Healthy living
Mind matters
Too many distractions lead to memory lapses
Older people find it more difficult to 'tune out' what's going on around them, and this causes them to be more forgetful, according to a report in the Journal of Neuroscience
Scientists at the Baycrest Centre, Toronto, made the discovery by accident while doing research on face recognition. They asked 12 young adults (average age 26) and 12 older adults (average age 70) to recall faces while their brains were scanned by a MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) machine. The powerful scanner is able to produce detailed images of the brain forming memories but it is also extremely noisy – especially if you are inside.
The scans showed that older volunteers were being distracted by the noise while younger people could focus on the task in hand. ‘The older brains showed increased activation in certain regions that normally should be quieter or tuned down,’ said Dale Stevens, who led the study. ‘The auditory cortex and prefrontal cortex, which are associated with external environmental monitoring, were idling too high. The older brains were processing too much irrelevant information from their external environment – basically the scanner noise.’
The older adults forgot more faces overall than the younger participants and were more likely to incorrectly say that they had never seen a face before. The researchers believe that the memory lapses were due in part to the fact that the older people were unable to tune out the buzzing and banging of the machine.
This latest study follows on from previous research carried out by Dr Cheryl Grady from the Baycrest Centre that found that subtle changes in the aging brain may explain why older people can be less mentally alert. Grady found that older adults have problems activating parts of the brain necessary for concentration - such as reading and are less able to dampen regions of the brain associated with internal thoughts. Grady found that these brain changes become more marked over the age of 65.
‘This interesting small study suggests that older adults are more easily distracted by irrelevant information, leading to memory failures,’ said Rebecca Wood, Chief Executive of the Alzheimer’s Research Trust. ‘It adds to our understanding of the memory loss that occurs in old age. If we can better understand the normal effects of ageing on a brain then we can differentiate it from Alzheimer’s and improve diagnosis and treatments.’
The Canadian team believe that to remain mentally sharp as we get older we should try to reduce unnecessary distractions and concentrate on one thing at a time. This could mean turning off the television while you are on the telephone or not using hands free mobile phones while driving.
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