Lazy individuals aren't putting in the effort but their brains are!

Lazy individuals aren't putting in the effort but their brains are!
By Eva Rusnak

Should I get out of bed and trudge through the snow to get to my 8 am class or should I just sleep in? Perhaps this question sounds all too familiar to you. Or maybe you’re the type of person that is up early in the morning trying to fit that seven mile run in before class.  It’s okay. Thats not me either.

 We all know friends that are either highly motivated and those that who may operate with very little motivation, interest, or concern.  Turns out while it may seem “lazy” individuals aren’t putting in the effort, their brains are.

In a recent 2015 study published in the Oxford Journal, a group of scientists at  University of Oxford studied the brains of young healthy individuals to better understand pathological apathy. Masud Husain, Professor of Neurology and Cognitive Neuroscience at Oxford, explained that more extreme apathy is often experienced by people with Alzhiemers or Dementia. These individuals tend to show a lack of interest, poor initiation, and low social engagement over time as their brains experience physical change. He and his team  hoped to gain some new insight into apathy by comparing MRI scans of healthy individuals and their differing levels of apathy.

In his study, participants were observed under an MRI machine as they played a game. Researchers made several offers to participants that differed in physical effort required by the participant and reward obtained. Apathetic participants were characterized as less likely to accept offers that required more effort while motivated participants took these offers.

 Much to their surprise, it turns out that the brains of healthy apathetic people exhibited more effort than motivated participants. The MRI scans showed that more apathetic individuals had more activity in the pre-motor cortex.  As we discussed in class, this is region lies anterior to the primary motor cortex and plays a major role in planning movement.  The secondary motor area has a strong reciprocal connection with the parietal lobe which integrates our sensory information.

 Dr. Husain expected that apathetic individuals would actually show less activity because they were less likely to choose effortful tasks. He and his team of researchers believe that apathetic individuals showed more activity in this region because their brains were less efficient in turning decision into action. Apathetic individuals had to exhibit more energy because their brain structure is not as efficient.

More apathetic people require more energy in planning actions, and therefore it is more “costly” to complete that action. Understanding mild apathy in healthy individuals can help find ways to treat more extreme apathy and lack of interest in pathological cases. In the meantime, maybe you can use this as an excuse the next time your roommate asks why you still haven't washed your dishes.

http://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2015-11-13-brain-structure-may-be-root-apathy-1

Is Obesity Tied with Memory Loss?

By: Lauren Rozanski

 According to the article “Rise in Weight Linked to Cognitive Decline in Older Adults” by Traci Watson; being over weight may be tied to the shrinking of the hippocampus. There was a study done that observed people in their 60s and followed them throughout their life. Among these participants, there were both people of a healthy weight and those that would be considered to be obese. What they discovered was that in the hippocampus in the obese participants was shrinking by two percent each year. Healthy weight participant’s hippocampus also shrank every year, but only half as much as the obese participants. 

 
       This is important because the hippocampus is known to be associated with memory, especially long-term memory. To give a better idea, the rate in which the obese participants’ hippocampus is shrinking is very similar to the are of those with Alzheimer’s disease. In the beginning of the study 400 people in their sixty’s had their brain looked at using an MRI machine. Even in the beginning of the study it was already apparent that obese participants even had smaller hippocampus’ than those who were considered somewhat overweight. 

      This is something that needs to be looked at and taken very seriously  in the United Stated considering how many obese people we have in our population. Its scary to think that about one third of Americans are obese, if not more. Exercising and taking care of this problem would have so many health benefits. It would not only help with the many known diseases that we know are tied with obesity, but would even help keep a person’s brain very healthy and active as well. If we were to address this obesity problem at a young age, the benefits that it would have on a person's life would be endless.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/11/141118-obesity-brain-memory-alzheimers-aging-health-science-ngfood/

A Student's Guide to Immortality

Over the history of our species, humans have desired to be remembered. Going back to ancient Greece, wealthy rulers would pay bards, or singers, to tell tales about their life story in hopes of being remembered. As religions changed, and literacy increased, the desire to be remembered changed. Today, an example of human's desire to be remembered is the gravestone. As bard singing became obsolete with writing, so may gravestones become obsolete with brain mapping. 

