Learning Facebook may keep seniors sharp

03/2013

Preliminary findings from a small study show that older adults (68-91), after learning to use Facebook, performed about 25% better on tasks designed to measure their ability to continuously monitor and to quickly add or delete the contents of their working memory (updating), compared to their baseline performance. Two other groups of 14 showed no change. The second group of 14 were taught to use a private online diary site (Penzu.com), while the third control group were told they were on a wait-list for Facebook training.

Wohltmann, Janelle. 2013. Presented at the International Neuropsychological Society’s annual meeting in Hawaii.

Report on Futurity

Related News

In the first mouse study, when young and old mice were conjoined, allowing blood to flow between the two, the young mice showed a decrease in

In a small study, 266 older adults with mild cognitive impairment (aged 70+) received a daily dose of 0.8 mg folic acid, 0.5 mg vitamin B12 and 20 mg vitamin B6 or a placebo for two years.

Comparison of 99 chimpanzee brains ranging from 10-51 years of age with 87 human brains ranging from 22-88 years of age has revealed that, unlike the humans, chimpanzee brains showed no sign of shrinkage with age. But the answer may be simple: we live much longer.

A study involving 105 people with Alzheimer's disease and 125 healthy older adults has compared cognitive function and brain shrinkage in those aged 60-75 and those aged 80+.

A three-year study following 1,262 healthy older Canadians (aged 67-84) has found that, among those who exercised little, those who had high-salt diets showed significantly greater cognitive decline.

In my book on remembering what you’re doing and what you intend to do, I briefly discuss the popular strategy of asking someone to remind you (basically, whether it’s an effective strategy depends on several factors, of which the most important is the reliability of the person doing the remindin

A study comparing activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in young, middle-aged and aged m

Dietary changes affect levels of biomarkers associated with Alzheimer's

Sleep apnea linked to later dementia

A study involving 298 older women with sleep problems found that those who had disordered breathing (such as sleep apnea) were significantly more likely to develop dementia or mild cognitive impairment.

Functional impairment good indicator of mild cognitive impairment

Pages

Subscribe to Latest newsSubscribe to Latest newsSubscribe to Latest health newsSubscribe to Latest news