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Cognitive cross-training enhances learning, study finds

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Illinois professor Aron Barbey led a examine that examined how cognitive cross-training impacts talent studying. Credit score: Graphic by Julie McMahon Simply as athletes cross-train to enhance bodily expertise, these wanting to boost cognitive expertise can profit from a number of methods of exercising the mind, in response to a complete new examine from College of Illinois researchers. The 18-week examine of 318 wholesome younger adults discovered that combining bodily train and delicate electrical mind stimulation with computer-based cognitive coaching promoted talent studying considerably greater than utilizing cognitive coaching alone. The improved studying was skill-specific and didn't translate to common intelligence. The examine, the biggest and most complete to this point, was revealed within the journal  Scientific Reviews . "Studying gives the inspiration for buying new expertise and updating prior beliefs in gentle of rece...

MRI may help predict cognitive impairment in professional fighters

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Boxplots of options recognized by utilizing our classifier is proven for each group. Black central dot represents imply, and radius of pink circle represents customary deviation of every function. All customary deviations have been scaled to identical quantity all through teams to replicate between-group variations. Credit score: Radiologocal Society of North America Photos of the mind's grey and white matter obtained with a number of MRI strategies may also help determine and monitor cognitive impairment in lively skilled fighters, in response to a brand new research revealed on-line within the journal  Radiology . Fighters are uncovered to repeated delicate traumatic mind harm (mTBI), which has been related to neurodegenerative issues, in addition to temper and motion dysfunction. A instrument that would discover indicators, or biomarkers, of mTBI-related mind injury could be a useful asset in serving to fighters and their physicians perceiv...

Physical activity could combat fatigue, cognitive decline in cancer survivors

Researchers at the University of Illinois, along with collaborators at Digital Artefacts in Iowa City, Iowa, and Northeastern University in Boston, looked at the association between physical activity, fatigue and performance on cognitive tasks in nearly 300 breast cancer survivors. "The data suggest that being more physically active could reduce two of the more commonly reported symptoms in breast cancer survivors: fatigue and cognitive impairment," said study leader Edward McAuley, a professor of kinesiology and community health at Illinois. "Most people think, 'If I exercise, I'll become tired.' In our study, exercise actually was associated with reduced fatigue, which in turn was associated with better cognitive function." Cognitive impairment, such as memory problems or shortened attention spans, is a common complaint among cancer patients and survivors, and is thought to be similar to decline due to aging. Past Illinois research has explored t...

Autism severity detected with brain activity test

Autism spectrum disorder affects an estimated one in 68 children in the United States, causing a wide range of symptoms. While some individuals with the disorder have average or above-average reasoning, memory, attention and language skills, others have intellectual disabilities . Researchers have worked to understand the root of these cognitive differences in the brain and why autism spectrum disorder symptoms are so diverse. An electroencephalogram, or EEG, is a test that detects electrical activity in a person's brain using small electrodes that are placed on the scalp. It measures different aspects of brain activity including peak alpha frequency, which can be detected using a single electrode in as little as 40 seconds and has previously been linked to cognition in healthy individuals. The researchers performed EEGs on 97 children ages 2 to 11; 59 had diagnoses of autism spectrum disorder and 38 did not have the disorder. The EEGs were taken while the children were awake...

Mediterranean-style diets linked to better brain function in older adults

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The Mediterranean weight loss program is wealthy in fruits, greens, entire grains, beans, potatoes, nuts, olive oil and fish. Credit score: © Gorilla / Fotolia Consuming meals included in two wholesome diets -- the Mediterranean or the MIND weight loss program -- is linked to a decrease threat for reminiscence difficulties in older adults, in line with a examine revealed within the  Journal of the American Geriatrics Society . The Mediterranean weight loss program is wealthy in fruits, greens, entire grains, beans, potatoes, nuts, olive oil and fish. Processed meals, fried and quick meals, snack meals, pink meat, poultry and whole-fat dairy meals are occasionally eaten on the Mediterranean weight loss program. The MIND weight loss program is a model of the Mediterranean weight loss program that features 15 sorts of meals. Ten are thought-about "brain-healthy:" inexperienced leafy greens, different greens, nuts, berries, beans , entire gra...

'Residual echo' of ancient humans in scans may hold clues to mental disorders

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MRI information reveals areas of the cranium preferentially affected by the quantity of Neanderthal-derived DNA. Credit score: Michael Gregory, M.D., NIMH Part on Integrative Neuroimaging Researchers on the Nationwide Institute of Psychological Well being ( NIMH ) have produced the primary direct proof that elements of our brains implicated in psychological problems could also be formed by a "residual echo" from our historical previous. The extra an individual's genome carries genetic vestiges of Neanderthals, the extra sure elements of his or her mind and cranium resemble these of people' evolutionary cousins that went extinct 40,000 years in the past, says NIMH's Karen Berman, M.D. NIMH is a part of the Nationwide Institutes of Well being. Specifically, the elements of our brains that allow us to make use of instruments and visualize and find objects owe a few of their lineage to Neanderthal-derived gene variants which are a pa...

Playing a musical instrument improves audio-motor connectivity in the brain, according to a neuroimaging study

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César Ávila and María Ángeles Palomar-García. Credit score: Picture courtesy of Asociación RUVID Enjoying a musical instrument all through life improves the connection between the listening to space and the motor zone, as revealed by the research revealed within the journal Cerebral Cortex by researchers from the Neuropsychology and Practical Neuroimaging group of the Universitat Jaume I (UJI) and the McGill College of Canada. The analysis, carried out by means of the evaluation of the mind of musicians and non-musicians in resting state utilizing useful magnetic resonance, has additionally revealed that musicians who play an instrument that requires each palms have better autonomy between them. The cognitive neuroscience research "Modulation of Practical Connectivity in Auditory-Motor Networks in Musicians In contrast with Non-musicians" has targeted on music to grasp how mind perform and construction might be modified by means of studying. T...