Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Posit Science Brain Fitness News: July 2010



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July 2010

In This Issue
New Study Shows Posit Program Changes Brain and Improves Memory

How to Practice

Big Hips Bad for the Brain?

Vitamins D and E-Protection against Cognitive Decline

Better Diagnosis for Brain Injury

Dementia in Diabetes Is Different

Book of the Month
Useful Links
> Brain Games
> About the Brain
> Suggested Reading
> Posit Science Products
> Posit Science Blog
> Support Community

Book of the Month
Our Sites
> Posit Science
> "On the Brain" Blog

 
Dear ,

Earlier this month, The Hartford insurance company announced a new policyholder benefit: they are making our DriveSharp brain fitness software available to their nearly 2 million AARP customers at a discount. It's part of their Safe Driving for a Lifetime public awareness campaign. What's more, The Hartford will give $50 to members who complete DriveSharp in thanks for making the roads safer for everyone.

We're honored that The Hartford chose Posit Science to partner in this effort. For more information, read the press release or visit The Hartford's website. You can also check out Four Steps to Enhance Your Driving Wellness, a blog post on our site from one of The Hartford's gerontologists and driving experts.

As always, we welcome your feedback. To ask a question or share a thought with Posit Science, please visit our Support Community.



Best regards,

Steven Aldrich CEO

New Study Shows Posit Program Changes Brain and Improves Memory
We're really excited about a new study published by Adam Gazzaley and Anne S. Berry of the University of California at San Francisco. Gazzaley and Berry trained people on Sweep Seeker, one of the exercises in our InSight brain fitness program. They found that people who used Sweep Seeker improved working memory by nearly fifty years, bringing the group with the mean age of 72 equal to a group of 24-year-olds. What's more, EEG results show the training caused physical changes in the brain. Read the press release or the study abstract to learn more.

How to Practice
We've all heard that practice makes perfect, but it turns out how you practice makes a difference. Constantly practicing a single task isn't the best way to go. Instead, you should mix up the task you're trying to master with other tasks. Why? It requires you to think about the task more deeply each time—and that helps your brain remember better. Learn more.

Big Hips Bad for the Brain?
A new study finds a strong correlation between extra weight and poorer cognitive performance in women 65+. What's more: those women with a "pear" shape fared much worse than those with extra belly fat. Why does it matter where the weight is? Find the possible explanation in this BBC article.

Vitamins D and E—Protection against Cognitive Decline
Two recent large-scale studies again suggest brain benefits from vitamins E and D. In one, low blood levels of vitamin D were associated with a higher risk for cognitive decline. The other correlated a vitamin E-rich diet with a lower dementia risk. Learn more about these study results.

While vitamin D is rarely found in large quantities in food (it's the one you get from sunshine), you can increase your vitamin E intake in your diet. We have some great vitamin E-rich recipes in our ThinkFood Brain-Healthy Recipe of the Week program, like Almond Soba Noodles. To see this recipe and sign up for the program, click here! Note: You must be signed up to view the recipe.

Better Diagnosis for Brain Injury
Within a few years, a simple blood test might be all it takes to identify a brain injury. That's a great improvement over current methods of diagnosis, which can easily miss or misdiagnose a brain injury, preventing the patient from getting the treatment he or she needs. Why do researchers think blood is the answer to this brain question? Find out.

Dementia in Diabetes Is Different
Diabetes is associated with a higher risk for dementia—but a new study suggests that it's a different type of dementia than in most non-diabetics. Dementia in people with diabetes is more likely to be a result of vascular disease than Alzheimer's. This means that if diabetes is prevented in an individual, dementia might be, too. Learn more.

Book of the Month
The Other Brain: From Dementia to Schizophrenia, How New Discoveries about the Brain Are Revolutionizing Medicine and Science (2010)
By R. Douglas Fields

In The Other Brain, R. Douglas Fields turns the spotlight on glia—a group of cells that comprise about 90% of all brain cells. Less well-known than neurons—and once relegated to the role of "helper" to the neuron's dominance—glia come into their own in Fields's work. He draws attention to new research on the critical role of glia in a host of brain functions and failures—from information processing to multiple sclerosis, stroke, and migraines. An enjoyable and informative read, The Other Brain fills an important gap in the understanding of how the brain works. Learn more >>

This newsletter contains public reports of studies which our scientists found to be of interest; no other representation is made with respect to such reports. While study results are informative, Posit Science reminds people that individual results will vary. Posit Science does not recommend its products for the treatment of disease; such treatment should be under the direction of an appropriate health professional. Some or all of this newsletter may constitute an advertisement for certain purposes.
 
