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The human brain is the most complex and powerful organ in the body. It is responsible for controlling everything we do, from breathing and sleeping to thinking and feeling. As society becomes more focused on productivity, there has been a growing interest in nootropic supplements as a potential way to enhance brain function, improve memory, increase focus, and even promote brain health. But can nootropics truly improve brain function and brain health?

What Are Nootropic Supplements?

Nootropic supplements, also known as cognitive enhancers, are substances claimed to improve brain function and cognitive abilities. They can come in different forms, including pills, powders, and drinks. They are typically made up of natural substances, such as vitamins, minerals, herbs, and amino acids, however they can also be made synthetically.

The term "nootropic" was first coined by Romanian psychologist and chemist Corneliu E. Giurgea in the 1970s. Giurgea defined nootropics as substances that enhance learning and memory while being safe and non-toxic. The first nootropic drug, piracetam, was developed by Giurgea and is still used today to treat cognitive decline in elderly patients.

Since then, numerous nootropic supplements have been developed and marketed as brain boosters. These supplements are often touted as being able to improve memory, focus, creativity, and overall cognitive performance. However, the scientific evidence behind these claims is often limited.

Furthermore, things many people ordinarily consume have been identified as being nootropics, such as caffeine and nicotine, as well as dietary components like omega 3s.

7 Examples of Nootropic Supplements and Their Benefits

The proposed benefits on brain function include increasing focus, learning, memory, creativity, and mental energy, but the most common reason people take nootropics is to improve focus and concentration.

1. Caffeine

Found in coffee and tea, caffeine is a well-known nootropic stimulant that can increase alertness and can improve cognitive functions such as memory, attention, and reaction time. Additionally, l-theanine, an amino acid in green tea, has been shown to affect brain functions by relieving stress disorders and improving mood. However, the effects are generally short-lived and can vary depending on individual factors such as caffeine tolerance and dose, as well as produce side effects such as anxiety or loss of sleep.

2. Creatine

Creatine is a popular sports performance supplement that’s also used as a nootropic. Creatine is an amino acid that’s found in muscle tissue, and it’s known to play a role in energy production. Some studies have found that creatine can improve cognitive performance in tasks that require short-term memory and mental processing speed. However, the effects of creatine on cognitive performance may be more pronounced in people who don’t consume enough creatine in their diets.

3. Omega-3

These fatty acids are another popular nootropic. Omega-3s are essential fatty acids that are found in high concentrations in fatty fish like salmon and tuna. Omega-3s have been shown to improve cognitive function and protect against cognitive decline in older adults. However, more research is needed to establish if isolated omega-3 taken supplement form, can replicate these effects.

4. Ginkgo biloba

This herbal supplement has been used for centuries in traditional medicine. Some studies have found that ginkgo biloba can improve cognitive function in healthy people, although the effects may be more pronounced in older adults. However, other studies have found no significant effects of ginkgo biloba on cognitive function.

5. Racetams

This class of synthetic compounds are specifically designed for cognitive enhancement. The most well-known racetam is piracetam, which has been shown to improve cognitive function in people with cognitive impairment. However, the effects of piracetam on cognitive function in healthy people are less clear. Other racetams, like aniracetam and oxiracetam, have been studied less extensively.

6. Nicotine

One of the most surprising nootropic supplements is pure nicotine. Nicotine is a stimulant that is naturally found in tobacco leaves. While smoking is a major health hazard, pure nicotine supplements are being researched for their potential cognitive benefits. An analysis of 41 studies concluded that nicotine safely improved fine motor skills, attention, accuracy, response time, short-term memory, and working memory. It's suspected that nicotine might protect dopamine-producing neurons in the brain, keeping them from dying.

7. Resveratrol

Resveratrol is a well-known polyphenolic compound in various plants, including grape, peanut, and berry fruits. It has unique anti-inflammatory properties, and health benefits being researched include anti-obesity, cardioprotective neuroprotective, antitumor, antidiabetic, antioxidants, anti-age effects, and glucose metabolism. Promising therapeutic properties have also been reported in various treatments of cancer.

However, it’s important to note that the scientific evidence for the brain health benefits of nootropics is still limited, and challenged by the fact that long-term studies are often needed to establish their true relevance on brain development.

That said research in this space is growing with some exciting prospects. For example, a recent animal study with Lion’s Mane showed dramatic benefits for promoting neurogenesis, with a direct impact on neural growth and improved memory formation. Researchers have proposed it's potential value in clinical applications treating and preventing neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease.

The Bottom Line

Nootropic supplements have gained popularity in recent years as a potential way to improve brain functions and brain health. While some supplements have shown promise in improving cognitive functions such as memory and attention, the scientific evidence behind their effectiveness is still limited, even though promising. Additionally, it’s important to remember that nootropics are not a magic bullet for brain health.

That said, many nootropics that are naturally based are unlikely to have negative effects on the brain when taken in moderation. Combining such nootropics into your regular diet is likely to have general health benefits, and be a relatively safe way to reap some of the possible brain benefits.

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Our brains are incredibly powerful and complex organs, capable of amazing feats of learning, memory, and creativity. But did you know that the brain is also highly adaptable and can change in response to new experiences, challenges, and even trauma? This a fascinating neurobiological system never stands still, and continues to evolve and adapt throughout our lives. Here we will cover two of the key processes that play a significant role in shaping our brains from birth to old age: neuroplasticity and neurogenesis.

The Lowdown on Neuroplasticity and Neurogenesis

Neuroplasticity refers to the brain's ability to change and adapt in response to experiences and environmental stimuli. It is a fundamental property of the brain, allowing us to learn and remember new things, recover from injuries, and adapt to changing environments.

Neurogenesis, on the other hand, refers to the creation of new neurons in the brain. Once a new neuron is integrated into our neural networks it remains active our whole lives, unless it is damaged or is no longer needed. Neurogenesis plays a key role in memory, and the latest research suggests it may be important for maintaining brain health.

In combination, these processes help shape the trillions of synaptic connections in our brains, every moment of our lives.

The Remarkable Flexibility of Young Brains

The early years of life are critical for brain development. During this period, the brain is most malleable and capable of significant growth and change.

At birth, the human brain is significantly under-developed, yet very large relative to body weight (one reason babies struggle with balance), and develops rapidly in the first year of life. This period of rapid brain development is critical for shaping our brains and laying the foundation for cognitive, emotional, and social development, and is shaped by exposure to experiences on a continual basis.

This early developmental process also includes synaptic pruning - the trimming back of excessive neural connections. The excess is because young brains are built to be very generally adaptive, but specialize quickly according to environmental and sensory learning. This is one reason why it is harder to learn languages at an older age.

The most amazing ability of young brains is there ability to recover from a type of radical surgery called a hemispherectomy – literally the cutting-out of half of the brain. Still a mysterious phenomenon unexplained by neuroscience, the remaining half of the brain functionally rewires itself into a whole new left-right brain system, allowing young patients to lead a normal life.

The Role of Environment in Adolescent Brain Development

Then throughout childhood the brain is still extra sensitive to its physical and social environments. For example children who grow up in impoverished environments with limited access to resources and stimulation are more likely to experience negative outcomes, including lower cognitive abilities, behavioral problems, and poorer mental health.

In contrast, children who grow up in enriched environments with access to stimulating experiences, such as reading, music, and play, are more likely to experience positive outcomes, including higher cognitive abilities, better mental health, and stronger social skills.

Neuroplasticity also plays a significant role in shaping the brain during adolescence and into adulthood. For example, studies have shown that learning a new skill, such as playing an instrument or speaking a new language, can lead to changes in the brain's structure and function. Additionally, experiences such as trauma or stress can also lead to changes in the brain, both positive and negative.

Two Key Factors Influencing the Brain Throughout Adulthood

1. Learning New Skills

At any age, one of the most exciting aspects of neuroplasticity is its role in learning and memory. Research has shown that when we learn a new skill or acquire new knowledge, the brain changes in response. New connections between neurons are formed, and existing connections are strengthened. These changes can occur in many different areas of the brain, depending on the nature of the skill being learned.

For example, if you are learning to play a musical instrument, the brain areas involved in auditory processing, motor control, and memory will all be involved. As you practice and improve, these brain areas will become more connected, and the networks of neurons involved in playing the instrument will become more efficient.

The benefits of learning a new skill extend beyond simply improving your ability to perform the skill itself. Learning a new skill can have a positive impact on other areas of cognitive function, including memory and attention. This is because the brain areas involved in learning and memory are also involved in many other cognitive processes.

2. The Impact of Stress on the Brain

While neuroplasticity is generally a positive thing, it can also be influenced by negative experiences, such as stress. While acute stress can be stimulating, chronic stress has been shown to have a negative impact on the brain, particularly in the areas involved in memory and emotional regulation.

One study published in the journal Nature found that chronic stress can reduce the number of new neurons being generated in the hippocampus, a brain area involved in memory and learning. This can have a long-term impact on cognitive function, particularly in the ability to form new memories.

Stress can also have an impact on the prefrontal cortex, a brain area involved in decision-making, impulse control, and emotional regulation. Research has shown that chronic stress can lead to a reduction in the size of the prefrontal cortex, as well as impairing its function. This can lead to difficulties with decision-making and emotional regulation, as well as an increased risk of mental health problems such as anxiety and depression.

The Adult Brain Continues Development into Old Age

Our brains don’t become structurally fully formed until well into adulthood, at around 25 years of age. This period also coincides with a very gradual decrease in processing speed, likely one reason why professional Esports athletes tend to retire around this time.

Even right through to old age, the brain continues to adapt and change through neuroplasticity and neurogenesis. Some people, dubbed ‘superagers’ retain full cognitive health and excellent memory regardless of how old they live, but the reasons are not yet clearly understood and may well be influences by genetics.

Studies have shown that engaging in cognitive activities, such as puzzles, reading, and meaningful social interactions, can help maintain cognitive function and even lead to increases in brain volume in older adults.

Furthermore, physical exercise has been shown to promote neurogenesis in the hippocampus, a brain region involved in memory and learning. This suggests that leading an active lifestyle may help maintain cognitive function and overall brain health in old age.

In particular, emerging neuroscience research suggests that neurogenesis may play a pivotal role in the maintenance of overall brain health. Though there are only several brain regions that can produce fresh neurons, called ‘neuroblasts’, very sophisticated transport systems means they can be migrated long distances across the brain to help regenerate damaged areas or regions which are experiencing neural dilapidation.

Lastly is the uncommon knowledge that in older age our brains actually become adapted towards more global cognitive functioning, possibly at the cost of being specialized at certain functions. This may well account for the well-established wisdom of elders in traditional cultures throughout human civilizations – what might be perceived as decline is to some degree just transformation.

The Takeaway

Overall, neuroplasticity and neurogenesis are critical processes that shape our brains from birth into old age. Brain development is a complex and dynamic process that is influenced by a multitude of factors. Experiences, both positive and negative, play a significant role in shaping the brain during critical periods of development, and engaging in cognitive and physical activities throughout life can help maintain brain health and cognitive function. The human brain is a remarkable organ that is hardwired to evolve and adapt throughout our lives, and understanding these processes can help us lead healthier, longer lasting and more fulfilling lives.

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Psychophysics is a neuroscience domain devoted to understanding how the human brain processes its sensory reality. And when it comes to how we perceive our own body, the science is very surprising. A classic experimental example is the infamous ‘rubber hand illusion’ (AKA body transfer illusion). The mind-bending power of this is demonstrated in the video below. Here we will cover modern augmentations of this experiment which reveal that when it comes to perceiving our ownership of our own body, nothing is what it seems.

The Classic Rubber Hand Illusion

This video provides a great demonstration of just how powerful the rubber hand illusion is. First devised and studied by researchers Botvinick and Cohen in 1998, the experiment showed that the brain can perceive a clearly fake hand, to vividly feel like a person’s own real hand.

It simply involves evoking tactile sensations on a real hand (out of sight), synchronized with seeing what would cause matching sensations on a rubber hand. It’s works consistently well, and can be setup relatively easily as a DIY experiment.

A much simpler, but still relatable thought experiment of this effect, is to imagine the experience of writing on a notepad with a pen. Even though your fingers only sense the hard plastic or metal of the pen, we viscerally feel the softness and texture of the paper as if we are touching it directly. Hitting a ball with a bat or racket is another example.

So What’s Going On?

As the effect is deeply counterintuitive, it’s best to first coverthe fundamentals of how the brain perceives reality. The human brain is not a sensory organ, and does not perceive anything directly. In fact, brain surgery is sometimes comfortably conducted without an anesthetic or pain killers, so that the patient can guide the surgeon if they lose some specific functions such as movement.

Instead, the central nervous system relays what is effectively binary data to the brain in the same way computers process information – as streams of 1s and 0s (neurons firing or not firing). These are received by the brain as electrical signals, and depending on their specific pattern (think Morse code), they are processed by different brain regions specialized in decoding them.

In this way Neo's existence in the Matrix is actually a good metaphor for how the brain actually senses the world around us. However, the amount of 1s and 0s delivered by all our sensory systems is truly vast. Even though our brains can process at a speed closely equivalent to the world’s fastest supercomputer today, there is still far more information than what can actually be processed.

The Internal Model – Simulating Reality

For this reason the brain using very clever perceptual-shortcuts, extrapolating certain patterns of information to make surprisingly accurate estimations and predictions.

Vision is a key example of this. We only see precise detail in the central 1-2 degrees of our field of view processed by foveal vision, which acts like a kind of tiny spotlight. Outside of this most of our vision is blurred.

To compensate, our visual focus darts around rapidly scanning pertinent key points of scenes, such as moving objects, bright colors, or areas of interest such as human faces. The brain finds collective information patterns in these very brief snapshots, combines them with predicting modelling (what’s expected), and builds a virtual impression of our environments.

This constitutes our visual conscious perception, which, albeit usually very accurate, is mostly very clever guesswork. All our sensory perceptions work along the same lines, a system referred to as the ‘internal model’, because mostly our reality is simulated within the brain. This is done by extrapolating sensory information patterns, refined by continuous feedback from testing predictions throughout our lives, with neuroplastic adaptations (rewiring the brain).

Illusions occur when those predictions do not match the sensory information patterns which are fed back. Which is why they are used by neuroscientists to tease out and study the incredibly impressive tricks and perceptual shortcuts that our brains are so naturally adept at - not to show us how gullible we are!

This is why the rubber hand illusion is of great interest to neuroscientists – for the brain, our own body is also part of the external sensory environment. For this reason the brain can replace it when sensory patterns from other sources line up with our internal model's predictions.

