MedWorm Tags: functioning

Study Links Obesity and Cognitive Fitness — In Both Directions

SharpBrains — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 16:09:46 +0100

Obesity linked to Cognition (HealthCanal): - “Obese people tend to perform worse than healthy people at cognitive tasks like planning ahead, a literature review has found, concluding that psychological techniques used to treat anorexics could help obese people too.” - “According to a review of 38 studies on cognitive function and obesity by researchers from the University of NSW, obese people have a tendency toward “reduced executive function”, meaning planning, goal-oriented behaviour and decision-making.” - “Obesity may both cause and be caused by the reduced executive function, said review lead author Dr Evelyn Smith, from UNSW’s School of Psychiatry.” To read article: click Here. To access study: Click on A review of the association between obesity and cognitive fun...

Study: What comes first, Obesity or Cognitive Fitness Challenges

SharpBrains — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 16:09:46 +0100

New York Times Reports On Very Atypical Case Of Schizophrenia

Better Health — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 12:00:00 +0100

Benedict Carey is a New York Times mental health reporter. In last Sunday’s Times, he wrote about Joe Holt, a man with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. Mr. Holt was dealt a particularly tough deck of cards: in addition to a diagnosis of schizophrenia, he had a horrible and traumatic childhood with much loss, placement in a facility where he was physically abused, and periods of homelessness as a teenager. He now has a stable marriage, has adopted children and keeps numerous foster children, and holds two jobs, one as a computer consultant and another as a therapist (if I read that correctly). He struggles with his emotional life, but my take on this was that this is one extremely resilient man who has waged a successful battle against many demons and his story is inspirational. ...

Transcendental Meditation and Working Memory Training To Enhance Executive Functions

SharpBrains — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 20:35:14 +0100

New study shows Transcendental Meditation improves brain functioning in ADHD students (press release): - “Prior research shows ADHD children have slower brain development and a reduced ability to cope with stress,” said Dr. Stixrud. “Virtually everyone finds it difficult to pay attention, organize themselves and get things done when they’re under stress,” he explained. “Stress interferes with the ability to learn—it shuts down the brain. Functions such as attention, memory, organization, and integration are compromised.” - Dr. Stixrud added, “Because stress significantly compromises attention and all of the key executive functions such as inhibition, working memory, organization, and mental flexibility, it made sense that a technique (such as Transcendental Meditation) th...

Are Low Carb Diets Bad for the Brain?

World of Psychology — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 21:58:36 +0100

Are low carbohydrate diets bad for the brain? Ketogenic diets (low carbohydrate diets) promote the increased use of ketone bodies–soluble compounds produced by the body when fatty acids are broken down–by the brain. But, is this safe? When examining epileptic children who spend years in ketosis, or the accumulation of higher than normal ketone bodies, there seems to be no negative effect on cognitive function, except fatigue in the beginning stages of the diet (Hale, 2010). In addition, ketogenic diets are used as treatment for some diseases. Klepper and colleagues (2003) reported that ketogenic diets have been used for decades to treat intractable childhood epileptics, but they can also be used for treating other conditions such as glut 1 deficiency syndrome and pyruvatedehy...

Research Byte: Age-related cognitive decline due more to processing speed and less to executive control?

Intelligent Insights on Intelligence Theories and Tests (aka IQ's Corner) — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 16:45:00 +0100

Note that the final model (above) is consistent with prior research I included in McGrew (2005) and which is also online here. There is clearly strong evidence for the primary role of processing speed (Gs) playing a indirect role on cognition mediated via working memory.- iPost using BlogPress from my Kevin McGrew's iPadintelligence IQ tests IQ testing IQ scores CHC intelligence theory CHC theory Cattell-Horn-Carroll human cognitive abilities psychology school psychology individual differences cognitive psychology neuropsychology neuroscience psychology special education educational psychology psychometrics psychological assessment psychological measurement IQs Corner general intelligence working memory executive function cognitive control processing speed working memory Gsm Gs aging cogni...