Amy Harmon's article, "The Neuroscience of Immortality" in The New York Times, talks about the possibility of immortality through brain mapping and other means. The thought of preserving our brains immediately makes me think of the jars of floating, living heads in the popular television show Futurama. I do believe near-immortality is in our future (barring no environmental-caused extinction), but I hope the methods of preservation are less barbaric than the proposal made by Futurama. 

Harmon boils immortality down to a few key goals: preservation of the brain through plastic resin or cold temperatures, scan synapses, trace the connections, interpret, make a simulation, and finally connect all this to a virtual or robotic body. Only six steps? Wow, this does not sound too difficult! In reality, this feat is extremely tough. Regarding interpretation, Harmon says, "Imagine looking at the wiring diagram of a radio with no means to power it on, except that instead of a radio it's the most complicated machine ever invented." Harmon also elaborates that at Harvard, it took scientists thousands of hours to compile images of a small portion of a mouse's brain. Along with taking too much time, a major setback of immortality will be our ability to create a working model based off images and knowledge of the brain. 

By my own biased and illogical reasoning alone, I would speculate that if we can develop the technology to image a brain, we should have the capacity to, eventually, be able to interpret interconnectivity and make a working model to use for our preservation.

Many techniques that are used in steps towards immortality have relevance in our class. Mapping the connectivity of the brain, down to its very last synapse is very representative of David Marr's hardware level of analysis. To understand this would open up doors to learning how information is organized and operated on using interconnectivity. Furthermore, this understanding could lead to more fully analyzing the brain on a computational level (i.e., the goal or guiding principles of certain behaviors).

Lastly, I think it will be very interesting to see what, if any, virtual life dominates humanity. Will we choose to place ourselves in an Oculus Rift-like virtual reality? Or will we be able to preserve our brains within a virtual body?

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/09/03/us/13immortality-explainer.html 

You No Longer Have to be Young to be Hyperactive

Old age tends to be linked with dementia and Alzheimer’s.  Grandma not being able to remember the conversation she just had ten minutes ago is brushed off as a “perk” of getting older.  The fact that she cannot keep focus while trying to finish a task is acceptable because that’s what we have been told happens when someone gets older, but what if there was another cause to her lack of attention?  There have been many cases of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (A.D.H.D.) in children, but what if I told you there are cases of A.D.H.D. in adults?

According to the article in the New York Times, Is It Old Age or A.D.H.D.?, by Judith Berck doctors have been diagnosing more and more elderly people with A.D.H.D. Within the article we take a look at a 73-year-old widowed patient of Dr. David Goodman, an assistant professor in the psychiatry and behavioral sciences department at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.  This woman was often losing her pocketbook and keys and had trouble remembering a conversation minutes after it took place.  Upon reading this I was solely taking her age into consideration and writing it off as dementia or memory loss due to getting older, but Dr. Goodman had a different idea.

The article stated that the doctor had taken her past into consideration when diagnosing her. Apparently she had never had a good attention span, and would usually have to sit in the front of the class because of it.  Through this information the doctor concluded that she had adult A.D.H.D. and he prescribed Vyvanse to her. Within weeks she had a better attention span and finished things that she started. 

This was so fascinating to me.  I was always taught that attention deficit disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder were disorders prevalent in childhood.  Even in my neuroscience class we went over the fact that A.D.H.D. is a childhood disorder full of impulsivity, hyperactivity, and motor impersistence.  I never really saw this as a disorder in adulthood, but now this article has opened my mind to a new way of thinking.  According to Berck’s article doctors are not well trained on the disorder so adult cases get overlooked.  Grandma and grandpa may not be succumbing to the terrors of old age they may just be dealing with an undiagnosed disorder.  This would open up a whole new world for these adults.  Imagine being able to live your life in an entirely different way than how you have been living it for the last 73 years.  It would be amazing to be able to get these people the proper medications in order to aid in their attention disorders. 

