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| San José, Costa Rica, Monday, Feb. 25, 2013, Vol. 13, No. 39 | |||||||||
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Go to Page 5 HERE! Go to Page 6 HERE! Sports is HERE! Opinion is HERE! Classifieds are HERE! Plus useful links |
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 Autoridad Reguladora de Servicios
Públicos graphic
Chart shows the percentage of
voltage problems in each firm.Electrical suppliers short on voltage, regulator says By the A.M. Costa Rica staff Voltage problems cause failures of
lights and electronic devices, so expats might want to measure the
power that is coming into their homes and offices.
The nation's regulatory agency did and found that the major power suppliers had significant variations from the acceptable voltage. Of 23,600 measurements of the major electrical utilities from 2003 to 2012, the Autoridad Reguladora de Servicios Públicos found that 26, percent of the time the voltage was outside acceptable limits, it said Friday. The Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad had 41 percent of the measurements outside the acceptable range, and the Compañía Nacional de Fuerza y Luz had 40 percent. The two firms supply 79 percent of the electrical power in the country. The Junta Administrativa del Servicio Eléctrico Municipal de Cartago led all the other firms with outages. Low voltage causes appliances to struggle and to run hot. Computer users should have a device to regulate the electrical flow to protect their investment. The old custom
house scam
is alive and well at airports By the A.M. Costa Rica staff Judicial agents say that at least
70 individuals, most of them in business, have fallen for the old aduana
scam.
That's the fraud where a crook claims to have valuable merchandise tied up in the customs warehouse and offers to sell the items at a cut rate. The offered products have ranged from cell telephones to bars of copper, said judicial agents. Of course, there is no merchandise, and agents suspect that a gang of some 32 persons have been playing the scam on persons in San Carlos, Guanacaste, Cartago and in other parts of the country. The scene of the scam is an international airport, mostly Juan Santamaría in Alajuela. These crooks have taken the scam
one step further. If in the process of stealing from a business person,
the victim realizes that he is being scammed, the crooks are likely to
pull out weapons and convert the crime into a robbery, said agents.
Scams like this have been going on ever since there were customs houses or aduanas. But the crooks manage to contact by telephone persons whose desire for cheap products overrides what they may have learned in the past. Marijuana by hydroponics results in prison sentences By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Despite what may be seen as a liberal attitude toward marijuana, expats probably do not want to go into the farming business. Two persons who did got sentences of eight and 12 years in prison, said the Poder Judicial. The case was heard last week in the Tribunal de Juicio de Pérez Zeledón and involved a man with the last names of Villalobos Solís and a woman with the last names of Lee Mad. The woman received the lesser sentence. They lived in Barrio Pedregoso in San Isidro de El General where investigators found 1,500 marijuana plants in a search in 2011. They were using a hydroponic system. At the time, agents said the
operation was the biggest to date in the southern part of the country.
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A.M. Costa Rica Third News Page |
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Costa Rica advertising reaches from 12,000 to 14,000 unique visitors every weekday in up to 90 countries. |
| San José, Costa Rica, Monday, Feb. 25, 2013, Vol. 13, No. 39 | |
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 A.M. Costa Rica/ Brittany Cogbill
There's only one direction now
for Ms. Pearson. |
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| A certified courageous couple of seconds
from an old bridge |
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By
Kayla Pearson