IQs Reading: Chun et al's taxonomy of human attention

Intelligent Insights on Intelligence Theories and Tests (aka IQ's Corner) — Sun, 15 May 2011 02:47:00 +0100

Click on image to enlargeI just finished my first read of Chun et al.'s thought provoking article that suggests and interesting external/internal taxonomy of human attention. All my comments are embedded in the article as per the IQ's Reading feature of IQ's Corner. A very thought provoking article that ties together a wide array of research on attention, working memory (attentional control), the importance of brain network synchrony (esp. the P-FIT model of Haeir et al), etc.Worth the read. I particular like the treatment of working memory as more an attentional control mechanism and the treatment of cognitive control and top-down vs bottom-up attention.- iPost using BlogPress from my Kevin McGrew's iPadintelligence IQ tests IQ testing IQ scores CHC intelligence theory CHC theory Cattell-...

Neuropsychological abilities related to early written language expression

Intelligent Insights on Intelligence Theories and Tests (aka IQ's Corner) — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 16:48:00 +0100

Very interesting study on the neuropsychological constructs related to beginning writing. The abstract, initial CFA/SEM model, and the final CFA/SEM model are presented below. The initial model was not found plausible due to significant multicolinearity between a number of the measures (variance from some measures could be perfectly predicted from other tests, either singly, or in linear combination with other measures). Most intriguing conclusion for me is the clear importance of executive functioning (very broadly operationalized in the final model) for beginning writing. A good article for this interested in early writing and writing disabilities to get and digest.Double click on each image to enlarge.- iPost using BlogPress from my Kevin McGrew's iPadintelligence IQ tests IQ testing IQ...

The Cognitive Atlas Project - way cool stuff

Intelligent Insights on Intelligence Theories and Tests (aka IQ's Corner) — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 18:04:00 +0100

Very intriguing article and description of the Cognitive Atlas Project, a scientific social collaborative knowledge project.Poldrack, R. A. (2010). Mapping Mental Function to Brain Structure: How Can Cognitive Neuroimaging Succeed? Perspectives on Psychological Science, 5(6), 753-761AbstractThe goal of cognitive neuroscience is to identify the mapping between brain function and mental processing. In this article, I examine the strategies that have been used to identify such mappings and argue that they may be fundamentally unable to identify selective structure–function mappings. To understand the functional anatomy of mental processes, it will be necessary for researchers to move from the brain-mapping strategies that the field has employed toward a search for selective associations. Th...

The High Functioning Alcoholic

Recovery Is Sexy.com — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 16:48:51 +0100

Understanding the High Functioning Alcoholic: Professional Views and Personal InsightsWho is the typical alcoholic among the 12.5 million living in the United States now? Many, if not most of us when asked that question, would envision a skid row bum or someone at least out of work or with little education locked into a low-skill, low-paying job. But that is not accurate, according to the results of a national study released in June, 2007 by the National Institutes of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.The NIAAA determined that alcoholics in the United States really fall into five subtypes, including nearly 20 percent who are "highly functional alcoholics, well-educated with good incomes." They include corporate presidents, powerful politicians, police, lawyers, doctors, scientists, an...

Research Byte: Why we sometimes struggle with cognitive self-regulation

Intelligent Insights on Intelligence Theories and Tests (aka IQ's Corner) — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 17:50:00 +0100

I think the following "in press" article is important. Why? Because I have been actively involved in reading research to better understand cognitive performance (working memory and executive attention in particular), the IQ Brain Clock (role of mental timing in human performance), and neuro-technology interventions (e.g., Interactive Metronome) that seem to improve cognitive efficiency. Across these different strands of research I have CONSTANTLY run across a number of common factors. In particular, I am constantly finding the dorsolateral pre-frontal cortex (PFC) as being critical to cognitive efficiency (working memory and cognitive processing speed), which in turn impacts intellectual functioning, especially Gf or fluid reasoning. The same brain area is implicated in mental timing and I...

