FEATURES
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Reaction time measured in milliseconds
Daily, Monthly, and All-Time High Score pages
21-Day Basic Training program
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BrainDiary
Unlimited exercise/play
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Direct Relationship Seen Between Plasma Beta-Amyloid Levels and Cognitive Decline
(Medscape Cardiology - August 13, 2010) - There is a direct and linear association between plasma beta-amyloid levels and multiple aspects of cognitive decline over time, including cognitive changes that constitute conversion to Alzheimer's disease, according to new findings from a population-based, ethnically diverse longitudinal sample of older adults.
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Early Evidence of Brain Complications With Type 2 Diabetes in Obese Adolescents
(Medscape Cardiology - August 10, 2010) - In a small study of obese adolescents, those with type 2 diabetes performed worse on several cognitive function tests than their equally obese peers without diabetes or prediabetes. Subtle brain abnormalities on magnetic resonance imaging were also seen only in the type 2 diabetes group.
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Outcomes in Bipolar Related to Cognition, Mood
(PsychCentral.com - August 9, 2010) - In a study published in the July issue of the journal Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, Mount Sinai School of Medicine researchers reported that in individuals with bipolar disorder, overall functional difficulties in life were related to decreased processing speed.
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Deep Brain Stimulation Shows Promise for Early Alzheimer's Disease
(Medscape Cardiology - August 6, 2010) - In patients with mild Alzheimer's disease (AD), deep brain stimulation (DBS) modulates specific brain circuits important in memory and is safe, according to results of the first phase 1 study of DBS for AD, published online July 30 in the Annals of Neurology.
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Iron-Deficiency Anemia Linked to Memory Deficits in Children
(Medscape - August 6, 2010) - In a study published in the journal Pediatrics on July 26, 2010, researchers from Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts found poorer object permanence and short-term memory encoding and/or retrieval in infants with iron-deficiency anemia at 9 months.
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Type 2 Diabetic Teens Show Brain Abnormalities
(MedPage Today - August 3, 2010) - Brain structure and cognitive function appear to suffer among obese teens with type 2 diabetes, according to MRI and neuropsychology findings.
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Intranasal Insulin Shows Benefit in Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer's Disease
(Medscape Cardiology - July 16, 2010) - A small, randomized trial of 2 doses of intranasal insulin showed improvements in memory and functioning and improved CSF biomarker profiles among patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) with treatment over placebo.
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Brain Function Differs With Weight, Body Shape
(MedPage Today - July 16, 2010) - Body mass index and the distribution of fat were both associated with cognitive function in a large study of postmenopausal women, researchers said.
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Regular Tea Consumption May Slow Cognitive Decline
(Medscape Cardiology - July 12, 2010) - Regular tea consumption may slow the rate of cognitive decline in cognitively normal older adults, but this protective effect does not appear to be related to caffeine, a large longitudinal study suggests.
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Pre-Diabetes Symptoms Not Linked to Cognitive Decline
(Modern Medicine - July 8, 2010) - In older people with no history of diabetes, insulin resistance and elevated fasting glucose levels have no association with impaired cognitive function, according to research published in the July issue of Diabetes.
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Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Improves Certain Language Deficits in Alzheimer's Disease
(Medscape Cardiology - June 29, 2010) - Patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) who received repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to the prefrontal cortex experienced improved auditory sentence comprehension, results of a new study suggest. The improvement was apparent after 2 weeks and persisted for 8 weeks.
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Cognitive Decline Increased in Middle-Aged Patients With Type 2 Diabetes
(Medscape Cardiology - June 24, 2010) - Middle-aged patients with type 2 diabetes have roughly a 3 times greater decline in certain cognitive functions during a 5-year period than people without diabetes, a new study suggests.
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Vitamin D Linked to Poor Learning Performance in Patients With MS
(Medscape Cardiology - June 9, 2010) - A new study shows that serum Vitamin D deficieincy is associated with poor learning performance among patients with multiple sclerosis.
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Violent Video Games Linked to Aggression, Diminished Cognitive Function
(Medscape Cardiology - June 3, 2010) - Male players of violent video games, particularly first person shooter games (FPSG), have more feelings of aggression than nonplayers, according to a small study from German researchers presented at the American Psychiatric Association (APA) 2010 Annual Meeting.
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Too Much Belly Fat Linked to Dementia
(Web MD - May 20, 2010) - Excess belly fat may make your brain shrink and boost your risk of dementia later, according to a new study published online in the Annals of Neurology.
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Vitamin D Deficiency Linked to Cognitive Impairment in Older Women
(Medscape Cardiology - April 29, 2010) - Vitamin D deficiency appears to increase the risk for cognitive impairment, a large, population-based study of older women shows.
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Elevated CRP Level Linked to Decline in Executive Function and Frontal Lobe Damage
(Mescape Cardiology - April 1, 2010) - A new study shows a link between elevated levels of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, an indicator of low-grade inflammation, and decline in executive function but not other cognitive domains.
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Hospitalization Linked to Likelihood of Cognitive Decline for Older Adults
(Science Daily - February 24, 2010) - Older patients hospitalized for acute care or a critical illness are more likely to experience cognitive decline compared to older adults who are not hospitalized, according to a study in the February 24 issue of JAMA.
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Metabolic Syndrome Linked to Poor Cognition in Midlife
(Modern Medicine - January 18, 2010) - Metabolic syndrome that persists over years is associated with worse cognitive function in late middle age, according to a study in the January issue of Diabetes Care.
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Periodontitis Found to be Associated With Cognitive Impairment Among Older Adults
(HealthCanal.com - January 13, 2010) - Exposure to the common pathogen causing periodontitis is linked to poor performance on cognitive tasks among older individuals, according to a study led by James Noble, M.D., assistant professor of clinical neurology at the Columbia University Medical Center Affiliation at Harlem Hospital, in collaboration with physicians at Columbia University Medical Center.
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Ginkgo Biloba Doesn't Slow Mental Decline
(WebMD - December 29, 2009) - A 6-year clinical study published in the December 23/30 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association found that ginkgo biloba doesn't slow age-related mental decline
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Impaired Cognition in Elderly Women Linked to Traffic Pollution
(Environmental Health News - December 22, 2009) - A decrease in cognitive function was found in elderly women who live near and are exposed to particulate pollution from nearby traffic.
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Beta-Amyloid Inhibitor Fails in Alzheimer's Trial
(MedPage Today - December 15, 2009) - An investigational drug to reduce beta-amyloid protein deposition failed to prevent Alzheimer's disease progression in a Phase III study, after the drug had shown promise in an earlier trial.
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Impaired Kidney Function Linked To Cognitive Decline In Elderly
(ScienceDaily - September 29, 2009) - A new study conducted by researchers at Rush University Medical Center and published in the medical journal Neurology suggests that impaired kidney function is a risk factor for cognitive decline in old age. The study found that poor kidney function was linked specifically with cognition related to memory functions.
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Fatty Acid Supplements Can Improve Infant Cognition
(Modern Medicine - September 18, 2009) - Babies given infant formula supplemented with long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids showed signs of improved cognitive function as demonstrated by means-end problem solving, according to a study published online on Sept. 14 in Child Development.