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/09/28/is-it-alzheimers-or-a-d-h-d/

Brain Games and ADHD

If you walk through any kind of store, you're bound to find a product that advertises ways to make you smarter. Interest in training brains is increasing, yet many people (including scientists) are skeptical. There are many video games that claim to enhance your IQ and attention skills, but there isn't much scientific proof to these claims. In fact, 70 cognitive researchers signed a statement speaking out against computer-based games that promise better cognitive performance last year (1).

ADHD is the most prevalent childhood psychiatric disorder, as we discussed in class. These children show evidence of hyperactivity, impulsivity, and motor impersistence. These children ultimately show a deficit in directing attention in visual space and that the motor impersistence is a result of incomplete processing. There is no known cure, besides treatment with medication.

These two worlds are about to intertwine as 2 companies, Akili Interactive Labs and Posit Science, are seeking FDA approval for their digital products to treat specific health conditions (including ADHD).

The article discusses Project: EVO, which is being developed by Akili Interactive Labs. The company paid scientists at Duke University School of Medicine and Florida Clinical Research Center to run a four-week study involving 80 children ages eight to 12, 40 of which have ADHD and are not taking medication and 40 which are neurologically typical. Participants played the game for 30 minutes a day for five days a week. The game in particular is an adventure game where players tilt their tablets to steer a raft down a river and tap their screens to catch aliens and other objects while avoiding distractors, where the game gets harder as the players improve.

The players have to manage quick decision-making on top of a continuous motor task. The software is designed to strengthen neural circuits responsible for cognitive functions, such as attention and working memory. Both of these are impaired in people who have ADHD. This type of technology seems to be very useful in helping children manage their attention problems by having them focus on something they enjoy, also aiding in developing their brain circuitry.

The article also discusses the second company, Posit Science, running a study known as ONTRAC (Online Neuroplasticity Training for Remediation of ADHD in Adolescent Children). The study enrolled 31 children with ADHD in New Delhi. Subjects completed three to five half-hour training sessions per week totaling 30 hours within six months. The results were not as good as it was for Akili's game; 10 of 21 ONTRAC study participants completed less than half of the training. The effects of ONTRAC on cognition and behavior had the same effects as Akili's ADHD group, and persisted six months later.

This kind of research is very cool in my opinion. I love video games and their application to different fields of research. Video games have had a lot of controversy with their connection to causing aggression and shootings, but I am one of those people who doesn't believe violent video games cause violent behavior. Using games to benefit others sounds great to me. I believe scientists might be able to measure the effect brain games have on different areas of the brain through fMRI and other technologies.

(1) http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/2-companies-seek-fda-approval-for-brain-games-to-treat-adhd2/

                                           
                                                   
                                                      Brain and music
Music therapy has been practiced for decades as a way to treat neurological conditions from Parkinson's to Alzheimer's to anxiety and depression. Music can trigger the release of mood altering brain chemicals and once lost memory and emotion.. People who listened to music had less anxiety and lower cortisol than people who took prescription drugs. The superior temporal gyrus alone doesn't predict whether a person likes a given peace of mind, but it's involved in storing templates for what you've heard before. For instance a person who has heard a lot of jazz before is more likely to appreciate a given piece of jazz music than someone with a lot less experience.
Brain regions involved in movement, attention, planning and memory consistently showed activation when participants listened to music. One good example listening to Mozart
increases the intelligence quotient of those that appreciate his music.   Music addresses some of the behaviors and skills that are necessary for academic success. The level of precision in processing music is much higher than the level of precision used in processing speech. That means that developing our brains musical networks may very well enhance our ability to process speech. Brain plasticity results from experiences which engage the brain through emotion, are repetitive and which require full attention. Another interesting fact about how music engages in the area of the brain is that is  involved with paying attention, making predictions and updating the event in memory.
So music may not be the shortcut to producing brainiacs or mini Einsteins, but it does have powerful effects on our minds and bodies.


