Neuroscience
My brain needs Viagra
Are memory lapses the result of stressful family lives or multi-tasking? Or maybe the simple aging process?
By JAN WONG
The Globe and Mail
Saturday, March 12, 2005 Updated at 9:26 AM EST
[snip]
Senior moments are becoming boomer moments. So what? Well, this generation is the first in history to try to beat back the mental ravages of aging. (And if we aren't the first, we think we are.)
Boomers, after all, never resigned themselves to grey hair, wrinkles and bifocals. Instead, we embrace Botox, hair dye and laser-eye surgery, even if we have to get one eye done for reading, the other for distance.
Now, we want to fight the invisible. We want to stave off the inevitable winter of the mind. We want Viagra for the brain.
"Perhaps boomers are more self-conscious, literally. They don't like to reveal imperfection," says Fergus Craik, 69, a research psychologist at the Rotman Research Institute in Toronto.
His colleague, Morris Moscovitch, says that in the 1990s, reporters would interview him for memory stories once every three years. Now, he gets a call every three months. "I was thinking it was because I was becoming more prominent, but it may be because more editors are boomers," jokes Dr. Moscovitch, 59, a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto and a Rotman senior scientist.
Indeed, the memory industry is booming. There are workshops, self-help books, flash cards, board games, video games and dietary supplements. On-line sites vie to remind forgetful customers of important dates. The hottest trend is mental-gymnastics software, even though it hasn't been shown conclusively to limber up the brain.
[snip]
[ ... Read the full article ... ]
- Cognitive Decline
A report from the BBC: Brain function can start declining 'as early as age 45' BBC 5 January 2012 Last updated at 20:08 ET [snip] "The brain's ability to function can start to deteriorate as early as 45, suggests a study in the British Medical...
- The Game Brain
From sfgate.com and The San Francisco Chronicle, continued penetration of pop neuropsychology into everyday life: 'Brain gym' may exorcise Boomers' fears about aging Heidi Benson, Chronicle Staff Writer Thursday, December 13, 2007 Marathon-happy...
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From today's Philadelphia Inquirer: Mental gymnastics to maintain the brain Boomers try games and gadgets to ease minds about aging By Lini S. Kadaba Inquirer Staff Writer [snip] As more baby boomers enter their 60s and others witness their elderly...
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From a press release earlier today from Toronto's Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care:What happens in the brain when we remember our own past? Toronto, CANADA --Researchers are using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to probe brain activity...
Neuroscience
The Booming Memory Industry
My brain needs Viagra
Are memory lapses the result of stressful family lives or multi-tasking? Or maybe the simple aging process?
By JAN WONG
The Globe and Mail
Saturday, March 12, 2005 Updated at 9:26 AM EST
[snip]
Senior moments are becoming boomer moments. So what? Well, this generation is the first in history to try to beat back the mental ravages of aging. (And if we aren't the first, we think we are.)
Boomers, after all, never resigned themselves to grey hair, wrinkles and bifocals. Instead, we embrace Botox, hair dye and laser-eye surgery, even if we have to get one eye done for reading, the other for distance.
Now, we want to fight the invisible. We want to stave off the inevitable winter of the mind. We want Viagra for the brain.
"Perhaps boomers are more self-conscious, literally. They don't like to reveal imperfection," says Fergus Craik, 69, a research psychologist at the Rotman Research Institute in Toronto.
His colleague, Morris Moscovitch, says that in the 1990s, reporters would interview him for memory stories once every three years. Now, he gets a call every three months. "I was thinking it was because I was becoming more prominent, but it may be because more editors are boomers," jokes Dr. Moscovitch, 59, a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto and a Rotman senior scientist.
Indeed, the memory industry is booming. There are workshops, self-help books, flash cards, board games, video games and dietary supplements. On-line sites vie to remind forgetful customers of important dates. The hottest trend is mental-gymnastics software, even though it hasn't been shown conclusively to limber up the brain.
[snip]
[ ... Read the full article ... ]
- Cognitive Decline
A report from the BBC: Brain function can start declining 'as early as age 45' BBC 5 January 2012 Last updated at 20:08 ET [snip] "The brain's ability to function can start to deteriorate as early as 45, suggests a study in the British Medical...
- The Game Brain
From sfgate.com and The San Francisco Chronicle, continued penetration of pop neuropsychology into everyday life: 'Brain gym' may exorcise Boomers' fears about aging Heidi Benson, Chronicle Staff Writer Thursday, December 13, 2007 Marathon-happy...
- The Game Brain
From today's Philadelphia Inquirer: Mental gymnastics to maintain the brain Boomers try games and gadgets to ease minds about aging By Lini S. Kadaba Inquirer Staff Writer [snip] As more baby boomers enter their 60s and others witness their elderly...
- Drs. Brenda Milner And Endel Tulving Honored
From The Globe and Mail:Award recognizes Canadian memory research Cognitive neuroscientists Brenda Milner of McGill University in Montreal and Endel Tulving of the University of Toronto are recipients of the 2005 Gairdner Awards By JORDAN PRESS Saturday,...
- Memories And Memories
From a press release earlier today from Toronto's Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care:What happens in the brain when we remember our own past? Toronto, CANADA --Researchers are using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to probe brain activity...