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Monday, July 26, 2010

Working memory and IQ brain clock training and mechanisms linked?

It is no secret that I believe that there is a significant link between contemporary working memory (and training related studies) and mental timing mechanisms (and training to improve) that can not be ignored.  I keep running across the common neurological mechanisms of the frontal (esp. the dorsolateral PFC) and parietal cortex's, the frontal-parietal loop, the basal ganglia and dopamine.  I have hypothesized about this in a variety of posts (esp. the possibility of a temporal g domain-general mechanism) and have made this link in a couple on-line PPT slide shows.  Klingberg's article below is entirely consistent with these hypotheses (click here for more info on Klingberg's strong program of working memory research).

Klingberg, T. (2010).  Training and plasticity of working memory.  Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 14 (7), 317-324. (click here to view)

Working memory (WM) capacity predicts performance in a wide range of cognitive tasks. Although WM capacity has been viewed as a constant trait, recent studies suggest that it can be improved by adaptive and extended training. This training is associated with changes in brain activity in frontal and parietal cortex and basal ganglia, as well as changes in dopamine receptor density. Transfer of the training effects to non-trained WM tasks is consistent with the notion of training-induced plasticity in a common neural network for WM. The observed training effects suggest that WM training could be used as a remediating intervention for individuals for whom low WM capacity is a limiting factor for academic performance or in everyday life.

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iPost: NIH assessment toolbox project

Interesting neuro assessment battery project at NIH link below

http://www.nihtoolbox.org/default.aspx


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Thursday, July 22, 2010

All Kinds of Minds blog: Attention, temporal sequencing and time management

Discovered an interesting blog today that had a recent post re: attention and temporal sequencing in time management.  Check it out at All Kinds of Minds blog.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

iPost: Cognitive technology for aging brains

Abstract at link below

http://www.springerlink.com/content/4n703616673u1x17/


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Sunday, July 18, 2010

On the road again--blogging lite July 18-21


I will be on the road (working) again from July 18-21. 

I don't expect much time to blog...except for possible "push" type FYI posts re: content posted at other blogs.....or...mobile blogging (iPosts:  check out the link.....it is very cool...but, of course, I tend to be a tech nerd)......

I shall return.

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Saturday, July 17, 2010

iPost: Musical training makes on a better gesture imitator


Michael J. SpilkaContact Information, Christopher J. Steele1and Virginia B. Penhune1

(1) Department of Psychology, Concordia University, 7141 Sherbrooke St. W., Montreal, QC, H4B 1R6, Canada

Received: 14 January 2010  Accepted:30 May 2010  Published online: 24 June 2010

Abstract  
Imitation plays a crucial role in the learning of many complex motor skills. Recent behavioral and neuroimaging evidence suggests that the ability to imitate is influenced by past experience, such as musical training. To investigate the impact of musical training on motor imitation, musicians and non-musicians were tested on their ability to imitate videoclips of simple and complex two-handed gestures taken from American Sign Language. Participants viewed a set of 30 gestures, one at a time, and imitated them immediately after presentation. Participants' imitations were videotaped and scored off-line by raters blind to participant group. Imitation performance was assessed by a rating of performance accuracy, where the arm, hand, and finger components of the gestures were rated separately on a 5-point scale (1 = unrecognizable; 5 = exact imitation). A global accuracy score (PAglobal) was calculated by summing the three components. Response duration compared to the model (%MTdiff), and reaction time (RT) were also assessed. Results indicated that musicians were able to imitate more accurately than non-musicians, reflected by significantly higher PAglobal and lower %MTdiff scores. Furthermore, the greatest difference in performance was for the fine-motor (finger) gesture component. These findings support the view that the ability to imitate is influenced by experience. This is consistent with generalist theories of motor imitation, which explain imitation in terms of links between perceptual and motor action representations that become strengthened through experience. It is also likely that musical training contributed to the ability to imitate manual gestures by influencing the personal action repertoire of musicians.