Research bytes: Brief exec. funct. screener and global & specific adult cognitive decline

Intelligent Insights on Intelligence Theories and Tests (aka IQ's Corner) — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 15:17:00 +0100

Clicking on images should make them larger and more readable- iPost using BlogPress from my Kevin McGrew's iPadintelligence IQ tests IQ testing IQ scores CHC intelligence theory CHC theory Cattell-Horn-Carroll human cognitive abilities psychology school psychology individual differences cognitive psychology neuropsychology psychology special education educational psychology psychometrics psychological assessment psychological measurement IQs Corner neuroscience neurocognitive cognitive abilities cognition domain-specific domain-general cognitive decline aging executive functioning (Source: Intelligent Insights on Intelligence Theories and Tests (aka IQ's Corner))

The Musician’s Brain On MRI

Better Health — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 20:00:26 +0100

Dr. Charles Limb is an otolaryngologist, and he’s also on the faculty at the Peabody Conservatory of Music. Wanting to study creativity on the neurological level, he used fMRI to scan the brains of musicians while improvising along with them. Here he describes the experiment, including the building of an MRI-compatible electronic keyboard: Link @ TED… *This blog post was originally published at Medgadget* (Source: Better Health)

Research bytes: Verbal ability and executive functioning in preschoolers

Intelligent Insights on Intelligence Theories and Tests (aka IQ's Corner) — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 15:18:00 +0100

As per usual when I make a research byte/brief post, if anyone would like to read the original article, I can share via email---with the understanding that the article is provided in exchange for a brief guest post about it's contents. :) (contact me at iap@earthlink.net if interested). Also, if figure/images are included in the post, they can usually be made larger by clicking on the image.- iPost using BlogPress from my Kevin McGrew's iPad (Source: Intelligent Insights on Intelligence Theories and Tests (aka IQ's Corner))

Research bytes: Cognitive employment testing--aging strategies--cognitive thresholds

Intelligent Insights on Intelligence Theories and Tests (aka IQ's Corner) — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 02:43:00 +0100

Three interesting articles from one of my favorite journals--Current Directions in Psychological Science.As per usual when I make a research byte/brief post, if anyone would like to read the original article, I can share via email---with the understanding that the article is provided in exchange for a brief guest post about it's contents. :) (contact me at iap@earthlink.net if interested). Also, if figure/images are included in the post, they can usually be made larger by clicking on the image.- iPost using BlogPress from my Kevin McGrew's iPadintelligence IQ tests IQ scores CHC theory Cattell-Horn-Carroll human cognitive abilities psychology school psychology individual differences cognitive psychology neuropsychology special education educational psychology psychometrics psychological as...

Research byte: More on the "nose knows" - Go and cognition

Intelligent Insights on Intelligence Theories and Tests (aka IQ's Corner) — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 17:06:00 +0100

I continue to be intrigued with the increasing research on the domain of Go.......I have posted a number of articles at my blog over the past five years (can be found by clicking on Go category label) that indicate that it is a separate cognitive domain and, more importantly, it has significant diagnostic potential for a wide array of cognitive disorders, esp. during the early stages of a disorder.The nose knows :)Cognitive factors in odor detection, odor discrimination, and odor identification tasks. Journal of Experimental and Clinical Neuropsycholgy, 32 (10), 1062–1067Authors: Margareta Hednerab; Maria Larssonab; Nancy Arnoldc; Gesualdo M. Zuccod; Thomas HummelcAbstractThe purpose of this study was to determine cognitive correlates of olfactory performance across three different tasks...

Using Brain Plasticity to help Children with Learning Disabilities

SharpBrains — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 12:17:20 +0100

Did you read The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science, the great book on neuroplasticity by Norman Doidge? If so, you will have heard about the Arrowsmith School/ Program, which was also one of the Top Ten Finalists in 2010 Brain Fitness Innovation Awards. The following is an excerpt from Brain School: Stories of children with learning disabilities and attention disorders who changed their lives by improving their cognitive functioning (November 2010; $22), a new book from Eaton Arrowsmith School’s (EAS) founder and director, Howard Eaton. It tells the story of how children with learning disabilities (dyslexia, ADHD, etc.) can overcome educational obstacles by reorganizing their brains. An inspiring book about how cognitive progra...

Thoughts on importance of cognitive attention -- The Fifth Agreement

Intelligent Insights on Intelligence Theories and Tests (aka IQ's Corner) — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 15:43:00 +0100

It is clear that attention is very important in cognitive functioning. As mentioned frequently at two of my blogs, I believe that controlled executive attention is one of the key cognitive dimensions in intellectual performance, particularly as it relates to working memory and executive function efficiency. I further have hypothesized that many of the current neuroscience based brain-fitness/training programs may all share a common element in their success--they all may fine-tuning controlled executive attention.With the above in mind, I found the following quote of interest in a general self-help book I just started reading...yes, at times, I find reading such books useful and informative. As I read this one, I find that I much of the "wisdom" in the book can be understood from research i...

