Brain Blast | The Brain at Every Age
The latest news on the brain and beyond.
From our months in utero to our elderly years, our brains are constantly adapting to new demands and challenges. This month, we’re highlighting research which examines what the human brain looks like at every age and offers insight into how we can support brain health at every developmental stage.
How the aging brain bridges the gap
Despite reduced cognitive abilities, elderly adults in a new study performed as well as young adults in neuropsychological tasks. How? They compensated for this decline in cognition in other areas. Older adults showed less anxiety and mind-wandering than younger adults, while also displaying greater motivation. These skills enabled them to focus more effectively on the provided tasks.
How singing keeps the mind young
Elderly adults who sing in a choir demonstrate greater verbal and, by extension, cognitive flexibility than those who do not. They also report being happier with their health. Researchers have reached similar conclusions when studying elderly adults who play an instrument. These findings support the idea that choices, even later in life, can impact cognitive health.
How caffeine changes the brain
Attention coffee-loving adults: Caffeine consumption may change your brain. After participants in a test group consumed caffeine for 10 days, brain scans showed that they had lower volumes of gray brain matter than the control group members. The difference was especially pronounced in the hippocampus region of the brain. These effects were reversed when test subjects abstained from caffeine.
How early behaviors signal future anxiety
Fearful yesterday, worried today, anxious tomorrow. National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) researchers noticed a pattern. Study participants who were very fearful and cautious as young children were more prone to worry dysregulation, in which they struggle to manage their worry, as adolescents. High worry dysregulation in adolescence was found to be a strong predictor of anxiety in young adulthood.
How touch affects infant development
Are maternal depression, touch, and infant brain development related? At Florida Atlantic University, researchers examined the EEGs of infants to find out. Regardless of their mother’s depression status, children who were breastfed showed left frontal asymmetry, which is linked to positive affect. On the other hand, children of depressed mothers who were bottle-fed showed right frontal asymmetry in their EEGs. This is typically associated with negative emotions and inhibition.
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