Brains Get Noisier as They Age

For middle-aged, regular Internet surfing is better than reading a book: study

(NEWSER) - Sudoku not your thing? Web surfing may help boost brain power and prevent brain shrinkage in middle-aged and older people in a way that reading books cannot, the BBC reports. By studying the brain scans of volunteers aged 55 to 76, researchers found that experienced internet users show enhanced activity in the decision-making and complex reasoning regions of their brains when searching online. More»

(NEWSER) - Gyms offering to exercise the brain instead of the body are attracting thousands of aging Americans seeking to tone their gray matter, the Wall Street Journal reports. The gyms are generally based around brain-fitness software, but some offer courses in brain nutrition as well as mental-fitness assessments with personal trainers and "neurobics." More»

Study finds that restricted eating leads to better memory in older adults

(NEWSER) - It's been shown in rats and monkeys, and now the first human study looking at the effects of calorie restriction on memory also confirms that eating less can improve your brain. A German research team gave 50 older adults a diet with normal nutrients but 30% fewer calories, and found a big spike in memory performance, Scientific American reports. More»

Study records evidence supporting long-suspected memory pathway

(NEWSER) - Scientists for the first time have observed how brain cells drum up a memory, and the findings buttress the notion that our minds don't so much remember events as relive them. When recalling short film clips they had seen, patients' brains repeated the same pattern of neuron activity they experienced while first watching the film, the New York Times reports. More»

New study suggests disease-related memory loss may be reversible

(NEWSER) - Alzheimer's patients may be able to recover some memory by using a combo of drugs and mental stimulation, a new study in the journal Nature concludes. Mice with an Alzheimer's-like condition were more likely to remember an electric shock if they had taken a drug stimulating brain-cell growth or lived in playground-like cages. More»