In a new study, researchers found that good sleep quality and a good mood may help improve working memory in older people.
The research was conducted by a team from the University of California, Riverside.
Working memory is the part of short-term memory that stores and manages information temporarily for cognitive tasks such as learning, reasoning, and comprehension.
Working memory is important in many cognitive functions, such as intelligence, creative problem-solving, language, and action-planning.
In the study, the team conducted two experiments.
In the first experiment, they tested 110 college students who reported sleep quality and depressed mood and their working memory was tested.
In the second experiment, the researchers examined 31 members of a community ranging in age from 21 to 77 years.
They examined the age and its relationship to working memory.
The team found that age is negatively related to how accurate the memory is.
In contrast, poor sleep quality and depressed mood are linked to a reduced likelihood of remembering a previously experienced event.
This suggests that good sleep quality and happy mood may help improve working memory in older people.
The researchers suggest that although aging, poor sleep quality and depressing mood all contribute to foggy memory, they may have different effects.
They suggest that for older people who want to keep their memory sharp, having good sleep at night and be in a good mood are very important.
The lead author of the study is Weiwei Zhang, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of California, Riverside.
The study is published in the Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society.
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