Beyond the Rubber Hand Illusion

The video above went one step beyond the original experiment, by demonstrating that once primed, tactile stimulation isn’t even needed to produce sensations in the fake hand that still feel very much like a real part of the body.

Since 1998 there have been many variations on the classic experiment in order to probe the boundaries of how flexible our brain is in abandoning our physical sense of self, and replacing it with things that bear very little resemblance. One example is that the rubber hand can be replaced with a gooey one, then stretched several feet, and actually feel like a person’s real hand is impossibly stretched.

A study just published by Chinese researchers has confirmed that we are susceptible to the illusion just by imagining what a moving robotic hand feels like. This changed where study participants thought their real hand was, even though electromyography data showed no muscle activation. Questionnaire assessments showed participants felt ownership of the robot hand, and experienced agency in over it’s motion, as if they were controlling it.

This research may have implications for the use of visualization techniques used by sports psychologists and professional athletes to prime themselves for competition performance, because in this case, visualizing is actually believing.

Other research has also established the relevance of transferred body ownership to robotic or virtual arms to help surgeons adapt effectively the latest surgery technologies, and for performing remote surgeries.

Into the Metaverse

In recent years research into the illusions of body ownership has been accelerating due to its direct relevance for virtual reality experiences. Immersion in VR is intimately connected to how well our senses are integrated within virtual environment experiences.

One example is a study by Swedish psychophysicists creatively titled ‘If I Were You: Perceptual Illusion of Body Swapping’. Taking things to the next level they conducted VR experiments demonstrating that, even with minimal sensory cues, our minds can take over ownership of different body.

Using VR they manipulated study participant’s visual perspective to be from a another person, or a fake body. This was done in sync with correlated multisensory cues. The experiment was sufficient to trigger the illusion that another person's body, or an artificial body, was the participants’ own real body.

In the researchers' own words, ''𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘀𝗼 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻'𝘀 𝗯𝗼𝗱𝘆 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗯𝗼𝗱𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗶𝘁. 𝗢𝘂𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗳𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗳 𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗼𝗳 𝗼𝗻𝗲'𝘀 𝗯𝗼𝗱𝘆.''

These effects were confirmed through both structured subjective reports and detailed biometric analysis.

With the rise in adoption of VR/AR/XR/MR and the promise of the metaverse, understanding the perceptual boundaries of the physical self could have transformative impacts on how humanity defines itself. As neuroscience now shows, our brains are powerful enough to experience other people’s bodies as our own. The possibilities are endless.

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Organoids are currently one of the fastest evolving domains of science. They are also being evolved in many different, yet equally fascinating ways. Here we’ll cover 3 main emerging avenues that hold promise to vastly increase their power, compete with machine intelligence, and potentially unlock secrets to preventing neurodegenerative diseases.

What are Organoids?

Organoids (or assembloids) are functioning clusters of neurons grown in vitro, usually from skin-based stem cells. These relatively complex living brain formations, which can be animal or human, are used to study neural mechanics in the lab, outside of an actual brain.

To the disdain of neuroscientists, they are often referred to in the media as ‘mini-brains’ or ‘brains in a dish’, which is not accurate, as they typically extremely small, and their complexity is vastly simpler than the human brain.

That said, and as we’ll cover here, there are different methods being developed to considerably increase their size and functional complexity.

1. Human-Animal Brain Synthesis

For the first time in history, animals may be acquiring some aspects of human intelligence via integrative brain transplants.

The research value of organoids is quite limited by the size and complexity they can grow into. To overcome this issue, a new approach published in Nature, has transplanted human cortex organoids into living rat brains (shown in the picture above).

6 months after integration, the human neurons reached a new order of maturation, growing 6 times large than what was possible in vitro. Their activity better emulated some of the more sophisticated behaviors observed in human brains.

In a follow-up experiment, the researchers specifically fired-up the genetically altered human neurons using optogenetics, and were successfully able to influence how often the rats sought out a reward. That is, controlling human brain cells within a rats brain, to control the rat’s behaviors.

This approach opens up the possibility to grow complex human brain systems from stem cells with limited technological resources. Although fascinating, this new domain of biological research, and even biology itself, may be fraught with ethical complications, even including how to classify such a hybrid organism.

Study: Maturation and circuit integration of transplanted human cortical organoids, Omer Revah et al.Stu

2. Synthetic-Biological Sentience

This video is more than meets the eye - it's actually the first successful hybridization of biological neurons and silicon chips learning to play a simulated game.

Comparing to synthesizing organoids into different biological brains, this research goes in a totally new, yet equally mind-boggling direction, by directly synthesizing a mix of human/rodent organoids with computers. Dubbed 'synthetic biological intelligence' (SBI), the goal is to synergistically merge these once divergent forms of intelligence.

In particular, researchers sought to bring the power of third-order complexity found in organoids, which has never been achievable in traditional computing. And in addition, to achieve the formal definition of sentience in neural cultures, effectively demonstrating sensory feedback learning.

In this study the in vitro organoids were integrated with 'in silico' computing via a high-density multielectrode array. Using closed-loop structured feedback through electrophysiological stimulation, the experiment named 'BrainDish' was embedded into a simulation of the iconic computer game Pong.

The ability of neurons in assemblies to respond to external stimuli adaptively is the basis for all animal learning. Although this initial experiment is a very basic simulation, it has demonstrated intelligent and sentient behavior in a simulated game-world through goal-directed behavior.

This approach provides a promising new research avenue to support or challenge theories explaining how the brain interacts with the world, and for studying intelligence in general. It may also be a panacea for overcoming the key challenges facing the evolution of machine intelligence beyond human levels, as neurons have various learning characteristics that we have not yet been emulate in computers.

Study: In vitro neurons learn and exhibit sentience when embodied in a simulated game-world, Brett J. Kagan et al.

3. OI - A New Avenue for Developing Intelligence

Our first two examples take organoids on different evolutionary paths than what was originally envisioned by neuroscientists. However, even the traditional domain of organoid science is still pretty much in its infancy, and this is set to change quickly.

There are many promising methods emerging for increasing their scale, complexity and functional specialization, while still retaining their practical access within a lab dish. As such, brain organoids are currently one of the most exciting domains of research in biocomputing.

Though flying under the radar of traditional machine intelligence approaches, ‘Organoid intelligence’ (OI) is emerging as a potential contender for the fastest route to the holy grail of artificial general intelligence (AGI).

A consortium of 20+ scientific leaders in the space have recently published a comprehensive landmark paper on the furthering the science of organoids.

Here are 6 key assertions they posit.

1. Biological computing (or biocomputing) could be faster, more efficient, and more powerful than silicon-based computing and AI, and only require a fraction of the energy.

2. ‘Organoid intelligence’ (OI) describes an emerging multidisciplinary field working to develop biological computing using 3D cultures of human brain cells (brain organoids) and brain-machine interface technologies.

3. OI requires scaling up current brain organoids into complex, durable 3D structures enriched with cells and genes associated with learning, and connecting these to next-generation input and output devices and AI/machine learning systems.

4. OI requires new models, algorithms, and interface technologies to communicate with brain organoids, understand how they learn and compute, and process and store the massive amounts of data they will generate.

5. OI research could also improve our understanding of brain development, learning, and memory, potentially helping to find treatments for neurological disorders such as dementia.

6. Ensuring OI develops in an ethically and socially responsive manner requires an ‘embedded ethics’ approach where interdisciplinary and representative teams of ethicists, researchers, and members of the public identify, discuss, and analyze ethical issues and feed these back to inform future research and work.

In a nutshell, these researchers hope to use samples of human tissue to grow and manipulate increasingly powerful collections of brain cells that they could use in place of standard silicon computer chips.

These clusters of cells will be much larger and grown in three dimensions, which allows the neurons within them to create significantly more connections.

It’s a technology that requires a lot of scientific disciplines to get off the ground. While some researchers are working on growing organoids to the 10-million-cell size, that scientists estimate is needed to be to start functioning anywhere close to a human brain, others are developing tech that would allow us to communicate with a clump of cells and have that clump communicate back.

A key step in this two-way communication was made recently through the development of a kind of an EEG cap for organoids, using a flexible shell densely covered with tiny electrodes that can both pick up signals from the organoid, and transmit signals to it.

But just building a very powerful computer is not the only thing these researchers are aiming for. They also hope to use these OI computers to analyze neurological conditions and help patients.

Leading organoid researcher Thomas Hartung summarized, “For example, we could compare memory formation in organoids derived from healthy people and from Alzheimer’s patients, and try to repair relative deficits. We could also use OI to test whether certain substances, such as pesticides, cause memory or learning problems.”

They could relieve human suffering and disease through the treatments they help develop and could spare the lives of thousands of animals currently being sacrificed for human research.

Study: Organoid intelligence (OI): the new frontier in biocomputing and intelligence-in-a-dish, L Smirnova, et. al.

How About the Ethics of Organoids?

In April 2021, the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine published a report stating that, although mini brains are currently insubstantial in size, complexity, and maturity, as these increase, no one can guarantee that they will not develop some sort of human-type awareness.

If this becomes the case, then the growing sophistication of organoids could become an ethical can of worms, hindering their further development. However this would also mark the first real encounter of non-human yet human-like consciousness, which would be a landmark in itself.

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As founder of SPARKD Fitness I’m a strong advocate for the brain health and wellness benefits of mind-body training. Here I will cover how neurotechnologies can be used to integrate physical fitness, motor-skills and cognitive training, to deliver an ideal workout for the brain and body.

A Journey from Movement and Fitness…

My background originally was in contemporary dance movement, which I graduated in around 20 years ago. I then transitioned as a specialist in fitness and gym-based training, managing various centers in different countries.

Then about 5 years back I started to take a deep dive into the neuroscience of exercise. Initially I focused on how the different parts of the brain and networks are affected by different types of movement and different types of exercise. I found really fascinating, and still do, as the science is still evolving quickly.

…to Mind-Body Wellness

With that transition my values moved from what condition the body is in, to how do people effectively look after their brains, especially into older age. I have first-hand experience of how important this is from my grandfather having Alzheimer's disease.

I found that the potential to prevent or reduce the challenges of age-related neurodegeneration really resonated with me, and mind-body training has all hallmarks of an effective and practical solution to these challenges.

In particular this vision made the mission of my work stronger, because it matters in terms of how I look after myself and my family, shifting my focus from elite performance to everyday folk.

Formulating a Solution

Then three years ago I started conceptualizing what kind of setup would be ideal for optimizing this type of brain and body fitness approach, which needed to incorporate exercise, complex movement and cognitive demands.

To build a comprehensive solution I committed myself to over a year of research into all the different types of training technologies available to put to use. This materialized into a clear solution of bringing together the latest neurotechnologies into one space for integrated functional training.

The Birth of SPARKD

Our main training center, called SPARKD Hub, was opened in Singapore two years ago. Rather than describe it, here is a video overview.

As you can see its essentially a group session performed like circuit training. However, unlike traditional fitness training, we incorporate a plethora of methods for conditioning lots of different systems simultaneously, and in different ways.

With this we also get lots of great metrics on neurophysical performance, and of course, it’s a lot of hormone-stimulating fun – which adds further wellness benefits. It helps that the exercises are quite heavily gamified, and continually challenging people to progress to the next level. As you can imagine, this is a refreshing change to the familiar grind of traditional gym workouts.

SPARKD BOX

Alongside SPARKD HUB we responded to demand for local setups of our mind-body training. For this we developed SPARKD BOX, which comprises a selection of key training technologies that work well together, fitted into an installation with a small footprint. These are currently specialized for corporate training, seniors and young students.

We’ve found that mind-body training through cognitive-motor conditioning resonates well. People can readily feel it as both engaging and worthwhile to their overall health. It’s certainly an advantage that we can take a familiar gym style approach, as it's not a big leap of faith to dive into.

Elite Training for Everyday People

A key goal was to make this type of training more accessible to a wider audience, and to move beyond the heavy focus on top athletes and elite human performance specialists. Although most of our neurotechnologies were aimed at elite performance, they work superbly for pretty much anyone.

Our core clients are people in the range of 40-60 years old. In recent times this demographic has become surprisingly aware of the need to look after their brain health to increase longevity, improve later quality of life, and maintain overall wellbeing and independence. This seems especially true for people who’ve had some sort of sports background in their past.

Corporate training is similarly in high demand, so we work in conjunction with an executive coaching company. Companies want to keep their valued employees not just productive, but also to keep them performing well as long as possible.

Lastly, we work with schools, which is a lot of fun because the kids just get so excited and engaged, and the schools get access to high-quality objective performance metrics, which their typical exercise programs are missing.

Overall, our multidimensional training approach fits very well not just across different groups, but also different types of individuals. We have the flexibility to mix and match different styles of training. For example clients might want to focus on pushing themselves a lot physically, improving reaction speed, boosting their cognitive agility, or just being highly motivated, and we can customize workouts to whatever they are attracted to.

Showing the Benefits

To demonstrate how effective mind-body training is for brain health and performance, we’ve been conducting pilot studies across 6-week programs with our different client groups. We do a comprehensive cognitive assessment with Creyos (formally Cambridge Brain Sciences).

We’ve collected lots of data we’ve yet to formally publish, but typically we are seeing overall gains core cognitive functions ranging from 15 to 24% from three twenty minute workouts per week. From a total of 6 hours of training, this is a really significant benefit in mental abilities that are normally challenging to move the needle on. It also doesn’t take into account the physiological and motor-skill benefits.

For corporate clients in particular, it really helps to collect this kind of data to show them. Once they see the tangible benefits it's bringing to their employees, the return-on-investment becomes a no-brainer.

The findings with schools will be presented at an upcoming education conference, which I hope will lead to opportunities to do wider studies.

We are trying to create more awareness of the accessibility and benefits of this type of mind-body training. In 5-10 years, I can see it becoming something lots of people get engaged with as part of their everyday lives, really enjoy, and feel all the better for it.

If you’d like to learn more about SPARKD, feel free to check out our website or reach out to us.

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Here are 6 illusions that should catch your eye right off-the-bat. They each involve very different perceptual or knowledge-based processes, but are surprisingly effective at showing how we use much more than visual information to make meaning of the world around us.

1. Relative Brightness

This first illusion is a based on a classic in neuroscience. It comes from master illusion-maker Akiyoshi Kitaoka, who has cleverly amplified the effect by moving a grey square across a sheet of paper with a gradient.

In trying to make sense of the stark contrast between left and right, the visual system acts as if the gray square is being moved out of shadow into bright light, and then into dark shadow. For the square to look that shade in bright light, it would have to be quite dark — so the perpetual system infers that it is.

On the flip side, for the square to look that shade in dark shadow, it would have to be very light—so the perceptual system infers that, instead. The human brain does a lot of work behind the scenes to contextualize visual data before it is processed.

