Cognitive Labs

Researchers at Oxford University have found that people with the APOEe4 gene variant (According to Reuters-up to 25% of the population) have more active brains than those without this specific marker.



When APOEe4-positive individuals are administered an MRI scan and given memory tasks to work on, the hippocampal area displays more activity than those who are APOE 2 or APOE3.

As the Reuters report suggests, this combination offers the potential of being able to indicate beforehand subjects could be candidates for Alzheimer's Disease.

Cognitive Labs research shows that specific Internet-based exercises may be sensitive enough to detect the early preconditions of decline, even without the expense of an MRI, through a double-blind study of APOE4 and non APOE subjects completed at Stanford (published in 2008). Think of it like getting a news alert on a defined-keyword that you set up, pertaining to your brain, genetics, and cognitive health.

Labels: apoee4, cognitive, labs, oxford, stanford

A boost in the levels of serotonin, a neurotransmitter which influences anger, depression, body temperature, sexuality, sleep, and mood in human and mammal brains, has been linked to the swarming behavior of desert locusts. Scientists have found that the levels of this chemical increase 2x-3x and this causes the normally individualistic and even, anti-social insect to become hyper-social and gregarious. Accompanying the rise in serotonin is a physical color change: from brown to pink, green, and multicolored hues.

Up to 25% of the earth's surface is subject to their activity, including Africa, the Mediterranean, Western Asia, and parts of the Americas including the Southwestern U.S.



From the Abstract:

Desert locusts, Schistocerca gregaria, show extreme phenotypic plasticity, transforming between a little-seen solitarious phase and the notorious swarming gregarious phase depending on population density. An essential tipping point in the process of swarm formation is the initial switch from strong mutual aversion in solitarious locusts to coherent group formation and greater activity in gregarious locusts. We show here that serotonin, an evolutionarily conserved mediator of neuronal plasticity, is responsible for this behavioral transformation, being both necessary if behavioral gregarization is to occur and sufficient to induce it. Our data demonstrate a neurochemical mechanism linking interactions between individuals to large-scale changes in population structure and the onset of mass migration.

1 Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PS, UK.
2 Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EJ, UK.
3 School of Biological Science, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.

Labels: antsey, hoffman, oxford, serotonin, texas

Tetris may improve conditions for people with post-traumatic stress disorder. In a study of 40 healthy volunteers who were exposed to stressful images and ads for drunk driving, those who played tetris for 10.5 minutes immediately after seeing the images had fewer flashbacks than those who saw the images but didn't play the game.



Oxford scientist Dr. Emily Holmes believes the game may disrupt the memories that are retained of the sights and sounds witnessed at the time, and which are later re-experienced through involuntary, distressing flashbacks of that moment.

More material is added to the growing body of evidence pointing to health benefits of game intervention to impact a wide variety of cognitive conditions.

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Labels: flashbacks, holmes, oxford, plusone, tetris