Can Marilyn Monroe or George Clooney Predict Alzheimer's?
By Paula Spencer Scott, Caring.com senior editor
Can dementia be predicted by what happens in someone's brain when they see an iconic celebrity like Marilyn Monroe, Bob Hope, Johnny Carson, George Clooney, or Britney Spears?
I realize it's odd to think about Marilyn Monroe and the brain, of all body parts, but bear with me.
Now that we can "see" the inner workings of the brain thanks to better imaging tests, scientists are devising clever ways of watching memory in progress. And one of the simpler ideas, reported in last week's [Neurology] (http://www.neurology.org/cgi/content/abstract/73/8/612), compares brain activity when a person is shown different names. Turns out people at high risk of developing Alzheimer's struggle just as much to recognize Marilyn or Britney as they do non-famous names like Irma Jacoby or Thomas Fitzpatrick.
In fact, they struggled six times harder than people at low-risk for Alzheimer's (as determined by family history and [genetic factors] (http://www.caring.com/blogs/caring-currents/genetic-risk-of-alzheimers)). All of the subjects, healthy adults ages 65 to 85, were placed in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine and asked to push a button when they recognized names that were flashed in front of them. The low-risk subjects' brains lit up most at the unfamiliar names, meaning they were working hardest to process and identify them. They didn't have to work hard for the celeb names, the way the high-risk people did.
The idea behind this test is to find markers that, along with genetic risk and other known risk factors, can help pinpoint people most vulnerable to Alzheimer's. It's a little hard to see how this kind of predictive information is useful. In theory, the Cleveland Clinic researchers behind it say, it would enable such people to participate in clinical trials of new drugs at the earliest and most beneficial stages.
It's a little amazing to think that how my Dad's brain once processed Marilyn Monroe or Albert Einstein might have foreshadowed his current mid-stage dementia.
I say amazing because at this point he doesn't always know exactly who anybody is. Sometimes I'm his "sister," for example, sometimes I'm his daughter (one of them, anyway…he might start to talk about me in the third person, as in, "Did you read Paula's article…?").
Makes me want to ask him who Marilyn Monroe is, next time I see him. (Even though that wasn't the test, of course; the test was to reveal what parts of memory function were flashing in healthy subjects.)
But I don't think there was ever a point in his life where Dad had any idea who Brit was.
Now you see my memory problem I misspelt remember in my blog,yes I can spell it.but I didn't also I did not notice this until posted it,then it was like a sore thumb.Freudian?may be. My mother had alzheimer's but I think being 79 may have something to do with it.I forgot Marilyn Monroe's name After watching Bus Stop.why? I remember dreams some people dont.but my dreams have meaning.I was on Richard Dawkins website I queried their belief that we all came from one cell They called me all sorts of an idiot .The website was red hot.that night I had a dream,my neighbour had dumped all his rubbish in my garden,symbolic?it was to me.
I am sorry It is a spectacular approach to a normal human funtion memory loss. Strange we can rembember some names and not others some film stars and not others ,I have a simple way of over coming this problem. I have ninety golfing friends names to remember every week. I just imagine crown on the head of George a potty on the head of Jerry A leg of mutton on Jeffs head . long John big Fred and a I never have trouble again,sort of giving my memory a clue.
I agree with Friendma. This type of testing is almost like playing "Trivial Pursuit".... it is predicated on KNOWLEDGE of pop culture and current events rather than on actual brain FUNCTION. Knowledge is self-controlled whereas brain function is not. For a test such as this to be scientifically valid, it should be able to be duplicated. How would you test someone from a different culture? For example, Amish people live in our midst but they do not participate in our culture and would very likely not know the names of pop icons. Like Friendma, I would not recognize many of the faces or names of some of the current heartthrobs, but, for now, my memory is fine. I would label this as "pseudo-science" and is predictive of cultural participation, not purely brain function. A better test would be to show random images and ask the participant to identify a specific type of object, such as a specific geometric shape. Has this "study" been peer reviewed and held up to scientific scrutiny?
I don't have a memory problem but have never been a big movie fan or watched a lot of tv, so putting ME through that kind of test would most likely end up with an incorrect conclusion. My husband couldn't have passed that test 25 years ago when he was healthy! Einstein, probably...Monroe, maybe...Clooney or Spears...not a chance!