A longitudinal study found that loneliness is closely linked to lapses in immediate and delayed recall. Neuroscientists know that there is a link between loneliness and cognitive decline in older adults, although it is still difficult to understand the exact magnitude of the link. A new longitudinal study provides evidence that a proportion of people who feel lonely end up having more memory impairment, though this doesn't necessarily mean that their brains age faster. The report, published in Aging & Mental Health, shows that older adults with higher levels of loneliness scored lower on tests of immediate and delayed recall. Even so, the rate at which their memory declined over six years was virtually identical to those who were not lonely.

Academics from the University of Cambridge have revealed that they are on the hunt for'super memorisers'. These are people with exceptional memories, and are wanted to take part in a study which could uncover why some are much better at remembering than others. But it may not just be down to natural born ability, as there are some things you can do that have been scientifically proven to help improve your memory. As well as doing brain teasers, there are some less conventional ways, including eating chocolate, walking backwards and spending time in the sunshine. MailOnline takes a look at the strangest techniques scientists have discovered that could turn you into a super memoriser.

Media multitasking, such as scrolling through social media while watching a movie, may be linked to more lapses in attention and difficulty remembering things. "Our data support the idea that we should be aware of how we engage with media," says Kevin Paul Madore at Stanford University in California. He and his team compared people's self-reported levels of media multitasking with their performances in a memory task, as part of a study including 80 participants aged 18 to 26. The researchers specifically tested episodic memory, which helps us recall events, by presenting the participants with images of objects on a computer and then later asking them to recall whether they had seen the objects earlier or not. At the same time, the team used EEG and eye tracking to monitor people's attentiveness.

Forgetful people who struggle to remember something should wait till later in the day, according to results from a new study. Research by the University of Tokyo has found memory is worse in the morning or just after waking up. Their study pinpointed a gene in mice that seems to influence memory recall at different times of day and tracked how it causes mice to be more forgetful just before they normally wake up. Study leader Professor Satoshi Kida, of the University of Tokyo, said: 'We may have identified the first gene in mice specific to memory retrieval.' The team believes the internal clock in mammals that is responsible for regulating sleep-wake cycles also affects learning and memory formation.

We forget most of our dreams when we wake thanks to a group of neurons that work while we sleep to purge our minds of unnecessary memories, scientists found. The neurons -- which carry messages from cells that make a hormone involved in both sleep and appetite -- are active in the REM phase of sleep in which we dream. The finding adds to previous research that showed that sleep is the time that we store memories from the day for the long-term. Researchers studied the neurons and hormone-making cells in mice, which they found to be more forgetful when the cells were artificially activated. REM -- or'rapid eye movement' -- sleep is one of the several sleep cycles the body goes through each night.

People who walk backwards perform better in a memory test than those who stand still or walk forward, a study has found. Researchers asked 114 volunteers to watch a video in which a woman had her bag stolen and then answer a questionnaire about what they could recall. After watching the video, participants were split into groups - one was told to walk forwards or backwards 30 feet (10m) while a control group stood in one place. They were then asked twenty questions about the events in the video and it was found that the backward-walking group got two more answers correct on average than the forward-walkers and the non-walkers. People who walk backwards perform better in a memory test than those who stand still or walk forward, a study has found.

A "memory prosthesis" brain implant has enhanced human memory for the first time. The device is comprised of electrodes implanted in the brain, and is designed to mimic the way we naturally process memories, and can boost performance on memory tests by up to 30 per cent. A similar approach may work for enhancing other brain skills, such as vision or movement, says the team behind the work. "We are writing the neural code to enhance memory function," says Dong Song of the University of Southern California, who presented the findings at the Society for Neuroscience meeting in Washington DC over the weekend. "This has never been done before."

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