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Alzheimer's Gene Alters Brain Function in Young Adults
(HealthNewsDigest.com - September 10, 2009) - The gene most closely linked to an increased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease affects brain activity in young adults -- much earlier in life than previously reported -- according to researchers at Duke University Medical Center and The Pennsylvania State University.
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High Diastolic Blood Pressure Linked to Cognitive Problems
(MedPageToday.com - August 25, 2009) - Elevated diastolic blood pressure appears to be associated with cognitive impairment in people 45 and older, a cross-sectional study showed.
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Increased Adherence to Mediterranean Diet Associated with Slower Cognitive Decline
(Endocrine Today - August 18, 2009) - Adults who strictly adhere to a Mediterranean diet may have slower cognitive decline compared with adults who do not follow the diet. However, no association was observed between diet adherence and risk for dementia.
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Severe COPD May Lead To Cognitive Impairment
(ScienceDaily - July 15, 2009) - Severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is associated with lower cognitive function in older adults, according to research from Mount Sinai School of Medicine.
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White Matter Changes May Predict Cognition Issues
(Modern Medicine - July 14, 2009) - The progression of white matter hypersensitivity is a better predictor of persistent cognitive impairment than baseline white matter hypersensitivity volume, according to a study published in the July 14 issue of Neurology.
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Antihypertension Diet Linked to Improved Cognition
(Modern Medicine - July 14, 2009) - Eating a diet designed to lower blood pressure may be associated with a reduction in age-related cognitive decline, supporting a link between hypertension and dementia, according to research presented at the 2009 International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease, held July 11 to 16 in Vienna, Austria.
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Snoring Associated With Sleep Apnea May Impair Brain Function More Than Previously Thought
(ScienceDaily - June 4, 2009) - A study published this month in the Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism found that sufferers of obstructive sleep apnea experience similar changes in brain biochemistry as people who have had a severe stroke or who are dying.
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Macular Degeneration and Cognitive Function
(Archives of Opthamology - May 2009) - In an older population, cognitive impairment may share common age-related pathogenesis and risk factors with early AMD.
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Perimenopause Associated with Cognitive Decline
(MedPageToday - May 27, 2009) - Women lose their intellectual edge in perimenopause, but regain it in the later phases of menopause, according to a study in the May 26, 2009 issue of Neurology.
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Serum Uric Acid and Cognitive Function and Dementia
(Medscape - May 26, 2009) - Higher levels of uric acid are associated with a decreased risk of dementia and better cognitive function later in life.
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Cognition and Attention Altered in Youngsters who Live with Gas Appliances
(Environmental Health News - May 22, 2009) - Preschoolers who lived in homes using gas appliances scored lower on cognitive tests and had a higher likelihood of exhibiting inattention behaviors than those in homes without gas appliances, according to a recent study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
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Vitamin D May Boost Cognitive Function in Older Brains
(Montreal Gazette - May 20, 2009) - New research published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry involving more than 3,000 European men suggests vitamin D, the "sunshine" vitamin, may boost cognitive function in middle-aged and older brains.
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Age-related Eye Disease May Be Associated With Cognitive Impairment
(ScienceDaily - May 15, 2009) - Older adults with low scores on tests of cognitive function, including thinking, learning and memory appear more likely to have the early stages of the eye disease age-related macular degeneration, according to a new report.
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High-Dose Vitamin E Slows Functional Decline in Alzheimer's Disease
(Medscape Cardiology - May 5, 2009) - Patients with Alzheimer's disease who receive high-dose vitamin E combined with a cholinesterase inhibitor have less long-term deterioration in their ability to perform activities of daily living than those who do not receive vitamin E, according to a new study presented at the American Geriatrics Society Annual Scientific Meeting.
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IQ Lower Among Children Resuscitated at Birth Even When Asymptomatic
(Medscape Cardiology - April 27, 2009) - Results of a cohort study published in the Lancet show that children who received resuscitation as an infant have an increased risk for low IQ scores when they reach 8 years of age.
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Anti-Inflammatory Drugs Do Not Prevent Dementia, Alzheimer's Disease
(Medscape Cardiology - April 23, 2009) - Contrary to previous reports, a new study suggests that nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs do not prevent dementia, including Alzheimer's disease, but may simply delay disease onset.
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Statins Fail to Prevent Dementia, Alzheimer's Disease
(TheHeart.org - April16, 2009) - High serum cholesterol may contribute to the development of Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia, but lowering cholesterol levels with statins does not prevent these problems, according to a report published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.
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Young Adults At Future Risk Of Alzheimer's Have Different Brain Activity
(ScienceDaily - April 14, 2009) - Young adults with a genetic variant that raises their risk of developing Alzheimer's Disease show changes in their brain activity decades before any symptoms might arise, according to a new brain imaging study by scientists from the University of Oxford and Imperial College London.
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Adiposity and Cognitive Decline
(Medscape - April 7, 2009) - The Health, Aging and Body Composition (ABC) Study found that among men, total fat mass was significantly associated with cognitive decline.
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Decline in Mental Skills May Start in 20s
(WebMD - March 23, 2009) - Researchers from the University of Virginia have found that cognitive decline -- a condition most often associated with older or elderly adults -- actually starts to kick in relatively early in adulthood, at age 27.
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Diabetes And Elevated Levels Of Cholesterol Linked To Faster Cognitive Decline In Alzheimer's Patients
(ScienceDaily - March 15, 2009) - A history of diabetes and elevated levels of cholesterol, especially LDL cholesterol, are associated with faster cognitive decline in patients with Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new study from Columbia University Medical Center researchers.
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Teenage Boys Who Eat Fish At Least Once A Week Achieve Higher Intelligence Scores
(ScienceDaily - March 10, 2009) - Fifteen-year-old males who ate fish at least once a week displayed higher cognitive skills at the age of 18 than those who it ate it less frequently, according to a study of nearly 4,000 teenagers published in the March issue of Acta Paediatrica.
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Metabolic Syndrome Linked to Cognitive Impairment
(MedPage Today - March 9, 2009) - Older women who have metabolic syndrome may be at risk of cognitive impairment, researchers from the University of California San Francisco reported in the March issue of Archives of Neurology.
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Long Work Hours Tied to Poorer Mental Function
(Reuters - March 5, 2009) - People who work well beyond the standard 40-hour week may show a somewhat faster mental decline in middle-age, a new study suggests.
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Cholesterol-reducing Drugs May Lessen Brain Function
(ScienceDaily - February 23, 2009) - Research by an Iowa State University scientist suggests that cholesterol-reducing drugs known as statins may lessen brain function. The results of this study show that drugs that inhibit the liver from making cholesterol may also keep the brain from making cholesterol, which is vital to efficient brain function.
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Chronic Heart-Failure Patients More Likely to Have Cognitive Impairment
(HeartWire - February 16, 2009) - Community-dwelling heart-failure patients have a greater-than-fourfold risk of cognitive impairment, compared with those without heart failure, according to a case-controlled study in the February 2009 issue of the Journal of Cardiac Failure.
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Second-hand Smoke May Cause Dementia
(ScienceDaily - February 13, 2009) - Exposure to second-hand smoke could increase the risk of developing dementia and other forms of cognitive impairment, according to research published on the British Medical Journal website.