SharpBrains Council Monthly Insights: How will we assess, enhance and repair cognition across the lifespan?

SharpBrains — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 17:05:02 +0100

Discussions (Members-only links below. To Learn More and Join Council, click Here) Now let’s take a look at the great things going on with the SharpBrains Council. Council Membership 60 Council Members are already active in the Council members-only platform, bringing an excellent cross-sector participation and featuring innovative research, products, services and practices. The Member List available in the Library section includes interests and 2011 priorities, to facilitate connections. We are featuring: 7 most active Council Members: Philip Toman, Jamie Wilson, Luc Beaudoin, Joshua Steinerman, Pascale Michelon, Adam Gazzaley and Sherrie All. 7 Council Members doing great work outside the US: Peter Reiner, Veronika Litinski and David Tal in Canada; Jenny Brockis and Steve Zanon in A...

Research bytes 10-7-10: Preschool executive functions, general knowledge, attention & visual motor important for later school success

Intelligent Insights on Intelligence Theories and Tests (aka IQ's Corner) — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 15:01:00 +0100

This study examined linkages between children's developing executive function abilities at age 4 and children's subsequent achievement in mathematics at age 6, 1 year after school entry. The study sample consisted of a regionally representative cohort of 104 children followed prospectively from ages 2 to 6 years. At age 4, children completed a battery of executive function tasks that assessed planning, set shifting, and inhibitory control. Teachers completed the preschool version of the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function. Clinical and classroom measures of children's mathematical achievement were collected at age 6. Results showed that children's performance on set shifting, inhibitory control, and general executive behavior measures during the preschool period accounted for s...

Let’s Make World Alzheimer’s Day World Cognitive Reserve’s Day

SharpBrains — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 17:59:59 +0100

Today is World Alzheimer’s Day. To raise awareness and funds, associations worldwide organize multiple activities including important Memory Walks, and a new report helps quantify the growing personal and economic burden of the disease. Among the report findings: Close to 36 million people worldwide have dementia today Dementia care costs around 1 percent of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP), or 604 billion US dollars. Of these, 252 billion represent indirect costs of care, while annual direct medical costs account for 96 billion, and direct non-medical costs for 256 billion By 2030, worldwide societal costs will increase by over 85 percent The good news? That the number 1 reason for the bad news is simple: we live longer than ever before That, while there is nothing we can...

Tired on Mondays? Sleep More on Weekends

World of Psychology — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 20:18:23 +0100

If you’re feeling especially tired today — and it’s Monday — it may be because you didn’t get your normal recharge of sleep this past weekend. So says a new study published in the journal Sleep by David Dinges and his colleagues. Researchers came to this conclusion after analyzing the results of a sleep deprivation study on 159 healthy, middle-aged adults. A group of 142 participants were sleep-deprived by allowing them only four hours of sleep for 5 consecutive nights. But before the sleep deprivation, these subjects were first given two nights of 10-hour sleep periods, to ensure all participants started at similar sleep levels. They were then allowed randomized doses of recovery sleep ranging from zero hours to 10 hours for per night. The other 17 partici...

DSM 5 Sleep Disorders Overhaul

World of Psychology — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 09:35:07 +0100

The DSM-5 Sleep Disorders workgroup has been especially busy. They are calling for a nearly complete overhaul of the sleep disorders category in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (“DSM”). According to a presentation at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association in May, Charles Reynolds, MD, suggested that the reworking of this category will make sleep problems easier for professionals to diagnose and discriminate between different sleep disorders. He stated that the current DSM-IV puts too much emphasis on presumed causes of symptoms, something that the rest of the DSM-IV does not do. Bringing the sleep disorder section more in line with the other sections in the DSM should make it less confusing. Primary and commonly diagnosed sleep diso...

Aspirin for Schizophrenia?

World of Psychology — Thu, 27 May 2010 21:19:03 +0100

Could inflammation be a contributing factor to some symptoms in schizophrenia? And if inflammation is a significant factor in schizophrenia, could ordinary aspirin help? Researchers (Lann et al., 2010) from the Netherlands (I love researchers from the Netherlands!) set to find out. They looked at 70 inpatients in ten psychiatric hospitals who were already taking antipsychotic medications to help treat their schizophrenia (or a related schizophrenia disorder). They randomly divided the 70 patients into two groups — a control group that received placebo, and another group who received 1,000 mg of aspirin per day. Patient functioning and psychopathology was tested with a common assessment, the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). The researchers also looked at cognitive functio...