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Friday, July 16, 2010

iPost: Rhythmic auditory cueing helps gait in Parkinsons

JournalNeurological Sciences
PublisherSpringer Milan
ISSN1590-1874 (Print) 1590-3478 (Online)
IssueVolume 31, Number 4 / August, 2010
CategoryOriginal Article
DOI10.1007/s10072-010-0228-2
Pages423-430
Subject CollectionMedicine
SpringerLink DateThursday, February 25, 2010


Alessandro Picelli1, 2, Maruo Camin1, 2, Michele Tinazzi2, 3, Antonella Vangelista2, 4, Alessandro Cosentino4, Antonio Fiaschi2, 5 and Nicola Smania1, 2, 6 Contact Information

(1) Neuromotor and Cognitive Rehabilitation Research Centre, University of Verona, Via L.A. Scuro, 10, 37134 Verona, Italy
(2) Department of Neurological and Visual Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy
(3) Neurology Unit, "Maggiore" Hospital, Verona, Italy
(4) Rehabilitation Unit "C. Santi", Polyfunctional Centre Don Calabria, Verona, Italy
(5) IRCCS, S. Camillo, Venice, Italy
(6) Rehabilitation Unit, "G.B. Rossi" University Hospital, Verona, Italy

Received: 10 August 2009  Accepted:20 January 2010  Published online: 25 February 2010

Abstract  
Auditory cueing enhances gait in parkinsonian patients. Our aim was to evaluate its effects on spatiotemporal (stride length, stride time, cadence, gait speed, single and double support duration) kinematic (range of amplitude of the hip, knee and ankle joint angles registered in the sagittal plane) and kinetic (maximal values of the hip and ankle joint power) gait parameters using three-dimensional motion analysis. Eight parkinsonian patients performed 12 walking tests: 3 repetitions of 4 conditions (normal walking, 90, 100, and 110% of the mean cadence at preferred pace cued walking). Subjects were asked to uniform their cadence to the cueing rhythm. In the presence of auditory cues stride length, cadence, gait speed and ratio single/double support duration increased. Range of motion of the ankle joint decreased and the maximal values within the pull-off phase of the hip joint power increased. Thus, auditory cues could improve gait modifying motor strategy in parkinsonian patients.




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Thursday, July 15, 2010

Research byte 7-15-10: Temporal processing dyslexia deficity might be explained by task difficulty instead?

Interesting article that raises question with the temporal processing hypothesis of dyslexia being completely able to account for severe reading difficulties.  The authors re-analyzed data from a previous study and demonstrated that the same data would support the hypothesis that the slower temporal processing of individuals with dyslexia may be a function of the increasing task difficulty of the tasks used.....that is, slower temporal processing occurs as the tasks being performed become more difficult. 

A good reminder that now all is known about human behavior and that science is a cumulative endeavor.  Favored/popular causative hypotheses (e.g., temporal processing as a core deficit of dyslexia) need to be viewed with a healthy degree of positive skepticism.

Skottun, B. C., & Skoyles, J. R. (2010). Temporal order judgment in dyslexia-Task difficulty or temporal processing deficiency? Neuropsychologia, 48(7), 2226-2229.

Dyslexia has been widely held to be associated with deficient temporal processing. It is, however, not established that the slower visual processing of dyslexic readers is not a secondary effect of task difficulty. To illustrate this we re-analyze data from Liddle et al. (2009) who studied temporal order judgment in dyslexia and plotted the results as d' as a function of Stimulus Onset Asynchrony (SOA). These data make it possible to compare the results of dyslexic readers and controls both in terms of d' which is related closely to task difficulty and in terms of time (i.e. SOA). It is found that the difference between the groups is about equally well accounted for in terms of d' as in terms of temporal factors. This suggests that the results of Liddle et al. (2009) may be equally well accounted for in terms of general task difficulty as temporal factors.

