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Washington: Just six months of exercise can improve memory and thinking by almost 50 per cent, says a study. Toronto researchers found that the proportion of stroke patients with at least mild cognitive impairment dropped from 66 per cent to 37 per cent during a research study on the impact of exercise on the brain. "People who have cognitive deficits after stroke have a threefold risk of mortality, and they''re more likely to be institutionalized," says lead researcher Susan Marzolini of the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute. "If we can improve cognition through exercise, which also has many physical benefits, then this should become a standard of care for people following stroke." Forty-one patients, of whom 70 per cent had mild to moderate walking problems requiring a cane or walker, followed an adapted aerobic and strength/resistance training program five days a week. Exercises designed to imitate daily life included walking, lifting weights and doing squats. The research team found "significant improvements" in overall brain function at the conclusion of the program, with the most improvement in attention, concentration, planning and organizing. Muscular strength and walking ability also increased.
Exercise improves memory, thinking after stroke, study finds October 1, 2012 in Cardiology Just six months of exercise can improve memory, language, thinking and judgment problems by almost 50 per cent, says a study presented today at the Canadian Stroke Congress. Ads by Google Cogmed - 50% Discount - Cogmed Working Memory Training - Online Training - stephenbozylinski.com DO NOT Self-Publish - Literary Agency Submits Writers To Publishers. They Pay You! - www.WlWrItErSaGeNcY.com/PublishNow Toronto researchers found that the proportion of stroke patients with at least mild cognitive impairment dropped from 66 per cent to 37 per cent during a research study on the impact of exercise on the brain. "People who have cognitive deficits after stroke have a threefold risk of mortality, and they're more likely to be institutionalized," says lead researcher Susan Marzolini of the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute. "If we can improve cognition through exercise, which also has many physical benefits, then this should become a standard of care for people following stroke." Forty-one patients, of whom 70 per cent had mild to moderate walking problems requiring a cane or walker, followed an adapted aerobic and strength/resistance training program five days a week. Exercises designed to imitate daily life included walking, lifting weights and doing squats. The research team found "significant improvements" in overall brain function at the conclusion of the program, with the most improvement in attention, concentration, planning and organizing. Muscular strength and walking ability also increased. Read more at: http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-memory.html#jCp
A new UK meta-analysis suggests ginkgo biloba supplements do not aid memory or augment problem-solving among healthy individuals.
leep subjects will use a wireless brain monitor with three sensors incorporated into a headband that will interface with a smartphone. Over the past decade, scientists have learned that sleep is one of the best memory aids available, but Mark Gluck wants to take that research further. The Rutgers professor, an expert in cognitive and computational neuroscience, is seeking to answer important questions about the complex interactions between natural fluctuations in sleep and their influence on cognitive and emotional wellbeing. Read more at: http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-impact-cognitive-emotional-well-being.html#jCp
ffective Disorders in Focus. Cognitive Functioning and Emotional Information Processing.
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Affective disorders are among the most prevalent mental disorders worldwide. Patients suffering from affective disorders often experience a high percentage of relapses with a considerable risk of chronic course, thus the disorder strongly affects patients’ daily life function. Despite several research attempts to identify factors important for treatment and rehabilitation in this patient group, the answers to clinicians are not comprehensive enough.
The literature concerning cognitive functioning in affective disorders shows that patients with affective disorders show several cognitive difficulties in the acute phase of illness. Impaired performance has been documented in cognitive domains such as memory, executive functioning and processing speed. In addition, studies have found that these patient groups process emotional information different from healthy control subjects. In later years, longitudinal studies have found that the difficulties these patients experience in the acute phase of illness often persist despite diagnostic symptom decline and even in remission. These relatively new and important findings suggest that cognitive functioning may be a relatively stable trait characterising patients with affective disorders, possible an important factor influencing course of illness. However, the literature is inconclusive with regard to which cognitive difficulties is the most prominent and further, how these difficulties affects daily life functioning, treatment and illness course. In addition, knowledge concerning the importance and effect of other factors characterizing these patient groups such as clinical history, severity of the illness, medications and biological factors are diverse with few firm conclusions.
http://www.euronews.com/ Building better minds is part of the aim of education and cognitive science can help. In this edition of Learning World we visit a s...
