Study Proves Older Brains Have a Better Memory

Jul, 2021 - By SMI

Scientists dwelt in a visual cortex mechanism that partly explained how superagers have this good memory compared with ordinary older people.

A truly innovative imaging study analyzed superager’s brain function with incoming knowledge for young brains who perform similar tasks. The results show just how certain senior citizens can keep a positive better memory, and direct scientists to areas where the memory of older people can be triggered to enhancement. The elderly people who can perform young brain functions long into their older days are known as supersgers. A local group of superagers was pinpointed with outstanding memory by the Massachusetts General Hospital’s Alexandra Touroutoglou. Several studies have been conducted since then on how these superager brains vary from the ordinary older brains by a team of MGH scientists.

This new research was approached a little differently. The scientists compared at superior brain activity with fully functioning magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) while they consciously studied and then remembered additional information. A set of images, paired with words, were presented to 40 superagers. This task of encoding enabled scientists to monitor the functions of their brains. After 10 minutes, the respondents had more picture word combinations and had to recognize which combinations were unfamiliar and that they had earlier seen. This process is called neural differentiation. Some neuron collections primarily focus on faces, while others may be focused on domestic objects.

As an individual gets older, this process decreases, which simply means that the specific population of neurons that were earlier activated only in response to one image category is now in response to another category. This particular decrease in neural distinction is assumed to be one of the underlying factors for age-related decrease in memory. For certain scenarios, an individual’s neural stimulation processes become less exceptional so it is more difficult to remember memories. While this analysis into the superior brains is undoubtedly intriguing, they also provide scientists with hints of the cognitive functions in those who work regularly can be improved. There is also a clinical trial which will test if the focused noninvasive electromagnetic stimuli can trigger many such brain components and enhance memory for older adults.