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Mediterranean Diet Benefits Cognitive Function in Elderly
(Modern Medicine - February 9, 2009) - In cognitively normal older adults, adherence to a Mediterranean diet is associated with a modestly reduced risk of developing mild cognitive impairment, and in older adults who already have mild cognitive impairment, adherence to the diet is associated with a significantly reduced risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, according to a report published in the February issue of the Archives of Neurology.
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Education Associated with Level of Cognitive Function but Not Rate of Decline
(Reuters - February 2, 2009) - Although a higher level of education attainment is associated with a higher level of cognitive functioning, it does not protect against cognitive decline in old age.
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Chronic Hyperglycemia Linked to Cognitive Dysfunction
(Modern Medicine - January 28, 2009) - In patients with type 2 diabetes, higher A1C levels are associated with lower scores on cognitive tests (Digit Symbol Substitution Test, Mini Mental Status Examination, Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, and the Stroop Test), researchers report in the February issue of Diabetes Care.
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Common Medication Associated With Cognitive Decline In Elderly
(ScienceDaily - January 28, 2009) - A study published in Journal of the American Geriatrics Society suggested that the use of certain medications in elderly populations may be associated with cognitive decline. The study examined the effects of exposure to anticholinergic medications, a type of drug used to treat a variety of disorders that include respiratory and gastrointestinal problems, on over 500 relatively healthy men aged 65 years or older with high blood pressure.
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Eat Less, Remember More
(Scientific American - January 27, 2009) - A new study, published in the January 27th issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows that cutting calories actually improves memory in older folks.
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Concussions Appear to Have Lifelong Impact on Brain
(MedPageToday - January 27, 2009) - Athletes who had at least one concussion playing college-level sports had greater declines in attention and memory and a slowing of some movements more than 30 years later compared with those who never had a concussion.
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Low Levels Of Vitamin D Link To Cognitive Problems In Older People
(ScienceDaily - January 24, 2009) - A study based on data on almost 2000 adults aged 65 and over who participated in the Health Survey for England in 2000 and whose levels of cognitive function were assessed found that as levels of Vitamin D went down, levels of cognitive impairment went up. Compared to those with optimum levels of Vitamin D, those with the lowest levels were more than twice as likely to be cognitively impaired.
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Fish Oil for Preemies May Boost Cognition
(Time - January 13, 2009) - Reporting in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Maria Makrides and her colleagues at the Women's and Childrens' Hospital in Adelaide, Australia, found that supplementing premature baby girls' diets with omega-3 fatty acids in the first few days after birth improved their performance on cognitive tests 18 months later. The same benefit was not seen in baby boys, however, possibly because premature girls and boys simply develop at different rates, the researchers speculate.
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Hormone Replacement Therapy Brings Modest Reduction in Brain Volume
(MedPageToday - January 12, 2009) - Hormone replacement therapy was associated with significantly lower volume of the frontal lobe (P=0.004) and hippocampus (P=0.05) and a trend for lower total brain volume (P=0.07) in women 65 and older, Susan M. Resnick, of the National Institute on Aging Biomedical Research Center here, and colleagues reported in the January 13 issue of Neurology.
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Lifetime Lead Exposure Leaves Cognitive Shadow in Older Age
(MedPageToday - January 12, 2009) - Men with higher cumulative lead exposure had significantly lower cognitive scores, particularly on spatial ability, learning, and memory, and greater cognitive decline, reported Lisa A. Morrow, Ph.D., of the University of Pittsburgh, and colleagues in the January issue of Neuropsychology.
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Logging More Than 55 Hours a Week on the Job Takes a Mental Toll on Middle-Aged Workers, Study Shows
(WebMD - January 9, 2009) - A study, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, involved analyzing the performance of 2,214 middle-aged British civil servants on a battery of thinking tests given in two time periods from 1997 to 2004. The workers were given cognitive tests, and those who worked more than 55 hours per week scored lower on vocabulary and reasoning exams than people whose work weeks lasted 40 hours at most, the researchers report.
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Even Mild Diabetes, Well Controlled, Slows Mental Function
(WebMD - January 5, 2009) - Mild diabetes slows mental function, even when kept under tight control, a Canadian study shows. It's not a huge cognitive defect, but it seems to appear early in the course of type 2 diabetes. Fortunately, the defect does not snowball over time, at least for those with mild or moderate diabetes.
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Surges in Blood Pressure Found to Affect Cognitive Ability in Elderly
(HealthNews - December 18, 2008) - A study published in the December 15 issue of the Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences found that participants with an average systolic blood pressure of 130 or higher tended to perform poorly in inductive reasoning tasks, and the higher the blood pressure, the more mistakes the participants made.
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Very Low-Carb Diets May Impair Memory
(WebMD - December 12, 2008) - Very low-carbohydrate diets may help with weight loss, but they appear to impair reaction time and visual-spatial memory.
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Brain Differences Between Rich and Poor Kids
(UC Berkeley News - December 2, 2008) - In a study recently accepted for publication by the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, scientists at UC Berkeley's Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute and the School of Public Health report that normal 9- and 10-year-olds differing only in socioeconomic status have detectable differences in the response of their prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that is critical for problem solving and creativity.
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Exercise May Prevent Loss of Small Blood Vessels in the Brain
(MedPageToday - December 1, 2008) - Older adults who exercise regularly appear to have increased cerebral blood flow and a greater number of small blood vessels in the brain. This could be the mechanism by which exercise prevents cognitive decline in the elderly.
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Apnea Therapy May Help Cognition in Alzheimer's
(Reuters - November 26, 2008) - For patients with Alzheimer's disease and obstructive sleep apnea, treatment with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) seems to improve cognitive function, according to a report in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
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Type 2 Diabetes May Slow Mental Processing Speed
(Reuters - November 20, 2008) - An analysis of data from 1,917 elderly men and women enrolled in the AGES Reykjavik Study, a large population-based study that ran from 2002 to 2006, revealed that brain processing speed is the most severely affected cognitive function among individuals with type 2 diabetes.
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Brains of High-Functioning Elderly Have More Plaques, Fewer Tangles
(MedPageToday - November 17, 2008) - Upon autopsy, the brains of people whose cognition remained super-sharp in their 80s and beyond showed no evidence of neurofibrillary tau-protein tangles, according to the first data reported from the SuperAging Project that began in 2006.
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Kidney Transplantation Can Improve Mental Performance
(ScienceDaily.com - November 7, 2008) - Kidney transplantation can improve mental performance, according to a paper presented at the American Society of Nephrology's 41st Annual Meeting and Scientific Exposition in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
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Vitamin B3 Reduces Alzheimer's Symptoms in Mice
(ScienceDaily.com - November 5, 2008) - According to a study appearing online in the November 5 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, nicotinamide, a form of vitamin B3, prevented memory loss in mice with Alzheimer's disease.
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High-Altitude Climbing Causes Subtle Loss of Brain Cells and Motor Function
(MedicalNewsToday.com - October 16, 2008) - A study of professional mountain climbers has shown that high-altitude exposure can cause subtle white and grey matter changes to the area of the brain involved in motor activity, according to the October issue of the European Journal of Neurology.