BBC “Brain Training” Experiment: the Good, the Bad, the Ugly

SharpBrains — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 05:50:29 +0100

You may already have read the hundreds of media articles today titled “brain training doesn’t work” and similar, based on the BBC “Brain Test Britain” experiment. Once more, claims seem to go beyond the science backing them up … except that in this case it is the researchers, not the developers, who are responsible. Let’s recap what we learned today. The Good Science The study showed that putting together a variety of brain games in one website and asking people who happen to show up to play around for a grand total of 3-4 hours over 6 weeks (10 minutes 3 times a week for 6 weeks) didn’t result in meaningful improvements in cognitive functioning. This is useful information for consumers to know, because in fact there are websites and compani...

12 Step Treatment Reduces Healthcare Demand

Recovery Is Sexy.com — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 15:21:00 +0100

CONCLUSIONS: Promoting self-help group involvement appears to improve posttreatment outcomes while reducing the costs of continuing care. Even cost offsets that somewhat diminish over the long term can yield substantial savings. Actively promoting self-help group involvement may therefore be a useful clinical practice for helping addicted patients recover in a time of constrained fiscal resources. Humphreys K, Moos RH. Encouraging posttreatment self-help group involvement to reduce demand for continuing care services: two-year clinical and utilization outcomes. Alcohol Clin Exp Res.;31(1):64-8. See also Counselor Magazine’s Addiction Professional Reference Guide Twelve Step Facilitation Science of Addiction Harry Tiebout Psychology Books Alcoholism, Addiction & Codependency Reco...

On Being a Student Therapist: Making a Diagnosis

World of Psychology — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 12:48:43 +0100

We’re back from spring break, and the push to the end of the semester is on. Depending on who you ask, we either have seven weeks left (the university calendar), or approximately 35 more drives to campus (my personal calculation). Now that I’ve gotten over the hump of juggling six clients who needed to be seen four times each in five weeks’ time, seeing eight clients who need to be seen at least four times each in seven weeks’ time sounds like a piece of cake! During my supervision session prior to break, I expressed frustration to my supervisor about a client who had asked to continue counseling beyond her class requirement. I questioned this client’s commitment to counseling and whether her problems were significant enough to warrant additional sessions, especially sinc...

Aspificating snobbery over the DSM all over again

Ballastexistenz — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 04:13:42 +0100

I have seen a lot of “aspies” whining lately about the proposed changes in the DSM. Not productive critique of the new criteria, the medicalization of autistic lives, or the fact that the things most autistic people have truly in common have been left out of the criteria while peripheral things nonautistic people want to fix are spotlighted. No, nothing that useful. Just out and out whining. “I don’t want to be associated with that other kind of autistic people,” goes the standard whine line. “You know… Those Ones.” The crazy drooling retarded low functioning diaper wearing nonverbal ones who can’t take care of themselves and need to be on welfare. Which one of those or many other pejorative categories depends on the individual variati...

On Removing Aspergers Diagnosis

AspieWeb.net — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 20:47:29 +0100

Removing the Aspergers Diagnosis from the DSM is a controversial and hot topic in the Autism advocacy community. Many people are angered by merging Aspergers with Hugh Functioning Autism. I was talking to a father of a high functioning autistic and he disagrees with the merging of the two diagnoses, his main reason being the verbal [...] (Source: AspieWeb.net)

Panic Disorder

Inside Surgery — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 01:16:30 +0100

Pathophysiology 1) episodic, unpredictable attacks of intense fear, agitation, and discomfort (especially agoraphobic) 2) onset must occur over a 10 minute period 3) attacks generally occur for < 1 hour 4) exact cause is unknown, but genetic predisposition occurs Signs and Symptoms presence of at least four of the following during attack – 1) tachycardia/palpitations 2) trembling/shaking 3) sweating 4) shortness of breath 5) dizziness 6) chest pain 7) choking sensation chills or hot flushes 9) abdominal pain or diarrhea 10) sense of impending doom or death 11) feelings of anxiety Biochemistry 1) altered autonomic functioning 2) increased noradrenergic discharge from locus ceruleus Inheritance/Epidemiology onset is usually in late adolescence to early adulthood Treatment 1) SSRIs (se...

