Cover Stories

Also in this Issue

Brain

​To test the claim that chewing gum helps to improve mental performance, psychologists in the UK studied the effect of gum chewing on both working memory and long term memory.

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Body

Our brain is not hard-wired. Our state of mind, emotional content of experiences, and the environment in which a memory event happens all affect how, how strong, and how long we remember an experience.

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Sleep

​While the role of sleep in learning and memory has been widely investigated, much remains to be explained and controversy abounds.

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Nutrition

​Two studies reported that lemon balm extracts reduced the effects of Alzheimer’s disease.

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Nutrition

All cells in the body need sugar (glucose), amino acids (proteins), fatty acids, vitamins, and minerals for maintaining and building cell structures, and for functioning. When the body is deficient in any nutrient, as in anemia, the brain suffers.

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Microbiome

​The brain has a very active metabolism, using 20% of the body’s energy consumption at rest even though the brain accounts for less than 2% of our total body weight.

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Exercise

Mnemonics is a technique for improving memory advocated by Simonides, a Greek poet who lived around 500 BC. He devised the technique following a tragic accident.

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Exercise

Research evidence confirming the benefits of physical exercise for specific brain mechanisms is mounting.

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Brain

​When we are motivated to take action, certain regions of our brain are activated. But what actually trigger the increased blood flow carrying more fuel and oxygen to these areas of the brain in order to activate the brain?

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Brain

​A study of Hong Kong high school students who were actively engaged in musical training showed that they perform better on verbal memory tests compared to students who had no musical training.

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Brain

​Studies show that a sheep can remember the faces of up to 50 other sheep and 10 humans.

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Brain

Psychological studies show that women recall emotional events more quickly and vividly than men. Why?

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Brain

Not everything experienced is retained in memory. If it were, the brain would become a mental junkyard.

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Body

​You remember your way home. Some birds and animals store food for later use and memorize their locations. In both cases, the type of memory involved is referred to as spatial memory.

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Body

Our short term working memory may be processed in a very small, specific area in the brain giving rise to a “bottle neck”, according to two studies reported in the journal Nature.

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Body

How does memory work? Where are memories stored? Let us enter the mystic land of memory by looking at the different stages and types.

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Exercise

​A growing volume of research on the effects of physical activity on mood and depression shows that exercise improves mood, reduces symptoms of anxiety and depression, and leads to better mental function and performance. Other studies suggest that regular exercise may prevent the onset of depression.

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