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Marijuana Use Takes Toll on Adolescent Brain Function
(ScienceDaily.com - October 15, 2008) - A study presented at the 2008 annual meeting of the American Academy of Pediatrics suggests that chronic, heavy marijuana use during adolescence – a critical period of ongoing brain development – is associated with poorer performance on thinking tasks, including slower psychomotor speed and poorer complex attention, verbal memory and planning ability.
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Surfing the Web Stimulates Older Brains
(WebMD.com - October 14, 2008) - A study by UCLA researchers, to be published in an upcoming issue of the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, found that Internet searching appears to engage a greater extent of neural circuitry that is not activated during reading -- but only in those with prior Internet experience.
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B Vitamins No Help for Alzheimer's
(WebMD.com - October 14, 2008) - A study published in the October 15, 2008 issue of JAMA found that a regimen of high-dose vitamin B supplements does not slow cognitive decline in individuals with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease.
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Moderate Drinking May Shrink the Brain
(MedPageToday.com - October 13, 2008) - Increasing alcohol intake was associated with loss in total brain volume greater than expected from age alone according to an article published in the October issue of the Archives of Neurology.
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Mild Cognitive Impairment May be Linked to Severity of Diabetes
(EndocrineToday.com - September 25, 2008) - A population-based, case controlled study conducted by researchers from The Mayo Clinic found that mild cognitive impairment is associated with early-onset, long duration and insulin-treated diabetes.
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Excercise May Help Prevent Age-Related Memory Loss
(U.S. News and World Report - September 2, 2008) - A study published in September 3 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association concluded that exercise improves cognitive function in older adults with subjective and objective mild cognitive impairment. The benefits of physical activity were apparent after six months and persisted for at least another 12 months after the intervention had been discontinued.
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Mental Skills Can Decline Years Before Dying
(U.S. News and World Report - August 27, 2008) - Men and women who remain free of dementia will nonetheless undergo an accelerated drop in key mental skills as much as 15 years before their death, a new study published in the August 27 online issue of Neurology reveals.
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Chronic Exposure to Estrogen Impairs Some Cognitive Functions
(ScienceDaily.com - August 5, 2008) - Rats exposed to a steady dose of estradiol were impaired on tasks involving working memory and response inhibition, University of Illiniois researchers found.
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Statins May Protect Against Memory Loss
(Reuters - July 28, 2008) - A study published in the July 29, 2008 issue of the journal Neurology found that the use of statin drugs may decrease the risk of cognitive impairment and dementia in older adults.
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Heart Disease and Cognitive Function
(TheHeart.org - July 23, 2008) - A study published online July 23, 2008 in the European Heart Journal demonstrated that patients with coronary heart disease are more likely to show reduced cognitive function in late middle age than those without heart disease. Furthermore, cognitive function was worst in patients with the earliest diagnosis of CHD.
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Tea Drinking May Help Protect Against Cognitive Impairment and Decline
(Medscape.com - July 14, 2008) - A study published in the July 2008 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that total tea intake was significantly associated with a lower prevalence of cognitive impairment among community-living Chinese adults 55 years or older.
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Better Fed Babies Make For Smarter Adults
(MedPage Today - July 8, 2008) - A study of 1,448 residents of four villages around Guatemala City found that Improved intake of protein and other nutrients for infants boosted their abstract reasoning scores in adulthood by the equivalent of 1.6 years of schooling.
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Eating Tofu May Raise Risk of Dementia
(BBC News - July 4, 2008) - A study of 719 elderly Indonesians living in urban and rural regions of Java found that daily tofu consumption was associated with impaired memory in study participants over the age of 68.
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Grape Seed Extract May Fight Alzheimer's
(Reuters Health - July 1, 2008) - Rodents prone to developing Alzheimer's-like brain changes showed better cognitive function at 11 months of age if they were given red grape seed extract in their drinking water.
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Memory Deficit in Middle Age Linked to Low HDL
(MedPage Today - June 30, 2008) - A study published in Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology found that memory loss in middle age was associated with low levels of HDL in a retrospective review of a database of 3,673 British civil servants.
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Type 2 Diabetes Linked to Cognitive Decline
(Reuters Health - June 27, 2008) - Harvard researchers examined the association between diabetes status and duration and late-life cognitive impairment and decline in 5907 men enrolled in the Physicians' Health Study and 6326 women enrolled in the Women's Health Study. Those with type 2 diabetes had lower baseline general cognition scores and experienced a steeper cognitive decline subsequently.
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Subtle Brain Abnormalities Predict Mental Decline
(Reuters - June 24, 2008) - An Italian study of 506 subjects who were 65 years or older found that subtle neurologic abnormalities were associated with increased risk of cognitive and functional decline and death.
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Use of Bright Lighting Improves Dementia Symptoms
(ScienceDaily.com - June 11, 2008) - In a study conducted at 12 elderly group care facilities in the Netherlands, and published in the June 22, 2008 issue of JAMA, resarchers found that bright light lessened cognitive deterioration by a relative 5 percent, reduced depressive symptoms by a relative 19 percent and diminished the gradual increase in functional limitations by a relative 53 percent.
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Midlife Smoking Associated with Memory Deficit
(ScienceDaily.com - June 10, 2008) - A study of 10,308 London-based civil servants age 35 to 55 followed for an average of 17.1 years found that smoking in middle age is associated with memory deficit and decline in reasoning abilities.
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Brain Training Improves Fluid Intelligence
(ScienceDaily.com - June 6, 2008) - A University of Michigan study demonstrated that fluid intelligence can be improved with dual n-back training (SPECIAL NOTE - MyBrainTrainer's dual n-back test is scheduled for release at the end of June 2008).
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DHEA Does Not Improve Cognitive Performance
(Medscape - May 28, 2008) - A study published in the May 14 Online First issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society concluded that "DHEA supplementation has no benefit on cognitive performance or well-being in healthy older adults, and it should not be recommended for that purpose in the general population."
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Prenatal Fish Intake Improves Infants' Cognitive Function
(Reuters - May 27, 2008) - A study published in the May 15 issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology concluded that the cognitive test scores of 3-year olds rose with the amount of fish their mothers had consumed while pregnant, but those whose mothers had more mercury in their bodies performed less well on the tests.
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Celery and Green Pepper Reduce Brain Inflammation
(ScienceDaily.com - May 23, 2008) - A study recently published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that a plant compound found in abundance in celery and green peppers can disrupt a key component of the inflammatory response in the brain, and thus might be helpful in limiting the cognitive deficits that result from aging.
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Bypass Not To Blame For Heart Patients' Mental Decline
(ScienceDaily.com - May 20, 2008) - A study published in the May 2008 issue of Annals of Neurology found that heart disease patients who received bypass surgery fared no worse in subsequent tests of cognition than did heart disease patients who were treated with prescription medications and/or angioplasty with stents.
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Hierarchial Power Enhances Executive Function
(Time Magazine - May 20, 2008) - A study in the May 2008 issue of Psychological Science found that rank in a hierarchy fundamentally alters people's basic cognitive function.