of the A.M. Costa Rica staff I never understood the phrase “heart jumping out of your chest” until I was standing 265 feet in the air at the end of the platform that was affixed to Puente Viejo del Colorado in Naranjo, Costa Rica. My instructions were clear. I was to walk until my toes were dangling over the metal fixture and drop the long thick bungee cord that is attached between my two ankle straps into the vast greenery beneath me. “At that point you are completely free,” Jumpmaster Kenneth of Tropical Bungee said. Free was an ironic word choice since in that brief moment I felt like a prisoner walking the green mile to my planned execution. Me being erectly positioned there encased by nothing except the lush forestry was the most terrifying experience of my life. All the confidence I had faked before this moment flew out the window, and my thoughts immediately transitioned to: “I can’t do this.” My friend, Brittany Cogbill, and I had made a pact the day before to push the other one off in the event that one of us turned chicken. The set up of the jump voided out that idea, and the truth became evident. The reality of making this happen was up to no one but myself. Besides, she had just completed her mission, proving that everything was going to be okay if I could just let go. Behind me a countdown from five began. At that moment I silenced my inhibitions and made up my mind that I would not be the failed attempt of the day. At the sound of zero, I pulled my nerves together in a deep breath, stretched out my arms and took the plunge just at the bridge of Lil John’s song “Get Low” fittingly played “Let me see you get low, you scared, you scared” in the background. Jumping was the easy part. I belly flopped the sky and the sensation of flying poured through my body. A rush took over that completely cleared my mind, and in my free fall I connected with nature. One Mississippi. Two Mississippi. The seconds passed, and then the weight of gravity took over. I realized I was still falling and panicked. I questioned whether I had just made a suicide attempt. The words of my group member Dave Jordison came to mind. “It felt like I was going to die,” he said describing his jump. “No white light, no long hallways. Just instant death.” Before the jump, Kenneth told us that Tropical Bungee opened 21 years ago and was the first bungee jumping organization in Central America. “I’m telling you so you know you should have no worries about safety,” he said. “We have had no accidents.” |
 A.M.Costa Rica/Brittany Cogbill
The certificate of courage,
awarded by the two jumpmasters.Well safety was all I could think about. At that moment, the cord reached its extension limit and sprang me upward. The force transitioned quickly from a pull to a push and I fell a second time. The quick change in directions made my belly cartwheel. My screams of fright rang out in the surroundings. And then it was over. “The shortest, longest four seconds of your life,” Kenneth described. I hung suspended more than two hundred feet below the bridge, with rocks in the flowing Rio Colorado beneath me apparently close. Dangling there upside down, I felt like the ankle bracelets were slipping further down off my legs. I told myself to breathe, to stop imagining my head smashing on the rocks. With each exhale I said, “I’m not going to fall,” and prayed that I would be able to catch the hook our jumpmasters threw down to pull me back up. Time that I could not measure elapsed. Finally, the hook was in hand, and I did a half pull up to fasten it to my waist harness. The operators pulled me to an upright position, and I made my way back to safety. It wasn’t until my feet were on the bridge that I breathed a sigh of relief. Jumpmasters Kenneth and Roberto greeted me with a “How did it feel?” to which I responded “Pura Vida, Mae.” “Hold out your hand’s,” they instructed me. My hands shook uncontrollable, a sign of a 100 percent adrenaline rush. I was the last one in our group of three to make the leap. We were done, received certificates of courage, and left to go home. “Scratch that off our bucket list,” Brittany said to me on our ride back. Yes, I agreed as we clashed hi fives. Now on to skydiving, I thought. |
 A.M. Costa Rica
photo/KaylaPearson
Brittany Cogbill displays her joy at completing her jump |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Monday, Feb. 25, 2013, Vol. 13, No. 39 | |||||
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 An
example of the work of Kéyner Segura
New exhibition
shows merger
of architecture and drawing Special
to A.M. Costa Rica