Symptoms of Alcohol Related Brain Damage

Recovery Is Sexy.com — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 04:02:00 +0100

Clues about alcohol related brain damage can be gathered by observing the person’s mood, behaviour, daily functioning and coping skills. Here are some examples of common indicators: Mood changes – anxiety, agitation or depression Behavioural changes – difficult behaviour, acting out, suspicious or paranoid behaviour, withdrawal, inappropriate behaviour Confusion and disorientation Talking excessively about, and living in, the past Problems carrying through with plans and getting around to chores Disconnection of gas, electricity or the phone Missed appointments Repetitious conversation Problems staying focused in conversation Resistance to change Confabulation Irrational reasoning Inability to change even when the person desires to These symptoms of brain impairment wil...

Brain Fitness Book: talks, interviews, reviews

SharpBrains — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:37:12 +0100

Next Tuesday, November 3rd: I’ll be presenting the SharpBrains Guide to a business/ entrepreneurial audience at the San Francisco Chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth (you can register online). Description: While most of us have heard the phrase “use it or lose it,” very few understand what “it” means, or how to properly “use it” in order to improve brain function and fitness. This talk will provide an overview of the most recent research, guidelines and resources to “Use It and Improve It”, summarizing the main findings and topics from the new book The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness. We will debunk 10 common brain fitness myths; discuss how the brain works and the 4 pillars of brain maintenance; explain the difference be...

Why we need to Retool Use it or lose it

SharpBrains — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 19:06:41 +0100

The July/ August 2009 issue of The Journal on Active Aging includes my article Why We Need to Retool "Use It Or Lose It" An excerpt: "By now you have probably heard about brain plasticity, the lifelong capacity of the brain to change and rewire itself in response to the stimulation of learning and experience. The latest scientific research shows that specific lifestyles and actions can improve the health and level of functioning of our brains, no matter our age. Of particular importance to maintaining cognitive functioning through life are the hippocampus (deep inside the brain, part of what is called the limbic system), which plays a role in learning and memory; and the frontal lobes (behind your forehead), which are key to maintaining decision-making and autonomy. Is ther...

Exercising Your Brain As You Age

World of Psychology — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 14:33:43 +0100

According to a news article we published today, simple everyday activities are all we need to keep our minds sharp as we age, mixed in with a healthy dose of daily physical exercise. The study measured over 4,000 participants’ brain and cognitive functioning over a 6 year period to arrive at these results. Boiled down to the basics, the researchers found the following activities help our brains remain sharp as we age: Mental activities, like reading or doing a crossword puzzle Physical exercise, generally the more the better (but even some, such as simply walking for 30 minutes per day, is better than nothing) Remaining socially engage with your friends or family Maintaining a positive attitude throughout life Learning new activities, hobbies or anything that requires concentrat...

Neural efficiency, executive function and intelligence (g, IQ): An embarrasment of riches

Intelligent Insights on Intelligence Theories and Tests (aka IQ's Corner) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:48:00 +0100

I give up. I don't have the time, or maybe the neural efficiency, to read, digest, integrate, and summarize a wave of recent research articles dealing with the concept of neural efficiency (oscillations) and intelligence. That being said, I'm simply going to post the references and abstracts. Maybe an interested IQ's Corner blog reader would be interested in reading these articles and attempting to summarize (via a guest blog post)...something I had hoped to do. When less is more and when more is more: The mediating roles of capacity and speed in brain-behavior efficiency (Bart Rypma and Vivek Prabhakaran). Intelligence 37 (2009) 207–22.An enduring enterprise of experimental psychology has been to account for individual differences in human performance. Recent advances in neuroimaging ha...

WCST: Does it really measure frontal lobe executive functions?