The Kent State University study has revealed that readers can expand their vocabulary through incidental vocabulary acquisition, announces Ultimate Vocabulary. Incidental vocabulary acquisition occurs when readers encounter unfamiliar words in their day to day reading. New York City, NY (PRWEB) September 15, 2012 A study by Dr. Jocelyn Folk, associate professor at Kent State University, has shown that when skilled readers encounter new words within a text, they are able to come away with reasonable definitions for these words. This method of expanding vocabulary is more successful in the long term when compared to intentional vocabulary acquisition. This new study builds on the findings of past studies which had already shown a strong connection between a strong vocabulary and reading comprehension. Naturally, different individuals process new words differently. “In order to ensure optimum comprehension, students and other learners should be taught how to use context to figure out new words,” says Dr. Folk. Principals and teachers should be aware that incidental vocabulary learning is just as important as direct instruction. Schools should begin paying more attention to this new method of expanding vocabulary. The study has also shown that the ability to infer word meaning from the context could also impact comprehension in other areas of the curriculum. redOrbit (http://s.tt/1nqaI)
learning world - Building better minds is part of the aim of education and cognitive science can help.
Is technology sapping children’s creativity?
By Valerie Strauss
The technology revolution has sparked a new debate about just how much parents should allow their young children to play with iPads, iPhones and other devices. Here’s a smart look at the issue by early childhood development expert Nancy Carlsson-Paige, a professor emerita of education at Lesley University in Cambridge, Ma., when she won the Embracing the Legacy Award from the Robert F. Kennedy Children’s Action Corps for work over several decades on behalf of children and families. Carlsson-Paige is author of “ Taking Back Childhood” and the mother of two artist sons, Matt and Kyle Damon. By Nancy Carlsson-Paige My 4-year-old grandson Jake who lives in Guatemala recently called my husband in his office on Skype. No one seems to know how Jake managed to get onto the computer and make the call. And, as I sat talking to a friend, her 3-year old somehow found her iPhone and found his way to a video of Cat in the Hat.
A guest post by Joseph Benn from Ideas Mapping and author of Brilliant Business Ideas I have a fascination with inventors having helped many develop their...
Creativity is comprised of four factors. Just remember this equation: Creativity = Surprise + Originality + Beauty + Utility. Today I want to talk about the components of creativity or the underlying factors of the creative process. One way to approach the problem is by looking at how we measure or evaluate a creative product. Creativity is sometimes broken up into divergent thinking and convergent thinking; though I argue that essentially same processes are involved in both. Divergent thinking is measured using Torrance test of creative thinking (TTCT). TTCT consists of both verbal and figural parts. Divergent thinking is also measured by Guilford’s Alternate uses task in which one has to come up with as many uses as possible for a common household items (like brick). These creativity test results are scored keeping in mind a number of different creativity criteria. The most common (common to all of the above) criteria are: 1. Flexibility: This captures the ability to cross boundaries and make remote associations. This is measured by number of different categories of ideas generated. 2. Originality: This measures how statistically different or novel the ideas are compared to a comparison group. This is measured as number of novel ideas generated. 3. Fluency: This captures the ability to come up with many diverse ideas quickly. This is measured by the total number of ideas generated. 4. Elaboration: This measures the amount of detail associated with the idea. Elaboration has more to do with focussing on each solution/idea and developing it further. Convergent thinking is measured by tests like remote associations test or insight problems. These problems are solved when you apply one of the methods below: 1. Make unique association between parts of the problem. This looks again similar to flexibility or how fluid is your categorisation schema enabling you to think out of the box and
The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Language Institute has announced its 2012-13 lecture series, “Language, Cognition and Sociality.” The first lecture is Wednesday, Sept. 19, and all lectures are free and open to the public. Invited lectures in the series will explore some fundamental questions regarding language acquisition and socialization: What could we learn from studies of bilinguals about the effect of language and culture on cognition?
How do language and other semiotic resources work together in the manifestation of human sociality across languages and cultures?
What are the implications of recent research conducted in anthropology, linguistics, psychology and sociology in terms of their impact upon the teaching and learning of an additional language?