The title of the art exhibit is "Convergence," which means coming together. That is an apt description of the work by Kéyner Segura, who is a graduate architect who has made an extensive study of art, drawing and design. According to the Hidden Garden Art Gallery, the site of the exhibition: In "Convergence," Segura takes viewers on a journey through the last three years of his creations. This exhibit is the point of convergence of different styles and techniques explored in recent years. There is no common language for all paintings included in this collection. Styles and techniques are constantly changing and move us from one to another, showing very different messages and substance in each. This creates a dynamic and communicative approach in a unique style, as Segura paints freely, soaring from one style to another and exploring them all according to his artistic needs. Art and architecture fuse together when artist Segura captures his imagination on canvas, said the gallery. Born in Puntarenas, Segura's parents supported his creativity during his childhood, when they permitted him to paint murals on the walls of their home, he said. This freedom of expression laid the foundation of who he is today. Having a formal degree in architecture, and having taken numerous courses in art appreciation, drawing, and design, Segura recognized that art and architecture are closely related, said the gallery. "I could not paint in the same way without having studied architecture. It enriches my art and my imagination," the artist said. "They are closely intertwined and connected." Though inspired by modern and post-modern artists such as Fernando Carballo and César Valverde, Segura created a series of paintings motivated from his study of renown Costa Rican artist and architect, Rafael Ángel “Felo” García. The opening is Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Hidden Garden Art Gallery, located 5 kilometers west of the Daniel Oduber airport. The exhibit continues through April 5. For more information, those interested may contact 2667-0592, 8386-6872, or email hiddengarden@thevanstonegroup.com. Film about Iranian hostages takes Oscar for top picture By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
"Argo," the film about the Iranian hostage crisis, won the top prize at the Academy Awards Sunday in Los Angeles, beating "Lincoln," which was widely expected to win. Ben Affleck, "Argo's" director and co-producer, thanked everyone who had anything to do with the movie in his acceptance speech. First lady Michelle Obama made a surprise appearance from the White House toward the end of the ceremony. She praised the films that were nominated in the best picture category saying "they made us laugh and they made us weep." She then announced the winner, "Argo." Daniel Day Lewis won the best actor Oscar for his portrayal of Abraham Lincoln in "Lincoln." Jennifer Lawrence fell on the steps up to the stage to pick up her best acting Oscar for "Silver Linings Playbook." Ang Lee thanked the movie god when he edged out Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln" to win the best director prize for "The Life of Pi." Ann Hathaway won the best supporting actress Oscar for her role in the musical "Les Miserables," while Christoph Waltz picked up his second Oscar for his supporting role in Quentin Tarantino's "Django Unchained." He won his first supporting acting prize in 2009 for his role as a Nazi in Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds." Tarantino won the prize for best original screenplay for "Djano Unchained." "Searching for Sugarman," the chronicle of a forgotten musician's rediscovery took home the Oscar for best documentary. The French-language film "Amour" won the best foreign language Academy Award. This year's show featured a film tribute to the so-called Bond girls who have appeared the five decades of the British super-spy James Bond films. Halle Berry, herself a "Bond girl" introduced the tribute. Afterwards, Shirley Bassey sang "Goldfinger." The Oscar winners are chosen by some 5,800 movie industry professionals who are members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Seth MacFarlane was the host of this year's show. Other winners were: Best Original Song - "Skyfall" - Adele Adkins and and Paul Epworth Best Original Score - "Life of Pi" - Michael Danna Original Screenplay - "Django Unchained" - Quentin Tarrantino Adapted Screenplay - "Argo" - Chris Terrio Animated Short Film - "Paperman"- John Kahrs Animated Feature Film - "Brave" - Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman Cinematography - "Life of Pi", Claudio Miranda Visual Effects - "Life of Pi" - Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer and Donald R. Elliott Achievement in Costume Design - Jacqueline Durran, for "Anna Karenina" Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyle - Lisa Wescott and Julie Dartnell, for "Les Miserables" Life Action Short Film: Shawn Christensen, for "Curfew" Documentary Short Subject: Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine, for "Inocente" |
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| A.M.