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No Cognitive Benefit from NSAIDS
(MedPageToday.com - May 12, 2008) - No cognitive benefits were seen in patients at risk for Alzheimer's Disease from the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs naproxen (Aleve) and celecoxib (Celebrex) according to a study published in the Archives of Neurology.
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Deep-Brain Stimulation Shows Promise for Treating Alzheimer's
(TechnologyReview.com - May 12, 2008) - A Canadian researcher and his collaborators have seen promising results in six Alzheimer's patients who have been treated with electric currents delivered directly to their brains.
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Lung Function and Cognitive Development
(Psychosomatic Medicine - March 31, 2008) - A study of 165 children in Boston found that "increased lung function was associated with increased cognitive development among children after adjusting for tobacco exposure, birhweight, and peak blood level."
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Larger Belly In Mid-life Increases Risk Of Dementia
(ScienceDaily.com - March 26, 2008) - People with larger stomachs in their 40s are more likely to have dementia when they reach their 70s, according to a new study published in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
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Hypertension Impairs Cognitive Function
(Journal of the American Geriatrics Society - March 2008) - High blood pressure is associated with worse brain function than normal blood pressure in people aged 60 and older, according to a study conducted by physicians at Howard University Hospital in Washington, DC.
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Women with Higher Levels of DHEAS Have Better Cognitive Function
(Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism - March 2008) - Women with naturally higher levels of the hormone precursor DHEAS performed better on tests of executive function, concentration, and working memory than women with lower levels of DHEAS.
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Early Diet of Premature Babies
(Pediatric Research - March 2008) - A study by researchers at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children and the UCL Institute of Child Health in London, found a direct link between early diet in preterm infants and the structure of the brain.
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Learning and Developmental Disabilities Linked to Environmental Toxins
(HealthSentinel.com - February 25, 2008) - On February 20, 2008 The Collaborative on Health and the Environment’s Learning and Developmental Disabilities Initiative published a Scientific Consensus Statement on Environmental Agents Associated with Neurodevelopmental Disorder. This report listed numerous environmental contaminants have been “conclusively shown” to affect the developing nervous system and cause a range of performance deficits.
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Stroke Risk Factors May Signal Faster Cognitive Decline In Elderly
(ScienceDaily.com - February 23, 2008) - Older Americans with the highest risk of stroke, but those who have never suffered a stroke, also have the highest rate of cognitive decline, researchers reported at the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference 2008.
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Music and the Stroke-Injured Brain
(MedPage Today - February 19, 2008) - Recovery of verbal memory and focused attention was better in patients who listened to music of their choice soon after a stroke than in patients who did not listen to anything or in those who listened to audio books according to a study performed at the University of Helsinki.
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Folate Deficiency May Triple Dementia Risk in the Elderly
(Medscape - February 11, 2008) - A two-year study of 518 subjects in South Korea found that incident dementia increased significantly across descending quintiles of baseline folate concentrations.
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Effect of Infrared Light on Alzheimer's Disease
(CBS News - January 28, 2008) - British researchers are testing a helmet that aims low levels of infrared light at the wearer's brain in the hope that it may stimulate the growth of brain cells.
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Biventricular Pacing Improves Cognitive Function
(Transactions of the American Clinical and Climatological Association - December 2007) - Florida researchers found that treating congestive heart failure patients with pacemakers or defibrillators resulted in improvements in attention, concentration and memory, in addition to cardiac improvement.
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Surgery Increases Risk of Cognitive Decline Among Elderly
(MedPageToday.com - December 27, 2007) - Surgical patients 60 or older are at increased risk for long-term postoperative cognitive dysfunction according to a study published in the January 2008 issue of Anesthesiology.
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Hypertension Increases Risk for Mild Cognitive Impairment
(Medscape Cardiology - December 13, 2007) - New research shows that a history of hypertension increases the risk for mild cognitive impairment (MCI), suggesting that prevention and effective management of high blood pressure may lower the risk for cognitive decline.
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Heading During a Soccer Season and Cognitive Function
(University of Delaware Daily - December 7, 2007) - A study by a team of University of Delaware researchers found that heading by female high school and collegiate soccer players does not produce harmful effects in short-term neurocognitive function.
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Bedwetting Linked to Impaired Cognitive Performance
(Reuters - December 4, 2007) - Children who regularly wet the bed at night score worse on multiple measures of cognitive performance than do non-bedwetting children, researchers reported at the 2007 International Children's Continence Society meeting.
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L-Carnitine Linked to Better Cognitive Function inthe Very Old
(The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition - December 2007) - In a study of 66 Italian men and women with an average age of 101, L-Carnitine supplements administered over a six month period improved total muscle mass and boosted cognitive performance.
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Serum Calcium and Cognitive Function in Old Age
(Journal of the American Geriatrics Society - November 2007) - In the general population, high serum calcium levels are associated with faster decline in cognitive function over the age of 75.
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Older Adults with Mild Memory Impairment Still Benefit from Cognitive Training
(NIH News - November 30, 2007) - Older adults with pre-existing mild memory impairment benefit as much as those with normal memory function from certain forms of cognitive training that don’t rely on memorization.
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Alzheimer's Disease and High Blood Pressure Linked
(Reuters - November 28, 2007) - Having high blood pressure reduces blood flow in the brains of Alzheimer's patients, making them more vulnerable to the effects of the disease, researchers reported at the 2007 Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting of the Radiological Society of North America.
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'Cocktail' of Compounds Improves Brain Function in Rodents
(MIT News - November 26, 2007) - MIT researchers have shown that a cocktail containing three compounds (DHA, a type of omega-3 fatty acid, uridine and choline) normally in the blood stream promotes growth of new brain connections and improves cognitive function in rodents.
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Blood Lead Concentrations and Child Intelligence
(Environmental Health Perspectives - November 20, 2007) - Children's intellectual functioning at 6 years of age is impaired by blood lead concentrations well below the current definition of an elevated blood lead level.
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Arterial Stiffness Correlated to Cognitive Decline
(Hypertension - November 19, 2007) - Markers of arterial stiffness are associated prospectively with cognitive decline before dementia, according to data collected from1749 participants in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging.
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Neuroscientists Propose New Theory Of Brain Flexibility
(ScienceDaily.com - November 18, 2007) - Carnegie Mellon University neuroscientist Marcel Just and Stanford postdoctoral fellow Sashank Varma have put forward a new computational theory of brain function that addresses the question as to how the human brain organizes itself to give rise to complex cognitive tasks such as reading, problem solving and spatial reasoning.
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Folate, Vitamin B12 and Mental Agility
(US Department of Agriculture - November 16, 2007) - Researchers funded by the Agricultural Research Service found that seniors with high folate and low B12 status were at a cognitive disadvantage when compared to those with normal folate and low B12 status.
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Melatonin Could Hurt Memory Formation at Night
(EurekaAlert.org - November 15, 2007) - In a paper appearing in the November 16, 2007 issue of Science, a University of Houston professor and his team of researchers reported that that melatonin may be responsible for poor learning and memory formation during the night.
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Are Curvy Women More Intelligent?
