One of the most common complaints among healthy older adults relates to a decline in memory performance. This decline has been linked to an inability to ignore irrelevant information when forming memories. In order to ignore distracting information, the brain should act to suppress its responses to distractions, but it has been shown that in older adults there is in fact an increase in brain activity at those times. In a new study published in the April 2010 issue of Elsevier’s Cortex (http://www.elsevier.com/locate/cortex) researchers at the University of California San Francisco have shown that even prior knowledge of an impending distraction does not help to improve the working memory performance of older adults. [continue reading…]
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Despite the aches and pains that occur in old age, many older adults maintain a positive outlook, remembering the positive experiences from their past. A new study, reported in the April 2010 issue of Elsevier’s Cortex (http://www.elsevier.com/locate/cortex), reveals that older adults’ ability to remember the past through a positive lens is linked to the way in which the brain processes emotional content. In the older adult brain, there are strong connections between those regions that process emotions and those known to be important for successful formation of memories, particularly when processing positive information. [continue reading…]
Imagine a world in which we could wipe the slate clean.
No, not undo the damage our actions had caused – for that we’d need a time machine – but rather erase painful memories of the past.
It may seem like the stuff of science fiction, but researchers have made great progress in recent years in understanding the neural processes and bio-chemistry involved in memory formation and recall.
So much so that some are beginning to talk about cures for phobias and treatments for post traumatic stress disorder. ( link to continue reading)
Source: BBC
RICHARD A. FRIEDMAN, M.D. discusses people who repeatedly pursue a path that leads to pain and disappointment, in his article for the New York Times Sabotaging Success, but to What End?
Of all human psychology, self-defeating behavior is among the most puzzling and hard to change. After all, everyone assumes that people hanker after happiness and pleasure. Have you ever heard of a self-help book on being miserable?
So what explains those men and women who repeatedly pursue a path that leads to pain and disappointment? Perhaps there is a hidden psychological reward. Link to read this article
Source: New York Times