2. Scintillating Starburst

This image represents a new class of illusion, which is quite subtle, but reveals how our minds can creatively construct new perceptions out of geometric patterns. Developed through a collaboration between a visual artist and a psychology researcher, it is somewhat poetically titled as the 'Scintillating Starburst'.

If you see fleeting rays emanating from the center that are brighter than the background, then note that your mind has generated these through a form of pattern recognition (there is only a single shade of grey).

It was refined experimentally the old-fashioned way, by having 100 study participants view 162 different versions which varied in shape, complexity, and brightness.

As the psychology researcher explained from the findings,

''..𝗮 𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗲 𝗻𝘂𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘃𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗱 𝗿𝗮𝘆𝘀, 𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝘂𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗱 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀.''

This research illustrates how the brain 'connects the dots' to create one’s subjective reality, highlighting the constructive nature of perception.

3. Two-Way Train

This simple animated image has a just a low enough frame rate for motion to be processed, while leaving ambiguity about its direction. You will instinctively see it as moving towards, or away.

The interesting part is that for an illusion, it’s one of the easiest to consciously manipulate. With a little bit of focus you can choose which way it goes, and with some practice perceive it as quickly alternating directions.

4. Dual Street

In this image an identical photo of a street is duplicated side-by-side. However, the road on the right appears to be going much more towards the right, and the left heading more straight.

The effect is strong partly because of our knowledge that streets close together don’t run parallel. If you’d never seen a street before, the effect could be negligible.

5. Artistic Trash

Although more art than illusion, this creative concept does however reveal that we are biased towards recognizing 3D forms.

As the shadow only picks up the contour of the trash pile, it comes as a surprise that what seems random, is actually highly ordered.

6. The Muller-Lyer Illusion

This last illusion is another variation on a classic, also adding motion for to emphasize the effect. Even before reading the description, you’ve probably guessed that the blue and red lines are all the same size. This version also adds a strong impression that each horizontal row of lines is moving like a Mexican wave, but literally the only motion is the arrows.

There are many theories about how this works, but no one’s certain which theory is correct. It may be even be a culture-specific phenomenon.

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I wondered why I felt so restless, an attack on my attention had taken effect by now.

My book the heralded classic ‘Don Quixote’ written by Miguel Cervantes was waiting for me at my bedside desk. Written in the 1500’s (the first novel ever written), it is considered the greatest by many - a timeless masterpiece of 900 pages.  Next to that was Stephen King’s ‘On writing’ a book containing insight on the craft I was trying to get better at from one of its most prolific names.

So why was I so restless? I was opting instead for scrolling social media feeds when I had made plans to read some of these two classics that day. The restlessness came from knowing it was not serving me, knowing I was not enjoying it and that my time would be better spent delving into the depths of the past, instead of compulsively blitzing through the never ending now. I was trying to satiate my impulse of receiving instant gratification.

That right there was the reason, and it is my biggest concern for myself and the people around me, I opted to browse not because it was hard, but because it was easy, because it didn’t require effort.  

TikTok: Rescue Back Your Time

One of the biggest causes of this concern is the app TikTok. While I have never been a user of the app, I’ve studied it enough to know the affects it has on people who do use it. For example, sometimes I’m not heard in conversation until the fifth repetition, and on other occasions I’ve seen people look down and pick up their phone without even interrupting the conversation with so much as an “excuse me.”

This might not be down to TikTok, I might just be an uninteresting and unlikeable person - in which case you’ve clicked off by now ;) However, I hypothesise that overindulgence in instant gratification is at least a symptom.

The interesting thing here is that the above paragraph was written yesterday at noon, today things had gotten a little away from me, but I was supposed to begin today's portion of writing at 6pm, it is now 8:06 pm. True to the issues I had illustrated in the opening paragraph.  

Nietchze once said that when you stare long enough into the abyss it stares right back at you. In my case it’s been that when I stare long enough into the abyss, I see tweet, after tweet, after tweet, as I sit there restless and irritated.

I knew I let myself down when I should be writing instead of opting to be just another spoke on the wheel, a wheel that is forever turning churning out an endless amount of cheap dopamine.

The Concept of Digital Dementia

Recently I was on YouTube listening to a podcast and on it the host referenced a study talking about how smartphone addiction leads to shrinkage of the brains grey matter. This form of tissue in the brain is crucial for helping us to process information and make decisions, as well as being linked with the deterioration of memory, attention span, and impulse control (which of course causes a reinforcement of the addiction).

This amalgamation of horrors was aptly given the umbrella term ‘digital dementia’. Immediately I was shocked and filled with righteous indignation thinking to myself that people are so unaware of these things, I was annoyed that people didn’t seem to care, “people need to know about this and how it’s damaging them, maybe then they’ll learn” I thought to myself.

I was just about to use the screen record function on my phone to share the clip onto my Instagram story and then I stopped, processed the irony of what was going on here, humbled myself at the fact that I’m just as much at the mercy of these instruments of chaos as anyone else, chuckled, put my phone down and just did nothing for a couple of minutes.  

Instant and passive desire fulfilment, this shrinkage of the effort to reward gap that makes scrolling unconsciously so addictive, the phenomena is quite literally called ‘zombie scrolling.’ Something I managed to avoid that day.

Luckily there are ways to combat this attack on our attention, memory and ability to delay gratification, both from studies and personal experience, I hope they prove useful to you and serve as reminders to me.

3 Ways to Combat Digital Dementia

1. Going for a stroll

The other day I was going for a long stroll from my house through my local park, I don’t mean to do the stereotypical thing of ‘the sun was shining and the birds were chirping’, but this is quite literally what was happening.

Now usually I would have my earphones plugged in and amp the intensity of my wheeling (I am a wheelchair user) until my leisurely stroll became my equivalent of a run. I would then stop and restart the cycle.

Today however, I had decided to leave my earphones at home. Now in the past I had done this to force myself to think, as all my brain would come up with would be song lyrics (a shocking illustration of just how plugged in we have become as a society). But on this day, something else had happened.

Perhaps through now taking on the identity of a writer I started to think up blog ideas, article ideas, essay ideas, headlines and potential future sentences, all as a consequence of paying attention to the thoughts in my head. The lack of earphones and distraction also had the fascinating effect of making me want to stay out for longer, and epitomized the phrase ‘hear myself think.’  

This type of focus has been shown to have effects on attention, memory, and cognitive flexibility, (essentially open mindedness), and I find that it enhances my attention greatly.

Before I would go on strolls, I’d never listened to a podcast from start to finish, it simply required too much concentration and effort. Now that I implement this habit I finish (and absorb) podcasts regularly.

It’s also been found that walking can improve your creative problem solving. I’ve found it to be the case that when I’m entertaining an issue in my mind, I come up with proposals and rebuttals and concepts in response to the issue at a much more prolific rate when outside.  It’s as though reading about an issue and going for a walk shortly after gives space for the thought to really nestle in my subconscious.

2. Meditation/Breathwork

The tenured Stanford professor of Neurobiology Dr Andrew Huberman stated on his public education podcast Huberman Lab, that a simple “meditation like” practice of sitting for 17 to 20 minutes and not doing anything but observing your mind can combat “age related cognitive decline”. In my own personal experience this has a very rejuvenating and calming effect.

I remember starting to meditate consistently about 4 years ago, back when I was what I’ve heard be referred to as “a self-help junkie,” somebody obsessed with self-improvement to the point it became a detriment.

Now meditation and the term ‘mindfulness’ has been shrouded in insincerity due to having become a central part of corporate Jargon. Meditation has become the flag bearer for ‘narcissistic spirituality’ the utilization of techniques intended for the enhancement of personal wellbeing, as a tool to fulfil your desires, and ‘boost productivity.’ Irrespective of that and my reasons for engaging in the behaviour I can say doing so made me feel calmer and quelled my rumination and caused me to question my thoughts, as well as increasing my sense of agency. Now when I occasionally engage it’s supremely relaxing and I bemoan not doing it more.  

3. Long Form Content

If the central issue at the core of this article is that our attention and cognitive ability declines with a reliance on instant gratification, the shortening of the gap between effort and stimulus, then it stands to reason that the information that we should be consuming is one that widens that gap.

We must go from junk info to information that takes a while to read, process, and fully understand, without giving you what you want immediately. Knowing that an article is long form puts me in the state of focus before engaging because I am aware that I will need to focus to engage with the piece.

Something curious also happens when I’m reading a book, for the first few pages I struggle to focus, then It’s as if my brain signals to me that it’s time to concentrate and I put some effort into properly becoming immersed. A similar thing happens with writing.  

The keyword in all this being ‘effort’ - the more effort required for something the more cognitively demanding it usually is, the more cognitively demanding it is the more it requires focus. Thus making it more rewarding, and a source of good dopamine.

I suppose a nice way to illustrate this in the readers mind (and in my own), is to ask the following by trying to consciously think when doing an activity in daily life.

Is this the best use of my time?

Is the reward from this activity easy to come by?

What is a more beneficial way to satiate the need that this behaviour is fulfilling?

Let’s say you are zombie scrolling and are lethargic, you probably want to relax. Instead find a better way to relax, such as taking a stroll in the park, going to your local pool, meeting a friend for a conversation, or even just go to a coffee shop.

If you can’t stop reading tweets or watching videos, you’re probably looking for a way to be stimulated and entertained. If so pick up a book, earn the entertainment. If you want to argue and be heard, try journalling. It’s a better way to say what you think then articulating yourself in real time while emotional.

These are my methods that I believe will allow you to shield yourself and put up the proper barriers in response to the attack on attention. Take back your time one EFFORT at a time.

Thank you for reading. If you’d like to follow or read more of my work, then here are some links.

My LinkedIn daily blog

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If you find fractals like the Mandelbrot set fascinating, yet don’t know about cellular automata, then fasten your seat belt. Here we will introduce this undeservedly esoteric domain of mathematics, explore examples in action, uncover why this type of bare bones simulation generates astonishing forms of complexity, and holds the keys to unlocking deep scientific phenomena. The wonderful world of cellular automata may even yield proof that we are living in a simulation.

The Simplest Most-Complex-Clock Ever?

Before we dive in, let’s pique your curiosity with this video. As you will see, it gradually forms from a bunch of moving pixels, into a functioning digital clock.

So what?

First of all, note that the clock represents a true form of emergence. Emergence is found in nature, where simple systems mysteriously give rise to highly complex behaviors.

For example, ants, bees and termites are basic creatures with very limited simple behaviors. However en masse, they form super organisms with behaviors arising that are highly complex, such bees precisely modulating the temperature of a hive, and ants gathering themselves into a raft to cross a river or to survive a flood.

The clock above similarly emerges out of a super-simple simulation (you can think of the pixels like ants), giving an interesting example of cellular automata. Now let’s get into what it actually is.

What Are Cellular Automata?

Cellular automata were originally devised by John von Neumann. Then in 1970, Cambridge mathematician John Conway refined the approach to create Conway’s Game of Life.  By the way, if you want to discover an Easter egg from the geeks at Google, try googling ‘Conway’s Game of Life’.

This version is also the easiest to understand, and comprises just four very simple rules about the way cells behave on a square grid. The rules basically instruct cells to be alive or dead (black or white), according to the states of neighboring cells. And that’s it.

You can try out the real thing in your browser here. Just stop the simulation, click on any number of cells to make them alive, then click start.

If you give it a try, you’ll likely notice one of three things.

1. The cells die out or become stagnant, and the simulation effectively ends.

2. The cells form into interesting small and stable structures that flip between two states.

3. The cells seem to come alive and start doing unusual things such as forming small spaceship-like structures that glide off into the unknown (aptly termed ‘gliders’).

Novel, but not exactly inspiring.

However, depending on the cells you select, weird things can begin happen. Testament to this, the clock we introduced earlier, is actually generated from one specific configuration of Conway’s Game of Life. Hence it’s likely the simplest functioning digital clock ever created.

Except that technically, it wasn’t created. Rather it self-organized out of the basic starting conditions of the simulation.

You can explore a live version of the clock simulation here. Remember there are only three things at play: the starting cells, the basic rules, and iterative repetition.

What’s Happening?

Cellular automata have fascinated brilliant minds for decades because, unlike nature, they are a clearly defined and deterministically bounded system. Which according to intuition, shouldn’t be capable of doing anything complex. Yet they do.

Therefore, they represent a very pure form of emergence that’s amenable to study. However, this is where things get deep, because they also display something referred to as irreducible computability.

This means, that although the simulation is super-simple and completely determined, there is fundamentally no way to predict what will happen, other than running a specific simulation to find out. There are essentially no predictive shortcuts.

This is also where chaos theory comes in (think butterfly’s wings), because a minuscule change in the starting conditions can dramatically change the outcomes. For example, having just one cell in a different position for the clock above, could prevent it from emerging at all.

And There’s More…Much More

There appears to be no upper boundary on the complexity that can be generated using only this approach. With sufficient computing power, the grid can be far larger with more starting cells, and the simulation run for much longer.

Stephen Wolfram provided mathematical proof that cellular automata are Turing complete, in that eventually all possible states can be realized using certain rules.

Now this is where things get really interesting from both a scientific and computational perspective, because even something as basic as Conway’s Game of Life, can also generate functional computations.

Certain types of cell structures are more likely to emerge, such as gliders. These can move into other structures, and either interact then fly out of the structure intact, or effectively get swallowed up and disappear.

This behavior mimics a logic gate, that is, an interaction which produces a 1 or 0, which is a critical aspect of the way our computers process information. Similarly, NAND gates can also be generated, which both computers and neurons use to trigger a signal only when a certain threshold is achieved.

Such characteristics allow cellular automata to be capable of becoming Universal Turing machines, meaning they can potentially emulate any other machines or computers.

Extrapolating these concepts to the nth degree, with enough computing power and time, it’s theorized that cellular automata could generate highly complex simulations capable of producing intelligence, possibly providing a more organic route to artificial general intelligence.

Going Next Level

We mentioned earlier that Conway’s Game of Life is one of the most basic forms of cellular automata. There are many ways this simulation approach can be varied based on the rules applied, or for instance, using a three-dimensional grid, or even more dimensions (which mathematics perfectly allows).

They can also be combined with neural networks to guide the simulations towards desired outcomes. In recent years research in this area has been progressing, quickly with some astonishing results.

Exploration of these variations has revealed automata that display surprisingly organic behavior, including the equivalent of biological cells with functional membranes. Here are some examples.

One particular landmark paper titled ‘Growing Neural Cellular Automata’, applied such techniques to replicate a mystery of nature called morphogenesis. Morphogenesis is found in creatures like flatworms, whereby if they are cut in half, two new complete flatworms will grow.

