According to researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, focusing on the neutral details of a disturbing scene can weaken a person’s later memories — and negative impressions. The findings could lead to the development of methods to increase psychological resilience in people who are likely to experience traumatic events, like soldiers, police officers…
Tag: memory
Mindfulness Training Improves Retention Of Fear Extinction
Brief daily mindfulness training delivered through the HEADSPACE mindfulness app makes it easier to achieve lasting extinction of fear reactions, a new study indicates. Mindfulness has been shown to reduce negative emotions in both healthy individuals as well as patients with psychological problems. Studies have also shown that mindfulness is effective for treating clinical emotional…
Déjà Vu And The Illusory Feeling Of Prediction
For many, déjà vu is just a fleeting, eerie sensation that “I’ve been here before.” For others, it gets even eerier: In that moment of unsettling familiarity, they also feel confident they know what’s going to happen next – like, a girl in a white shirt is going to pass me on the left. And…
Presentism Memory Bias = Disparaging Younger Generations
Imperfect memories could be the source of complaints about younger generations. John Protzko, a psychologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, refers to this phenomenon as the “kids these days effect.” “Humanity has been lodging the same complaints against ‘kids these days’ for at least 2,600 years,” says Protzko. The only reason he limited…
Restoring Memory Function In Familial Alzheimer’s May Be Possible
A new approach to Alzheimer’s disease (AD) that may eventually make it possible to reverse memory loss has been revealed by a team led by University at Buffalo scientists. They found that by focusing on gene changes caused by influences other than DNA sequences — called epigenetics — it was possible to reverse memory decline…
Autobiographical Memory Test May Help Predict Risk For Alzheimer’s
Testing how well people remember past events in their lives could help doctors make early predictions about who is at risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new study. Researchers administered an “autobiographical memory” test to a group of 35 healthy adults, about half of whom carry the gene variant APOE4 — a known genetic…
Modafinil Improves Memory In Patients Recovering From Depression
Modafinil can improve memory in patients recovering from depression, suggests new research from the University of Cambridge. The findings offer hope of a treatment for some of the cognitive symptoms of depression. The results come from a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study looking at the potential of modafinil to treat cognitive dysfunction in depression. Modafinil is…
How the Dorsal Raphe Nucleus Tracks Action Outcomes
Animals in motion need to adjust their physical exertion as changes in the environment or their own bodies, muscle fatigue or a strong headwind, for example, change how efficiently they walk, swim, or fly. Scientists at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Janelia Research Campus have now monitored neural activity in fish as they adapt their…
Alzheimer's Disease: Plaques Impair Memory Formation During Sleep
Alzheimer’s patients frequently suffer from sleep disorders, mostly even before they become forgetful. Furthermore, it is known that sleep plays a very important role in memory formation. Researchers from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have now been able to show for the first time how the pathological changes in the brain act on the…