Costa Rica's Fifth news page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Monday, Feb. 25, 2013, Vol. 13, No. 39 | |||||||||
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| Prices
of U.S. corn, soybeans predicted to decline in 2013 By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Prices of corn, soybeans and wheat are likely to decline this year, according to the latest forecast from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Although farmers are going into this season with the ground still extremely dry after last year’s record-breaking drought, the department still expects good yields this year. Weather, like the winter storm which blew through the southern Great Plains this week bringing relief from the drought conditions which have lingered since summer, will be a critical factor. Wet, heavy snow and ice blanketed Scott Neufeld’s farm near Fairview, Oklahoma. “This couldn’t have come at a better time," he says. Since September, Oklahoma has received half to two-thirds of its normal rainfall, and the winter wheat crop is in bad shape. Some of the fields Neufeld planted last fall hadn't even sprouted. “There are some of our acres that didn’t emerge," Neufeld says. "And this moisture will sprout that seed and get it out of the ground.” Neufeld expects his wheat harvest will probably still fall below normal. Average rainfall the rest of the season would not get the region out of the drought. Precipitation in Oklahoma has been below normal nearly every month for almost two years, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Scott Curl. “It’s going to be hard," he says. "We’ve been in such a deficit for such a long time. It takes a while to dig into these kinds of situations, and it takes a while to dig out as well.” To get back to normal, Curl says the state needs an additional 25 to 50 centimeters of precipitation on top of its usual amount. That's 10 to 20 inches. More than a third of the country is in severe drought or worse as farmers prepare to plant next season’s crops. It follows three consecutive down years for corn harvests and a bad year for wheat in 2011. The latest predictions call for drought to persist over the western part of farm country, but Texas A&M University economist Mark Welch says farmers don’t need a wet year to produce a good crop. “With the technology that we have built into the farming practices," he says, "with the varieties that have been developed, seed technologies, it’s just incredible what some of these crops can do.” Welch says it’s unusual to have two extremely dry years in a row and that there’s little connection between dry soil at the start of the season and crop yields at the end. Announcing the latest crop outlook Thursday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Chief Economist Joe Glauber was optimistic. “We’re expecting a rebound in yields," Glauder said. "We should see record production, I think, for corn and soybeans. That means lower prices.” But Glauber noted he made almost the same announcement last year. Then the drought hit. With world supplies of corn and soybeans extremely tight, Welch says the weather forecast will drive the market. “If it’s for a dome of high pressure, up go the prices," Glauber says. "If it’s for a cold front to push through and bring some rain, down will come the prices. And so, we’ll bounce around with that all season.” That outlook suggests farmers and consumers alike should brace for another volatile year for crop prices. Raúl Castro gets new term for five more years in Cuba By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Raúl Castro has been reelected as Cuba's president in what is expected to be his last official five-year term. According to state media, the National Assembly of People's Power approved Castro as president Sunday along with 52-year-old Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez as his first vice president. Earlier in the day, retired Cuban leader Fidel Castro made a rare public appearance at the opening session of the National Assembly in Havana. Assembly members gave Castro a standing ovation. President Castro, who replaced his ailing brother Fidel in 2008, has called for two five-year terms for Communist Party and government leaders. The 81-year-old president raised speculation Friday about a possible retirement, suggesting that he had plans to resign at some point. During his first term, Castro presided over limited reforms that included the gradual easing of restrictions on travel and personal property. Cracked turbine blade grounds new U.S. fighters By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The U.S. Defense Department has suspended all test flights of the new F-35 fighter jets after discovering a cracked blade in the engine of one of the planes. The problem was discovered during an inspection at Edwards Air Force Base in California. The engine is being shipped to manufacturer Pratt Whitney in Connecticut for evaluation. The Pentagon has grounded all versions of the radar-evading warplane. The Marines and the Navy have been testing the aircraft in the Pentagon's $396 billion F-35 fighter jet program. The Pentagon said the grounding of the 51 planes is a precautionary measure and it is too early to know the full impact of the newly discovered problem. Friday marked the second grounding of the warplane in two months. The F-35 program has been marked by cost overruns and technical problems. Executive Branch backing same-sex marriage rights By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama has filed a legal brief with the Supreme Court to strike down a 1996 law defining marriage exclusively as a union between a man and a woman. The document, filed Friday, marks the first time a U.S. president has endorsed same-sex marriage rights before the high court. The White House's position is that the Defense of Marriage Act violates the constitutional guarantee of equal protection under the law. The brief said the law denies federal benefits to tens of thousands of same-sex couples that are granted to heterosexual couples. The case before the Supreme Court involves Edith Windsor, a lesbian who had been legally married to her decades-long partner. However, Windsor was required to pay a hefty estate tax bill when her partner died because she was not considered legally married under the Defense of Marriage Act. Republicans in both the Senate and the House of Representatives have voiced their opposition to the president's stance on gay marriage. The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the case next month. Also, the court will consider next month a California law, Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in that state. Scrap drug war to fight antibiotic misuse, essay says By