(ABC News - November 13, 2007) - Women with waists that were about 70 percent of the diameter of their hips scored slightly better on intelligence tests and tended to have a slightly higher level of education than women with a higher waist-to-hip ratio, according to a study published online on October 4, 2007 in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior.
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Long-Term Beta Carotene Suplementation May Slow Cognitive Decline
(MedPageToday.com - November 13, 2007) - Harvard researchers reported in the November 12, 2007 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine that beta carotene may retard a decline in cognitive function if it is taken for many years as a supplement.
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Relationship Between Statins And Cognitive Decline More Complex Than Thought
(ScienceDaily.com - November 8, 2007) - In a three year epidemiological study reported in the November 6, 2007 issue of Neurology, researchers from the Indiana University School of Medicine and the Regenstrief Institute, Inc. have found an association of statin use with less cognitive decline in elderly African Americans and report that, surprisingly, the association is even stronger for those who had discontinued use than for continuous users.
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Children With Alzheimer's Disease Risk Gene Show Reduced Cognitive Function
(ScienceDaily.com - November 6, 2007) - Children who possess a gene known to increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease already show signs of reduced cognitive function before the age of 10, an Oregon Health & Science University study has found.
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Hypertension and Atrial Fibrillation Increase Cognitive Decline in Alzheimer's Disease
(MedPageToday.com - November 5, 2007) - Uncontrolled high blood pressure doubled the rate of memory loss compared with patients who had normal blood pressure, and atrial fibrillation was associated with a 75% increase in memory loss, according to a study published in the November 6, 2007 issue of Neurology.
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Fish Consumption Associated with Improved Cognitive Function
(American Journal of Clinical Nutrition - November 2007) - In the elderly, a diet high in fish and fish products is associated with better cognitive performance in a dose-dependent manner according to a study of 2031 subjects living in Western Norway.
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Postmenopausal Hormone Therapy Does Not Enhance Cognition
(MedPage Today - September 24, 2007) - Hormone therapy had no significant effects on the cognitive performance of women shortly after menopause, according to a study published in the September 25, 2007 issue of Neurology.
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Being Bilingual Protects Brain
(The International News - September 20, 2007) - Being fluent in two languages may help to keep the brain sharper for longer, according to researchers from York University in Canada, who carried out tests on 104 people between the ages of 30 and 88.
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Obesity Won't Affect Seniors' Memory
(U.S. News & World Report - September 20, 2007) - Being overweight or obese doesn't increase the odds that seniors will experience memory trouble, according to a new study published in the September 19, 2007 online issue of the journal Neurology.
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Frequent Cell Phone Use May Slow Brain Function
(PC World - September 18, 2007) - A study published in the International Journal of Neuroscience followed a group of 300 people over 2.4 years. Frequent mobile phone users demonstrated slowed brain function, but with the caveat that the slowed brain effects are still considered within normal brain functioning
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Brain Network Related to Intelligence Identified
(Today@UCI - September 11, 2007) - In a review of 37 imaging studies related to intelligence, Richard Haier of the University of California, Irvine and Rex Jung of the University of New Mexico have uncovered evidence of a distinct neurobiology of human intelligence. Their Parieto-Frontal Integration Theory (P-FIT) identifies a brain network related to intelligence, one that primarily involves areas in the frontal and the parietal lobes.
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Study Finds Left-Wing Brain, Right-Wing Brain
(Los Angeles Times - September 10, 2007) - Scientists have found that liberals tolerate ambiguity and conflict better than conservatives because of how their brains work.
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Low- and High-Carbohydrate Weight-Loss Diets Have Similar Effects on Mood but Not Cognitive Performance
(The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition - September 2007) - Australian researchers compared the effects of a low carbohydrate, high-fat diet with a conventional high-carbohydrate, low-fat diet on mood and cognitive function.
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Estrogen May Fight Dementia
(Time Magazine - August 29, 2007) - Two related studies in the 08/29/07 online edition of Neurology lend support to the theory that in women under 50, estrogen acts as a defense against later cognitive impairment, dementia and Parkinson's disease.
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Brain Network Identified That May Prevent or Slow Alzheimer’s
(Newswise - August 20, 2007) - Columbia University Medical Center researchers have identified a brain network within the frontal lobe that is associated with cognitive reserve, the process that allows individuals to maintain function despite brain function decline due to aging or Alzheimer’s disease.
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The Neuroprotective Effects of Caffeine
(Neurology - August 7, 2007) - Results from a cohort study suggest that caffeine may reduce cognitive decline in women without dementia. French researchers report that women who drank more than 3 cups of coffee per day had less decline during 4 years of follow-up compared with those who drank a cup or less. However, no such effect was seen in men.
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Reading Skills Protect Brain from Lead Effects
(Canada.com - August 1, 2007) - A study published in the July 31, 2007 issue of Neurology suggests people who are better readers have more protection from some of the effects of lead poisoning than those who do not read as well.
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ACL Tears Linked to Slow Cognition
(Delaware Online - July 26, 2007) - A University of Delaware study revealed that people can be predisposed to tearing their knee ligaments based on reaction time, alertness and speed processing in game action situations. The study also suggested that proper cognitive training could assist in future ACL tear prevention.
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Resveratrol Protects Against Neuron Degeneration in Mice
(MIT Technology Review - July 23, 2007) - Scientists at MIT and Harvard found that a gene called SIRT1 and a plant compound found in red wine called resveratrol can protect against neuron degeneration in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The researchers demonstrated that activating SIRT1 and injecting resveratrol, which have both been previously associated with life-span extension in lower organisms, can also prevent cognitive problems in the mice.
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Bipolar Disorder Shrinks Brain
(BBC News - July 20, 2007) - People with bipolar disorder suffer from an accelerated shrinking of their brain, according to a study published in Biological Psychiatry.
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Troubled Sleep Accompanies Cognitive Decline in Women
(Psychiatric Times - July 17, 2000) - Poor-quality sleep and cognitive decline appear to go hand-in-hand among older women, but it's unclear which leads the other.
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Brain Effects of Carotid Disease Emerge in Middle Age
(MedPageToday - July 13, 2007) - Years before carotid artery disease poses a stroke risk, arterial thickening and early-stage atherosclerosis may cause deterioration in cognitive performance.
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Mild Cognitive Impairment May Increase Stroke Risk
(Psychiatric Times - July 13, 2007) - Mild impairment of the executive function domain of cognition may represent an early marker of increased stroke risk, according to data from the Framingham Study.
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Hypertension Linked to Cognitive Decline in Older Patients
(MedPageToday - July 12, 2007) - Uncontrolled hypertension in older patients increases the risk of cognitive impairment, Columbia University researchers reported at the International Society for Vascular Behavioral and Cognitive Disorders meeting.
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Repeated Cognitive Tests Needed for Accurate Diagnosis of Mental Function
(Ivanhoe.com - July 2, 2007) - One-time cognitive assessments can make it difficult to tell whether someone is truly impaired, truly improving or worsening, or just having normal short-term fluctuation, according to Cognitive psychologist Timothy Salthouse, Ph.D.
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Difficulty Identifying Odors May Predict Cognitive Decline
(Science Daily - July 2, 2007) - "Among older persons without manifest cognitive impairment, difficulty in identifying odors predicts subsequent development of mild cognitive impairment" concluded researchers at Rush University Medical Center, Chicago.
