Feel-good hormone helps to jog the memory

The feel-good hormone dopamine improves long-term memory. This is the finding of a team lead by Emrah Düzel, neuroscientist at the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) and the University of Magdeburg. The researchers investigated test subjects ranging in age from 65 to 75 years, who were given a precursor of dopamine. Treated subjects performed better in a memory test than a comparison group, who had taken a placebo. The study provides new insights into the formation of long lasting memories and also has implications for understanding why memories fade more rapidly following the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. The results appear in the Journal of Neuroscience.