Ask a Scientist - Memory & Aging October 30, 2006

This Month's Topic: Attention and Memory in the Aging Brain

Normal aging is characterized by deficits that cross multiple cognitive domains, including attention, working memory and episodic memory. UCSF neuroscientist Adam Gazzaley studies the common neural mechanisms whose impairments underlie a broad range of age-related cognitive deficits. Have you ever caught a glimpse of someone and had a flash of recognition, only to find out after further inspection that he or she had some similar features, like clothing or hairstyle, but was otherwise just a random person? Our brains make assumptions to sort through the deluge of sensory information they're constantly receiving. Scientists call this top-down modulation, and its role in the study of the aging brain is one focus of Dr. Gazzaley's research.

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