In this research, they used neural network training to discover cellular automata patterns than can create a stable image, within a simulation that is interactive.

When the image is perturbed, such as cutting it in half, it self-reassembles, or grows into two new ones. This close replication of morphogenesis is still encoded in very simple starting conditions and simulation rules.

You can try the interactive simulation for yourself here, aptly using the image of a lizard.

What Does It All Mean?

There are a few deep takeaways.

Firstly, John von Neumann painstakingly created the first iterations of cellular automata using only pen and paper. This highlights a key point that the simulations are extremely rudimentary, yet out of barebones simplicity, arises deeply complex behaviors. This hidden dimension of complexity seems to be inherent – we are just discovering it.

Secondly, the chaotic systems and emergence seen in natural systems can be mimicked through cellular automata, which means it’s very likely they hold some secrets to the nature of life itself. If so, then because the simulations are essentially based on information processing, the richness we see rise out of nature may also be the same.

Last but not least, it’s likely we’ve barely scratched the surface of what cellular automata can become. Through the application of vast increases in computation, it’s viable that simulations exhibiting the richness and complexity of our world could emerge. It’s even possible they hold the virtual computational power to create copies or iterations of new such simulations within themselves.

If we hypothesize this to be achievable, then it begs the very serious question ‘are we living in the Matrix’. If you’re not familiar with simulation theory, many esteemed scientists across different disciplines believe our reality may well be simulated – with very plausible theories to back them up.

If not, then it raises another question – why is our reality so replicable through this form of emergence? Whatever the takeaway, cellular automata are wonderfully fascinating.

If you’d like to take a deep dive into this subject, then Machine Learning Street Talk produced a fabulous video interviewing subject matter experts at the cutting-edge.

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Illusions can take decades of work for vision experts and neuroscientists to perfect, as they have been designed to tease out and discover very specific methods that our brains use to decode the world around us. This involves shortcuts that save on mental processing, and are actually very accurate...99% of the time. Here we will look at the 1% of the time when things don't match reality. Here are 6 examples that reveal different ways our brains use perceptual shortcuts.

1. The Rabbit Illusion

Without giving the video away, this special type of perceptual illusion demonstrates a couple of interesting ways our sensory processes work that we're generally unaware of.

Note you will need to turn sound on.

1. How cross-modal sensory processing can trigger one sense to change how another sense is experienced (think of how smell influences taste). In this case sound and vision.

2. How a future stimulus can change the way you perceive the past (on very short timescales). A phenomenon known as 'postdiction'.

Here is a graphical illustration of the effect.

2. The Bezold Effect

This illusion is known as the 'Bezold effect', named after the meteorologist who discovered it over a century ago.

You probably surmised the eagles are the exact same color. Although our eyes receive the alternating color bars distinctly, because they are in close proximity, a color assimilation in our visual processing occurs - AKA 'spreading'.

It acts like a type of spatial color mixing, but done with our brains rather than a palette. As with most illusions, the effect is specific to the stimuli, i.e. increasing the width of the bars apart reduces the effect.

Interestingly though, when large areas of color are placed adjacent to each other, the opposite occurs and color contrast actually causes polarization.

This type of illusion demonstrates clearly how spatial information and color interpretation are closely intertwined in our visual systems.

3. Ninios Extinction Illusion

This image was created by Utrecht University neuroscientist Ryota Kanai, and is a variation of a grid illusion.

It's interesting in two ways.

Firstly, there are a number of black dots in the image, but it is tricky to find them until you scan most of the image by moving your central focus around.

Secondly, when focusing on a black dot you will notice the other black dots that you could see, quickly fade to nothing. While focusing on one, only 3 or 4 at most can be perceived simultaneously.

There is still some mystery and debate about the visual mechanisms behind this illusion, but a partial explanation is our surprising lack of ability to see detail outside our immediate central focus.

4. Healing Grid Illusion

This interesting 'Healing Grid' illusion was created by Utrecht University neuroscientist Ryota Kanai.

As is plain to see, the image is regular at the center, but the grid pattern is broken at the sides.

However, by simply focusing at the center of the grid for a short time, you will notice the grid steadily become perfectly aligned - almost magically (hence the 'healing' name).

Fascinatingly, it indicates a natural preference of our visual brains to perceive order rather than chaos, in effect materializing what isn't there.

This makes sense from an ecological perspective, as when we come across things that are highly ordered or have regular repeating patterns, it would be unusual for those patterns to break down.

So in effect our brains appear to be geared towards extrapolating order, even when sensory information contradicts it.

This is a nice cursory example of the 'internal model', where we build most of the reality we actually experience.

5. Motion Control

Many visual illusions cannot be consciously controlled, while others are quite susceptible.

This image is an example of a particularly strong illusion of motion. However this occurs because we become immediately visually curious and scan our focal point around the image to better understand it (without being aware of doing so).

As world-leading vision expert Professor Faubert explained, ''These type of illusions are essentially triggered by eye movements (or blinks) generating transients interpreted by motion neurons as movement depending on the pattern''.

In this case, simply resisting that automatic urge and focusing directly on the central point allows you to slow down the motion, and with a bit of mental effort halt it entirely.

In this way visual illusions can act as a simple form of neurofeedback, reflecting control over our visual and mental focus in real-time.

6. Anthropomorphic Perspective

This real photo is the headquarters of a ceramic tile company in England, showing off what can be done with tiling.

Presumably you've guessed it's an optical illusion composed of completely flat tiles. The technique uses uses distortions in the layout of the squares that align with what our minds expect if the surface really was curved, also known as an anthropomorphic illusion. The effect only works from one perspective, in this case it's looking down the hallway.

On one level that's straightforward to rationalize. However, now imagine walking down that corridor for the first time and what your physical instincts would be. Mind over matter or matter over mind?

7. The Ponzo Illusion

This simple image with a bus copied is a nice and clear example of the Ponzo illusion.

Our brain builds our visual reality using contextual cues, rather than simply what we see. Here perspective provides a strong bias that the bus further away must be relatively much larger than the closer bus.

Interestingly, knowing this doesn't help very much with perceiving them as the same size, as the effect is quite powerful.

The simple takeaway is that reality is as much about what we unconsciously predict, rather than just being the direct visual information we receive.

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Chemical gene production or synthesis is a crucial pillar in modern molecular biology, helping to produce whole native genes and novel genes (those that don’t occur naturally). Moreover, the process is the basis for producing entire genomes (the complete set of genetic instructions present in a living cell).

Advances in gene synthesis technologies mean diverse gene production methods are available to interested parties. However, each method has its niche application, synthesizing specific genes, and one technique cannot substitute another. Therefore, below is an overview of the common gene synthesis techniques and their characteristics to guide your method choice for different projects.

Gene Synthesis Protocol?

Synthetic gene production is a stepwise process that facilitates the production of a gene and other gene products without relying on a DNA template. Therefore it facilitates the production of diverse genes, including custom genes with modified sequences or base pairs.

As stated above, advances in biotechnology mean that multiple synthetic gene production techniques exist. However, all the techniques borrow from a living organism's native gene production process as the basis for chemical gene production, with slight modifications here and there.

Therefore, understanding the basic gene synthesis process helps appreciate the nuances among gene synthesis techniques. Below is an overview of the steps involved in gene synthesis.

Oligonucleotide synthesis

Oligonucleotides are short nucleic acid (DNA or RNA) strands and function as the building block for any gene product production, including peptide and protein synthesis. Different gene synthesis methods employ different reagents and techniques to initiate oligonucleotide synthesis. However, the process moves in a 3’ to 5’ direction in all the methods.

Oligonucleotide annealing

Annealing entails heating molecules like oligonucleotides before cooling them gradually to facilitate hybridization or the formation of a chemical bond between two molecules. Different gene synthesis methods employ unique annihilation techniques to form a complete gene sequence.

Gene sequence cloning

Cloning entails replicating copies of the newly-formed gene sequence using a cloning vector.

Clone screening

Gene synthesis is not a perfect process. Therefore, clone screening is necessary to identify the target gene within the clones. Popularscreening tools include ELISA kits and chromatography.

Sequence analysis and error correction

Besides identifying the target gene, a thorough analysis of the base pairs in the sequence is necessary. Moreover, corrective measures to rectify replication errors like base deletion and substitution ensure desirable plasmid placement.

Methods and Applications

Below is an overview of the most popular gene synthesis methods and applications.

1. Solid-phase Synthesis

Solid-phase synthesis is a classic gene synthesis method and entails using chemically-modified nucleosides, including locked nucleic acids(LNAs), to synthesize target oligonucleotides. A reagent column containing a deblocking acid holds the nucleosides that gradually form an oligonucleotide chain with the deprotection of subsequent nucleosides.

The enzymatic assembly process entails de-blocking (deprotection) of the nucleosides, followed by coupling, capping, and oxidation to form a gene sequence from the newly-formed oligonucleotides. Solid-phase synthesis is a fully-automated process, and researchers collect the genes at the end. Its advantages include a remarkably high gene sequence accuracy.  

However, the deprotection process increases the chances of side reactions, and the risks increase with increasing length. Therefore, solid-phase synthesis only produces genes of 15-25 bases in length (200 nucleotide residue maximum). Such genes have applications in molecular biology and medicine, including as antisense in protein synthesis or as probes for detecting complementary genetic matter.

2. Chip-based DNA Synthesis

Chip-based DNA synthesis is a next-generation gene synthesis process. Unlike solid-phase synthesis, which is a chemical process, chip-based synthesis is an electrochemical process.

The method utilizes microarray semiconductor chips fitted with temperature controls to generate multiple oligonucleotides within one setting. Chip-based synthesis complements the traditional phosphoramidite cycle chemical process by creating pockets of temperature-controlled zones called virtual wells/ islands, facilitating selectivity.

Moreover, it facilitates error detection and correction during the oligonucleotide assembly process and does not require a separate sequence analysis and error correction stage. Chip-based synthesis’ advantages include high throughput and the capacity to generate gene fragments with longer base pairs. The technique produces gene sequences for applications requiring a high target DNA volume and low accuracy.

3. PCR-based Enzyme Synthesis

PCR (polymerase chain reaction) gene synthesis is a classic process that produces millions of gene fragments in two stages that utilize primers. The first stage is assembling overlapping nucleotides through a self-priming chain reaction to generate a 60bp oligonucleotide, covering the entire sequence.

Second, a subsequent PCR reaction generates DNA fragments 400-500bp long. An additional primer amplifies the target DNA fragment. The method is ideal for applications that require high-accuracy, long gene fragments.

4. Gene Synthesis From Array-derived Oligonucleotide Pools

Array-derived gene synthesis is arguably the most affordable gene production process due to its low reagent consumption. Second, the method accommodates a multiplex capacity, producing thousands to tens of thousands of oligonucleotide sequences.

However, while the diverse oligonucleotide sequences are a plus, assembling the oligonucleotides into viable gene fragments is challenging due to sequence homology. Therefore, the method is ideal for custom gene synthesis processes requiring much lower quantities of gene fragments.

5. Liquid-phase Gene Synthesis

Liqui-phase gene synthesis is also a classic technique, similar in many elements to solid-phase synthesis. However, unlike solid-phase synthesis, oligonucleotide generation occurs in a solution rather than in column support. Also, liquid-phase gene synthesis has a lower side-chain reaction risk and can generate long DNA fragments with minimal errors, albeit slower.

Conclusion

Gene synthesis techniques are constantly evolving to meet the rising demand for high-quality genes, cost-effectiveness, and scalability. The methods highlighted above are the primary gene production methods, and you can consult your service provider on the ideal method for your project and budget.

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If you think about it, your mouth and teeth are actually quite a marvel of science. Your teeth help you chew, speak, and smile—and they can also tell us a lot about your overall health. Did you know that dental health has been linked to serious diseases like heart disease and diabetes? Read on to learn more about the connection between oral and brain health:

Heart Disease and Stroke Are Major Health Risks

You may not realize it, but your mouth is a source of many health issues. It’s a common misconception that dental problems are just cosmetic and don’t affect us physically in any way. The truth is that dental health has been linked to some major health issues like heart disease and stroke, diabetes and dementia.

When you have gum disease, the bacteria in your mouth can get into your bloodstream. These bacteria then enter the walls of your blood vessels where they produce chemicals called cytokines (pronounced “sy-co-kites”). These substances cause inflammation throughout the body – including in the arteries leading to your heart or brain – which can lead to serious problems like atherosclerosis or coronary artery disease; this then increases your risk for having a stroke or heart attack later on down the road!

Brain Swelling Is a Risk of Untreated Tooth Infections

Brain swelling is a serious condition that requires immediate treatment. If you ignore a dental infection, it can cause brain swelling, which has symptoms like nausea, vomiting, headaches and confusion.

In cases of severe tooth infections or abscesses (pus-filled pockets in the gums), doctors may need to drain your sinuses to relieve pressure on the brain. In rare cases where an abscess ruptures into an artery near your ear or eye socket, permanent damage can occur if not treated quickly enough

Infections In the Mouth Can Result in Dementia

Dementia is a disease that affects the brain and causes problems with memory, thinking, language and behavior.

Dementia can be caused by infections, such as gum disease. Dementia is not curable, but it can be treated. It's more common in older adults than younger people.

People with dementia might forget words or names for things like food or household items that are around them all the time—or they may get confused about what day it is and how old they are. They may also have trouble following conversations or understanding jokes; asking simple questions; remembering appointments; walking without getting lost; paying attention during movies or conversations; having normal interactions with others; planning activities such as meals and outings; shopping for groceries; recognizing family members' faces.

Tooth Loss May Be Related to Parkinson's Disease

The relationship between your teeth and brain health has just been further explored by a team of researchers at the University of California, San Francisco. They found that people who had lost their teeth were more likely to have Parkinson’s disease later in life.

Parkinson's disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that affects movement, causing tremor and stiffness in muscles, as well as slowness or rigidity in limbs and face muscles. It usually starts with mild symptoms that worsen over time; eventually it can lead to dementia. In some cases, however, symptoms appear suddenly without any previous warning signs.

Parkinson's disease is caused by the death of dopamine-producing neurons in the brain; these neurons are involved with controlling movement and emotional responses because they help regulate our reward system (telling us when we've done something right). This means that losing them can lead to cognitive impairment too—and we know from previous research how important oral health is for maintaining good cognitive function!

Gum Health May Affect Diabetes

Diabetes affects the body’s ability to process sugar, and it can lead to serious health problems, including heart disease, stroke and kidney disease. Diabetes isn’t just about blood sugar levels—it also affects your body's ability to produce new cells within your gums. This can cause gum disease that can make diabetes worse. Gum disease can lead to tooth loss and even more serious conditions like cardiovascular disease or cancer.

