attention and not be distracted
• age affects the brain's connectivity — how well connected regions work together.

• A correlation has been found between physical activity in healthy older adults and more variable resting-state brain activity.
• More variable resting-state activity in older adults has previously been linked to better cognition.
• No such correlation was found between cardiorespiratory fitness and resting-state brain activity.
• The finding supports previous evidence linking higher levels of physical activity in old age with better cognition and brain health.

• A large study found that people who developed dementia started to lose awareness of memory problems some 2½ years before dementia onset.
• This loss of awareness was associated with three examples of neuropathology, including tau tangles and brain infarcts.

• A large study of older adults with age-related macular degeneration found no cognitive benefit from taking omega-3 supplements, or supplements of lutein and zeaxanthin.

• A large study of older adults (70+) found no cognitive benefit from a regular exercise program, compared to another social & mental intervention.
• However, a subset of participants (those over 80, and those with poor physical function at the beginning of the study) did show improvement in executive function.
• Participants in both programs showed no cognitive decline over the two-year period, suggesting both interventions were helpful.

• Foreign words are learned better when gestures or pictures are used.
• Imitating symbolic gestures is more beneficial than viewing illustrative pictures.
• These benefits correlate with activity in specific brain regions.
• The benefits are only found in translation tasks, not in free recall.

• 3-5 minute questionnaire can screen for presence and severity of dementia
• its reliability is comparable to existing screening tools
• its ease of use is better

• 1st- & 2nd-grade children learned less math and developed more math anxiety when math-anxious parents frequently helped with their math homework.
• Children with math-anxious parents who rarely helped with their math homework were not affected.

• Children taught foreign language vocabulary in the form of a song learned to pronounce the words better than those who learned the words using an oral poem.
• Recall was also significantly better, and particularly so after six months.

• A review of previous research has compared brain activity in those with PTSD who experienced trauma, those who experienced trauma but didn't develop PTSD, and those who never experienced trauma.
• Those who had PTSD had differential activity in two brain regions.
• Those who had experienced trauma had diffe

• Implementation plans are a strategy for helping you remember your intended future actions.
• College students with low WMC performed a prospective memory task at the same level as those with a higher WMC, but only when they used a simple implementation plan.