https://blog.bufferapp.com/music-and-the-brain
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/273060.php?sr

Phat Research for our Fat Society

Take a quick walk through Houston and there is no question that America is fat. At a whopping 34% overweight rating, it seems everything really is bigger in Texas (1). Reflecting this chubby city’s status, the nationwide obesity sits just a little higher at a hefty 34.9% (2). With our nation carrying around these heavy statistics, our media outlets are saturated with weight loss programs. Whether that is an quantitative system like Weight Watchers or a radical program like The Biggest Loser, Americans are infatuated with the concept of weight loss. But what if there is a way to lose weight without the gym or carb calculators?

In 2013, Marci Glick, lead researcher at the National Institutes of Health, made this utopian idea a reality. Gluck and her research team found 9 overweight participants and manipulated their eating habits through a behavioral neuroscience approach. They used a process called transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to stimulate the neurological processes of the brain (3). Their research goal: Will an increase in brain activity in a certain part of the brain decrease food and drink intake, thus resulting in weight loss?

To determine this, the researchers focused on a part of the brain called the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (LDLPFC). This area of the brain is responsible for many higher cognitive critical functions including memory and attention. For this study, the researchers instead focused on the reward processing and behavior regulation associated within this cortex (4). In regards to this area of the brain, the level of cortical stimulation determines the ability of an individual to pay attention or control their behavior. So, according to Gluck and her co-researchers, continually reaching for more handfuls of sour cream and onion potato chips is simply just low levels of LDLPFC activity. Great! So how do we change that?

Our motherboard that sits between our ears is basically just a large, mushy electrical circuit board. Much like an actual computer, electrical activity is responsible for every process of cognition. So, to alter activity of the brain, the NIH researchers used the aforementioned transcranial direct-current stimulation process. This relatively simple device is a non-invasive treatment that stimulates the brain by applying direct, painless electrical currents to the brain (5). After a session of stimulation, a patient would have increased activity in LDLPFC, and ideally, a decreased affinity to deep-fried snacks.

Time for the big reveal… after brain stimulation, did the nine participants lose weight? Yes. After the study, the volunteers that underwent brain stimulation consumed less calories from soda and fatty foods. Additionally, they lost a small amount of weight and had no side-effects. Compared to the individuals that were given the placebo (fake stimulation), it seems that this pain-free process could be a viable weight loss option.

So what does this mean for the future of weight loss? Should Jenny Craig be nervous? While research is reshaping the way we think about weight loss, there is still a lot of research to be done to make conclusive statements. Even though the participants lost weight, it is very unrealistic for individuals to pay for transcranial direct current stimulation instead of cut down on soda (6). However, if people are willing to go through the rigors of Bootcamp on The Biggest Loser, the possibilities of weight loss solutions are endless. 

(1) http://www.mensfitness.com/weight-loss/burn-fat-fast/the-fittest-and-fattest-cities-in-america

(2) http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html

(3) http://time.com/4100194/brain-stimulation-weight-loss/

(4) https://www.quora.com/Neuroanatomy/What-are-the-primary-functions-of-the-dorsolateral-prefrontal-cortex

(5) http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/psychiatry/specialty_areas/brain_stimulation/tdcs.html

(6) http://www.webmd.com/diet/20151106/could-brain-stimulation-be-a-way-to-weight-loss?page=1

11 Exercises to get you to Finals Week!

As much as we would like to deny it, finals are right around the corner and the fall semester is coming to an end. As we struggle to pay attention in class with the help of caffeine, we sometimes rest our heads down in our textbook to take a nap. This article, from the online site artofmanliness, stated that individuals who can keep their attention for longer periods of time would perform better on all kinds of cognitive challenges than people who can't. Think of your brain as a muscle that you want to work out in the body. There are no shortcuts to getting that six pack or to get those huge biceps. There are 11 exercises that are given by Brett and Kate McKay. Let's use them to chug through the rest of the semester and finish our finals with a flourish!

