Cognitive Labs

Link Between Light and Cognitive Performance?


Osram lighting study in Ulm, Germany, reveals positive effects of light on cognitive performance of students: A study investigating the effects of light on the performance of students at two schools in Ulm, Germany, was carried out by the "ZNL TransferZentrum für Neurowissenschaften und Lernen" (Transfer Centre for Neuroscience and Learning) in conjunction with lighting manufacturer Osram between November 2011 and February 2012. The aim of the study was to find out whether lighting that simulates daylight could increase concentration and cognitive performance in students. The results were consistently positive; due to the biologically optimised lighting in the classrooms, the students who took part in the Osram study achieved better results than the comparison group in standardised tests for concentration ability, and their performance speed also increased.

ZNL and Osram began the field study on the effects on cognitive performance in November 2011 at the Ferdinand von Steinbeiss School and the Robert Bosch School in Ulm, Germany. In each case, one classroom was fitted with the biologically optimised light, and the young people, ranging from 17 to 20 years old, attended classes both in the classroom with the new lighting and in classrooms with conventional lighting. For the duration of the study, the students had to repeatedly take various standardised performance and concentration tests, such as Brickenkamp's d2 test of attention (see details of the test under "Further information"). The test results were compared for biologically effective light in relation to conventional lighting.

A Cognitive Challenge: Device Helps Improve Performance in Chess 


Chess is a solitary game—even if you're playing with a friend or lover, the greatest foe is often your own cognitive shortcomings, a game of man against material. The pawn slides forward, but toward what? Another person? No—you started this war for yourself, to enlarge your fortunes, to aggrandize your name. 


Who you're defeating doesn't matter. So hey, why not replace a flesh opponent with a wacky robotic arm? The Robotic Chess Companion is only $150, will actually move chess pieces around as it attempts to outsmart you, and can tell when you're cheating. So don't cheat, because the arm also contains a slicing blade that will make you pay dearly. Not actually, but, still, robot arm! - SB from Gizmodo


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 Exposure to solvents at work may be associated with reduced thinking skills later in life for those who have less than a high school education, according to a study published in the May 29, 2012, print issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.


The thinking skills of people with more education were not affected, even if they had the same amount of exposure to solvents.


"People with more education may have a greater cognitive reserve that acts like a buffer allowing the brain to maintain its ability to function in spite of damage," said study author Lisa F. Berkman, PhD, of Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. "This may be because education helps build up a dense network of connections among brain cells."


The study involved 4,134 people who worked at the French national gas and electric company. The majority of the people worked at the company for their entire career. Their lifetime exposure to four types of solvents—chlorinated solvents, petroleum solvents, benzene and non-benzene aromatic solvents—was assessed. The participants took a test of thinking skills when they were an average of 59 years old and 91 percent were retired.


A total of 58 percent of the participants had less than a high school education. Of those, 32 percent had cognitive impairment, or problems with thinking skills, compared to 16 percent of those with more education. Among the less-educated, those who were highly exposed to chlorinated and petroleum solvents were 14 percent more likely to have cognitive problems than those with no exposure. People highly exposed to benzene were 24 percent more likely to have cognitive problems, and those highly exposed to non-benzene aromatic solvents were 36 percent more likely to have cognitive problems.


"These findings suggest that efforts to improve quality and quantity of education early in life could help protect people's cognitive abilities later in life," Berkman said, who worked alongside study author Erika Sabbath, ScD. "Investment in education could serve as a broad shield against both known and unknown exposures across the lifetime. This is especially important given that some evidence shows that federal levels of permissible exposure for some solvents may be insufficient to protect workers against the health consequences of exposure."


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This is according to a review by Kim JW et al on the association between alcohol consumption and cognition in the elderly.

Longitudinal and brain imaging studies in the elderly show that excessive alcohol consumption may increase the risk of cognitive dysfunction and dementia, but regular low to moderate alcohol intake may protect against such conditions and provide cardiovascular benefits.

It has been known for years that eating too many foods containing "bad" fats, such as saturated fats or trans fats, isn't healthy for your heart. However, according to new research from Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH), one "bad" fat—saturated fat—was found to be associated with worse overall cognitive function and memory in women over time. By contrast, a "good" fat—mono-unsaturated fat was associated with better overall cognitive function and memory.
This study is published online by Annals of Neurology, a journal of the American Neurological Association and Child Neurology Society, on May 18, 2012.


The research team analyzed data from the Women's Health Study—originally a cohort of nearly 40,000 women, 45 years and older. The researchers focused on data from a subset of 6,000 women, all over the age of 65. The women participated in three cognitive function tests, which were spaced out every two years for an average testing span of four years. These women filled out very detailed food frequency surveys at the start of the Women's Health Study, prior to the cognitive testing.


