A French study has predicted with 90% accuracy which patients with mild cognitive impairment would receive a clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease within the following two years. The best neurological predictors were cortical thickness in two brain regions (the right anterior cingulate and middle frontal gyri), and the best cognitive predictors were deficits in both free recall and recognition episodic memory. Combining these measures achieved the highest accuracy.
Latest Research News
In 2013 I reported how a 3-second interruption while doing a task doubled the rate of sequence errors, while a 4s one tripled it. A new study has attempted to measure just how much ongoing interruptions can negatively affect the quality of a complex creative task.
I've reported before on the idea that the drop in working memory capacity commonly seen in old age is related to the equally typical increase in distractability. Studies of brain activity have also indicated that lower WMC is correlated with greater storage of distractor information. So those with higher WMC, it's thought, are better at filtering out distraction and focusing only on the pertinent information. Older adults may show a reduced WMC, therefore, because their ability to ignore distraction and irrelevancies has declined.
Why does that happen?
Another study adds to the growing evidence that a Mediterranean diet is good for the aging brain.
The New York study used data from 674 non-demented older adults (average age 80). It found that those who closely followed such a diet showed significantly less brain shrinkage. Specifically, total brain volume was an average 13.11 milliliters greater, with grey matter volume 5 millilitres greater, and white matter 6.4 millilitres greater.
People with Alzheimer's disease develop problems in recognizing familiar faces. It has been thought that this is just part of their general impairment, but a new study indicates that a specific, face-related impairment develops early in the disease. This impairment has to do with the recognition of a face as a whole.
A pilot study involving 41 military veterans and 5 active-duty soldiers diagnosed with clinical levels of PTSD has found that one month of transcendental meditation produced dramatic benefits, with 37 (80%) having their symptoms reduced to below the clinical level, and 40 having a clinically significant decrease of more than 10 points.
A test 90 days later also showed that PTSD symptoms continued to improve, and a further three individuals had dropped to below the clinical level.
A small study has found that a 12-week exercise program significantly improved cognition in both older adults with MCI and those who were cognitively healthy, but that effect on blood flow in the brain was different in these two groups.
Disrupted sleep in one's 50s, 60s raises Alzheimer's risk
A study involving 95 healthy older adults found that adults reporting a decline in sleep quality in their 40s and 50s had more amyloid-beta in their brains later in life, while those reporting poorer sleep in their 50s and 60s had more tau tangles. Those with high levels of tau protein were more likely to lack the synchronized brain waves during deep NREM sleep that are associated with a good night's sleep, and the more tau protein, the less synchronized these brain waves were.
Exercise activates brain networks in older adults
A study involving healthy older adults (55-85) found that recall was better after a session of moderately intense exercise, and several crucial brain regions showed greater activation.
The recall task involved identifying famous names and non famous ones. The test occurred 30 minutes after the exercise session (using an exercise bike) and on a separate day after a period of rest.
A long-running study following 387 Australian women found that regular exercise in middle age was the best lifestyle change they could make to prevent cognitive decline in their later years.
The women were aged 45-55 when the study began in 1992. Health and lifestyle factors were assessed at intervals over the next 20 years.
Memory was assessed using a Verbal Episodic Memory test in which they were asked to learn a list of 10 unrelated words and attempt to recall them 30 minutes later.