BrainBlog

Visualizing long-term memory formation in two neurons of the Drosophila brain Science. 2012 Feb 10;335(6069):678-85 Chen CC, Wu JK, Lin HW, Pai TP, Fu TF, Wu CL, Tully T, Chiang AS Abstract Long-term memory (LTM) depends on the synthesis of new proteins. Using a temperature-sensitive ribosome-inactivating toxin to acutely inhibit protein synthesis, we screened individual neurons making new proteins after olfactory associative conditioning in Drosophila. Surprisingly, LTM was impaired after inhibiting protein synthesis in two dorsal-anterior-lateral (DAL) neurons but not in the mushroom body (MB), which is considered the adult learning and memory center. Using a photoconvertible fluorescent protein KAEDE to report de novo protein synthesis, we have directly visualized cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) response element-binding protein (CREB)-dependent transcriptional activation of calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II and period genes in the DAL neurons after spaced but not...

From The New Yorker : RE-START by John Seabrook 30 January 2012 issue Read the full piece

A special features section of the Guardian and the Observer : Homepage

The Guardian/Observer Memory Week Read the article "The free 'Making the Most of your Memory' 24-page booklets, are available with the Guardian this Saturday 14 January and the Observer on Sunday 15 January."

A report from the BBC : Brain function can start declining 'as early as age 45' BBC 5 January 2012 Last updated at 20:08 ET [snip] "The brain's ability to function can start to deteriorate as early as 45, suggests a study in the British Medical Journal. "University College London researchers found a 3.6% decline in mental reasoning in women and men aged 45-49. "They assessed the memory, vocabulary and comprehension skills of 7,000 men and women aged 45 to 70 over 10 years." [snip] Read the full article Related report from the CBC : Brain may start decline at age 45 Cognitive function may begin deteriorating earlier than previously believed CBC News Posted: Jan 5, 2012 6:45 PM ET Last Updated: Jan 6, 2012 7:14 AM ET [snip] "Memory, reasoning and comprehension skills can start to decline at age 45, research published Thursday suggests. "The findings go against previous research that had found cognitive decline starts after age 60 — and highlight ...

Rehabilitation targeted at everyday communication: can we change the talk of people with aphasia and their significant others within conversation? Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilation . 2012 Jan;93(1 Suppl):S70-6 Wilkinson R, Wielaert S Abstract OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether aphasia therapy can change the talk of speakers with aphasia and/or their significant others within conversation. DESIGN: Small number of intervention studies targeting conversations involving speakers with aphasia are reviewed. All are single case studies. SETTING: Key assessment in the studies was an audio or video recording of 1 or more conversations between the dyad, usually made in the home setting. Intervention in these studies took place in the participants' home or another setting, such as a therapy room. PARTICIPANTS: In all of the studies reviewed, the participants consisted of a person with aphasia (PWA) and a significant other, usually the PWA's spouse. INTERVENTIONS: In all studie...

Subjective Cognitive Complaints of Older Adults at the Population Level: An Item Response Theory Analysis Alzheimers Disease and Associated Disorders. 2011 Dec 20; Snitz BE, Yu L, Crane PK, Chang CC, Hughes TF, Ganguli M Abstract Subjective cognitive complaints (SCCs) are increasingly a focus in studies on prodromal Alzheimer disease (AD) and risk for dementia. Little is known about the optimal approach to measure SCCs. We used item response theory (IRT) to examine the characteristics of 24 SCC items in a sample of 3495 older adults pooled from 4 community-based studies. We investigated the potential advantages of IRT scoring over conventional scoring on the basis of participants' item response patterns. Items most likely endorsed by individuals low in SCC severity relate to word retrieval and general subjective memory decline. Items likely endorsed only by individuals high in SCC severity relate to nonepisodic memory changes, such as decline in comprehension, judgment and executi...

The Royal Institution Christmas Lectures 2011 Meet Your Brain Homepage Guardian article about the lectures: Read full article here

The cognitive impact of antiepileptic drugs Ther Adv Neurol Disord. 2011 Nov; 4(6): 385-407 Eddy CM, Rickards HE, Cavanna AE Abstract Effective treatment of epilepsy depends on medication compliance across a lifetime, and studies indicate that drug tolerability is a significant limiting factor in medication maintenance. Available antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) have the potential to exert detrimental effects on cognitive function and therefore compromise patient wellbeing. On the other hand, some agents may serve to enhance cognitive function. In this review paper, we highlight the range of effects on cognition linked to a variety of newer and older AEDs, encompassing key alterations in both specific executive abilities and broader neuropsychological functions. Importantly, the data reviewed suggest that the effects exerted by an AED could vary depending on both patient characteristics and drug-related variables. However, there are considerable difficulties in evaluating the available evid...

CBC Radio's "Spark" show's Nora Young discusses this topic on its 30 October 2011 show. Dr. Kalina Christoff, an assistant professor in the Psychology department and the Brain Research Centre at the University of British Columbia, is interviewed. Available as a podcast from the show's webpage .

A meta-analysis of cognitive deficits in first-episode Major Depressive Disorder Journal of Affective Disorders. 2011 Nov 14; Lee RS, Hermens DF, Porter MA, Redoblado-Hodge MA Abstract BACKGROUND: Recurrent-episode Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is associated with a number of neuropsychological deficits. To date, less is known about whether these are present in the first-episode. The current aim was to systematically evaluate the literature on first-episode MDD to determine whether cognition may be a feasible target for early identification and intervention. METHODS: Electronic database searches were conducted to examine neuropsychological studies in adults (mean age greater than 18years old) with a first-episode of MDD. Effect sizes were pooled by cognitive domain. Using meta-regression techniques, demographic and clinical factors potentially influencing heterogeneity of neuropsychological outcome were also investigated. RESULTS: The 15 independent samples reviewed yielded data for ...