Gum health may affect diabetes in several ways:

● The bacteria found in periodontal (gum) pockets may be related to insulin resistance or glucose intolerance in some people with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

● Researchers have found that bacteria from the mouth can enter the bloodstream through damaged tissue caused by periodontal (gum) diseases. These bacteria may influence the risk of developing T2DM by affecting insulin production or response in the pancreas, increasing postprandial hyperglycemia (high blood sugar after eating), contributing indirectly through inflammation of other tissues involved in regulation of glucose homeostasis such as liver and skeletal muscle tissue which subsequently release inflammatory cytokines [proteins] that may further promote insulin resistance/glucose intolerance through activation of receptors/signaling pathways on adipocytes [fat cells], hepatocytes [liver cells], skeletal muscle cells etc., lowering secretion of incretins like glucagon-like peptide-1(GLP-1) from intestinal enteroendocrine L cell networks; ultimately leading up towards decreased sensitivity towards exogenous insulin

Poor Oral Health Is the Reason for Serious Medical Conditions

Poor oral health can contribute to a number of serious medical conditions, including diabetes and heart disease. But if you have poor dental health, it may also be affecting your brain health in ways you don't even realize.

Dental health is linked to the brain—in fact, roughly 75% of people with dementia have oral problems! It's important for maintaining overall good health and has been shown to improve cognitive function as well as mood and sleep quality. And if you're not feeling 100%, it could be a good reason to visit North York Smile Centre and get your teeth cured.

Conclusion

We hope this article has helped you understand the relationship between your teeth and brain health. If you’re worried about your oral health, it’s a good idea to seek consultation with a specialist.

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A new study by researchers at McGill and the Universities of Montreal and California investigated if NeuroTracker learning rates could characterize different neurodevelopmental conditions in children. Here we'll run through an overview of the study findings.

What Was Studied

The researchers focused on three different neurodevelopmental conditions.

1. Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

2. Specific learning disorder (SLD)

3. Intellectual developmental disorder (IDD)

They selected these different conditions based on the fact that NeuroTracker is a task which elicits significant attentional demands, and attentional capacities are closely interlinked with higher-order cognition (i.e., intelligence) and learning mechanisms.

The goal of the study was to highlight the role of attentional capacity and learning capability to characterize the difficulties expressed by individuals with ADHD, SLD, and IDD.

To establish learning trajectories with this 3D multiple object tracking task, 101 participants aged 6 to 17 years old completed a total of 30 NeuroTracker sessions over a period of 5 weeks, along with standardized neuropsychological assessments to confirm each neurodevelopmental diagnosis.

Here is a 2D video demonstration of the NeuroTracker task.

Each 6-minute session comprises 20 mini-tests and provides an overall 'speed threshold' score at the end of the session, measuring the upper tracking speed limit a person can achieve.

When completed in 3D at the correct viewing distance, the movement of the balls accurately simulates the speed at which objects would move if viewed as real-world objects (measured in centimeters per second).

Progression in NeuroTracker scores throughout the training program were scientifically analyzed using a latent growth curve modeling technique.

What Was Found

All participants improved at NeuroTracker, showing increased tracking speed with training, but with significant differences in terms of initial baselines and rate of improvement over time.

Performance trajectories as a function of the presence or absence of an ADHD, SLD, and IDD diagnosis revealed distinct learning trajectories in terms of how NeuroTracker scores improved across 30 sessions (2 sessions completed per training day).

Specifically analysis of the training data revealed these findings.

1. A decreased baseline performance for participants with IDD, suggesting pre-existing, diminished attention resource capacities.

2. Individuals with ADHD and SLD did not present pre-existing diminished attention resource capacities.

3. Individuals with IDD required a significant number of sessions to reach baseline performance exhibited by ADHD and SLD individuals.

4. Individuals with ADHD and SLD demonstrated a reduced rate of learning over time compared to those without ADHD and SLD.

5. A significant relationship of high comorbidity between individuals diagnosed with ADHD and SLD.

Takeaways

The study demonstrates that this type of attention-based cognitive task can yield previously undiscovered insights into the specific nature of different neurodevelopmental conditions. The researchers suggest that future studies using manipulations of the NeuroTracker task parameters (e.g. tracking duration and target prioritization), may provide more granular insights.

The open access study can be read here: Distinctive patterns of Multiple Object-Tracking performance trajectories in youth with deficits in attention, learning, and intelligence

Authors: Domenico Tullo, Jocelyn Faubert, Armando Bertone

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As a doctor primarily trained as a general practitioner, I’ve chosen to specialize in evidence-based CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) for patients experiencing depression, anxiety and chronic pain through my psychotherapy practice Unity Wellness. This suits my passionate for improving wellness and overall health, which also keeps me open-minded to explore new therapies. One tool I’ve been excited to integrate into my approach is NeuroTracker. Here I’ll introduce why I have been finding that the application of this neurotechnology alongside CBT is especially promising.

About CBT

Most of my patients choose to do CBT remotely, and we start by talking about how it's defined, the goals, and how we can use it to improve mental health.

The cognitive part is in reference to our conscious and subconscious thinking processes. These influence how we feel, and therefore how we behave - for the better if they are positive, or for the worse if they are counterproductive.

Then we work on basically recreating or reframing thought processes into more realistic thought patterns and beliefs, tangibly changing associated feelings. For example, this can be transforming feelings of helplessness towards optimism and proactivity.

Then there are certain behaviors that we can restructure to help our mental health. These can be surprisingly simple yet important things like going to bed on time, eating regularly, limiting screen time, and engaging in exercise.

By also optimizing our lifestyle behaviors, we get into a better state of overall health.

These sessions take place once a week, and homework is set with clear and specific goals to achieve until the next week.

Within 12 weeks we are able to adopt beneficial thinking and behavioral patterns which lead to tangible improvements in mental health and wellness. One way of thinking about it is to help people help themselves.

Integrating NeuroTracker with CBT

I learned about NeuroTracker through one of my good friends, who I meet at weekends to have table tennis competitions with. One day I noticed improvements in his game, which didn't quite make sense as we only play when we get together. He then told me has been using this thing called NeuroTracker and that I should check it out.

Looking into it I discovered how it's been used by professional athletes with benefits in performance, yet also has compelling research conducted with many different populations, suitable with my evidence-based approach.

Within the therapy methodology just outlined, I have since been assigning NeuroTracker training as part of the CBT homework with promising results.

Discovering the Benefits

The NeuroTracker component fits in well with the overall objectives throughout the CBT program. As our CBT consultations are only once per week, it adds value in terms of a structured daily therapeutic routine. In particular, I’ve observed the following positives.

1. Seeing and Feeling the Benefits

One of the nice things about this form of cognitive training, is that as my clients work with the software, they see the improvements. This shows in the actual performance on the task through steady increases in speed threshold scores, alongside the real-world effects they see in terms of gains in mental focus and awareness.

As such this approach empowers my patients to want to work on improving their general cognitive function and pay more attention to their day-to-day mental health.

2. Monitoring Changes in Wellbeing

As a CBT practitioner, one of the challenges is relying on voluntary reports from the patient. With NeuroTracker however, I get some objective insights on their daily progress.

So if there is a decline in performance on certain days, it gives me the chance to say, ‘Hey, on Thursday, your scores were pretty low, were there any particular difficulties you had?’ Then they might answer that they had a very poor night sleeping, or they were in a bad mood because of a certain event that happened. As you can imagine, such insights are very valuable for progressing the overall therapy.

3. Encouraging Cognitive and Behavioral Introspection

One of the goals of CBT to is help people be more self-aware. The daily measure that NeuroTracker delivers encourages patients to relate how they think and behave, to their cognitive performance scores.

For instance with one client, the night after consuming alcohol his NeuroTracker scores dropped to around 33% of his current baseline. For him this was an eye opener in terms of actually discovering the delayed side effects.

Such feedback provides good stimulus for self-awareness and self-regulation, making it easier to adapt to more positive habits in a constructive way.

4. Pain Management

My patients suffering with chronic pain have given feedback that the NeuroTracker sessions provide a temporary distraction, which they probably weren’t aware could be achieved with mental effort.

Then as they benefit from working with the software they start to learn more generally how to focus their minds away from the pain and on the task at hand. This is empowering because it gives reassurance that with mental focus they have some control over what they feel, as well be more fully engaged in activities that pain would normally distract them from.

Objectively the pain hasn’t changed, but subjectively they report overall that it seems to go down a notch.

Going Forward

As I work with more patients I’m hoping to see a trend of the CBT therapy being successful in shorter timeframes, and generally better outcomes in therapy. If patients can successfully exit therapy sooner, it more than justifies the 6-minutes of training per day, because they are able to get on with their lives sooner.

From a broader perspective I’m also keen to explore the applications of this approach beyond the clinical setting. As the training is tailored for remote services, I’m very interested in exploring NeuroTracker for life coaching programs internationally.

I certainly see potential using this tool as a way to stimulate high-level cognitive functions, and how this can be of real value for lots of different types of individuals’ needs, from wellness to high-performance. I'm certainly excited to explore the potential of this neurotechnology.

You can learn more about the work I do through Unity Wellness here.

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In recent decades neuroscience has developed more quickly than almost all other fields of science. This is important, because with this comes the potential to positively transform our lives through applying neurotechnologies to train the cognitive abilities we rely on in everyday life. Here we will take a look at the approach we have evolved through Optima and with our partner the Neurosens Institute.

About Optima

Optima was created in 2016 to support children, adolescents and adults in improving their quality of life or their performance. Whatever type of client we work with, the goal is to help them express their best potential.

In particular we strive to take a humanist approach to therapy, with each patient or client being a key player we work with together, to progress towards the benefits they seek.

We first learn about their story and needs, give them an understanding the context of our scientific approach, and form specific objectives for the outcomes we can support them with. Throughout the training process we try to listen and be attentive to each person’s needs.

Neurofeedback as the Foundation

Our overall approach is about combining different validated training methods developed in Europe and America. However, at the core of our work is specialism in neurofeedback, which aside from being a direct treatment modality, provides a window into the brain so we can monitor progress over time.

Our team has accumulated 11K+ hours of neurofeedback training experience, and has performed more than 1,000 evaluations using quantitative EEG (qEEG).

We first prepare for each session by setting up the equipment, calibrating the sensors specific to the brain regions being trained, and outlining the objectives of the session. Then we perform 7 to 10 supervised sequences of 3 minutes involving videos or specific tasks related to the training objectives.

Lastly the neurofeedback practitioner analyzes changes in brain activity at the end of the training session, reviewing the findings with the client.

Taking an Integrative Neurotechnology Approach

Depending on the outcomes and objectives, we may then adapt future sessions with biofeedback techniques like cardiac coherence, cognitive remediation methods, or specific exercises carried out in parallel.

For children with learning difficulties, we offer graphotherapy. This is an effective handwriting rehabilitation program which aids adolescents struggling with handwriting difficulties to find the best balance between speed, readability, comfort and cognitive effort.

We also integrate NeuroTracker with many of our clients, particularly for sports performance training. Through applying this 3D multiple object training paradigm over several hours of distributed training sessions, we typically focus on achieving the following benefits.

• Reinforcement of the perception of the game

• Improved interpretation of body language

• Acceleration of decision-making, without impulsiveness

• Optimization of game opportunities

• Maximization of the level of alertness despite the pressure

• Limiting the impact of sensory distractions

However, with this task the training stimulation is highly adaptive, and numerous scientific studies show it is an effective form of training for many populations. Therefore, we can usually offer it to all of our clients.

Additionally, we are interested in following some of the research which has demonstrated that Neurofeedback can improve learning efficiency with this specific training task.

Bringing Things Together

By constructively integrating a variety of neurotechnologies and training methods into our services we can achieve wider benefits through our Neurolearning Program. Collectively we then strive to maximize positive cognitive traits and minimize negative traits, so that meaningful changes can be optimally applied to most people’s real-life performance needs.

Maximized Positive Traits

• Attention

• Concentration

• Memorization

• Methodology

• Self-esteem

• Communication

• Sleep

Minimized Negative Traits

• Stress

• Anxiety

• Emotivity

• Hyperactivity

• Impulsivity

• Compulsivity

• Procrastination

Looking Forward

We are optimistic about the benefits that modern neuroscience and neurotechnologies have to offer in improving people's lives. The pace of research and technology is developing quickly, and the potential is great. However, we believe the true benefits lie in bringing together different techniques into a more holistic approach, so we can optimize each individual’s cognitive abilities according to their particular needs.

From this perspective we are excited to keep on evolving the practical applications of new methods in order to harness the potential benefits. If you are interested in learning more, you can explore our work on our Optima website.

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We’ve entered the busiest shopping season of the year. At every turn, stores are trying to seduce you with enticing deals and alluring merchandise. Doesn’t it seem too easy to get a rush while holiday shopping? Or get a thrill when you see that coveted item for 75% off?

If you’ve experienced these feelings, you’re not alone. In fact, our brains are chemically programmed to respond to sales. For some of us, signs shouting one-day-only sale, clearance and 50% off, are not so different from the siren call for other types of addictions, such as alcohol, drugs, or even food.

Dopamine Rush

You don’t even have to be diagnosed as a shopaholic to experience a rush while shopping. That’s why even the casual shopper finds it challenging to exercise self-control at the cash register. Researchers at Stanford found that when you see pictures of items you’d like to buy, a region of your brain with dopamine receptors is activated.

In general, dopamine receptors are activated when you experience something new, exciting or challenging. This could range from eating something tasty to winning a competitive game. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that helps control the brain’s reward and pleasure centers. It enables us not only to see rewards but to take action to move toward them.

So when you see sales items while shopping, it triggers a sensation of instant gratification. The more you feel good about a sale, the more likelihood you will continue to shop. But afterwards, similar to alcoholics or drug addicts, intense feelings of guilt may arise. To get that high again, however, we go back for more.

Irrationality and Impulse

Dopamine also helps regulate movement and emotional responses. In reality, we typically decide on a purchase in a split second, without much rational thought. When attracted to the sales tag, we don’t employ the usual process of weighing the outcome.

The same type of thought, for instance, that helps us avoid sloppiness in a work presentation or think twice about reckless behaviour. These types of decisions are often made subconsciously.  During purchase excitement, there is a spike in brainwaves that occurs. It results in “emotional engagement” in a specific product.