Intelligent Insights on Intelligence Theories and Tests (aka IQ's Corner) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 18:59:00 +0100

ConclusionsThe present interest in prefrontal cortex function has renewed the use of the WCST in clinical and experimental settings. However, much criticism has questioned the utility of this test as a marker of prefrontal function. A critical review of clinical studies suggests that the original WCST does not distinguish between frontal and non-frontal lesions. Likewise, functional neuroimaging studies confirm that delivery of negative feedback during WCST rule transitions activates a widespread network of frontal and non-frontal regions within a split-second time scale. New methodological and conceptual advances from theory-guided experimental designs, precise spatial and temporal sampling of brain activity, and modern integrative models of prefrontal function (Miller, 2000) combined wit...

A bit about me and ADHD.

ASD :: Commentary on Autism, Disability, and the World. — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 00:19:00 +0100

This was originally posted at The Buzz on Meds.I was diagnosed with ADHD when I was 28. I'm now 32. It was February 11, 2005. I had gone in looking for the diagnosis, but I definitely wasn't prepared for it to be confirmed! I came home with mixed feelings. Did the diagnosis change who I was? Did it matter? What should I do next?Well, I went to my GP with my papers and all; since I'd been diagnosed by a psychologist, I needed the GP to prescribe my medication. He stonewalled me (wanted to refer me to a psychiatrist, said, "You've waited this long, you can wait a little longer"), even though the medication I was looking at was Concerta, which is notoriously difficult to abuse!I changed doctors.I was put on 36mg Concerta, once a day, to start. It worked pretty well at first, but the rebound w...

Power Goes to the Head

The Situationist — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 05:02:01 +0100

From Science Daily: * * * New research appearing in the May issue of Psychological Science . . . suggests that being put in a low-power role may impair a person’s basic cognitive functioning and thus, their ability to get ahead. In their article, Pamela Smith of Radboud University Nijmegen, and colleagues Nils B. Jostmann of VU University Amsterdam, Adam Galinsky of the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and Wilco W. van Dijk of VU University Amsterdam, focus on a set of cognitive processes called executive functions. Executive functions help people maintain and pursue their goals in difficult, distracting situations. The researchers found that lacking power impaired people’s ability to keep track of ever-changing information, to parse out irrelevant information, ...

Getting things done.

ASD :: Commentary on Autism, Disability, and the World. — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 15:29:00 +0100

I had coffee with a friend last night. She is also a writer, and we were discussing our current projects at one point.This friend is currently working on a novel and five short films (22 minutes each).I am working on the second draft of a YA novel, the first draft of a movie, and the first draft of a general fiction novel. I'm also working on a Mass, but that's music and we were talking about literary work, so I didn't mention it.My friend expressed some wonder at how methodical I am. The fact that I "just do it" when it comes to my writing is, I guess, something that is difficult to understand. The thing is, I had to make a decision about my writing, and I need to get it organized so that I could keep track of my projects and be accountable to myself for getting things done. Since I am pr...

Working Memory Training for Adults

SharpBrains — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 04:19:23 +0100

A very promising cognitive training study was presented last week by Helena Westerberg at the annual meeting of the CNS: Cognitive Neuroscience Society held in San Francisco, and Dr. David Rabiner brings us the highlights. --------------------- The study was conducted with a general adult population, rather than adults diagnosed with ADHD, as was the case in previous published working memory training studies, The study was a randomized, controlled trial of working memory training conducted with 55 younger (20-30 years old) and 45 older (60-70 years old) adults. Participants were randomly assigned to receive 5 weeks of active Cogmed Working Memory Training or a placebo training intervention. In the active training group, the difficulty of the working memory training tasks continually adju...

Social Connections for Cognitive Fitness

SharpBrains — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 03:09:35 +0100

This article was written by Pascale Michelon, Ph. D., for SharpBrains.com. Copyright 2008. Dr. Michelon has a Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology and has worked as a Research Scientist at Washington University in Saint Louis, in the Psychology Department. She conducted several research projects to understand how the brain makes use of visual information and memorizes facts. She is now an Adjunct Faculty at Washington University, and teaches Memory Workshops in numerous retirement communities in the St Louis area. attention and control, Baumeister, behavior, brain, brain functioning, cognitive, cognitive performance, cognitive tasks, crossword puzzles, depression, Gladstone, introverts, memory, mental fitness, Pascale Michelon, shy, social connections, socialization, Working memory, Ybarra (Sour...

