I stumbled across this recent study from John Hopkins University and the Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory at the University of California, Irvine, that I found really interesting. Here are a few quotes from the study:
“The hippocampus (is) a larger portion of the brain known to be involved with learning and thinking.”
“Older volunteers, ages 60 to 80, . . . showed far less activity (in their brain) when they were shown a similar but not identical image. Their brains apparently did not create a completely new memory to correspond to the slightly different picture.”
“Older adults were less successful at pattern separation, or the ability to differentiate between things that are quite similar.”
“Exercise has been found to jump-start neurogenesis, or the creation of new brain cells, especially in the dentate gyrus . . . potentially improving that area’s health and functioning.”
“A heartening study from last year conducted at the National Institute on Aging found that mice that voluntarily scampered on running wheels displayed an ‘enhanced’ ability to separate closely spaced squares on a display screen, the animal equivalent of pattern recognition, compared with sedentary animals. The runners also had far more new nerons in their dentate gyri than the mice that didn’t run.”
“There are indications that it might slow or possibly prevent memory deterioration, if you begin exercising early enough.”
For more the rest of the article click here.
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