In most cases, those impulses are triggered by our previous experiences with specific brands. They can also be triggered when we spot items on our wish list. A lot of us are not necessarily addicted to the things we buy, but rather to the thrill of the hunt. MRI studies of brain activity suggest that surges in dopamine levels are linked much more with anticipation of an experience, rather than the actual experience. Consequently, feelings of wellbeing begin when a shopper just thinks about shopping. This can occur days or even weeks before they even head to the store.

Fight or Flight Response

During a sale, the body’s autonomic nervous system (the system that triggers our fight or flight response) reflexively takes control of some organs. As a result, a heightened response in the body is created, similar to the one early humans had when encountering predators. It can be difficult to control your impulse to buy an attractive item, when your brain is switched into “competitive mode.”

This occurs due to the fear of missing out on a purchase; if you don’t buy it, someone else will. Known as the loss aversion theory, sales drive a compulsion to buy an item, because it presents the threat of a loss. As a result, we irrationally overvalue losses approximately twice as much as gains.

On the other hand, some shoppers experience a slower heart rate, less anxiety and exhilaration while shopping. We’ve all heard about “retail therapy” as a means to relax and escape from daily problems.

Thrill of the Hunt

This holiday season, go ahead and indulge in a few sales items. Remember though, that it’s easy to trigger that motivation to search for coveted items. Shopping feels similar to a treasure hunt. But, you may be overestimating the amount of pleasure you will receive once you’ve found the item you want to purchase. Bear that in mind before you start splurging on your credit card. Happy hunting!

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Our gut is home to trillions of beneficial bacteria, often referred to as the gut microbiome. Few people are aware that 70-80% of immune cells in the human body reside in the gut, providing your body’s first line of defense against pathogens. For this reason it plays a key role not just in our digestion, but also in our overall health and even psychological wellbeing. It's about more than simply what you eat - checkout our 5 different tips to look after your gut this winter.

1. Eat a Variety of Prebiotics

Prebiotics are substances that feed our gut in ways that allow healthy bacteria to thrive, and even synthesize essential vitamins for our daily needs. They are also essential for digestion, immunity, and absorbing vitamins.

As a simple rule of thumb eating a wide variety of fruits and vegetables is key. These provide a healthy dose of vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals, as well delivering fiber which essentially help fuel gut bacteria.

Nuts, seeds, and legumes are likewise helpful ingredients in your diet and an excellent source of protein and fiber. Cashews, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, lentils, and red kidney beans are good examples of foods to snack on or add into meals.

When it comes to carbs, whole grains are the way to go. Again they are a great source of dietary fiber, plus they have a much lower glycemic load which avoids insulin spikes and cravings for quick calories. Barley, brown rice, bulgur, millet, oats, quinoa, whole wheat breads and natural cereals are all good examples of whole grain foods.

Buying natural and whole foods will help promote a diverse microbiome, which in turn will help support your immune system through winter.

2. Add Fermented Foods to Your Daily Diet

One of the easiest ways to directly support the gut microbiome is to include foods naturally rich in probiotics, which basically tops up your gut with good live bacteria.

Foods like sauerkraut, kimchi, miso, kombucha, traditional cheeses, live yoghurt and kefir all contain good live bacteria. Consuming a mix of these each week or month will help your gut expand its bacterial diversity, which aids with a more robust microbiome overall.

In addition, garlic has particular benefits because contains a rarer type of prebiotic as well as providing allicin and other nutrients shown to enhance the immune system.

An additional option for convenience to take a daily probiotic tablet. Multi-strain bacteria are the best type. This method can be an especially helpful if taking a course of antibiotics, as these also tend to kill off good bacteria alongside infections, and tablet probiotics are a quick way to aid microbiome recovery.

3. Avoid Processed Foods

Processed foods disturb the lining of the GI tract, they have low-fiber content which can lead to constipation, as well as aggravate existing GI symptoms. They are more likely to contain harmful trans fats, increasing bad (LDL) cholesterol levels in the body and gut inflammation.

They tend to be very high in calories and refined sugars, being a major contribution to diabetes risks. Furthermore, they are often rich in artificial ingredients for sweetening, food coloring and flavoring, typically associated with harmful effects on the body.

4. Top Up Your Vitamin D

Vitamin D is the body’s most important vitamin, with lack of it being associated with numerous serious diseases. In countries like the UK, the national health service recommends supplementing with vitamin D, as most people fall below the recommended levels.

On the positive side vitamin D supports gut health by strengthening the gut barrier and reducing git inflammation. It is also found on most cells of the immune system.

Fish is generally the best way to consume a high dietary source of vitamin D. However, sunlight is the most common way our body can harvest vitamin D, as our skin can synthesize it and even build up surplus store for later use.

In countries where sunlight drops through the winter, taking a holiday to warmer climes is great way to top up for a month or two. But even just 10-15 minutes of sun exposure per day can provide levels equivalent to a diet high in fish. In order to active vitamin synthesis a minimum angle of sunlight is required, as a rough guide your shadow needs to be shorter than your height, so choosing midday for a short stroll during winter months is a good idea.

5. Plan Some R&R

The gut-brain axis is a two-way system where the gut influences the brain and vice versa, so the state of your mind can have a direct effect on the condition of your gut microbiome. Accumulative mental stress weakens the immune system, sometimes causing inflammatory conditions.

As such, relaxation time can help your overall gut health and immunity. Relaxation exercises like meditation and deep breathing are well known to keep your mind calm even in short daily doses.

Disturbed sleep and short sleep duration are both associated with imbalanced gut microbes. Similarly, growing evidence suggests our gut microbes can affect the quality of our sleep. Quality sleep in winter can increase energy levels, improve mood and reduce stress.

As the daylight levels change it is generally good practice a follow a consistent bedtime routine, avoid late night screen exposure, and to get outside as much as possible during the day to keep your circadian rhythm balanced.

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Neurotechnology is a rapidly evolving field of science that combines neuroscience, engineering, and computer science to develop technological applications that interact with the nervous system. It has been used in a variety of applications such as monitoring brain activity and treating neurological disorders. In recent years, neurotechnology has made huge strides in understanding the workings of the human brain and its potential for improving our lives. From research on neurological diseases to developing new therapeutic interventions, neurotechnology holds great potential for advancing medical science.

Neural Networks for DevOps

Neural networks are an emerging technology with the potential to revolutionize DevOps. Neural networks use artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to quickly and accurately identify patterns in large data sets, allowing DevOps teams to more efficiently manage and debug their applications. With neural networks, teams can automate routine tasks such as logging, monitoring and application performance optimization. In addition, neural networks help reduce the amount of manual labor required for development and debugging by providing real-time feedback on changes made to code or system configurations. DevOps training in Hyderabad would provide a better understanding.

Furthermore, neural network-powered DevOps solutions provide automated insights into system performance metrics such as latency, throughput and response times. This allows DevOps teams to quickly identify issues that could potentially impact user experience and take corrective action accordingly. Moreover, these systems can also be used for proactive maintenance by predicting potential issues before they become a problem for users.

Automated Machine Learning in DevOps

Automated Machine Learning (AutoML) is one of the most exciting advancements in DevOps technology. AutoML is a process that automates the design, development, and deployment of machine learning models. By using automated machine learning techniques, developers can significantly reduce their time spent on tasks such as data preparation, feature selection, and model tuning. This can lead to increased productivity and ultimately enhance DevOps processes.

AutoML also has the capability to automate complex tasks that are difficult for people to perform manually. By utilizing an automated system, developers can reduce human error while simultaneously increasing accuracy in their predictions by allowing the algorithm to learn from historical data sets. Additionally, AutoML allows developers to quickly test new hypotheses without having to manually input any parameters or tune any hyperparameters themselves. This allows for rapid prototyping and iteration which further enhances DevOps capabilities within organizations.

Benefits of Neurotechnology for DevOps

Neurotechnology is revolutionizing DevOps, allowing developers and IT operations teams to collaborate more effectively and automate processes with greater speed, accuracy, and efficiency.

By leveraging the power of brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), DevOps teams can create applications that are customized for individual end users by reading their neural activity in real time. This allows them to more accurately monitor user behavior, respond to customer feedback in a timely manner, and deliver better performance from their applications. Additionally, BCIs can be used to track servers’ performance metrics in order to identify areas for improvement or potential problems before they arise.

Neurotechnology also has the potential to enhance automation capabilities across development pipelines by utilizing machine learning algorithms which process data much faster than humans alone.

Challenges of Implementing Neurotechnology

As with any new technology, there are challenges associated with implementing neurotechnology in the DevOps process. One challenge is that neurotechnology requires an extensive amount of data to be collected and analyzed in order to make meaningful predictions or decisions. This necessitates significant resources and time investments, making it difficult to integrate into existing processes and workflow.

Another challenge is the development of algorithms that are capable of translating signals from brain imaging devices into actionable insights. As such, these algorithms must be able to accurately interpret signals from a variety of sources, as well as accommodate changes in signal patterns over time due to natural variation or environmental factors. This requires ongoing research and development efforts which can add complexity and cost considerations for organizations wanting to use this technology.

Research and Development of Neurotechnology

Research and development of neurotechnology are driving the transformation of DevOps, the process of developing software with increased speed and agility. Through a combination of hardware, software, wetware (the brain), and AI-driven solutions, neurotechnology is revolutionizing how software is produced. By utilizing deep learning algorithms to identify patterns in data from human brains, companies can generate insights into user behavior that can be used to improve processes. This technology allows developers to identify issues faster than ever before and quickly implement changes.

At its core, neurotechnology focuses on understanding how the brain works by collecting data from neural recordings and analyzing it using machine learning techniques. With this information at hand, developers can gain an in-depth understanding of user behavior so they can better design applications for maximum efficiency.

The Future of Neurotech & DevOps

The union of neuroscience and DevOps is a powerful one, with the potential to revolutionize how businesses operate. Neurotech & DevOps represent a powerful combination that can help organizations build smarter, more efficient systems and software in less time, while also providing employees with better tools to do their jobs more efficiently. With both disciplines continuing to evolve at a rapid pace, there is no telling what kinds of amazing applications we may see in the future.

One area where neurotech & DevOps could be particularly helpful is related to automation. Automation has become increasingly important as businesses look for new ways to improve efficiency and eliminate mundane tasks from their operations. By combining Neurotechnology and DevOps, companies will be able to automate processes quickly and easily with fewer errors or delays than ever before.

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Although neuroscience research has been flourishing over the last decade or so, 2022 proved to be an exceptional year with some for the biggest neuroscience breakthroughs for years. Here are 7 discoveries which show the potential of neuroscience to transform our lives and even our definitions of life itself.

1. Human Brains Use Quantum Computing

These heartbeat-style EEG signatures are the first indirect evidence that the human brain uses quantum computing. The EEG evoked potentials were detected via a specific MRI technique designed to seek entangled spins from human brains.

They are currently only explainable as nuclear proton spins in the brain that are quantum entangled. The lead physicist of finding summarized,

"𝙒𝙚 𝙖𝙙𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙣 𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙖, 𝙙𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙡𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙙 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙭𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙦𝙪𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙪𝙢 𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙩𝙮, 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙗𝙮 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙦𝙪𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙪𝙢 𝙨𝙮𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙢𝙨, 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙘𝙝 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙩 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙖𝙣 𝙪𝙣𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙨𝙮𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙢. 𝙄𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙨𝙮𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙢𝙨 𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙡𝙚, 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙪𝙣𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙢𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙗𝙚 𝙖 𝙦𝙪𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙪𝙢 𝙨𝙮𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙢, 𝙩𝙤𝙤.''

In this case the known system was brain water (cerebral fluid), and the unknown system was the brain.

Additionally the levels of entanglement correlated with short-term memory performance and conscious awareness, so it is likely that they form an important part of our higher order cognitive functions.

Quantum processes have been well established in non-human biology. For example without quantum tunneling, photosynthesis, and accordingly most life on earth, might not have come to exist.

This study is also not the first evidence of human quantum biology.

Cryptochromes found in bird's eye's that leverage triplet-state quantum entanglement have been established as a mechanism which allows them read the earth's magnetic field like a map. Human eyes also possess crytopchromes, but at some point in our evolution they became deactivated.

The findings of this study could mark the beginning of a paradigm shift in neuroscience, as well as reveal keys ways to evolve machine-based quantum computing and artificial general intelligence.

Study: Experimental indications of non-classical brain functions, Christian Matthias Kerskens and David López Pérez.

2. Human-Animal Brain Synthesis

For the first time in history, animals may be acquiring some aspects of human intelligence via integrative brain transplants.

Organoids (or assembloids) are functioning clusters of neurons grown in vitro, usually from skin-based stem cells. These relatively complex living brain formations, which can be animal or human, are used to study neural mechanics in the lab, outside of an actual brain.

However, their research value is quite limited by the size and complexity they can grow into. To overcome this issue, a new approach published in Nature, has transplanted human cortex organoids into living rat brains (in the picture above).

6 months after integration, the human neurons reached a new order of maturation, growing 6 times large than what was possible in vitro. Their activity better emulated some of the more sophisticated behaviors found when observed in human brains.

In a follow-up experiment, the researchers specifically fired-up the genetically altered human neurons using optogenetics, and were successfully able to influence how often the rats sought out a reward.

Although fascinating, this new domain of biological research, and even biology itself, may be fraught with ethical complications, even including how to classify such a hybrid organism.

Study: Maturation and circuit integration of transplanted human cortical organoids, Omer Revah et al.Stu

3. Silicon-Biological Sentience

This video is more than meets the eye - it's actually the first successful hybridization of biological neurons and silicon chips learning to play a simulated game.

As we've just seen, organoids are currently one of the fastest evolving domains of science. This research goes in a different, yet equally mind-boggling direction, by synthesizing a mix of human/rodent organoids with computers chips.

Dubbed 'synthetic biological intelligence' (SBI), the goal is to synergistically merge these once divergent forms of intelligence.

In particular, researchers sought to bring the power of third-order complexity found in organoids, which has never been achievable in traditional computing. And in addition, to achieve the formal definition of sentience in neural cultures, effectively demonstrating sensory feedback learning.

In this study the in vitro organoids were integrated with 'in silico' computing via a high-density multielectrode array. Using closed-loop structured feedback through electrophysiological stimulation, the experiment named 'BrainDish' was embedded into a simulation of the iconic computer game Pong.

The ability of neurons in assemblies to respond to external stimuli adaptively is the basis for all animal learning. Although this initial experiment is a very basic simulation, it has demonstrated intelligent and sentient behavior in a simulated game-world through goal-directed behavior.

This approach provides a promising new research avenue to support or challenge theories explaining how the brain interacts with the world, and for studying intelligence in general.

Study: In vitro neurons learn and exhibit sentience when embodied in a simulated game-world, Brett J. Kagan et al.