"When looking at changes in cognitive function, what we found is that the total amount of fat intake did not really matter, but the type of fat did," explained Olivia Okereke, MD, MS, BWH Department of Psychiatry.


Women who consumed the highest amounts of saturated fat, which can come from animal fats such as red meat and butter, compared to those who consumed the lowest amounts, had worse overall cognition and memory over the four years of testing. Women who ate the most of the monounsaturated fats, which can be found in olive oil, had better patterns of cognitive scores over time.


"Our findings have significant public health implications," said Okereke. "Substituting in the good fat in place of the bad fat is a fairly simple dietary modification that could help prevent decline in memory."


Okereke notes that strategies to prevent cognitive decline in older people are particularly important. Even subtle declines in cognitive functioning can lead to higher risk of developing more serious problems, like dementia and Alzheimer disease.


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Lucky for us that we live in an area where there's fresh blueberries and strawberries in abundance.

Older women who consume these berries may delay decline in cognitive abilities by as much as 2.5 years, according to a study published today in the Annals of Neurology.

The berries contain flavonoids, compounds found in plants that can have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Stress and inflammation are thought to contribute to cognitive impairment or a reduction in ability to communicate and process information.

Between 1995 and 2001, cognitive function was measured in 16,010 women over the age of 70 at two-year intervals.

Increased consumption of blueberries and strawberries appear to slow cognitive decline in older women — the first evidence of this association.

However, part of the trend in maintaining cognitive function may also have been influenced by other lifestyle choices, such as exercising more, according to researchers.

A New Study shows that Omega 3, a fatty-acid substance commonly found in fish, is linked to lower levels of the proteins Abeta 40-42, two proteins that are linked with the formation of Alzheimer's and cognitive decline. Therefore, the consumption of Omega 3 in the diet, either through fish such as salmon or through tablets, may offer a degree of protection against the start of the disease. 


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            Summary:

• -Critical features of the modern human brain may have come to be through an internal copyediting error.
• -When DNA is duplicated during cell division, accidental copies can lead to mutations, some good, some bad.
• -Good mutations may have allowed our brains to become more sophisticated, new research finds.
• 
  
• A copyediting error appears to be responsible for critical features of the human brain that distinguish us from our closest primate kin, new research finds.
• When tested out in mice, researchers found this "error" caused the rodents' brain cells to move into place faster and enabled more connections between brain cells.
  When any cell divides, it first copies its entire genome. During this process, it can make errors. The cell usually fixes errors in the DNA. But when they aren't fixed, they become permanent changes called mutations, which are sometimes hurtful and sometimes helpful, though usually innocuous.
  One type of error is duplication, when the DNA-copying machinery accidentally copies a section of the genome twice. The second copy can be changed in future copies — gaining mutations or losing parts.
  The researchers scanned the human genome for these duplications, and found that many of them seem to play a role in the developing brain. 
  "There are approximately 30 genes that were selectively duplicated in humans," study researcher Franck Polleux, of The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif., said in a statement. "These are some of our most recent genomic innovations."
  An extra copy of a gene gives evolution something to work with: Like modeling clay, this gene isn't essential like the original copy, so changes can be made to it without damaging the resulting organism.

Mount Sinai School of Medicine researchers have succeeded in developing a biosynthetic polyphenol that improves cognitive function in mice with Alzheimer's disease (AD). The findings, published in a recent issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, provide insight in determining the feasibility of biosynthetic polyphenols as a possible therapy for AD in humans, a progressive neurodegenerative disease for which there is currently no cure.

Polyphenols, which occur naturally in grapes, fruits, and vegetables, have been shown to prevent the cognitive decline associated with AD in a mouse model, but the molecules are very complex and are extensively metabolized in the body. This is the first study to determine which specific subfraction of these molecules penetrates the animal brain, and demonstrate that a drug compound similar to polyphenols can exert similar bioactivities.

A research group led by Giulio Maria Pasinetti, MD, PhD, Saunders Family Professor and Chair in Neurology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, has been exploring the application of specific grape-derived polyphenols for the treatment of AD. Previously, this group found that certain grape-seeds extracts, comprised of a complex mixture of naturally occurring polyphenols, were capable of lessening cognitive deterioration and reducing brain neuropathology in an animal model of AD, but they did not know how to manipulate the natural extract into a pharmaceutical compound that could be used by the brain.

"My team, along with many members of the scientific community, did not know how we could harness the efficacy of naturally occurring polyphenols in food for treatment of Alzheimer's disease," Dr. Pasinetti said. "We were skeptical that these naturally occurring polyphenols would reach the brain because they are extensively metabolized following ingestion."