The measurement of everyday cognition: Development and validation of a short form of the Everyday Cognition scales Alzheimers Dement . 2011 Nov; 7(6): 593-601. Tomaszewski Farias S, Mungas D, Harvey DJ, Simmons A, Reed BR, Decarli C Abstract BACKGROUND: This study describes the development and validation of a shortened version of the Everyday Cognition (ECog) scales [Tomaszewski Farias et al. Neuropsychology 2008;22:531-44], an informant-rated questionnaire designed to detect cognitive and functional decline. METHODS: External, convergent, and divergent validities and internal consistency were examined. Data were derived from informant ratings of 907 participants who were either cognitively normal, had mild cognitive impairment (MCI), or had dementia. RESULTS: Twelve items were included in the shortened version (ECog-12). The ECog-12 strongly correlated with established functional measures and neuropsychological scores, only weakly with age and education, and demonstrated high internal...

This sounds like a good read: O'Halloran CJ, Kinsella GJ, & Storey E. (2011). The cerebellum and neuropsychological functioning: A critical review Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology. .

From The University of Cambridge: The Ethics of Smart Drugs 31 October 2011 Read the full article here

Landscape test for assessing visual memory in Alzheimer's disease Rev Neurol . 2011 Jul 1; 53(1): 1-7 Valls-Pedret C, Olives J, Bosch B, Caprile C, Castellví M, Molinuevo JL, Rami L Abstract INTRODUCTION: Visual episodic memory is affected in the early phases of Alzheimer's disease (AD). AIMS: To design a visual memory test free of any verbal content, to offer its normative values in the elderly population in Spain, to validate the test in a group of patients with mild AD and to determine its capacity to discriminate between subjects with AD and controls. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The study involved a sample of 263 subjects (137 controls and 126 patients with AD) over 50 years of age. The landscape test consists of a first part in which participants are shown 25 photographs of landscapes. Five minutes later, the previous 25 photos are shown again together with 25 new pictures, and the subject must recognise the ones that have already been seen. The statistical analysis was performe...

This week's All in the Mind podcast from BBC Radio 4: Visit the show's webpage to listen or to download the episode From the webpage: "How can a good night's sleep improve your memory? Why does the answer to a crossword clue suddenly appear first thing in the morning after a night's rest? In this week's programme Claudia Hammond talks to psychologist, Kimberly Fenn about what happens in the brain when we sleep and why it can significantly improve our memory. Hysteria or conversion disorder is surprisingly, not confined to medical history. Nearly 1 in 5 patients seen by neurologists will have symptoms like paralysis, fits or loss of vision which can't be explained neurologically. Claudia talks to neurologist, Mark Edwards and psychiatrist, Richard Kanaan about the history of conversion disorder, how common it is today, the best way to treat it and its complex causes. Also in the programme, Claudia meets the carers getting involved in mental health research...

There is a growing research literature in neuropsychology examining the SenseCam, a relatively long-time Microsoft project. Microsoft's research project: SenseCam Here is another example: The neural correlates of everyday recognition memory Brain and Cognition. 2011 Aug;76(3):369-81 Milton F, Muhlert N, Butler CR, Benattayallah A, Zeman AZ Abstract We used a novel automatic camera, SenseCam, to create a recognition memory test for real-life events. Adapting a 'Remember/Know' paradigm, we asked healthy undergraduates, who wore SenseCam for 2 days, in their everyday environments, to classify images as strongly or weakly remembered, strongly or weakly familiar or novel, while brain activation was recorded with functional MRI. Overlapping, widely distributed sets of brain regions were activated by recollected and familiar stimuli. Within the medial temporal lobes, 'Remember' responses specifically elicited greater activity in the right anterior and posterior parahippoc...

Space Fortress game training and executive control in older adults: A pilot intervention Neuropsychol Dev Cogn B Aging Neuropsychol Cogn . 2011 Oct 12; Stern Y, Blumen HM, Rich LW, Richards A, Herzberg G, Gopher D Abstract ABSTRACT We investigated the feasibility of using the Space Fortress (SF) game, a complex video game originally developed to study complex skill acquisition in young adults, to improve executive control processes in cognitively healthy older adults. The study protocol consisted of 36 one-hour game play sessions over 3 months with cognitive evaluations before and after, and a follow-up evaluation at 6 months. Sixty participants were randomized to one of three conditions: Emphasis Change (EC) - elders were instructed to concentrate on playing the entire game but place particular emphasis on a specific aspect of game play in each particular game; Active Control (AC) - game play with standard instructions; Passive Control (PC) - evaluation sessions without game play. Pri...

Cognitive Rehabilitation Therapy for Traumatic Brain Injury: Evaluating the Evidence Institute of Medicine Released: 11 October 2011 For more information, click here

Difficulties in disengaging attentional resources from self-generated thoughts moderate the link between dysphoria and maladaptive self-referential thinking Cogn Emot. 2011 Oct 5; Rochat L, Billieux J, Van der Linden M Abstract Negative emotions increase self-focused attention, a core feature of depression and anxiety-related disorders. However, the cognitive mechanisms associated with the tendency to self-focus-and, conversely, with the ability to voluntarily disengage attentional resources from the self and direct them towards the external environment-remain poorly understood. Thus, this study aimed to examine whether a specific cognitive control mechanism that directs attention between self-generated thoughts and external information might moderate the relationship between dysphoria and maladaptive self-referential thinking. Results showed that dysphoria increases the frequency of rumination, self-blame, and catastrophising, especially for participants who have more difficulty in s...