tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60876042024-09-04T05:04:08.251-07:00Cognitive LabsContinual Developments in Brain Training from Cognitive LabsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2302125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6087604.post-4440159927112923672017-02-21T15:18:00.001-08:002017-02-21T15:18:15.937-08:00Club Botanic
As some of you know, I'm an advisor and/or investor in a number of start-up Internet companies. One in particular is quite remarkable, Club Botanic, based in San Francisco, is a unique flower delivery firm that offers monthly subscriptions to its services as well as single orders. For a reasonable price you can order beautiful flower arrangements and have them delivered to your home or office.
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6087604.post-35101693906319003062017-02-14T10:15:00.001-08:002017-02-14T10:15:20.477-08:00
I haven't blogged in quite some time, as you can probably tell. However, don't worry. Cognitive Labs is still rolling along as one of the top destinations on the web for free cognitive games. We're now celebrating our 12th anniversary of serving both casual web users as well as scientific researchers who use our tests for some very interesting work.
There's quite a bit of interest in the site Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6087604.post-26590829739669380822013-10-18T13:31:00.000-07:002013-10-18T13:31:10.302-07:00Metabolic Syndrome and CRP Linked to Cognitive Decline
According to a nationally representative sample of persons aged 60 years or older, metabolic syndrome may predispose to cognitive decline, especially when it occurs in conjunction with elevated C-reactive protein (CRP), new research suggests.
The findings add to the understanding of the association between neurometabolic disorders and cognition, said first author Zuolu Liu, BA, and their Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6087604.post-90556275005956444072013-09-19T12:22:00.000-07:002013-09-19T12:22:05.896-07:00Cognitive Enhancers do not Help Mild Cognitive Impairment
Cognitive enhancers did not improve cognition and were associated with increased harm in people with mild cognitive impairment, according to a study published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).
Mild cognitive impairment is a condition characterized by memory complaints without substantial limitations in everyday activity. With an increasing proportion of people aged Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6087604.post-9868138418388787172013-08-28T15:36:00.001-07:002013-08-28T15:36:42.386-07:00Scientists Find Clue to Age-Related Memory Loss
Scientists have found a compelling clue in the quest to learn what causes age-related memory problems, and to one day be able to tell if those misplaced car keys are just a senior moment or an early warning of something worse.
Wednesday's report offers evidence that age-related memory loss really is a distinct condition from pre-Alzheimer's — and offers a hint that what we now consider the Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6087604.post-12123398962881932992013-08-26T16:18:00.000-07:002013-08-26T16:18:11.638-07:0040 Hours of Intensive Game Play is Good for the Brain
Playing 40 hours or Starcraft, the real-time strategy game pitting humans and two alien species against each other, can make people think more flexibly.
So concludes a study this month that compared groups of people who played The Sims, StarCraft with easier conditions, and StarCraft with harder conditions that required players to keep track of a more complicated scenario.
"Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6087604.post-19301295155705547762013-08-15T11:10:00.001-07:002013-08-15T11:10:13.083-07:00Walking on a Treadmill is Found to Help Memory in Older People
Exercise is touted as helping healthy adults stay that way, both physically and mentally. Might it also help people whose memory and other cognitive abilities have started to decline?
This study included 35 adults who averaged in their mid- to upper 70s; they consisted of two groups: 18 with mild cognitive impairment and 17 with no cognitive decline. Everyone did moderate exercise, walking onUnknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6087604.post-49928953459049376122013-08-01T11:36:00.001-07:002013-08-01T11:36:26.920-07:00Blood Pressure Linked to Impaired Cognitive Function in Elderly
Higher variability in visit-to-visit blood pressure readings, independent of average blood pressure, could be related to impaired cognitive function in old age in those already at high risk of cardiovascular disease, suggests a paper published today on bmj.com.