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Friday, July 09, 2010

RE: iPost: Self-paced mental timing used to Dx and track progress of Huntington disease

Great find!  Thanks

 

Amy Vega, MS, CCC-SLP

Interactive Metronome, Inc

Clinical Education Director

Clinical Advisory Board Director

Clinical Education Administrator

avega@interactivemetronome.com

(877) 994-6776 x 253

 

 

 

From: Earthlink [mailto:iap@earthlink.net]
Sent: Friday, July 09, 2010 11:04 AM
To: Blog Time Posts
Cc: Matthew Wukasch; Al Guerra; Rob Ryan; Bricole Reincke; Amy Vega
Subject: iPost: Self-paced mental timing used to Dx and track progress of Huntington disease

 


Self-paced timing detects and tracks change in prodromal Huntington disease.

 

By Rowe, Kelly C.; Paulsen, Jane S.; Langbehn, Douglas R.; Duff, Kevin; Beglinger, Leigh J.; Wang, Chiachi; O'Rourke, Justin J. F.; Stout, Julie C.; Moser, David J.

Neuropsychology, Vol 24(4), Jul 2010, 435-442.

Abstract

Objective: This study compares self-paced timing performance (cross-sectionally and longitudinally) between participants with prodromal Huntington's disease (pr-HD) and a comparison group of gene non-expanded participants from affected families (NC). Method: Participants (747 pr-HD: 188 NC) listened to tones presented at 550-ms intervals, matched that pace by tapping response keys and continued the rhythm (self-paced) after the tone had stopped. Standardized cross-sectional and longitudinal linear models examined the relationships between self-paced timing precision and estimated proximity to diagnosis, and other demographic factors. Results: Pr-HD participants showed significantly less timing precision than NC. Comparison of pr-HD and NC participants showed a significant performance difference on two task administration conditions (dominant hand: p < .0001; alternating thumbs: p < .0001). Additionally, estimated proximity to diagnosis was related to timing precision in both conditions, (dominant hand:t = −11.14, df = 920, p < .0001; alternating thumbs:t = −11.32, df = 918, p < .0001). Longitudinal modeling showed that pr-HD participants worsen more quickly at the task than the NC group, and rate of decline increases with estimated proximity to diagnosis in both conditions (dominant hand: t = −2.85, df = 417, p = .0045; alternating thumbs: t = −3.56, df = 445, p = .0004). Effect sizes based on adjusted mean annual change ranged from −0.34 to 0.25 in the longitudinal model. Conclusions: The self-paced timing paradigm has potential for use as a screening tool and outcome measure in pr-HD clinical trials to gauge therapeutically mediated improvement or maintenance of function.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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iPost: 10 ways technology effects your brain

FYI pass along post


Hi, 

My name is Jesse and I work with Onlinedegreeprograms.com. We recently published an article that you may be interested in entitled, "10 Big Ways That Technology Affects Your Brain".

I thought perhaps you'd be interested in sharing this article with your readers? After having followed your blog for a while, I feel that this one article would align well with your blog's subject matter. If interested, here's the link for your convenience: (http://www.onlinedegreeprograms.com/blog/2010/10-big-ways-that-technology-affects-your-brain/).

Either way, I hope you continue putting out great content through your blog. It has been a sincere pleasure to read. Thanks for your time! 

Thanks

Jesse Young

iPost: Self-paced mental timing used to Dx and track progress of Huntington disease


Self-paced timing detects and tracks change in prodromal Huntington disease.

By Rowe, Kelly C.; Paulsen, Jane S.; Langbehn, Douglas R.; Duff, Kevin; Beglinger, Leigh J.; Wang, Chiachi; O'Rourke, Justin J. F.; Stout, Julie C.; Moser, David J.
Neuropsychology, Vol 24(4), Jul 2010, 435-442.
Abstract
Objective: This study compares self-paced timing performance (cross-sectionally and longitudinally) between participants with prodromal Huntington's disease (pr-HD) and a comparison group of gene non-expanded participants from affected families (NC). Method: Participants (747 pr-HD: 188 NC) listened to tones presented at 550-ms intervals, matched that pace by tapping response keys and continued the rhythm (self-paced) after the tone had stopped. Standardized cross-sectional and longitudinal linear models examined the relationships between self-paced timing precision and estimated proximity to diagnosis, and other demographic factors. Results: Pr-HD participants showed significantly less timing precision than NC. Comparison of pr-HD and NC participants showed a significant performance difference on two task administration conditions (dominant hand: p < .0001; alternating thumbs: p < .0001). Additionally, estimated proximity to diagnosis was related to timing precision in both conditions, (dominant hand:t = −11.14, df = 920, p < .0001; alternating thumbs:t = −11.32, df = 918, p < .0001). Longitudinal modeling showed that pr-HD participants worsen more quickly at the task than the NC group, and rate of decline increases with estimated proximity to diagnosis in both conditions (dominant hand: t = −2.85, df = 417, p = .0045; alternating thumbs: t = −3.56, df = 445, p = .0004). Effect sizes based on adjusted mean annual change ranged from −0.34 to 0.25 in the longitudinal model. Conclusions: The self-paced timing paradigm has potential for use as a screening tool and outcome measure in pr-HD clinical trials to gauge therapeutically mediated improvement or maintenance of function.






