A 40-Minute Test Tracks Memory and Thinking Changes in Aging Dogs
Researchers at the University of Arizona have built a standardized 40-minute test, called CANID, that uses food-reward tasks to measure memory and mental flexibility in pet dogs living at home. In a validation study of 239 dogs aged roughly ten months to sixteen years, scores stayed stable when the same animals were retested at six and twelve months and picked up age-related differences starting around age eight. The team also noted a small practice effect at six months and has shared the full testing protocols openly for other labs.
Source: ScienMag
People With Darker Personality Traits Tend to Want Partners Like Themselves
A team at the University of São Paulo surveyed 400 Brazilian adults about their own Dark Triad traits — narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy — and what they find appealing in a partner, publishing the work in Evolution and Human Behavior. People who rated themselves higher on these traits also rated them as more desirable in a mate, and that like-attracts-like pattern held up better than explanations based on thrill-seeking. In an experiment with written partner profiles, a kind and helpful person was by far the most wanted; attaching a history of physical assault to a dark-triad profile drove ratings to the floor, and adding fame, wealth, or striking looks did not lift them back up.
Source: PsyPost
How Fast Your Body Ages in Your 40s May Predict Everyday Forgetfulness a Decade Later
Penn State researchers followed 232 midlife adults from the long-running MIDUS study who gave blood samples in their forties and fifties and, about ten years later, reported daily memory slips across eight phone interviews. A "speedometer" measure of aging rate built from DNA methylation patterns, DunedinPACE, predicted more lapses in remembering planned tasks — about 18% higher daily risk for faster agers — with the clearest signal in the 40-to-49 group. Other measures that tracked total accumulated biological age showed no such link; the findings appeared in The Journals of Gerontology: Series A. This was a small observational study, so it cannot show that faster aging caused the memory slips.
Source: Penn State University