Self-Regulation and Barkley's Theory of ADHD

SharpBrains — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 19:06:18 +0100

Conclusions - Barkley's theory has been widely recognized as a significant advance in our thinking about ADHD that helps to organize a vast body of literature and clinical observations about the disorder. As with any theory, it's ultimate value will depend on the amount of new research that it stimulates, and the information that is obtained from those studies. One important point to note is that even if one agress with Barkley's notion that ADHD is fundamentally a deficit of self-regulation, it does not necessarily follow that the interventions he advocates - basically, behavior therapy and medication treatment - are the only approaches to be pursued. Clearly, these are the interventions that currently enjoy the strongest empirical support. They are limited, however, in that neither is c...

Improving Driving Skills and Brain Functioning- Interview with ACTIVE's Jerri Edwards

SharpBrains — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 06:23:15 +0100

Today we are fortunate to interview Dr. Jerri Edwards, an Associate Professor at University of South Florida's School of Aging Studies and Co-Investigator of the influencial ACTIVE study. Dr. Edwards was trained by Dr. Karlene K. Ball, and her research is aimed toward discovering how cognitive abilities can be maintained and even enhanced with advancing age. Main focus of research Alvaro Fernandez: Please explain to our readers your main research areas Jerri Edwards: I am particularly interested in how cognitive interventions may help older adults to avoid or at least delay functional difficulties and thereby maintain their independence longer. Much of my work has focused on the functional ability of driving including assessing driving fitness among older adults and remediation of cogniti...

How Strong is the Research Support for Neurofeedback in Attention Deficits?

SharpBrains — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 19:25:56 +0100

Neurofeedback is one of the technologies that people often ask us about. It is a promising intervention in a variety of areas, and has got significant traction in helping kids with ADD/ ADHD. Now, given the significant cost it poses for parents, we need to ask the question: "How Strong is the Research Support for Neurofeedback Treatment of Children with ADHD"? We are honored to present the thoughts of Duke University's Dr. David Rabiner, a leading authority on the field, on that important issue. As a bonus, you will enjoy his detailed description and suggestions of how to design a high-quality scientific study. Without further ado, let's hear Dr. Rabiner speak: -------------------------------------- How Strong is the Research Support for Neurofeedback Treatment of Children...

Brain Games, and Cognitive Fitness News, for the Weekend

SharpBrains — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 16:26:55 +0100

Did you read about the recent experiment where young chimps displayed amazing visual working memory capability, beating humans? - You can watch a short video here. - Lumos Labs has released a very fun game to test your own skills: try out this Chimp Game! Also, some very good recent news articles: 1) Is it worth going to the mind gym? (New Scientist). This is one of the best articles we have read in a while (unfortunately requires subscription). - "Birdwatching is the brainchild of San Francisco-based Lumos Labs, just one of the dozens of companies that have sprung up in recent months to cash in on the "brain-training" craze. Like most of its competitors, the theory behind ..." Comments: the article introduces readers to much of the research and scientists we disc...

Taking care of the heart helps the brain

The Cardio Blog — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 04:00:00 +0100

Filed under: Prevention, Research, Aging Heart HealthThough experts don't yet know how to prevent Alzheimer's, another common form of dementia in late adulthood -- called vascular dementia -- may be avoidable by taking care of the heart. A study that followed nearly 500 elderly patients for four years found that those who had cardiovascular conditions, such as stroke or peripheral artery disease, were much more likely to have a reduction in cognitive ability than those who did not. Researchers believe that the reduced blood flow that is a consequence of narrowed arteries also affects the brain, leading to mental decline. In reverse, good artery health means greater blood flow and oxygen to the brain, which may protect cognitive abilities. The findings are interesting; read more about them ...

Depression in breast cancer moms affects kids

The Cancer Blog — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 04:00:00 +0100

Filed under: Breast Cancer, Research, Daily news, Cancer SurvivorsCancer sent me into a state of depression. And it took more than a year of counseling and treatment with an anti-depressant to bring me back to a balanced and healthy level of functioning.My type of depression -- the kind that shows up just after a cancer diagnosis -- is not uncommon. And neither is the spillover that depression can leave on the children of moms depressed because of their disease.A study at the University of Pittsburgh -- the first to examine the relationship between children's concerns and a mother's cancer-related depression -- found children of depressed breast cancer patients were more likely to be concerned or anxious about their mother's cancer and about how the disease affects their families.It's not ...