1) Increase the Strength of your Focus Gradually

The “Pomodoro Method” is to study for 45 minutes straight and then having a 15 minute break. This is repeated as long as needed. If this is too hard, however, you can increase the strength of your focus gradually. First start off with five minutes of straight concentration. Take a two minute break and repeat this process. Everyday, you add another 5 minutes to your focused work time and 2 minutes to your break time. This helps build up your stamina and ability to focus for a longer period of time.

2)   Distraction List

The hardest part of studying is when your mind starts to wander and you want to look up the information on your phone. However, once we get distracted, it takes on average 25 minutes to return to our original task. This article recommends that the best method to maintain your attention is to write down your question on a piece of paper and form a list. This will keep your attention and drain less of your precious brain energy as there’s less shifting of your attention.

3) Build your willpower!

Form a goal and finish it! For example, write out a realistic schedule of what to do during a short amount of time. If you know an assignment will only take 25 minutes, finish it within that time! Don’t extend the time required to finish it by 45 minutes just because you’re distracted.

4) Meditate

Meditating can keep you calm and collected. It will boost your attention span significantly and it only takes about 10-20 minutes of your day to change your mindset.

5) Practice Mindfulness throughout the day

Take time to focus on the things you take for granted throughout the day. Take time to chew and taste the flavors of the foods you enjoy. Smell the fragrances and odors of everything around you. Push back the distractions and focus all your senses on one task at hand. This activity will help you increase your attention and decrease all distractions. 

6) Exercise your Body

Although it may be tempting to take a nap or watch Netflix and binge on snacks before studying, it may be better to take a couple laps at Halas! Research showed that students who engaged in moderate physical exercise before taking a test that measured attention spans performed better than students who didn't. Exercise your body before exercising your mind!

7) Memorize Stuff...Other Stuff!!

I know college students can be overwhelmed with the amount of concepts and theories to memorize and a tip to memorize more can seem counter-intuitive, but it’s not! Make it a goal to memorize one poem or a verse of text per week. It’s a great way to exercise the muscles in your brain.

8) Read Long Stuff Slowly

Although it may be tempting to skim through documents, slow down and read them slowly. This trains your mind to pay attention to long articles. Try and read one or two long articles a week!

9) Stay Curious

The more curious you are, the great your stamina of concentration will be. While reading your textbook, try and do active reading. Ask questions while you’re reading the textbook so it pushes you to read the next section.

10) Practice Attentive Listening

Get your information from lectures that your professor gives out! Put away your phone and listen as attentively as possible. Not only are you increasing your concentration but you’re learning the material from the professor who is the one that writes out your exam!

11) Perform Concentration Exercises

Boost your focus by performing concentration exercises. Commit to solely increasing your brain’s concentration by doing exercises. These can be found online or there’s a ton of apps!

Let's take a step back and look at the bigger picture. We only have a month left of school. Three weeks if we don't count finals. Two weeks and a half if we don't count Thanksgiving Break. Let's use the concept of selective attention we learned in class and turn up our signals for lectures and assignments and turn down the noise for our phones, TVs, and forms of social media.

http://www.artofmanliness.com/2014/01/30/your-concentration-training-program-11-exercises-that-will-strengthen-your-attention/

Empathy: The Ability to Share and Understand, or the Opportunity to Manipulate?

