memory

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Real 'Thinking Cap' May Not Be So Far Off

Magnetic pulse boosts learning, study shows; headgear next?

(Newser) - A magnetic pulse directed at a certain area of the brain may enhance learning and memory, the Telegraph reports. Canadian researchers subjected volunteers to a test that required they track a dot moving on a computer screen with a joystick, and volunteers who received stimulation fared much better.

Study: Fatty Foods Boost Memory

Hormone may have helped early humans remember where the rich pickings were

(Newser) - The same foods blamed for clogging arteries may help the brain build memories, National Geographic reports. Researchers studying obesity discovered that rats given oleoylethanolamide, or OEA—a compound produced in the intestines when fat is digested—demonstrated improved memory retention in tasks. They believe the same mechanism exists in humans...

Poor Kids' Stress Harms the Brain, Chance of Success

Elevated stress hormones early can lead to lack of working memory later

(Newser) - Chronic stress caused by growing up poor appears to impair a developing child’s working memory, the Washington Post reports, pointing to another link between childhood poverty and lessened long-term success. While environmental and experiential factors—such as having fewer toys and more exposure to lead—likely affect the achievement...

Brain Scientists Find 'Memory Molecule'

Blocking it could erase memories; enhancing may stave off dementia

(Newser) - Imagine having the power to wipe out a particularly troubling memory, or to enhance neuron systems in order to stave off the effects of dementia. Such techniques, once only considered by science fiction writers and philosophers, could now be within our grasp, based on studies in animals. The New York ...

'Brain Gyms' Offer Grey Matter Workouts

(Newser) - Gyms offering to exercise the brain instead of the body are attracting thousands of aging Americans seeking to tone their gray matter, the Wall Street Journal reports. The gyms are generally based around brain-fitness software, but some offer courses in brain nutrition as well as mental-fitness assessments with personal trainers...

Scientists Read Subjects' Location From Brain Scans

(Newser) - Decoding part of the complex system used by the brain to store memories has allowed scientists to determine a person’s location by looking at brain scans, Wired reports. A study took images of the hippocampus—the part responsible for spatial relationship and short-term memories—as individuals navigated a virtual-reality...

Cut Calories for a Sharper Mind
 Cut Calories for a Sharper Mind 
Mar 4, 2009 12:19 PM CST

Cut Calories for a Sharper Mind

Study finds that restricted eating leads to better memory in older adults

(Newser) - It's been shown in rats and monkeys, and now the first human study looking at the effects of calorie restriction on memory also confirms that eating less can improve your brain. A German research team gave 50 older adults a diet with normal nutrients but 30% fewer calories, and found...

Beta Blocker 'Erases' Bad Memories

(Newser) - A drug usually prescribed for high blood pressure can relieve people of painful memories, the Telegraph reports. Taking the beta blocker drug propranolol, subjects in a Dutch study experienced less fear when reminded of a shocking memory. Researchers said millions of people suffering from emotional disorders or "self-perpetuating memories"...

Dieting Could Help Your Memory

Cutting calories could help stave off dementia, Alzheimer's

(Newser) - Eating less could help you remember more, a study suggests. Among volunteers with an average age of 60, the Telegraph reports, those instructed to eat 30% fewer calories improved their memory test scores by 20% compared to those asked to maintain their diets or eat 20% more. The finding fuels...

Single Nerve Cell Can Hold a Memory: Study

New findings may shed light on addiction, memory disorders

(Newser) - Individual neurons in the brain can hang on to memories for a minute or longer, a new study finds. Something like a computer’s temporary random access memory (RAM), this working memory is what allows you to keep a phone number in your head for a few seconds, then forget...

Feeling Lonely? Give Your Sweetie's T-Shirt a Sniff

Men, women report snuggling with clothing

(Newser) - Both men and women cuddle with and smell their loved ones' clothing when they can't be together, MSNBC reports. "When I was going through high school and college, I would wear a boyfriend’s shirt to bed," said the author of a new study on how scent evokes...