There is increasing evidence that vascular factors contribute in development and progression of dementia. This is of special Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6087604.post-91718884365010992452013-07-31T11:50:00.001-07:002013-07-31T11:50:56.323-07:00Exercise Reduces Alzheimer's Risk
Memory loss leading to Alzheimer's disease is one of the greatest fears among older Americans.While some memory loss is normal and to be expected as we age, a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment, or MCI, signals more substantial memory loss and a greater risk for Alzheimer's, for which there currently is no cure.The study, led by Dr. J. Carson Smith, assistant professor in the Department ofUnknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6087604.post-60325571284143366882013-07-27T11:17:00.001-07:002013-07-27T11:17:56.960-07:00Possible Cognitive Benefits Found In Dementia Patients Taking Centrally Acting ACE Inhibitors
An observational study from Ireland raises the intriguing possibility that certain blood pressure lowering drugs, centrally acting ACE inhibitors, may help slow the cognitive decline that is a hallmark of people with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.
The study, published in BMJ Open, followed the rates of cognitive decline in 3 groups of patients: dementia Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6087604.post-71156919077825857672013-07-25T11:29:00.002-07:002013-07-25T11:29:55.124-07:00Cognitive Performance is Better in Girls whose Walk to School Lasts more than 15 minutes
Cognitive performance of adolescent girls who walk to school is better than that of girls who travel by bus or car. Moreover, cognitive performance is also better in girls who take more than 15 minutes than in those who live closer and have a shorter walk to school.
These are some of the conclusions of a study published in Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
The Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6087604.post-62206033285700656132013-07-23T10:30:00.000-07:002013-07-23T10:30:33.963-07:00Microchips and the Brain: Imitating the Brain's Processing in Real Time
Novel microchips imitate the brain's information processing in real time. Neuroinformatics researchers from the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich together with colleagues from the EU and US demonstrate how complex cognitive abilities can be incorporated into electronic systems made with so-called neuromorphic chips: They show how to assemble and configure these electronic systems to function Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6087604.post-65513685673392097072013-07-17T11:39:00.000-07:002013-07-17T11:39:04.127-07:00Subjective Cognitive Decline May Be The Earliest Clinical Indicator Of Alzheimer's Disease
There is increasing evidence that subjective cognitive decline (SCD) — the self-reported perception of memory or cognition problems — is a potentially valid early clinical marker of brain and cognitive changes that may indicate Alzheimer's disease, according to five research studies reported at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference® 2013 (AAIC® 2013) in Boston.
"The emerging Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6087604.post-47149836190749162832013-06-18T13:54:00.000-07:002013-06-18T13:54:21.244-07:00Memory Enhancing Molecule in Mice
Scientists have identified a key memory-enhancing molecule in mice that could pave the way for boosting cognitive functions in humans, says a study.
The same biochemical pathway the molecule acts on might one day be targeted in humans to improve memory, according to the senior author of the study, Peter Walter, professor of biochemistry and biophysics at the University of California, San Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6087604.post-74213824238817168222013-06-12T12:59:00.000-07:002013-06-12T12:59:20.296-07:00Gamers: Better Visual Memories
People who play a lot of video games have better visual memories than those who don't, a new study says.
"Gamers see the world differently," Duke University psychiatry professor Greg Appelbaum said. "They are able to extract more information from a visual scene."
Duke University researchers recruited 125 volunteers who were either non-gamers or intensive gamers.
Each was shown a flash of Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6087604.post-76410248822383466852013-06-11T11:02:00.000-07:002013-06-11T11:02:19.474-07:00Alzheimer's and Low Blood Sugar in Diabetes may Trigger a Vicious Cycle
Diabetes-associated episodes of low blood sugar may increase the risk of developing dementia, while having dementia or even milder forms of cognitive impairment may increase the risk of experiencing low blood sugar, according to a UC San Francisco scientist who led a new study published online today (June 10) in JAMA Internal Medicine.
Researchers analyzed data from 783 diabetic Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6087604.post-28570896851756307042013-06-06T09:52:00.000-07:002013-06-06T09:52:45.872-07:00Artwork Inspired by MRI Brain Scans Installed at Stanford Imaging Center
Art and science meet in a new installation of clay sculptures, etchings and acrylics at the Stanford Center for Cognitive and Neurobiological Imaging.