the Journal of Medical Ethics news staff
Governments around the world should stop squandering resources fighting an unwinnable war against illegal drugs, such as cocaine and heroin. Instead, they should use the cash to curb antibiotic misuse, which poses a far more serious threat to human health, claims a leading ethicist in the Journal of Medical Ethics. Jonny Anomaly, of Duke University, Durham in North Carolina, says that concerted collective action is needed to tackle the excessive and casual prescribing of antibiotics, which has led to a worrying rise in resistance to these medicines. “Government action is both more appropriate and more likely to be effective in regulating antibiotics than it is in criminalizing narcotics,” he writes. Anomaly says the arguments put forward for continuing to plough resources into the war on illegal drugs, such as the need to curb the related violence and social harms, should, of course, be taken seriously. But he contends that “most of the violence and crime associated with narcotics is caused by laws that prohibit drug use, rather than drug use itself.” And the argument that stimulant drugs increase violent tendencies is not based on strong evidence, he says. He accepts that a drug habit takes its toll on friends and family, but argues that this does not justify treating this behavior as a crime. And while supporters of tough action on illegal drugs fear that the absence of harsh penalties will simply make it easier to get hold of them. Anomaly, a physician, points to the evidence in Portugal, the only country that has decriminalized recreational drug use. This “suggests that consumption has not significantly increased for most drugs, and has actually declined for some…greater accessibility does not necessarily lead to more drug use by either adults or children,” he writes. At the very least antibiotic resistant infections have the power to harm others and make illness more costly to treat, and they can often kill, he warns. “This feature gives antimicrobial drugs a fundamentally different moral status from recreational drugs, and it suggests that current policy priorities are based on moral confusion, scientific ignorance, or both,” he suggests. He puts forward several possible ways of tackling antibiotic resistance. These include phasing out the use of these drugs in farming, along with factory farming; cash incentives for pharmaceutical companies to conserve existing drugs; banning over the counter sales of antibiotics in developing nations; and global surveillance of resistant bacteria, spearheaded by the world’s wealthy nations. In addition to this, a flat user fee should be levied on courses of antibiotics, the monies from which could be used to pay for antibiotic research, he suggests. “A user fee would not be a panacea. But it could be a crucial part of a multidimensional approach to the problem of resistance. User fees are especially attractive because of their fairness and simplicity,” he said. Chávez condition called breathing insufficiency By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Officials in Venezuela say President Hugo Chávez is still suffering from respiratory problems following his cancer operation in Cuba in December. Chávez returned from Cuba a week ago and has since been treated in a military hospital in Caracas. Venezuela's Information Minister Ernesto Villegas said that Chávez is being treated there for breathing problems. But he said treatment for the president's main illness continues without significant adverse effects for now. "The breathing insufficiency that emerged post-operation persists, and the tendency has not been favorable, so it is still being treated. Medical treatment for the base illness continues without significant adverse effects for now. The patient remains in communication with relatives and the government political group in close collaboration with the medical work group. The president holds firm to Christ, with absolute will to live and maximum discipline in the treatment of his health,'' said Villegas. Venezuela's leftist leader has been hospitalized since returning from Cuba Monday. He had his fourth cancer operation in December in Havana. The government released photos of the president last week, but he has not been seen publicly since his latest operation. South Korea inaugurates its first female president By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
South Korea has sworn in its first female president, the daughter of former dictator Park Chung-hee. After being inaugurated Monday in front of a crowd of tens of thousands gathered at the National Assembly building in Seoul, Park Geun-hye urged North Korea to drop its nuclear ambitions and stop wasting its resources on nuclear and missile development. She said she would not tolerate any action that threatens the lives of South Korea's people and the security of the nation. Park Geun-hye served as first lady of South Korea after her mother was killed by a stray assassin's bullet. She takes office about 33 years after her military dictator father was gunned down by his security chief in 1979. |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Monday, Feb. 25, 2013, Vol. 13, No. 39 | |||||||||