4. Soleus Push-Ups

Researchers have made a potentially ground-breaking discovery for human health in 2022. Muscles are the largest lean mass in our bodies, yet in terms of whole body oxidative metabolism, they only burn 15% of glucose at rest. This is associated with the health risks of too much sitting.

The soleus is a minor calf muscle weighing just one kilo, however it has a special in-built mechanism, unknown until now. A new study at the University of Houston showed that when this specific muscle is precisely activated, whole body glucose metabolism is dramatically raised to between 30-45%. This occurs with negligible energy expenditure of actually contracting the soleus.

The exercise is a simple repetitive heel lift while keeping the ball of the foot on the floor, which can be done while seated on the floor, or on a chair. It has been dubbed the 'soleus push-up', which triggers the use of a previously undiscovered fuel mixture.

Interestingly, this type of soleus contraction is deactivated while walking or running. Accordingly, lower limb energy muscle expenditure was also tested on a treadmill.

Remarkably, the soleus push-up burned more than twice as much oxygen than running, and tens times as much as walking. The effects were seen across adults aged 22–82 years of age.

The takeaway is that systemic metabolic regulation can be greatly improved by activating a minor calf muscle. These research findings reveal a widely accessible and practical way to counter the significant health risks of prolonged sitting, including for people who exercise regularly.

Study: A potent physiological method to magnify and sustain soleus oxidative metabolism improves glucose and lipid regulation, Marc T. Hamiliton, et al.

5. Breakthrough in Latent Neuroplasticity

An accidental new discovery published in Nature revealed a major new feature of neuroplasticity in adult mammalian brains.

A team of MTI neuroscientists were studying mouse brains to show how neuron dendrites process synaptic inputs in different ways, depending on their location. As this requires very high-resolution techniques, they incidentally discovered an abundance of microscopic silent synapses, known as filopodia, at the tips of dendrites.

The lead researcher commented,

“𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙨𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙬, 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙘𝙝 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙨𝙪𝙥𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙞𝙯𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙚 𝙙𝙞𝙙𝙣’𝙩 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙩, 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙛𝙞𝙡𝙤𝙥𝙤𝙙𝙞𝙖 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚.”

Synapses are the neural mechanisms which allow the brain to flexibly wire itself in near-infinite configurations. However, already functionally wired synapses require a high threshold of stimulation in order to decouple and rewire.

Silent synapses have a very low threshold and are essentially ready to wire with other neurons. Though it was previously believed that filopodia only existed in very young brains. This left many questions about the mechanisms as to how adult brains are still capable of high levels of neuroplasicity.

The adult filopodia were also found to be very sensitive to Hebbian plasticity, where one neuron can directly influence the synaptic plasticity of another.

The finding offers a new understanding on how functional connectivity can be driven by this new mechanism, allowing for flexible control of synaptic wiring that expands the learning capabilities of the mature brain.

It also offers explanation of how new memories can be formed.

“𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙚 𝙨𝙞𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙨𝙮𝙣𝙖𝙥𝙨𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙞𝙣𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙞𝙨 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙙, 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙫𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙣𝙚𝙪𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙙. 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙡𝙚𝙩𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙢𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙬𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙢𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙮𝙣𝙖𝙥𝙨𝙚𝙨, 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙘𝙝 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙤 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚.”

A key takeaway from this research is that our brains are neuroanotomically primed in a way that allows them to remain highly adaptive throughout adulthood, potentially ready to undergo transformative change.

Study: Filopodia are a structural substrate for silent synapses in adult neocortex, Dimitra Vardalaki, Kwanghun Chung & Mark T. Harnett

6. Enhanced Cognition Through Electrical Stimulation

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) involves applying weak electrical stimulation to the scalp to potentially heighten brain activity, also known less scientifically as 'brain zapping'. It's been around for a while, for example DARPA researched it around a decade ago. Most of the research focused on healthy or high performing populations, but little convincing evidence surfaced.

A study just published now suggests the benefits of this method may actually be specific to elders with memory issues.

The researchers evaluated memory training effects as an overall composite assessment of working memory capacity, comparing older adults to elderly adults with memory issues.

They found that, whereas all individuals improved their performance during training, tDCS with working memory training selectively benefited elderly individuals (OO) with lower working memory capacity.

Interestingly, they also found that performance with tDCS stimulation was worse in younger old adults, who actually showed significantly higher working memory scores with sham stimulation.

More research is needed, but this may be rare evidence that neurostimulation or neuromodulation benefits may be highly neurologically specific.

In addition, a similar electrical stimulation technique called transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) using low level electrical AC currents to trigger heightened brain activity showed for the first time that it can trigger meaningful changes in cognition.

In a study published in Nature 150 people aged between 65 and 88 carried out a word list memory recall task lasting 20 minutes while having their brain zapped. This was repeated over 4 days.

In contrast to sham stimulation, the results showed that memory performance improved over the four days, and that these gains persisted even a month later.

Perhaps more convincingly, when prefrontal cortex regions associated with long term memory were targeted for stimulation, performance improved on recall of words at beginning of the list. When parietal lobe regions involved with working memory were targeted, recall was boosted for words near the end of the list.

The results are much more compelling than other studies in this domain. This may be because the zapping was done over several days versus a single session. Either way it now looks like tACS can play a positive role for improving brain functions.

Study 1: Older adults with lower working memory capacity benefit from transcranial direct current stimulation when combined with working memory training, Sara Assecondi et al.

Study 2: Long-lasting, dissociable improvement in working memory and long-term memory in older adults with repetitive neuromodulation, Shey Grover, et al.

7. Cognitive Training Boosts Growth Mindset

Though there has been much scientific debate over the efficiacy brain training applications, new research robustly demonstrated that a 4-week cognitive training intervention can significantly enhance growth mindset in children 7-10 yrs old.

Growth mindset is based on the belief that one’s intelligence can change with effort that is associated with:-

- increased desire to learn

- positive views of effort

- willingness to take on challenges

As well as using pre and post assessments of growth mindset, detailed fMRI scans were performed before and after training. Alongside direct transfer in the assessments, scans revealed positive neurological changes in multiple brain regions crucial for cognitive control, motivation, and memory.

Plasticity of cortico-striatal circuitry emerged as strong predictor of which children experienced the most benefits from training.

Measures of growth mindset prior to training was also associated with higher post-training math skills, suggesting that higher levels of growth mindset led to better math performance with training. Yet interestingly children with lower math skills prior to training show greater gains in growth mindset in response to training.

As positive influences on growth mindset at a young age can grossly influence a child's development trajectory, the results show that cognitive training interventions have the potential to enhance overall life outcomes.

Study: Cognitive training enhances growth mindset in children through plasticity of cortico-striatal circuits, Lang Chen, et al.

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Originally used exclusively by the world's top sports teams, over the last decade applications of NeuroTracker have spread across diverse fields of human performance and wellness. Fortunately, champions of this neurotechnology are usually more than happy to share their experiences, insights and best practices. We hope you enjoy this selection of video interviews with 9 bonafide experts across a variety of human performance domains.

1. Zac Bourgeois - Professional Rodeo Athlete

Transitioning from US Junior champion into full professional rodeo, Zac Bourgeois is a young and fast-rising rodeo athlete. In this video special he gives unique insights into the demanding world of rodeo performance, his rehab journey from a severe brain injury, and reveals his goal of using technologies like NeuroTracker to take the sport to new levels.

2. Katie Mitchell - Neuroscientist and Sports Medicine Practitioner

Katie Mitchell PhD(c) is founder of Thrive Neurosport, a specialist rehab center dedicated to taking athletes all the way from injury through to peak performance.

Having setup her center during COVID lockdown, she covers how she found the NeuroTrackerX platform invaluable as a way to remotely manage her clients through a hybrid model of telehealth-based services.

3. Kristen Campbell - Team Canada Hockey Goal Tender

Kristen Campbell is one of the earliest adopters of NeuroTracker for personal use. Having trained with the neurotech daily for more than 6 years, she had the privilege of being selected for the national team and was part of the team that won the gold medal for Canada in last winter Olympics.

Here Kristen talks about the benefits she has found from training, as well as some of the advanced training methodologies she has developed out of her own experience.

4. Pete Palmer - Brigadier General of the US Army

In this exclusive interview General Pete Palmer (retired) explains how neurotechnologies like NeuroTracker will boost the operational readiness of military personnel by accurately assessing cognitive state.

His concept is simple, the US military needs to reliably assess the performance readiness of human personnel to the same rigorous checks and standards that military equipment like fighter jets undergo before deployed on the battlefield.

5. Erin McLeod - Canadian Sports Hall of Fame Soccer Goalkeeper

Erin McLeod is a Canadian Olympic Bronze medalist, 4x FIFA World Cup goalkeeper, as well as an influencer in the practice of mindfulness.

Here Erin gives her 2 cents on just how valuable NeuroTracker has been for both her performance on the pitch and how it synergizes with her mastery of mindfulness.

6. Dr. Armando Bertone and Dr. Domenico Tullo - Researchers at the Perceptual Neuroscience Lab

Based at McGill University, Dr. Armando Bertone and Dr. Domenico Tullo are scientific leaders in neurodevelopmental research.

Here they provide a rare look behind the scenes of a landmark study using NeuroTracker to enhance the attention of young students with major learning difficulties. In particular they highlight the benefits of improved attention for learning outcomes and share some anecdotes on the students' and teachers' experience of the training benefits.

7. Kyla Demers - Founder of Vertex Concussion

Kyla Demers is a concussion researcher, was part of the Canadian medical team for the Vancouver Olympics, and is founder of Vertex Concussion where she pioneers new rehab therapies.

Here Kyla introduces what is special about her approach and outlines the true value of applying neurotechnologies for both rehab and performance, adding some compelling success stories of the work she has done with clients.

8. James Wingfield - Mercedes F1 Engineer Team Leader and Race Driver in Formula BMW

James Wingfield is a person who has been instrumental behind the scenes of the most successful team in modern motorsports. An avid competitor on the racetrack himself, he discovered NeuroTracker as a potential way to take his performance to the next level.

James talks candidly about the benefits he has experienced alongside specific ways in which NeuroTracking transfers to the track, including a direct reduction in lap times. He also shares how he adapted the neurotechnology to integrate it into his race simulator training. After this interview he had his most successful race season ever with an unprecedented series of podium finishes.

9. Maxime Chevrier - Clinical Psychologist and Founder of Synapse Plus

Last but certainly not least on our list, Maxime Chevrier is probably the world's most experienced NeuroTracker expert. Having founded his Montreal chain of AXiO Sport Medicine Clinics and Synapse Plus performance centers around NeuroTracker almost a decade ago, he has worked extensively with clients across a plethora of human performance and wellness domains.

Here Maxime provides deep insights on his long running success evolving the application of NeuroTracker training with his diverse client base.

We hope you gleaned useful insights or inspiration from the best practices shared by these various experts. If you are interested in learning further, then there are many more interviews and testimonials with experts on our YouTube channel here.

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While people commonly think of illusions as misperceptions, they are actually examples of how sophisticated how our perceptual systems are. Without conscious thought, we are deftly efficient at extrapolating sensory cues, which in turn allows us to take huge neural processing shortcuts. Interestingly, getting AI to be able to also see illusions, just like we do, would be a key Turing Test step in achieving Artificial General Vision Intelligence. Here are four of the most fascinating illusions born out of neuroscience discoveries investigating how we visually perceive reality.

1. The Leviant Traffic Illusion

This scientifically crafted image is called 'The Leviant Traffic Illusion'. If you look closely at the center you will likely perceive rapid motion in the circular sections.

Although there are specialized regions of the visual cortex dedicated to processing perceived motion, regions which process static contrasting light patterns can also come into play. This effect occurs because the rings are 'isoluminant', that is, they match the mean brightness of the black and white rays. If the luminance level varies from the mid-range, the motion effect quickly fades away.

A particularly interesting thing about this illusion is that the perceived motion is multistable, allowing it to appear as a global rotation either clockwise or counterclockwise.

It can also be seen as local bidirectional motion, with the alternating circles moving in opposite directions.

These alternating effects represent your brain working hard to leverage subtle visual cues - what would usually be meaningful information about real motion in the world around you.

2. Simultaneous Brightness Contrast

This very simple image with two circles exactly the same shade of grey mystified vision scientists for over a century. It reveals our capacity to process what's known as 'simultaneous brightness contrast', which Chinese ceramic painters discovered and worked into their craft over 800 years ago.

This effect was long believed to be a high-level brain process tapping into past learning experiences of how the world works. That was until recently, when MIT researchers studied blind children in India and found that they were susceptible to this illusion the moment their sight was initiated after surgery.

Through further experiments they revealed that this innate brightness estimation actually takes place before visual information reaches the brain’s visual cortex (likely pre-processed via retinal neurons). The Müller-Lyer and Ponzo illusions were then also found to have the same underlying mechanisms.

These discovery was made possible by 'Project Prakash', whose mission is to save children from preventable blindness while answering deep scientific questions.

3. Chaz Firestone Balls

This is a particularly strong illusory effect, making us see different colored balls. This 3D illusion was created by David Novick, Professor of Engineering Education and Leadership at the University of Texas. In his own words,

“A three-colour confetti illusion with spheres, which appear to be yellowish, reddish, and purpleish, but in fact have exactly the same light-brown base colour (RGB 255,188,144). Shrinking the image increases the effect.”‍

4. Expanding Black Hole

This perceptual illusion of an expanding black hole (spoiler - it's a static image), was used to probe a new discovery in neuroscience this summer.

The illusory effect isn't simply a perceptual interpretation, it literally evokes a biological response - your pupils actually dilate to let in more light (in 86% of people). This also imparts an impression of visual optic flow - like the feeling of moving into a tunnel.

This collaborative research by scientists in Oslo and Japan, shows that the pupillary light reflex can depend on the perceived environment, rather than physical reality. Which is surprising, because our pupils do not change aperture while dreaming, regardless of the dream.

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A close examination of the cannabis plant reveals various fascinating properties, applications, and components. Each day, scientists and researchers discover something new about plants, allowing them to advance in their respective fields continually. The current consensus is that there are more than 150 cannabinoids in cannabis. Regarding cannabinoids, HHC is slowly but surely expanding its consumer base. The article gives you some pointers if you want to learn more about HHC and what you experience when you consume it.

What Exactly Is HHC?

Discussing HHC without knowing what it is would be moot. Hexahydrocannabinol, also known as HHC, is a version of the component of the plant known as THC that has been hydrogenated. Therefore, it is a version of THC that is slightly similar to THC but operates slightly differently regarding its impacts and how the cannabinoid functions. Only very minute levels of HHC may be found in the plant. Consequently, scientists have concluded that actively removing the component from the plant is not economically viable.

