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Hitting the bottle to help drown out memories you'd rather forget may in fact etch them more deeply into your consciousness, a new study has found.
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Hitting the bottle to help drown out memories you'd rather forget may in fact etch them more deeply into your consciousness, a new study has found.
And having one or two glasses of wine a day may increase your ability to remember, and even help with Alzheimer sufferers.
The study at Auckland University was undertaken by Dr Maggie Kalev and Professor Matthew During.
The two researchers found moderate levels of alcohol consumption, equivalent to one or two glasses of wine a day, could enhance memory.
In contrast, high levels of alcohol decreased the ability of new brain cells to develop and mature.
"Low levels of alcohol promoted neutral memories, such as remembering objects," said Dr Kalev.
"However, contrary to popular belief, we also found that excessive levels of alcohol enhanced memories of highly emotional stimuli, meaning the concept of `drinking to forget' is unlikely to be true.
"Our work suggests that heavy drinking actually reinforces negative memories."
The study also identified the way low doses of alcohol improved memory.
Dr Kalev said a "very important" brain receptor, called an NMDA receptor, appeared to be necessary for the process.
Testing done on rats showed if they did not have enough NMDA receptors, their memory did not improve when given low alcohol doses.
However, rats which did show high numbers of NMDA receptors exhibited memory improvement when given small amounts of alcohol.
"Pathways by which memory is laid down are unclear, but NMDA receptor is critical in this process," Dr Kalev said.
"Building on this knowledge may help in the treatment of memory disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease and other dementias."
The results of the study are published in Journal of Neuroscience.
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(NZPA)
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一項最新研究發現，借酒消愁可能會“愁更愁”。
每天喝一兩杯酒能夠增強記憶，甚至有助于緩解阿滋海默氏癥（老年癡呆癥）。
該研究是由奧克蘭大學的麥吉?卡萊弗博士和馬修?杜林教授共同開展的。
他們發現，適度飲酒——即每天喝一兩杯酒，能夠增強記憶力。
而過度飲酒則會抑制新生腦細胞的發育及生長。
卡萊弗博士說：“少量飲酒能夠促進‘中性記憶’，比如對物體的記憶。”
“然而，我們還發現，與普遍觀點相反，過度飲酒能夠強化人對高強度情感刺激的記憶，也就是說‘借酒消愁’并不能奏效。”
“我們的研究表明酗酒實際上能強化人的負面記憶。”
同時，少量飲酒能夠改善人的記憶。
卡萊弗博士說大腦中的“門冬氨酸受體”在這一過程中起了“十分重要”的作用。
白鼠試驗表明，如果它們大腦中沒有足夠的門冬氨酸受體，即使攝入少量酒精，記憶也不會得到改善。
然而，大腦中有大量門冬氨酸受體的白鼠在攝入少量酒精后，記憶力則會增強。
卡萊弗博士說：“目前有關記憶儲存的‘路徑’尚不清楚，但門冬氨酸受體在這一過程中起了關鍵性作用。”
“這一發現有助于治療阿滋海默氏癥及其它癡呆癥等記憶障礙。”
該研究成果在《神經系統科學》上發表。
（英語點津姍姍編輯）
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