CNS 2021: Q&A with Wendy Suzuki About 15 years ago, Wendy Suzuki was on a mission. She wanted to lose 25 pounds and began a regular gym and diet regimen. As she worked out more, she saw a big shift in her mood and memory. At the same time, her father suffered a sudden and […]
Aging Amplifies the Retention of Irrelevant Info in Our Memory
In the 1990s, research led by Lynn Hasher, then at Duke University, identified some stark differences in how older and younger adults interpret narrative passages. They found that when reading passages, older adults form the same inferences that young adults do and when interpretations turn out to be wrong, both groups are able to correct […]
Going Deep on Sleep with Matthew Walker
Did you get enough sleep last night? Probably not, says Matthew Walker, cognitive neuroscientist and neurophysiologist at the University of California, Berkeley. Statistics show, he says, that two-thirds of adults fail to obtain the recommended 8 hours of nightly sleep. If that doesn’t seem like a big deal, Walker has some robust research to counter […]
A Dynamic Approach to Understanding Age-Related Memory Decline
Matthew Costello has been studying how aging affects cognition and perception for close to 10 years. But answers to the questions of exactly how and why visual working memory declines in older adults have still eluded him and other researchers. Now, he is taking an information processing approach to this topic that affects so many […]
A Vision of the Future of Brain Health: Q&A with Adam Gazzaley
Even among the healthiest people, aging takes a toll on the brain – changing and often decreasing our cognitive capabilities. Science fiction writers have long imagined ways to maintain and enhance cognition in the face of aging, disease, or otherwise. Increasingly, scientists are investigating ways to make that happen. One of those scientists – Adam […]
Genetic Effects on Cognition are Stronger as We Age
No two people age the same way. Some become stereotypically absent-minded while others remain just as cognitively sharp as their younger counterparts. Shaping these differences in behavior is a complicated interplay between genes and lifestyle. A growing body of research is teasing out the relative roles of genetics and lifestyle factors in cognition in old […]
Why It Should Always Be the Season for Exercise
Guest Post by Michelle Voss, University of Iowa We all know that exercise is good for us And this past holiday season, the market was awash with activity monitors like the FitBit and Nike Fuel Band to help you reach your fitness goals from the neck down. But what about from the neck up? Although […]
Exercise Adapts the Aging Brain for Cognitive Health
Scientists are still trying to figure out exactly why exercise promotes cognitive health, especially in older adults. Some researchers posit that physical activity helps maintain youthful brain structures, but a new study instead suggests exercise changes the way seniors’ brains process information – making the aging brain more adaptable. Understanding how this adaptation occurs can […]
Where’s My Car? Senior Moments are Not Intractable
We call it a “senior moment” – when we forget where we parked the car or left the keys. These moments of forgetfulness are so called because they tend to become more frequent with age. But all is not lost: New research suggests that senior moments have a lot to do with how we approach […]
Exercise for the Aging Brain
We all know that exercise is good for us, and a growing body of research shows that it helps our brains age well too. Scientists are now finding that physical activity is effective both at preventing and treating cognitive dysfunction over the course of a person’s life. Researchers are still working to understand how the […]