The series, which intends to bridge scholarship in the humanities and social sciences, addresses these and other related questions. Invited speakers, lecture titles, times and locations are: What Can Conversation Tell us About ‘Negative Scope?’: Prosody, Grammar, Cognition, Fixedness, and Interaction
Sandra Thompson, University of California, Santa Barbara
Comments from Grant Armstrong, Department of Spanish and Portuguese
Introduction by Cecilia Ford, Departments of English and Sociology
4 p.m., Wednesday, September 19, 2012
254 Van Hise Hall, 1220 Linden Drive Learning Language in a MindBodyWorld: Alignment and Interaction in a Sociocognitive Approach to Second Language Acquisition
Dwight Atkinson, Purdue University
Comments from Margaret
Research news from leading universities... U. PENNSYLVANIA (US) — Scientists have identified key molecules that help convert short-term memories into long-term ones. .... The finding comes close to answering the question: how does an experience become a memory that can be accessed months, even years later?
These molecules may offer a target for drugs that can enhance memory, alleviating some of the cognitive symptoms that characterize conditions such as schizophrenia, depression, and Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases.
“There are many drugs available to treat some of the symptoms of diseases like schizophrenia,” says Ted Abel, a biology professor at the University of Pennsylvania, “but they don’t treat the cognitive deficits that patients have, which can include difficulties with memory. This study looks for more specific targets to treat deficits in cognition.”
Published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, the study focused on a group of proteins called nuclear receptors, which have been implicated in the regulation of a variety of biological functions, including memory formation.
Nuclear receptors are a kind of transcription factor, proteins that can bind to DNA and regulate the activity of other genes. Their regulatory role may be significant in memory formation, as gene transcription is required to turn short-term memories into long-lasting ones by strengthening neuronal synapses in the brain. Mice memories
To identify how this class of transcription factors figures in memory formation, the research team trained mice using a common method to create memories of a place and event, in which animals learn to associate a particular context or a certain tone with a specific experience.
Associations with a place or context are believed to be encoded in the hippocampus, while memories associated with a cue such as a tone are believed to be encoded in the amygdala.
Have you ever wondered where novelists, actors or writers find inspiration for their work? Creativity is not a predetermined way of looking at the world—you can get inspired by almost anything, anywhere, anytime. All you have to do is be receptive to inspiration. Some people inherit a highly developed sense of creativity or come to it naturally because they were raised in a creative environment. But most of us need some form of inspiration if we want to look at the world with a different perspective. Whatever you call it–creativity, thinking outside the box or thinking sideways, creative thinking is all about looking at the world with a different twist, in a slightly different way than you usually do. The good news is that inspiration is all around us. Nurturing creativity Creativity can be used in many endeavors. In World War II it was used to save lives. J.P. Guilford, a psychologist and father of modern creativity, came up with a game plan to test the creative thinking of bomber pilots in the U.S. Air Force in World War II. He designed a personality test to select the most creative pilots who were most likely to survive being shot down by using their creativity . His question, “What would you do with a brick?” helped weed out pilots who weren’t good at thinking sideways or differently in dire circumstances. Try it yourself. Can you come up with 50 uses for a brick in 15 minutes or less? Most of us fine-tune our creative side when we are exposed to new things around us. All of us are influenced by our experiences–whether they are theatrical productions, symphonies, films, TV or travel. Look for something new to explore or learn. Then hold on to those experiences and use them to inspire you. How did you feel when you listened to a magnificent choir or attended a concert in a park on a summer evening? Unleash those feelings to inspire your creative juices. A mysterious process Creativity is a complex neurological process. It’s not as easy to quantify. There’s no such thing as a light bulb over your head announcing a good idea. But scientists have found that they can “see ideas” with a brain scanner. A few seconds before a person gets an idea, the area of the brain called the superior anterior temporal lights up. No one path inspires creativity, but scientists have found that different parts of the creative process require different types of creative thinking. They have also learned that when we are resting, the superior anterior temporal (behind the ear) tries to send us messages of inspiration. Albert Einstein may have summed up long naps and walks on the beach best when he said, “Creativity is the residue of wasted time.” Read more: http://njtoday.net/2012/09/12/think-creatively-think-sideways/#ixzz26IlpBe00
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Pandora at the International Literature Today Workshop “Insomnia. Homer. Taut sails” begins Osip Mandelstam’s Poem 78 from Stone (1915) – his meditation on Homer, migratory ...
