Narrator:       This is Science Today. Mentally-engaging activities like reading and writing are good for your mind, but new research suggests they're also good for your brain. A study by scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, reveals that people who participate in mentally-stimulating activities throughout their lives have fewer deposits of amyloid plaques in their brains. These plaques are a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease.

Jagust:           This was a rather unexpected finding because most people would have thought that cognitive activity doesn't really affect the amyloid, it affects the response to the amyloid; but we found that it actually affects the amount of amyloid in the brain.

Narrator:       Study leader Dr. William Jagust says this is the first time cognitive activity level has been related to amyloid buildup.

Jagust:           This is making us think that the things that are good for your brain are not just good for general brain health, but they're actually really good because they have a basic impact on the basic process of Alzheimer's disease.

Narrator:       For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.