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Agents
seek help in case of man killed in Londres By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Law officers have identified the body of a man found in
U.S. lawmakers struggle to make agreement by Friday By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The United States is days away from automatic, across-the-board federal spending cuts that would impact everything from national security to air traffic controllers to food inspection. Republicans and Democrats are criticizing the budget sequester, but they show no sign of forging a bipartisan deal to avert it. Unless Congress acts, $85 billion will be trimmed from U.S. military and domestic spending this year, the first installment of $1.2 trillion of cuts over a 10-year period. “I think it will kick in," said Sen. Claire McCaskill. Sen. McCaskill, a Democrat, says her party is in agreement with President Barack Obama that a substitute for the sequester should be enacted, comprised of targeted spending cuts and revenue increases. Speaking on the Fox News Sunday television program, Ms. McCaskill said the Senate will take up the measure. “We will vote on something this week, and it will be a balanced approach. It will do both spending cuts and it will close some loopholes," she said. Republicans, who control the House of Representatives, oppose any measure that increases tax revenue. Sen. Tom Coburn, a Republican, says the key to fixing America’s fiscal woes is to curb runaway federal spending. “Look, the federal government is twice the size it was 11 years ago," said Coburn. "Sequestration is a terrible way to cut spending. It will be somewhat painful. But not cutting spending is going to be disastrous for our country.” While championing spending cuts in general, some Republicans are uncomfortable with the sequester’s impact on U.S. armed forces. The state of Virginia is home to significant military installations, and its Republican governor, Bob McDonnell, spoke on CBS’ Face the Nation program. “You have to cut, because we are in bad shape, almost $17 trillion in debt now," said McDonnell. "But do not put 50 percent of the cuts on defense, our men and women in uniform, while we are still fighting a war in Afghanistan. That is not the right way.” Democrats counter that unless tax revenues increase, the only way to shield military spending while maintaining overall deficit reduction targets is to extract even greater cuts from domestic programs on which many Americans rely. An example of the impact of those cuts was provided by President Obama’s education secretary, Arne Duncan, who also appeared on Face the Nation. “The vast majority of federal money goes to help vulnerable children," said Duncan of education spending. "Whether it is children with special needs, poor children, it just means a lot more children will not get the kinds of services and opportunities they need. And as many as 40,000 teachers could lose their jobs.” In this latest round of fiscal brinksmanship, a stalemate has emerged. Republicans dislike the sequester, but see it as preferable to the revenue hikes proposed by Democrats. Democrats also dislike the sequester, but are even more opposed to Republican cuts-only formulations that would subject domestic programs to even greater spending reductions. Unless the stalemate is broken in the coming days, the sequester will go into effect beginning Friday. |
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| A.M. Costa Rica Seventh Newspage |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Monday, Feb. 25, 2013, Vol. 13, No. 39 | |
 Distractions
boost memory of seniors
By
the Baycrest Health Sciences news staff
Scientists at the Rotman Research Institute and the University of Toronto have found compelling evidence that older adults can eliminate forgetfulness and perform as well as younger adults on memory tests. Scientists used a distraction learning strategy to help older adults overcome age-related forgetting and boost their performance to that of younger adults. Distraction learning sounds like an oxymoron, but a growing body of science is showing that older brains are adept at processing irrelevant and relevant information in the environment, without conscious effort, to aid memory performance. “Older brains may be be doing something very adaptive with distraction to compensate for weakening memory,” said Renée Biss, lead investigator and doctoral student. “In our study we asked whether distraction can be used to foster memory-boosting rehearsal for older adults. The answer is yes!” “To eliminate age-related forgetfulness across three consecutive memory experiments and help older adults perform like younger adults is dramatic and to our knowledge a totally unique finding,” said Lynn Hasher, senior scientist on the study and a leading authority in attention and inhibitory functioning in younger and older adults. “Poor regulation of attention by older adults may actually have some benefits for memory.” The findings, published online in Psychological Science, ahead of print publication, have intriguing implications for designing learning strategies for the mature, older student and equipping senior-housing with relevant visual distraction cues throughout the living environment that would serve as rehearsal opportunities to remember things like an upcoming appointment or medications to take, even if the cues aren’t consciously paid attention to. In three experiments, healthy younger adults recruited from the University of Toronto (aged 17– 27) and healthy older adults from the community (aged 60 – 78) were asked to study and recall a list of words after a short delay and again, on a surprise test, after a 15-minute delay. During the delay period, half of the studied words occurred again as distraction while people were doing a very simple attention task on pictures on a monitor. Although repeating words as distracters had no impact on the memory performance of young adults, it boosted older adults’ memory for those words by 30 percent relative to words that had not repeated as distraction. “Our findings point to exciting possibilities for using strategically-placed relevant distraction as memory aids for older adults – whether it’s in classroom, at home or in a long term care environment,” said researcher Biss. While older adults are watching television or playing a game on a tablet, boosting memory for goals (such as remembering to make a phone call or send a holiday card) could be accomplished by something as simple as running a stream of target information across the bottom of their tablet or TV. The study was supported by a grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. The Rotman Research Institute is associated with Baycrest Health Sciences Facebook study boosts brain power By
