Old minds and new tricks

Ever feel like something goes in one ear and out the other?

New research may be able to explain why we often experience memory trouble in later life, and why we may find it difficult to learn new skills such as new languages as we get older.

Adult brains hang onto information and find it difficult to forget, and this unfortunately has a downside, as creating space for new information and memory relies on the destruction of these old, useless memories. As we grow older, we produce higher levels of a protein that prevents this forgetting and shedding of old memories, making it harder to absorb new information.

Zhenzhong Cui, Ruiben Feng, Stephanie Jacobs, Yanhong Duan, Huimin Wang, Xiaohua Cao, Joe Z. Tsien. Increased NR2A:NR2B ratio compresses long-term depression range and constrains long-term memory. Scientific Reports, 2013

Find the full research paper here: http://www.nature.com/srep/2013/130108/srep01036/full/srep01036.html