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New MRI Image Technique Predicts Early Onset of Alzheimer's Disease
(Doctor's Guide - June 14, 2007) - Uing new MRI techniques to analyze tissue composition and structure in the brain, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the National Institute on Aging successfully detected mild cognitive disorder (MCI), a condition in which patients suffer mild memory problems and is often an early symptom of Alzheimer's disease (AD).
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Migraines May Slow Memory Loss
(Neurology - April 24, 2007) - Researchers at Johns Hopkins reported in the journal Neurology that migraine sufferers with aura over the age of 50 suffered less decline in immediate and delayed recall tests than non-migraine sufferers over 12 years of follow-up.
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Vitamin D and Cognition
(Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics - April 15, 2007) - The positive, significant correlation between serum 25(OH)D concentration and MMSE in the study patients suggests a potential role for vitamin D in cognitive function of older adults.
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Iron Treatment Normalizes Cognitive Functioning in Young Women
(American Journal of Clinical Nutrition - March 2007) - A Pennsylvania study of 149 women aged 18 - 35 revealed that severity of anemia affects processing speed and severity of iron deficiency affects accuracy of cognitive function.
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Maternal Seafood Consumption in Pregnancy and Neurodevelopmental Outcomes in Childhood
(The Lancet - February 17, 2007) - Low maternal seafood intake in a study of 11,875 pregnant women was associated with increased risk of suboptimum outcomes for verbal intelligence, prosocial behavior, fine motor, communication, and social development scores. For each outcome measure, the lower the intake of seafood during pregnancy, the higher the risk of suboptimum developmental outcome.
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Repeated Spatial Training in Mice Delays Development of Cognitive Decline
(The Journal of Neuroscience - January 24, 2007) - A study, performed at the University of California, Irvine, of mice bred to be susceptible to Alzheimer’s Disease, demonstrated that longitudinal water-maze spatial training produced a significant improvement in subsequent learning performance and reduced the risk and delayed the onset of Alzheimer's.
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Cognitive Function Boosted by Folic Acid Supplements
(Psychiatric Times - January 19, 2007) - Folic acid supplementation appears to improve cognitive function, particularly memory, among older adults with poor folate status, Dutch researchers reported in the 1/20/07 issue of The Lancet.
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Long-term Effects of Cognitive Training on Everyday Functional Outcomes in Older Adults
(JAMA - December 20, 2006) - In a 5-year follow-up of 2,832 senior citizens living independently, cognitive training resulted in improved cognitive abilities specific to the abilities trained that continued 5 years after the initiation of the intervention.
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Breast Cancer Regimen Linked to Cognitive Decline
(Journal of the National Cancer Institute - December 6, 2006) - A study performed in The Netherlands found that cognitive deterioration was 4 times more likely among breast cancer survivors who underwent high-dose chemotherapy than it was among a control group. No such difference in cognitive decline was found among breast cancer survivors receiving standard-dose chemotherapy or among those receiving treatment that did not include chemotherapy.
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Vitamin D Deficiency Linked to Poor Cognitive Performance
(American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry - December 2006) - In a cross-sectional group of 80 participants, 40 with mild Alzheimer’s Disease and 40 nondemented persons, vitamin D deficiency was associated with low mood and with impairment on two of four measures of cognitive performance.
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Smoking Linked to Cognitive Decline in Heart Patients
(Medscape - November 14, 2006) - A study presented at the 2006 American Heart Association Scientific Sessions of individuals undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgery found that those with a history of smoking were twice as likely to suffer post-surgical cognitive decline.
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Physical Fitness and Lifetime Cognitive Change
(Neurology - 10/10/06) - A study of 460 Scottish survivors of the Scottish Mental Survey of 1932 were tested on the same cognitive test at ages 11 and 79. They were also tested on various measures of physical fitness. Higher childhood IQ was associated with better lung function in old age, and physical fitness and IQ as a child influenced mental performance as participants aged.
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Cognitive Performance in Long-term Abstinent Alcoholic Individuals
(Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research - September 2006) - A study of 48 middle-aged alcoholic men and women living in the San Francisco Bay area who had been abstinent anywhere from six months to 13 years found that all cognitive function, with the exception of spatial-processing abilities, had been regained.
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Fruit & Vegetable Juice May Delay Onset of Alzheimer’s
(American Journal of Medicine - September 2006) - Researchers from the Vanderbilt School of Medicine studied 1836 Japanese Americans (average age was 72) and found that those who drank fruit or vegetable juice at least 3 times per week had a 76% lesser incidence of Alzheimer’s disease over the following 7 - 9 years compared to those who drank less than one glass of fruit or vegetable juice per week.
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Drug Triggers Reversal of Aging Effect on Memory
(Web Wire - July 27, 2006) - Unfortunately, this has only been proven in rats thus far. But this study, which was published in the in the August issue of the Journal of Neurophysiology by researchers from the University of California, Irvine, is most interesting and promising.
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Fish Eaters Stay Sharper With Age
(Archives of Neurology - October 10, 2005) - A study of 6158 residents of Chicago, all over the age of 65, showed that those who consumed one or more fish meals per week showed a reduced (10 - 13%) rate of cognitive decline as opposed to those who consumed a fish meal less frequently than once per week.
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Reaction Time and Longevity
(Psychological Science - January 2005) - The Twenty-07 study conducted in the West of Scotland examined 898 participants between the ages of 54 and 58. Reaction time was found to be a significant predictor (independent of smoking, education and social class) of longevity (defined as being alive 14 years later). A summary of the study can be found here:
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Alcohol Consumption and Cognitive Function in Women
(The New England Journal of Medicine - January 20, 2005) - In a large study of women 70 - 81 years of age, those who drank up to one drink per day had better cognitive scores than nondrinkers. Furthermore, the type of alcoholic beverage consumed did not make a difference.
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Effect on Standardized Test Scores of Exposure to Second-Hand Smoke
(Environmental Health Perspectives - January 2005; healthfinder.gov) - Scores on standardized exams to measure cognitive function decrease in what is called a dose-response relationship (the greater the exposure, the worse the scores).
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Diet, Exercise and Mental Stimulation Keeps Old Dogs Sharp
(Neurobiology of Aging - January 2005) - Apparently, you can teach an old dog new tricks if you feed him a diet rich in antioxidants.
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Physical Activity and Cognitive Decline in Men
(Neurology - December 28, 2004) - A study of 295 men born between 1900 and 1920 from Finland, Italy, and the Netherlands found that "Even in old age, participation in activities with at least a medium-low intensity may postpone cognitive decline. Moreover, a decrease in duration or intensity of physical activity results in a stronger cognitive decline than maintaining duration or intensity."
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Magnesium Boosts Learning and Memory
(Neruon - December 2, 2004) - MIT researchers reported that found that magnesium helps regulate a key brain receptor important for learning and memory.
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Statin Use May Impair Cognitive Function
(American Journal of Medicine - December 1, 2004; heartcenteronline.com) - A study of subjects taking simvastatin, a.k.a., Zocor, to treat high cholesterol, showed small negative effects on brain function.