the University of Arizona news service
Should grandma join Facebook? It may give her a cognitive boost, study finds. Preliminary research findings from the University of Arizona suggest that men and women older than 65 who learn to use Facebook could see a boost in cognitive function. Janelle Wohltmann, a graduate student in the university's Department of Psychology, set out to see whether teaching older adults to use the popular social networking site could help improve their cognitive performance and make them feel more socially connected. Her preliminary findings, which she shared this month at the International Neuropsychological Society Annual Meeting in Hawaii, show that older adults, after learning to use Facebook, performed about 25 percent better on tasks designed to measure their ability to continuously monitor and to quickly add or delete the contents of their working memory – a function known in the psychology world as "updating." Ms. Wohltmann, whose research is ongoing as part of her dissertation work, facilitated Facebook training for 14 older adults who had either never used the site or used it less than once a month. They were instructed to become Facebook friends only with those in their training group and were asked to post on the site at least once a day. A second group of 14 non-Facebook using seniors instead was taught to use an online diary site, Penzu.com, in which entries are kept private, with no social sharing component. They were asked to make at least one entry a day, of no more than three to five sentences to emulate the shortness of messages that Facebook users typically post. The study's third group of 14 was told they were on a "wait-list" for Facebook training, which they never actually completed. Prior to learning any new technologies, study participants, who ranged in age from 68 to 91, completed a series of questionnaires and neuropsychological tests measuring social variables, such as their levels loneliness and social support, as well as their cognitive abilities. The assessments were done again at the end of the study, eight weeks later. In the follow-ups, those who had learned to use Facebook performed about 25 percent better than they did at the start of the study on tasks designed to measure their mental updating abilities. Participants in the other groups saw no significant change in performance. Ms. Wohltmann conducted the study with help from her research adviser Betty Glisky, professor and head of the Department of Psychology, and a team of undergraduate and graduate research assistants. It was based on existing evidence about how learning new tasks can help older adults with overall cognitive function, as well as research suggesting a possible link between social connectedness and cognitive performance. "The idea evolved from two bodies of research," she said. "One, there is evidence to suggest that staying more cognitively engaged – learning new skills, not just becoming a couch potato when you retire but staying active – leads to better cognitive performing. It's kind of this 'use it or lose it' hypothesis." "There's also a large body of literature showing that people who are more socially engaged, are less lonely, have more social support and are more socially integrated are also doing better cognitively in older age," she said. In Ms. Wohltmann's research, further analysis is needed to determine whether using Facebook made participants feel less lonely or more socially connected, she said. Likewise, further analysis is needed to determine whether, or by how much, Facebook's social aspect contributed to improvements in cognitive performance. However, Ms. Wohltmann suspects that the complex nature of the Facebook interface, compared to the online diary site, was largely responsible for Facebook users' improved performance. "The Facebook interface is actually quite complex. The big difference between the online diary and Facebook is that when you create a diary entry, you create the entry, you save it and that's all you see, versus if you're on Facebook, several people are posting new things, so new information is constantly getting posted," she said. "You're seeing this new information coming in, and you need to focus on the new information and get rid of the old information, or keep it in mind if you want to go back and reference it later, so you have to constantly update what's there in your attention," she said. Participants in the study, who had an average age of 79, represent a demographic whose social media behavior has not been closely examined. "Facebook is obviously a huge phenomenon in our culture," Ms. Wohltmann said. "There's starting to be more research coming out about how younger adults use Facebook and online social networking, but we really don't know very much at all about older adults, and they actually are quite a large growing demographic on Facebook, so I think it's really important to do the research to find out." One in three online seniors use a social networking site like Facebook, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project. |
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