New research from the UK suggests that taking a daily supplement of DHA, an omega-3 fatty acid, could be a simple and effective way to improve reading and behaviour in healthy but underperforming children. Alex Richardson, a senior research fellow at the Centre for Evidence-Based Intervention at Oxford University, and colleagues, report the results of the DHA Oxford Learning and Behaviour (DOLAB) study in a paper that was published online in the open access journal PLoS ONE on 6 September. DHA stands for Docosahexaenoic acid, an important omega-3 fatty acid that is found in fish, seafood and algae (seaweed). The type Richardson and colleagues used in the DOLAB study comes from algae, making it suitable for vegetarians. People living in modern developed countries do not generally get enough essential omega-3 fatty acids, a lack of which is thought to contribute to a wide range of health problems, both physical and mental.
Headlines like “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” or “Is the Internet Making Us Dumber?” quite clearly show that people are concerned about what the Internet is doing to our cognition. Some have speculated that the Internet has become a kind of external hard drive for our brains, eliminating our need to really learn or process information. Others point to the obvious advantages of having more information available to more people than at any other time in history. As our lives become increasingly wired, we are now stepping back to see just how deep down the connections go. In the late 1980s, communication researchers began shifting to a view of human communication that was more cognitively based. Out of this shift came a few now very successful theories that sought to describe how we seek and process information. One of the most widely applicable theories to come out of this “cognitive revolution,” developed by researchers Alice Eagly and Shelly Chaiken, was dubbed the “Heuristic Systematic Model” (or HSM). Like the highly popularized theory of “System 1” and “System 2” thinking advanced by Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman, the HSM separates our information processing strategies into two distinct modes. Our heuristic thinking is characterized as a rough and ready approximator relying on basic cues. Being that this style of thought is cognitively less costly, it is our default, applying stereotypes, models, and gut-reactions to the processing of information. Conversely, our systematic thinking is an in-depth look at the evidence where we internalize information and connect it to other ideas. The organizing concept of the HSM is that people are cognitive misers. It takes real mental effort to process information deeply, and as such we rarely do so, or only do so when properly motivated. The trigger to transition between styles in this dual-process cognition is partially dependent on the sufficiency principle. Generally, when making a decision, we weigh how much we know against how much we need to know to make a confident judgment about a topic. If this gap between what we know and what we need to know is small, heuristic-style thinking is more likely. Conversely, if there is a large gap, we need to expend more mental resources to close it, thus encouraging systematic thinking. This Scrooge-like mental calculus determines how much we process the information we are inundated with everyday. And we readily recognize this game of cognitive economy, especially when browsing the web. For example, going through a stuffed RSS feed can be a fairly disengaged experience, with only the topics that are interesting, confusing, or contentious garnering real attention. This “surf or stay” mentality is easily grafted onto the HSM.
As if you needed yet another reason to get through shopping period as quickly as you can, a team of Yale researchers have discovered a cognitive mechanism that can cause stress to shrink the human brain. The study, led by postdoctoral researcher Hyo Jung Kang, found that a type of genetic switch called a “transcription factor” can repress the expression of certain genes necessary for connections between brain cells, or synapses, to form properly. Without these connections, a loss of brain mass in the prefrontal cortex can occur, since cells cannot properly grow without the expression of the gene. The study found that the transcription factor in question, GATA1, is activated in conjunction with stress and feelings of depression. “We wanted to test the idea that stress causes a loss of brain synapses in humans,” Ronald Duman, the Elizabeth Mears and House Jameson Professor of Psychiatry and senior author of the study, said. “We show that circuits normally involved in emotion, as well as cognition, are disrupted when this single transcription factor is activated.” Duman said that researchers based this new study on previous research that had been conducted on rodent models. He said these tests showed chronic stress could cause atrophy of neurons in brain regions that control emotion, mood and cognition, and that this helped the team to identify the genes that were altered in a depressed subject’s brain. To isolate the genes involved in synaptic connections, the researchers examined the entire genome to find the genes whose expression was affected by the transcription factor in question. Once the brain regions in question were identified, Duman said, the team collected samples for analysis. In this case, samples of brain tissue from deceased depression and chronic stress sufferers were examined. Duman said the study’s findings demonstrate atrophy of synaptic connections in human depression for the first time, consistent with the rodent studies. The results also show that GATA1 underlies the effects of depression and stress on synaptic atrophy, he said. “[The study’s results] identify specific synapse related genes that are altered in depression,” Duman said.
