Clues to How 'Super-Agers' Retain Young Memories
http://neurosciencenews.com/young-memory-aging-5048/
When people think about aging and becoming older, we think about how our body becomes physically deteriorated, how we have trouble doing simple jobs, and how our memory is not as good as it was when we were young but this new study has found that some older people can remember just as good as younger people. This study looked at participants brains and their corresponding memory capacity to determine which parts of the brain helps people to remember things when they become older. Participants in this study included two groups who had similar results on a memory test. One group involved the older adults, or the "Super-Agers", ages 60-80. The other group was the younger adults, ages 18-35. "Super-Agers" are older adults who have resilient memories that are similar to memories of a younger adult. The study showed that the brain of the "Super-Agers" were similar to those of the young adults. In usual circumstances of a normal older adult, there would be shrinkage in specific regions of their brain.
Images of the participants brains were used to determine how the brain of the "Super-Agers" differed from brains of normal older people who did not have the "unusually resilient memories." Researchers found that there were two networks in the "Super-Agers" brain that were thicker than those found in normal older adults. These networks are the default mode network, which helps with learning new information, and the salience network, which helps to identify information needed in situations of daily life. In the default mode network, the hippocampus and the medial prefrontal cortex were thicker than the normal older adults. In the salience network, the anterior insula and the orbitofrontal cortex were thicker than the normal older adults.
Results from this study display that the size of the areas of the brain was connected with the person's memory ability. This research also found that an area of the brain that connects both of the networks, the para-midcingulate cortex was crucial by showing a strong correlation in the brain size and memory. This study could lead us to other findings which could help us to understand memory loss and help us to minimize and treat disorders that contribute to older adults losing memory.
After reading this article, I was very intrigued to know more about memory and how our brain works to help us to remember things. The article is relevant to my own life because I have grandparents who are aging and can see how they are physically deteriorating as well as losing memory, so this article helps me to understand what is happening in their brains during this process of aging. Also, I have wondered what my life will be like when I am of retirement age and am going through this process myself. This research is not the first research to be done on the topic, but it is the first study to involve older adults ages 60-80, which would be around the time of retirement. After learning in class that the size of the brain does not influence intelligence, it was interesting to see that the size of the brain could impact memory in older adults. Hopefully I'm a "Super-Ager!"
When people think about aging and becoming older, we think about how our body becomes physically deteriorated, how we have trouble doing simple jobs, and how our memory is not as good as it was when we were young but this new study has found that some older people can remember just as good as younger people. This study looked at participants brains and their corresponding memory capacity to determine which parts of the brain helps people to remember things when they become older. Participants in this study included two groups who had similar results on a memory test. One group involved the older adults, or the "Super-Agers", ages 60-80. The other group was the younger adults, ages 18-35. "Super-Agers" are older adults who have resilient memories that are similar to memories of a younger adult. The study showed that the brain of the "Super-Agers" were similar to those of the young adults. In usual circumstances of a normal older adult, there would be shrinkage in specific regions of their brain.
Images of the participants brains were used to determine how the brain of the "Super-Agers" differed from brains of normal older people who did not have the "unusually resilient memories." Researchers found that there were two networks in the "Super-Agers" brain that were thicker than those found in normal older adults. These networks are the default mode network, which helps with learning new information, and the salience network, which helps to identify information needed in situations of daily life. In the default mode network, the hippocampus and the medial prefrontal cortex were thicker than the normal older adults. In the salience network, the anterior insula and the orbitofrontal cortex were thicker than the normal older adults.
Results from this study display that the size of the areas of the brain was connected with the person's memory ability. This research also found that an area of the brain that connects both of the networks, the para-midcingulate cortex was crucial by showing a strong correlation in the brain size and memory. This study could lead us to other findings which could help us to understand memory loss and help us to minimize and treat disorders that contribute to older adults losing memory.
After reading this article, I was very intrigued to know more about memory and how our brain works to help us to remember things. The article is relevant to my own life because I have grandparents who are aging and can see how they are physically deteriorating as well as losing memory, so this article helps me to understand what is happening in their brains during this process of aging. Also, I have wondered what my life will be like when I am of retirement age and am going through this process myself. This research is not the first research to be done on the topic, but it is the first study to involve older adults ages 60-80, which would be around the time of retirement. After learning in class that the size of the brain does not influence intelligence, it was interesting to see that the size of the brain could impact memory in older adults. Hopefully I'm a "Super-Ager!"
This article intrigued me because I also have grandparents that are in the "super-ager" category so it is cool to know why they might have such good memory about a lot of past experiences. If it was up to Franz Gall, super-agers who have as great of memory as younger adults would have huge brains because of how often the prefrontal cortex is being used. As you mentioned, the hippocampus located in the cortex is what allows new memories to form. In class, we learned that damage to this part of the brain can cause problems with memory, intelligence, judgment, language, and behavior; which could be a result of Alzheimer's disease for older people. Luckily, being a "super-ager" avoids this devastating outcome and is relieving to know that not all older people decline mentally as they age. Overall, I found your article to be interesting and full of useful information!
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