Humans possess many traits that philosophers and scientists agree set us apart from other animals. Characteristics such as language, self-awareness, and specifically, our ability to empathize. I am an animal lover, and do believe that animals have the capability to feel various emotions and display personalities, however, I definitely do agree that human experiences of feelings and emotions are extremely complex and enigmatic. Since true emotion is hard to quantify and gauge in experimental settings, emotional studies are difficult to reinforce with the scientific method. Nonetheless, there are many studies have been successfully conducted and several hypotheses supported.

            In class we studied that empathy may originate from imitation. Singer et al (2004) showed that when participants were presented with an image of another person in pain, some areas of the brain activate even though there was no physical pain caused to the participant. But what happens when our emotions are put to test in social situations?

In “Using Empathy to Use People: Emotional Intelligence and Manipulation”, Jamil Zaki of Scientific American, highlighted two very interesting studies on empathy. Zaki circled the idea that the two elements of empathy can be intercepted from coming together and forming the textbook idea of empathy – the ability to be affected by and share another’s emotional state, and understand their perspective. Based on papers by Sara Konrath, and Yuki Nozaki and Masuo Koyasu, Zaki suggests that cognitive empathy, the understanding of another’s emotions, and emotional empathy, the sharing of these emotions, is disrupted when the idea of manipulating the other person is implanted.

It is close to impossible to study one emotion in isolation in a social situation. Humans are so complex, each of us uniquely wired, seeing the world in different ways, establishing our own schemas, and ultimately experiencing emotions in very distinct manners. It is interesting to read about studies that show subjects collectively displaying one type of behaviour based on emotions.  

           

Source: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/moral-universe/using-empathy-to-use-people-emotional-intelligence-and-manipulation/ (November 7th, 2013) 

Is it Time for Anatomy Textbooks to be Revised?

Recent findings published by the journal Nature suggest that the missing link between the central nervous system and the immune system has been found. According to Josh Barney, researchers at the University of Virginia recently made a revolutionary discovery that will allow a better understanding about the connection between the human brain and the immune system. These findings overturn current anatomy textbook knowledge and may be the path to better understanding neurological diseases such as autism, multiple sclerosis, and Parkinson’s.

The lymphatic system consists of a network of organs, tissues, and lymphatic vessels that help the body eliminate unwanted substances and waste. It plays an important role in our bodies by helping to keep it healthy by eliminating infections and disease as it transports lymph, a fluid containing white-blood cells, throughout the body. Until recently, it was believed that the brain was the only organ that didn’t have a direct communication to the lymphatic system. Therefore, according to scientists, there was a different understanding about how the brain eliminated excess or waste substances because lymphatic vessels allegedly stopped before reaching the brain (Mercola 1).

However, these new findings, point to the existence of lymphatic vessels located in the meninges, the membranes that act as protective barriers covering the brain, as the connectors to the nervous system.

The experimental procedure that allowed these results ,were performed on mice. Researcher Antoine Louveau, was able to develop an innovative method to examine the meninges of a mouse as a whole: ‘ [they] fixed the meninges within the skullcap, so that the tissue is secured in its physiological condition, and then we dissected it. If we had done it the other way around, it wouldn’t have worked.’ As a result, the lymphatic vessels, hidden behind blood vessels, were discovered. These findings suggest a new mapping of the lymphatic system as follows:

Maps of the lymphatic system: old (left) and updated to reflect UVA's discovery.

Credit: University of Virginia Health System

The implications of this discovery are yet to be fully understood. Nevertheless, the intricate relationship between the nervous system and the immune system that these impressive findings suggest, may serve as an avenue to treat and understand complex neurological diseases. It also raises many questions regarding what is yet to discover about the complexity of the human body. 

Works Cited

Barney, Josh. “Researchers Find Textbook-Altering Link Between Brain. Immune System.” UVA today. 01 Jun. 2015. Web. 29 Oct. 2015. http://news.virginia.edu/content/researchers-find-textbook-altering-link-between-brain-immune-system

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2015/06/25/brain-immune-system-connection.aspx