Research news from leading universities... The researchers expected to see pleasure centers activating for the relaxed reading and hypothesized that close reading, as a form of heightened attention, would create more neural activity than pleasure reading.
If the ongoing analysis continues to support the initial theory, Phillips says, teaching close reading (i.e., attention to literary form) “could serve—quite literally—as a kind of cognitive training, teaching us to modulate our concentration and use new brain regions as we move flexibly between modes of focus.”
With the field of literary neuroscience in its infancy, Phillips says this project is helping to demonstrate the potential that neuroscientific tools have to “give us a bigger, richer picture of how our minds engage with art—or, in our case, of the complex experience we know as literary reading.”
No one likes tossing and turning the night before a busy day. To get rid of the sleep problems, an increasing number of people are depending on sleeping pills. However, according to new statistics, pills are not very effective.
Apparently, four in ten adults who take pills for insomnia do not get any help from the medicine usage, reports Mail Online.
The survey has revealed that around 42 per cent adults on medication currently have had trouble sleeping from over 11 years or more.
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Another 22 per cent reported having insomnia for two to five years, and one in six reports suffering from chronic insomnia.
According to experts, the research has highlighted the inability of sleeping pills to combat long-term sleep problems and also, suggests that cognitive behavioral therapy is more effective than medication.
In UK alone around 10 million NHS prescriptions for sleeping pills are issued each year. However, they are recommended only for short-time (2 to 4 weeks) usage.
An estimated one-third of the population in Britain and about 50-70 million US adults have sleep or wakefulness disorders (CDC).
The Great British Sleep Survey of 20,000 plus adults in the UK revealed that the problem was not confined to a small group of people.
It was also found that people with long-term sleeping problems suffered from relationship issues, daytime fatigue and lack of concentration.
One in ten with insomnia were found to be on medication prescribed by their doctor, while one in five took over the counter remedies. Read more at http://www.counselheal.com/articles/2811/20120910/cognitive-therapy-better-sleeping-pills-insomnia.htm#ezz5K1KhCkG4HMQt.99
Researchers have long been studying the connection between health and the five major personality traits: agreeableness, extraversion, neuroticism, openness and conscientiousness. A large body of research links neuroticism with poorer health and conscientiousness with superior health. Now openness, which measures cognitive flexibility and the willingness to entertain novel ideas, has emerged as a lifelong protective factor. The linchpin seems to be the creativity associated with the personality trait—creative thinking reduces stress and keeps the brain healthy. A study published in the June issue of the Journal of Aging and Health found that higher openness predicted longer life, and other studies this year have linked that trait with lower metabolic risk, higher self-rated health and more appropriate stress response. The June study sought to determine whether specific aspects of openness better predicted survival rates than overall openness, using data on more than 1,000 older men collected between 1990 and 2008. The researchers found that only creativity—not intelligence or overall openness—decreased mortality risk. One possible reason creativity is protective of health is because it draws on a variety of neural networks within the brain, says study author Nicholas Turiano, now at the University of Rochester Medical Center. “Individuals high in creativity maintain the integrity of their neural networks even into old age,” Turiano says—a notion supported by a January study from Yale University that correlated openness with the robustness of study subjects' white matter, which supports connections between neurons in different parts of the brain. Because the brain is the command center for all bodily functions, exercising it helps all systems to continue running smoothly. “Keeping the brain healthy may be one of the most important aspects of aging successfully—a fact shown by creative persons living longer in our study,” Turiano says.
Creative Thinking for Transformational Problem Solving
Posted on September 4, 2012 by E. Ann Hollier, Ph.D.
In an earlier article I talked about Strategic Intuition, the source of truly transformational business solutions. There are four components to this type of transformational problem solving: Expert Knowledge – often of seemingly disparate fields of expertise.
An Open Mind – willingness to set aside preconceived assumptions to play with possibilities.