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Cognitive Aging and the Use of Food Supplements
(The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition - December 2004) - An observational study performed in England concluded that at age 64, cognitive function was higher in fish oil supplement users than in non-users.
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Cognitive Improvement for Puppies
(Iams/Procter & Gamble - July 26, 2004; reviewboard.com) - Procter & Gamble will soon introduce its DHA-enhanced puppy food that was shown to improve the cognitive skills of 39 beagles in testing using simple H-shaped mazes.
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Studies Presented at 9th International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders
(US Newswire - July 19 & 20, 2004) - Numerous studies presented this week demonstrated a strong correlation between the presence of cardiovascular risk factors and cognitive decline.
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Alcohol Consumption and Cognitive Function
(American Journal of Epidemiology - August 1, 2004) - Surprisingly, subjects who reported drinking alcohol (up to 30 drinks per week) were less likely to have impaired cognitive function than those who did not drink in this study of 6,033 individuals aged 46–68 years.
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Cigarette Smoking and Cognitive Function
(American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry - August 2004) - Heavy smokers performed significantly worse on a test assessing executive function/problem-solving than non-smokers, light smokers or moderate smokers in a study of 127 healthy older adults.
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Soy Protein and Cognitive Function
(JAMA - July 7, 2004) - A study of 202 healthy postmenopausal women in the Netherlands found that the use of soy protein supplement containing isoflavones did not improve cognitive function.
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Video Games May Help Surgeons
(MSNBC News - April 7, 2004) - A study performed by researchers in New York and Iowa found that doctors who spent at least three hours per week playing video games made about 37 percent fewer mistakes in laparoscopic surgery and performed the task 27 percent faster than their counterparts who did not play video games.
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Listening to Music While Exercising Boosts Verbal Fluency
(Science Daily - March 24, 2004) - Listening to music while exercising helped to increase scores on a verbal fluency test among cardiac rehabilitation patients according to a study published in the journal Heart & Lung.
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Fatty Acids and Fatty Fish Reduce Risk of Cognitive Impairment
(Neurology - January 27, 2004) - A study performed in the Netherlands concluded that consumption of fatty fish and marine omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids was associated with a reduced risk of cognitive impairment.
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Sleep Boosts Lateral Thinking
(Nature - January 2004; bioedonline.org) - We all spend about a third of our lives asleep, an essential but seemingly unproductive state. Experimental evidence now emerges to support anecdotal evidence that sleep can stimulate creative thinking.
Subjects who worked at a mathematical problem in the evening and then returned to the problem after eight hours of sleep were more than twice as likely to solve the problem than subjects who either were presented with the problem in the morning and returned the next day or subjects who were presented with the problem in the evening and then stayed up all night.
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Juggling Increases Grey Matter
(BBC News - January 22, 2004) - A study performed by researchers from the University of Regensburg, Germany and published in the journal Nature found that learning to juggle resulted in a measurable incerease in grey matter in areas of the brain that process visual motion information.
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Nicotine Patch May Improve Attention in Age-Associated Memory Impairment
(Duke University Medical Center - December 2003; sciencedaily.com) - A small study performed at Duke University found that nicotine patches "may improve cognitive performance in patients with age-associated memory impairment (AAMI)." The researchers cautioned that these findings "should not in any way justify smoking, and that nicotine patches had not been approved for long-term use because of associated health risks."
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Obesity, Hypertension and Diminished Cognitive Function
(International Journal of Obesity - February 2003) - An article in the February 2003 International Journal of Obesity reported that "The adverse effects of obesity and hypertension in men are independent and cumulative with respect to cognitive deficit." No such relationship was found in women.
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Drinking Associated with Brain Shrinkage
(Stroke - December 4, 2003; lifeclinic.com) - A study performed at Johns Hopkins University and published in the advance online edition of Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association found that each additional drink consumed per week was associated with a decrease in brain volume. However, the clinical significance of such a small decrease in brain volume is still unknown.
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Want better eyesight? Just train your brain!
(Singapore Eye Research Institute) - A Singapore study using exercises that sound similar to our #2 and #5, showed improvement in vision in nearsighted subjects who exercised 20 minutes per session, 3 days per week.
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Education, Alzheimer's and Cognitive Function
(Neurology - June 24, 2003) - An article in the June 24, 2003 issue of Neurology found that extra years of schooling appear to allow Alzheimer's patients to function better and longer than those with less schooling. David A. Bennett, M.D., the lead author of the study called education levels in this study "a proxy" for the mental stimulation that individuals maintain and the ways in which they process complex information. "Imagine if you could find ways to strengthen the brain so that the burden of the disease would have to be extremely heavy before you begin to get the debilitating symptoms," Bennett said. "It would be big."
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Cigarette Smoking and Cognitive Decline
(American Journal of Public Health - June 2003) - An article in the June 2003 issue of the American Journal of Public Health reported that heavy smoking is associated with cognitive impairment and decline in midlife of verbal memory and visual search speeds.
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Huge Effect of Cognitive Training
(JAMA - November 13, 2002) - An article in 11/13/02 issue of JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) reported most impressive findings in a large (2832 subjects) study on the effect of cognitive training on healthy adults between the ages of 65 and 94. The treatment group received 10 one-hour training sessions over the course of 5-6 weeks. The beneficial impact of this training was "of a magnitude equivalent to the amount of decline expected in elderly patients without dementia over 7- to 14-year intervals." And, most impressively, these gains were, to a large extent, maintained over a 2-year follow-up period.
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Speed Freaks
(ESPN The Magazine - May 27, 2002) - "The best of the best are the ones who do their sharpest thinking when there's no time to think. Put simply, mind speed is what we're seeing when we can't believe our eyes."
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Cognitive processing speed is best way to assess risk factors in older drivers and can improve ability, says new study
SAN FRANCISCO, California (APA Online - August 28, 2001) - Cognitive researchers can now recommend a tool that can keep older drivers on the road longer and safer by measuring and even improving their visual information processing, an important measure of driving ability.
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Taxi drivers' brains 'grow' on the job
(BBCNews - March 14, 2001) - Cab drivers' grey matter enlarges and adapts to help them store a detailed mental map of the city, according to research.
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Is IQ just a matter of neural conduction speed?
(Going Inside - April 1996) - For 20 years, NASA test pilots have been jacking up the speed of their flight simulators to above "real-time" in order to give themselves a mental edge. By cranking up the simulators used in pre-mission training so that events happen at between 1.4 and twice normal pace, pilots say they do not feel so rushed when they drop back into the real world.
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Cognitive Speed and Subsequent Intellectual Development: a Longitudinal Investigation
(Journal of Gerontology - July 1979) - This article, publsihed in the July 1979 issue of the Journal of Gerontology emphasized "the importance of cognitive speed for subsequent intellectual development."
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Texas Study Shows MyBrainTrainer increases IQ, decreases anxiety, increases cognitive efficiency and speed!
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“MBT helpful for learning disabilities and ADHD” says Marshall University H.E.L.P. Program
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MBT rated #1 by Slate.com
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IT Professional
Age Group: 30-39 |
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System Engineer
Age Group: 25-35 |
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Student
Age Group: 30-39 |
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