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iPost: Neuropsychology - Volume 24, Issue 4



A new issue is available for the following APA journal:

Neuropsychology

Volume 24, Issue 4

Differential brain activation patterns in adult attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) associated with task switching.
Page 413-423
Dibbets, Pauline; Evers, Elisabeth A. T.; Hurks, Petra P. M.; Bakker, Katja; Jolles, Jelle
Perceptual and motor inhibition in adolescents/young adults with childhood-diagnosed ADHD.
Page 424-434
Bédard, Anne-Claude V.; Trampush, Joey W.; Newcorn, Jeffrey H.; Halperin, Jeffrey M.
Self-paced timing detects and tracks change in prodromal Huntington disease.
Page 435-442
Rowe, Kelly C.; Paulsen, Jane S.; Langbehn, Douglas R.; Duff, Kevin; Beglinger, Leigh J.; Wang, Chiachi; O'Rourke, Justin J. F.; Stout, Julie C.; Moser, David J.
Perceptual bias for affective and nonaffective information in asymmetric Parkinson's disease.
Page 443-456
Smith, Jared G.; Harris, John P.; Khan, Saleem; Atkinson, Elizabeth A.; Fowler, M. Susan; Gregory, Ralph P.
Benefits of immediate repetition versus long study presentation on memory in amnesia.
Page 457-464
Verfaellie, Mieke; LaRocque, Karen F.; Rajaram, Suparna
True memory, false memory, and subjective recollection deficits after focal parietal lobe lesions.
Page 465-475
Drowos, David B.; Berryhill, Marian; André, Jessica M.; Olson, Ingrid R.
Numerosity impairment in corticobasal syndrome.
Page 476-492
Koss, Shira; Clark, Robin; Vesely, Luisa; Weinstein, Jessica; Powers, Chivon; Richmond, Lauren; Farag, Christine; Gross, Rachel; Liang, Tsao-Wei; Grossman, Murray
Driving after concussion: The acute effect of mild traumatic brain injury on drivers' hazard perception.
Page 493-503
Preece, Megan H. W.; Horswill, Mark S.; Geffen, Gina M.
Olfactory dysfunction, gambling task performance and intracranial lesions after traumatic brain injury.
Page 504-513
Sigurdardottir, Solrun; Jerstad, Tone; Andelic, Nada; Roe, Cecilie; Schanke, Anne-Kristine
Do organizational strategies mediate nonverbal memory impairment in drug-naïve patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder?
Page 527-533
Shin, Na Young; Kang, Do-Hyung; Choi, Jung-Seok; Jung, Myung Hun; Jang, Joon Hwan; Kwon, Jun Soo
Adult age differences in learning from positive and negative probabilistic feedback.
Page 534-541
Simon, Jessica R.; Howard, James H., Jr.; Howard, Darlene V.
Adjustments of conflict monitoring in Parkinson's disease.
Page 542-546
Bonnin, Camille A.; Houeto, Jean-Luc; Gil, Roger; Bouquet, Cédric A.

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Thursday, July 08, 2010

iPost: New book on intro to neuroethics

Info at NEUROETHICS blog link below

http://kolber.typepad.com/ethics_law_blog/2010/07/martha-farahs-new-neuroethics-collection.html


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Tuesday, July 06, 2010

On the road again--blogging lite July 7-10


I will be on the road (working) again from July 7-10. 

I don't expect much time to blog...except for possible "push" type FYI posts re: content posted at other blogs.....or...mobile blogging (iPosts:  check out the link.....it is very cool...but, of course, I tend to be a tech nerd)......

I shall return.

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