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Abstract:
The Method of Loci (MOL) is an ancient memory technique that
has been shown to improve elderly individuals' serial recall by
more than four times. MOL converts a difficult episodic memory task
into a series of easier information processes. Two cued-recall
tasks follow retrieval of a spatial memory representation. We
suggest that activation of three brain regions are critical to MOL:
right hippocampus, implicated in retrieval of mental maps; left
prefrontal cortex, believed to mediate working memory and
production of sentences; and bilateral temporo-occipital areas,
salient to self-generated imagery. The aim of this study is
therefore to test the biological effect of MOL training on
putatively mediating neural populations. This will be achieved by
Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS) in the three regions
identified, on a group of healthy elderly (n=10), before and after
two-months practice in MOL tasks of increasing difficulty. Controls
will undergo no intervention. The MRS protocol chosen (PRESS 135)
allows quantitation of neuromitochondrial function, membrane
integrity, and neural density and is sensitive to mmolar changes.
Our results will distinguish between potential alterations related
to basal neurometabolism, neurogenesis or cellular degradation.
These may be important benefits of MOL training since each is
adversely affected in neurological degenerative disease.
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