Does Age Affect Short Term Memory

Science Briefs

Many parents worry that keeping a dog or cat in the house may make a child more likely to develop pet allergies. But studies suggest Fido and Whiskers have the reverse effect, with children who are exposed to a pet during their first year having a lower likelihood of developing dog or cat allergies later in life.

In the latest study, appearing this month in the journal Clinical & Experimental Allergy, researchers at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit followed 566 children from birth until age 18. At the end of the study, the researchers tested the subjects for their allergic sensitization to dogs and cats.

The children who had shared a home with a cat in their first year were about half as likely to be allergic to cats as those who had not. A decreased risk also was found in boys who lived with a dog as infants, though for some reason the effect was not as strong in girls. The researchers also concluded that exposure at later ages did not make much difference - it was exposure in infancy that mattered.

A new study says that men who are heavy coffee drinkers are at lower risk for prostate cancer.

As part of the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study, Harvard University scientists followed 47,911 men who periodically described their coffee intake. The researchers found that those who consumed six or more cups a day were almost 20 percent less likely to develop prostate cancer over two decades than those who drank none.

The heavy coffee drinkers were 60 percent less likely than the nondrinkers to develop a lethal form of the disease. Even men who drank just one to three cups of coffee benefited: They were nearly 30 percent less likely to develop lethal prostate cancer, the study said. It did not matter whether the coffee was caffeinated or decaffeinated.

The study, published online in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, is one of the first to link coffee consumption to a lower risk of prostate cancer.

Training a child to hold a whole cluster of items in his or her memory is a drill that can yield lasting benefits, a new study says. Kids who've had such training have better abstract reasoning and solve problems more creatively than kids who haven't, the study found.

Susan Jaeggi, a psychology professor at the University of Michigan, and coworkers focused on ramping up working memory - the ability to hold in mind a handful of information bits briefly, and to update them as needed.

Cognitive scientists consider working memory a key component of intelligence. But they have long debated whether strengthening short-term memory capacity would boost a person's overall intellectual function, and if the boost would continue after the brain-training sessions are over. It can, and it does, according to this new research, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Question and Answer On Short Term Memory : Spicy Fitness

Do you not hate it when you have to learn something quickly and just when you need to use it…it is gone from your memory? Some people are very good at utilizing their short term memories and some are not. But it is something that everyone does use every day and it is important to understand why you need to boost your short term memory skills whenever possible. You would be surprised at how much your life can improve if you improve this bank of memories. In this article we will cover how short term memories are made and exactly what it is. It may give you a better understanding of why you can remember some things and forget others.

Why do some people have difficulty with short term memory?

There are a lot of things that can affect your memory. Some people do have difficulty processing information and storing it in their short term memories. The reasons are many and could range from brain damage to certain illnesses. Even something like depression can affect your long term and short term memory. There are also genetic conditions that can affect how you process information. If your ability to process information is hampered then your short term memories will be affected as well.

Are there certain illnesses or diseases that affect short term memory?

There are illnesses and diseases that do affect not only your short term memory but your long term memory as well. The frontal lobe of your brain is very important in the formation of memory. If any damage occurs there, the information you receive and process is not stored in the same way. The frontal lobe is responsible for your attention. Thus it follows: if you are unable to pay attention to what is being presented or given to you, you cannot store it in any memory bank. But there are other ways your memory can become impaired as well. Dementia is something that happens to everyone as they age. You are bound to forget things because you have had a lifetime of accumulative memories. As you get older and the dementia spreads, whether due to Alzheimer’s disease or from medications, you begin to stop forming active memories. It is why many elderly are able to remember something from their childhood but cannot remember something from five minutes prior.

How does short term memory become converted into long term memory?

Short term memory is the initial stage of converting something to long term memory. Without your active memory you would not be able to retain any information. You would see something and then instantly forget it. The process of converting from active (short term) to long term is through memorization or repetition. You train your brain over time to assimilate information and store it. You may not be able to instantly recite back someone’s new phone number but you probably could recite your parents’ phone number from childhood. The mind is still a huge mystery to scientists and researchers. No one really knows what it is capable of and why it acts the way it does. Some believe that it is our other senses that help short term memories make the transition to long term.

Neuropsychological impairments of short-term memory

New Scientist

Development through life, a psychosocial approach

Geriatric Rehabilitation, A Textbook for the Physical Therapist Assistant

The journals of gerontology, Psychological sciences and social sciences