NEW YORK: Having the company of a pet friend may protect you from memory loss in later life and other kinds of cognitive decline, a new study finds.
The preliminary research found that pet ownership was especially beneficial for working verbal memory, such as memorisation of word lists.
“To our knowledge, our study is the first to consider the effect of duration of pet ownership on cognitive health,” first author Jennifer Applebaum, a sociology doctoral candidate and National Institute of Health predoctoral fellow at the University of Florida, was quoted as saying, according to CNN.
“And it is not just cats and dogs that can boost the brain. People in the study also cared for rabbits, hamsters, birds, fish and reptiles, Applebaum said, although ”dogs were most prevalent, followed by…