The Aha! Moment – also known as the coup d’oeil, French for ”glance of the eye,” when the stroke of insight occurs. Both Napoleon and Patton, widely known as brilliant military strategists, were well known for such intuitions.
Resolve – to carry forward an untested solution in the face of uncertainties. Usually the accuracy of the coup d’oeil seems obvious only after the fact.
That’s all fine and well but how do I actually do this?, you may be thinking. You don’t “decide” to have an Aha! Moment. Or do you?
Have you ever noticed how tiresome it can be to follow a conversation at a noisy party? Rest assured: this is not necessarily due to bad hearing – although that might make things worse. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig have found that adverse listening situations are difficult for the brain, partly because they draw on the same, limited resources supporting our short-term memory. The new findings are particularly relevant to understanding the cognitive consequences of hearing damage, a condition that affects an increasing number of people. Ads by Google Brain Training Games - Improve memory with scientifically designed brain exercises. - www.lumosity.com Whether we are engaged in small talk or trying to memorise a telephone number - it is our short-term memory that ensures we don't lose track. But what if the very same memory gets additionally taxed because the words to be remembered are hard to understand? This is suggested by a new study conducted by Jonas Obleser and his team at the Max Planck Research Group "Auditory Cognition" In the experiment, listeners were asked to memorise a few digits they heard (e.g., "2…5…9…3") for just over a second. This is a very easy task, and when asked whether they remembered hearing a certain digit, listeners answered correctly 90 percent of the time. During this process, Obleser and his colleagues were using magnetoencephalography to measure so-called "alpha waves" in the brain. "The brain tends to time its activity in rhythmic waves with the alpha rhythm consisting of 8 to 12 activity waves per second", Obleser explains. "The reason we were interested in this particular rhythm is that the strength of the alpha waves has been shown to indicate how much information you are currently storing in your short-term memory, with more vigorous alpha waves signalling a busier time." Read more at: http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-noisy-toll-short-term-memory.html#jCp
In “Wise Up," an important issue to acquaint yourself with is cognition, specifically, what it is and how can it be studied. Cognition describes all of the skills necessary for us to successfully function in everyday life. These include areas such as paying attention, remembering what we see or hear, expressing ourselves and understanding what people say, being oriented to our surroundings such that we can travel from place to place, juggling multiple tasks, and reasoning through problems. With psychiatric or medical illnesses, some or all of a person’s cognition can be affected. It is often difficult to measure cognition with the naked eye as many of us try to do. When deficits are particularly subtle, they often go unnoticed. Moreover, they can be masked by mood-related issues, such as depression or anxiety. Consequently, a full cognitive evaluation in the form of neuropsychological assessment is recommended to spell out a person’s strengths and deficiencies and thereby assist with diagnosis. Related Articles
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and more! A neuropsychological assessment consists of administering various tests that examine a set of identified skill areas controlled by brain systems. Its underlying aim is to look at brain-behavior relationships. The following domains should be assessed in any comprehensive neuropsychological battery: a. Attention and Processing Speed - capacity to sustain focus in any mental activity and take in information b. Learning and Memory - ability to encode, store, and retrieve information c. Executive Functions - ability to achieve insight and self-awareness, to reflect on, initiate, evaluate, and regulate thinking and behavior, and to incorporate feedback d. Abstract Thinking - ability to use generalized information and apply it to specific, new situations
Do you have a numbingly dull job, one so monotonous that you frequently find your mind wandering? Well, congratulations: without realizing it, you have boosted your creative potential.
Mindless tasks that allow our thoughts to roam can be catalysts for innovation. That’s the conclusion of a research team led by Benjamin Baird and Jonathan Schooler of the University of California, Santa Barbara’s META Lab (which focuses on Memory, Emotion, Thought and Awareness).
Their research, published in the journal Psychological Science, suggests putting a difficult problem in the back of your mind won’t, by itself, lead to creative thinking. The key seems to be performing some simple chore while it’s lodged there.
Baird and his colleagues describe an experiment featuring 135 people, ages 19 to 35. Their creativity was measured by performance on the classic Unusual Uses Task, in which each participant is given two minutes to come up with as many uses as possible for a specific item, such as a brick. Besides the sheer number of responses, their answers are judged on originality, flexibility, and level of detail.
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