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More evidence that older adults become less able to ignore distraction

A new study adds to the evidence that our ability to focus on one thing and ignore irrelevant information gets worse with age, and that this may be a crucial factor in age-related cognitive impairment.

A study involving young (average age 22) and older adults (average age 77) showed participants pictures of overlapping faces and places (houses and buildings) and asked them to identify the gender of the person.

Vascular disease underlies cognitive decline in healthy aging
  • New findings add to evidence that the key to not becoming cognitively impaired in old age is vascular health.

More evidence that vascular disease plays a crucial role in age-related cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s comes from data from participants in the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative.

Protein in the urine: A warning sign for cognitive decline

Two recent studies indicate that the presence of protein in the urine, even in small amounts, could be a warning sign that a patient may develop cognitive impairment with age.

A six-year study involving over 1200 older women (70+) has found that low amounts of albumin in the urine, at levels not traditionally considered clinically significant, strongly predict faster cognitive decline in older women.

When estrogen helps memory, and when it doesn’t

Recent rodent studies confirm attention and learning is more difficult for women when estrogen is high, but estrogen therapy can help menopausal women — if given during a critical window.

Recent rodent studies add to our understanding of how estrogen affects learning and memory.

70-year-olds smarter than they used to be

Findings from a large Swedish study are consistent with the hypothesis that more education and better healthcare have produced less cognitive impairment in present-day older adults.

Beginning in 1971, healthy older adults in Gothenburg, Sweden, have been participating in a longitudinal study of their cognitive health. The first H70 study started in 1971 with 381 residents of Gothenburg who were 70 years old; a new one began in 2000 with 551 residents and is still ongoing.

New advice on how much cognitive abilities decline with age

A new study suggests that inconsistencies in rate of age-related cognitive decline may be partly due to practice effects, but though decline does occur it is slower than some have estimated.

Reports on cognitive decline with age have, over the years, come out with two general findings: older adults do significantly worse than younger adults; older adults are just as good as younger adults.

Have I done it?

Watching another person do something can leave you with the memory of having done it yourself.

I’m not at all sure why the researcher says they were “stunned” by these findings, since it doesn’t surprise me in the least, but a series of experiments into the role of imagination in creating false memories has revealed that people who had watched a video of someone else doing a simple action

Memory problems more common in older men?

A large community study of older adults has found mild cognitive impairment was more prevalent in men.

A study involving 2,050 people aged 70 to 89 has found that mild cognitive impairment was 1.5 times more common in men than women. Among the 1,969 who did not have dementia, over 16% (329) had MCI — around 11% amnestic MCI (MCI-A) and 5% non-amnestic (MCI-MCD).

Cognitive decline is not simply a function of getting old
  • New research suggests that even “normal” cognitive decline with age reflects the type of brain damage that is (in greater amount) characteristic of dementia.

Findings from the long-running Religious Orders Study, from 354 Catholic nuns and priests who were given annual cognitive tests for up to 13 years before having their brains examined post-mortem, has revealed that even the very early cognitive impairments we regard as normal in aging are associat

Brain may age faster in people whose hearts pump less blood
  • A large study confirms that your cardiac health affects your brain, and provides evidence that the extent of this problem is greater than we think.

I have often spoken of the mantra: What’s good for your heart is good for your brain.

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