Legal or Not, Bottled Smarts Are Here to Stay
Legal or Not, Bottled Smarts Are Here to Stay
GLOSSIES
Jan 7, 2009 6:52 AM CST

Legal or Not, Bottled Smarts Are Here to Stay

Safer, cheaper drugs will quell dissidents, scientists argue

(Newser) - The case is stacking up in favor of "smart pills," memory- and alertness-boosting prescription drugs already used by fighter pilots, corporate execs, and students for a cognitive edge, writes Maia Szalavitz in Time. Proponents say legalization debates are moot at this point—"the genie is already out...

Vitamin Could Delay Onset of Alzheimer's

B3 pills caused big improvement in mice; human trials to begin

(Newser) - A simple dose of vitamin B3 may be one of the keys to combating the brain deterioration caused by Alzheimer’s disease, California scientists say. The team found that diseased mice given high levels of the vitamin retained normal memory ability over the four months of a study, and healthy...

Scientists Wipe Mouse Memories

Treatment selectively erased memories of electric shocks

(Newser) - Scientists have succeeded in blanking selected memories from the brains of mice, Reuters reports. After brain protein levels were manipulated, the mice lost the memory of an electric shock but didn't forget anything else. The researchers said it was doubtful that it would be possible—or desirable—to do the...

Web Use Gives Brain a Boost
Web Use Gives Brain a Boost
Oct 14, 2008 3:56 PM CDT

Web Use Gives Brain a Boost

For middle-aged, regular Internet surfing is better than reading a book: study

(Newser) - Sudoku not your thing? Web surfing may help boost brain power and prevent brain shrinkage in middle-aged and older people in a way that reading books cannot, the BBC reports. By studying the brain scans of volunteers aged 55 to 76, researchers found that experienced internet users show enhanced activity...

Brain Doesn't Remember Events—It Relives Them

Study records evidence supporting long-suspected memory pathway

(Newser) - Scientists for the first time have observed how brain cells drum up a memory, and the findings buttress the notion that our minds don't so much remember events as relive them. When recalling short film clips they had seen, patients' brains repeated the same pattern of neuron activity they experienced...

To Remember, Exercise
 To Remember, Exercise 
Sep 3, 2008 4:26 PM CDT

To Remember, Exercise

Australian study shows exercise improves 'flawed memory'

(Newser) - A little sweatin' to the oldies might help oldsters with mild memory problems, an Australian study suggests. Volunteers who took part in “home-based physical activity” showed a “modest improvement in cognitive function" over those who did not. Results showed that just a few hours of walking per week...

Staying Sharp While Aging: It Has a Price

Exercising the brain can stem tide of memory loss

(Newser) - Fighting the aging process is more about hard work than anti-wrinkle cream and hair dye, Jonah Lehrer writes in the Washington Post. The issue for most of us is not to dance like Madonna or swim like US Olympian Dara Torres; it's to remember names and places and find the...

10 Factors That Affect Memory
 10 Factors That Affect Memory
Aug 6, 2008 1:52 PM CDT

10 Factors That Affect Memory

From diet to depression, here's what to watch

(Newser) - New research suggests our lifestyle choices affect memory loss almost as much as aging. Forbes looks at 10 surprising factors, positive and negative, that determine how sharp you'll stay:  
  1. Tofu—eating too much can increase dementia in the elderly.
  1. Carbs—likewise, too many derail Alzheimer's-fighting enzymes in the brain.
...

A Good Night's Sleep Shores Up Memory

8 hours of shut-eye helps brain function the next day, study suggests

(Newser) - Nothing improves memory like a little shut-eye, a new study suggests. Researchers taught new information and skills to two groups of patients, and allowed one to sleep normally while giving the other none or only a nap. The sleepers tested better the next day–and scans revealed enhanced brain activity...

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