Memory loss in older adults due to distractions, not inability to focus
[11 September 2005 - EurekAlert!] The short-term memory problems that accompany normal aging are associated with an inability to filter out surrounding distractions, not problems with focusing attention, according to a study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley. Although older patients often report difficulty tuning out distractions, this is the first hard evidence from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies of the brain that memory failure owes more to interference from irrelevant information than to an inability to focus on relevant information. ...