The pieces by artist Laura Jacobson, a Stanford alumna, are inspired by MRIs of the human brain and reflect the work of the center to investigate connections between neuroscience and society.
The center, in the basement of the Department Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6087604.post-9192397422011371462013-06-05T15:09:00.000-07:002013-06-05T15:09:46.431-07:00Scientists Study How Meditation Helps Reduce Anxiety
Scientists at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center have identified the brain functions involved in how meditation reduces anxiety.
The team wrote in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience about how they studied 15 healthy volunteers with normal levels of everyday anxiety. They said these individuals had no previous meditation experience or anxiety Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6087604.post-47151621408482338722013-06-04T11:23:00.002-07:002013-06-04T11:23:31.763-07:00PET Shows Increased Levels of Cognitive Reserve in More Educated Individuals
Highly educated individuals with mild cognitive impairment that later progressed to Alzheimer's disease cope better with the disease than individuals with a lower level of education in the same situation, according to research published in the June issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine. In the study "Metabolic Networks Underlying Cognitive Reserve in Prodromal Alzheimer Disease: A Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6087604.post-42909292648704297982013-06-02T13:15:00.000-07:002013-06-02T13:15:26.343-07:00Low Doses of Marijuana Component Can Help Prevent Brain Damage
Tel Aviv University researchers have found that extremely low doses of THC - the psychoactive component of marijuana - protects the brain from long-term cognitive damage in the wake of injury from hypoxia (lack of oxygen), seizures, or toxic drugs.
Brain damage can have consequences ranging from mild cognitive deficits to severe neurological damage.Previous studies focused on injecting high Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6087604.post-872307896707877202013-05-30T11:06:00.001-07:002013-05-30T11:06:57.676-07:00Mayo Clinic: Blood Test May Offer Way to Detect Alzheimer's Onset
Blood offers promise as a way to detect Alzheimer's disease at its earliest onset, Mayo Clinic researchers say. They envision a test that would detect distinct metabolic signatures in blood plasma that are synonymous with the disease -- years before patients begin showing cognitive decline. Their study was recently published online in the journal PLOS ONE.
Researchers analyzed Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6087604.post-22765002308286209302013-05-29T13:15:00.000-07:002013-05-29T13:15:05.815-07:00Menopause and Memory Problems
Memory problems are a common complaint of women going through menopause, and now a new study provides more evidence linking mood and hot flashes to loss of memory abilities during menopause.
Researchers found that women who felt their memory wasn't functioning well scored lower in a series of psychological tests of attention and memory. The women's cognitive performance was still within theUnknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6087604.post-63392489536812891072013-05-25T13:20:00.000-07:002013-05-25T13:20:15.857-07:00Cinnamon May Ward off Alzheimer's?
Could the cinnamon challenge turn out to be good for your brain? According to a new study from researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara, two compounds contained in the spice — cinnamaldehyde and epicatechin — may help prevent Alzheimer's disease by staving off the accumulation of defective proteins in the brain.
Tau is a protein found in neurons of the central Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6087604.post-80637691125214101372013-05-23T10:13:00.002-07:002013-05-23T10:13:52.343-07:00Caloric Restriction in Mice Preserves Cognitive Function
Activating an enzyme known to play a role in the anti-aging benefits of calorie restriction delays the loss of brain cells and preserves cognitive function in mice, a new study has found.
The findings could one day guide researchers to discover drug alternatives that slow the progress of age-associated impairments in the brain.
Previous studies have shown that Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6087604.post-6723465918304594082013-05-21T11:20:00.000-07:002013-05-21T11:20:26.488-07:00Vitamin B - Alzheimer's Prevention?
Elderly people could stave off Alzheimer's disease by taking Vitamin B supplements because they reduce brain shrinkage associated with the disease by up to 90 per cent, a study suggests.
Consuming vitamins B6, B12 and folic acid can lower levels of homocysteine, an amino acid linked to shrinkage of the brain in conditions like Alzheimer's disease.
Previous studies had shown that Unknownnoreply@blogger.com