Hydrogen is added to the easily extracted THC from the plant to get levels of HHC that may be used in manufacturing operations. While HHC maintains many of THC's natural properties after hydrogenation, its distinguishing characteristics make it a preferable choice for many product consumers. For example, HHC is stable, but THC is susceptible to oxidation, which diminishes its quality and potency. Moreover, the stability of HHC's chemical structure increases its affinity for the CB1 and CB2 receptors of the endocannabinoid system.

Adding hydrogen to THC is comparable to the fat hydrogenation method used in the margarine industry. Simply put, producers utilize a palladium or nickel catalyst and, under high pressure, break down the chemical bonds in the THC cannabinoid. They then introduce hydrogen to one of the bonds after breaking the existing double bond.

Effects of HHC On the Body

You may be asking, now that you know what HHC is and how it is made, what effects of HHC you should be aware of HHC effects on the body include the intended and possible side effects. The following are the direct effects of the cannabinoid on consumers.

Direct Effects of HHC On The Body

Psychoactivity is among the most prominent potential direct effects of HHC. As mentioned above, HHC is a variant of THC that has been hydrogenated and subjected to other chemical procedures. As a result, it retains some of THC's psychoactive effects.

The psychotropic effects of HHC and, by extension, the strength of the substance fall between those of Delta 8 THC and Delta 9 THC. To put it another way, the high won't be very potent, but you will still feel it. The sensation is soothing rather than energizing and modifies how we usually experience the world around us. Unlike HHC, the effects of THC's isomers quickly fade with exposure to air since THC degrades upon exposure to oxygen. HHC's psychoactivity lasts longer than THC's because of its excellent stability.

Side Effects of HHC

You should get informed about the potential adverse effects of taking HHC and what you could go through as a result of using it before you start using it. According to some users of the cannabinoid, anxiety, red eyes, paranoia, sleeplessness, dizziness, weight gain due to excessive eating, high heart rate, and dry or cotton mouth are some notable adverse effects. If you or a loved one ever suffer any of these adverse reactions after drinking HHC, it's best to stop immediately and seek the advice of a doctor.

It is crucial to note that not everyone who takes HHC will have these side effects. Instead, these are isolated instances that some individuals have experienced after eating cannabis and its various cannabinoids, indicating that they are not common. Furthermore, since HHC has not been the subject of substantial research like CBD and THC, most of its adverse effects are based on anecdotal information rather than solid research.

Types of Products to Try Out if You Want to Experience HHC

There is a wide variety of HHC consumption methods, just as with Delta 8 THC. To begin, several businesses produce vapes with HHC as the active component. Products like gummies, biscuits, and brownies fortified with HHC are also available. That being said, the HHC market is so vast that you will never have a lack of options. Your choices are entirely up to you and your preferences.

Wrapping Up

To sum it up, the effects of HHC on the body are similar to those of delta 8 THC, only that with HHC, you are likely to enjoy a relaxing effect rather than uplifting and energizing. This is slightly similar to Delta 10, depending on how you look at it. The side effects above should provide you with guidance on what to expect. However, as noted above, these are not common to all users.

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Cancer survivors or those undergoing chemotherapy can develop cognitive changes impacting their everyday functioning. Some people have termed this condition chemo brain, which mental training activities may improve. Here we will cover research on the types of cognitive training showing promise for patients.

About Cancer Treatments

Surgery, radiation treatment, and chemotherapy are currently the only conventional options to help individuals with rare cancers. The National Cancer Institute defines rare cancers as affecting 40,000 people or less annually. Some rare cancers involve the head and neck, bone and soft tissue sarcomas, thyroid, neuroendocrine, lymphoma, and mesothelioma, a cancer type caused by exposure to asbestos.

In cases like mesothelioma, chemotherapy is a standard treatment. There are stages of mesothelioma where chemotherapy has a higher chance of success. However, it depends entirely on the doctors' prognosis and the patient's actual physiological state.

Some individuals may also experience decreased mental sharpness (chemo brain) during and after the procedure. So it's crucial to get more information about specific cancer treatments and mental-training activities that can help reduce their effects.

This article answers crucial questions like how can mental training activities help reduce the effects of the chemo brain? And what are the current studies about chemotherapy's effects on an individual's cognitive performance? This short read also explains why mental training is crucial in reducing the effects of chemo brain. It includes examples of mental activities experts recommend to individuals experiencing mental cloudiness.  

Different Types of Mental Training to Reduce the Effects of Chemotherapy

Chemo brain is a condition experienced by cancer survivors or those who have undergone chemotherapy. The mind is no longer as sharp as it used to be. Here are some symptoms that usually characterize chemo brain:

● Becoming disorganized

● Confusion

● Difficulty in learning new skills

● Visual and verbal memory lapses

These are some side effects of chemotherapy in people with rare and advanced cancer cases.

But through mental training, these side effects may be reduced, allowing cancer survivors and individuals undergoing chemo to strengthen their cognitive skills and prevent the onset of chemo brain. Here are the following cognitive needs that require focus and training to reduce the mental side effects of chemotherapy:

● Complex attention: This is a person's ability to multitask or focus on multiple things at once.

● Executive function: This is a person’s ability to make sound decisions, plans, and priorities in response to the environment.

● Learning and memory: This is a person’s ability to retain and remember information.

● Perception-motor control: This is a person’s ability to respond to environmental stimuli using motor skills and the senses, like vision and touch.

● Language: The person’s ability to communicate with others.

● Social cognition: This domain pertains to a person's ability to remember social behavior and norms.

Suppose you’re undergoing chemotherapy or are a cancer survivor. In that case, you should enroll yourself in programs that target these cognitive needs to ensure your mental flexibility and elasticity.

Cancer is a significant phase in life that can dramatically affect one’s future, but it doesn’t mean all hope is lost. Being in a good cognitive state to deal with the situation is vital for you to live a happy and content life no matter what condition you are in at the moment.

Recent Studies About Chemo Brain and How to Further Manage Its Effects

The fight to find the cure for cancer is an uphill battle, and the entire medical world is slowly climbing. But, despite the steep climb, breakthroughs are slowly inching us toward that elusive goal.

Researchers at UCLA have shown that mental training is one of the best ways to improve the daily lives of people with chemo brain.

According to their study, women who have undergone chemotherapy to halt the progression of breast cancer resulted in mental fogginess. These women are having difficulty concentrating, becoming disorganized, and failing to attend to daily routines and activities.

Early intervention in these cases resulted in improved memory and better results for respondents after a two-month rehabilitation program.

Another study done in 2013 focused on the effectiveness of online cognitive programs on people undergoing breast cancer treatments. The respondents were subjected to a novel online executive functions program that rehabilitates working memory, multitasking, cognitive flexibility, attention, and planning skills.

The study revealed that cancer survivors who underwent 48 sessions online over 12 weeks showed improvements in the fields of focus. The test determined that computerized programs focused on cognitive or mental training might produce positive results, especially in rehabilitating people who have gone through chemotherapy.

Because of these early successes in this field of study, more research has been done to determine the effectiveness of computer-based cognitive programs in improving cancer survivors' mental abilities.

In 2020, pilot research investigated the effects of video game-based cognitive training to reduce mental impairment due to breast cancer treatment.

A group of respondents was subjected to an online cognitive training program focused on five cognitive domains: attention, working memory, episodic memory, executive function, and processing speed.

The study showed that online cognitive training programs improve cognitive functioning. However, the exact role of video games in the result of this study is still uncertain.

References

1. About Rare Cancers

2. Mental-training Exercises Help Mitigate Effects of “Chemo Brain”

3. Cognitive Training for Improving Executive Function in Chemotherapy-Treated Breast Cancer Survivors

4. A video-game based cognitive training for breast cancer survivors with cognitive impairment: A prospective randomized pilot trial

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In modern sports serious athletes are willing to go to the Nth degree to improve their physical performance to gain an edge of just 1%. At Miller Consulting, we believe that cognitive abilities and mental skills training are key components to reaching the next level. It’s not simply being strong physically but being strong mentally that leads to success. This feature will introduce how we leverage NeuroTracker to push the limits of sports performance and benefit non-athletes.

Going ‘All In’

Our goal is to try to help as many individuals as we can, and the philosophy we try to instill in our clients is developing the mentality of being “all in” while working on their mental training to really reap the benefits. We always ask, ‘Where do you want take your current skills?’, and we figure out the best plan for the individual in question.

With the tools available today, everyone has the potential to actualize their potential cognitively. We are aware of a handful of selected neurotechnologies like Fit Light, Visual Edge, Dynavision, Mendi, but the core of our assessment and conditioning is centered around NeuroTracker. We’ve believed in this tool for years and really see all the benefits it has to offer.

Training Athletic Performance

Our work has been focused on athletes and student-athletes. In particular, we work with a lot of players in team sports, partly due to their popularity, but largely because of their cognitive and mental demands on vision, situational awareness and complex decision-making.

Surprisingly, we see impressive differences from one athlete to the next through their NeuroTracker baselines. These scores are measured in Speed Thresholds, so from the scores of each session we get a nice marker to see where an individual is at cognitively. This also helps us determine the optimal training program moving forward.

For example, we sometimes have athletes whose scores are under 1.0 speed – which is the equivalent of tracking multiple objects moving at less than 68cm/second. At the other end of the spectrum, players can consistently achieve around 3.0 speed, which is a significant difference.

Pushing the Comfort Zone

Once an athlete has reached a certain level, we adjust the program to include progressively more complex dual-tasks while completing a NeuroTracker session. For instance, for a hockey player, we start with standing and introducing them to holding their stick and just being in position. It’s significantly more difficult at first, but they adapt quickly. Then we get more technical with drills like stick handling without looking at the puck.

For basketball players, we like to integrate skills like dribbling, jab steps, and triple threat positions. However, this methodology is flexible, so we might use a purely perceptual-task like Optic Flow to train motion processing skills needed in fast-paced competition. Or alternatively, we can add a physical component like strength work which can increase resilience to the cognitive effects of physical stress.

Whatever the approach, the focus is always on taking each athlete outside of their comfort zone. This is the main design of NeuroTracker even without dual tasks, Optic Flow, or sport specific training programs. In fact, some athletes just get obsessed with their chart and stay focused on raising their speed thresholds as high as possible. If NeuroTracker can train our users’ competitivity, we are not against that!

Alternative Sports Rehab

With the pressures of today’s ultra-competitive sports, injuries are inevitable. At the outset of a prolonged injury, an athlete worries about the loss of physical fitness and muscle atrophy. However, the main concern remains game sharpness and readiness.  Although, with the recent breakthrough in cognitive training, this is exactly where mental training should be implemented into a athletes’ rehabilitation. Mental training can make a huge difference overtime.

One of our success stories happened with a basketball player. He knew he needed to take several months off and that he was going to be unable to train for a whole summer. He came to work with us at the outset. After a few months on the platform, instead of the typical feeling of struggling to keep up with the game mentally, he found that his vision on the court had improved beyond his peak fitness levels. He was more aware of the game action with more attention to details and was reacting to opponents faster. He’s now been using NeuroTracker religiously with MILLER Consulting for the past two years.

Additionally, there are athletes struggling with the after-effects of concussions. They’ve been through all their rehab with osteopaths, physios and so on in hope to be cleared for return-to-play. Once they are clear to return, most of them feel like they're still not where they used to be. It takes them much more time to process information, they’re lacking confidence, and generally they just feel desperate to get back to where they were.

With these athletes we start very low, with just one ball tracking for four seconds (1T 4S), then when ready, we move to two targets for six seconds (2T 6S), and upwards until they are getting decent speed thresholds at 4 targets tracking over 8 seconds. We trained boxers in similar situations, and they really notice the difference after just a few weeks on the platform.

Beyond Sports

We’re very interested in the benefits of cognitive training for non-athletes. One population we are currently working with is with older adults and the elderly. Both populations feel like they are less able to do what they used to do in their day-to-day activities, such as driving or just reading speed.

The challenge here is that cognitive decline typically continues to progress with age. More so if the effects lead to being less active and the brain is just getting less overall stimulation. Since several research studies have solidified the benefits of NeuroTracker in measuring and improving driving skills for older populations, we feel like there is a lot to offer.

Another more specific population we are aiming to start working with is a group of post-pregnancy mothers with the help of Julie Bertrand at Jab Santé. There’s little awareness of the challenges mothers face in the first six months, but they are significant.

Following the pregnancy there is a risk of depression, the sudden adjustment to a new lifestyle, stress, fatigue, and loss of sleep. This is followed by the pressures of returning to work, with little sympathy in a typical male dominated workplace. We’re really hoping mental training can make a difference here and increase resilience to all these factors.

Lastly, we’re keen to introduce our training to elementary school students. qEEG brain mapping research with NeuroTracker indicates that the training sustainably boosts neuroplasticity, which represents a significant feature in our learning process. If we can improve a young child’s fundamental learning capacities at a young age, this could have life positive effects on their whole learning trajectory.

From our experience so far, young kids love NeuroTracker like it’s a game, they understand it, and they’re motivated to do well at it. Research has also demonstrated that it’s well suited for children at any intellectual level, and it significantly improves their attention. A current study with McGill University is investigating if it can directly enhance math and language abilities.

Going Forward

We’ve known about NeuroTracker for more than 10 years already, it represents a platform that we have used in the past during our sport career. Back then, pretty much only the world’s top tier sports teams had access to it. Now it’s affordable and the new remote training platform through NeuroTrackerX has been a game changer for accessibility, opening to different populations to work with and much more.

One of our goals is to create a mental training community without boundaries, so people can share their path to improvement and support each other along this journey.

We’re genuinely excited about the direction we are taking with cognitive training and are currently developing a new mental training room where athletes will be able to sharpen their cognitive abilities. We are working alongside Dr. Jean-Michel Pelletier (www.psysportif.com), a renowned sport psychologist and an expert in sports trauma. There we’ll look to expand our neurotechnologies with tools like EEG brain mapping, Neurofeedback, and a lot more!

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If you'd like to learn more about our work, here is our website.

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A recently published study conducted at Mexico General Hospital has demonstrated that NeuroTracker’s perceptual-cognitive training provides far transfer to improved motor skills. Here we’ll give an overview of the new research findings.

Fine Motor Skills in Aging

Grasping and handling objects with hands and fingers while making coordinated movements is referred to as manual dexterity, or fine motor skills. These are the most sophisticated motor skills we can execute (think of an expert pianist), as well as a fundamental part of the skills we require in daily life.

As part of the normal cognitive effects associated with aging, manual dexterity typically declines along with other functions such as attention, memory, and information processing speed. In healthy aging the decline isn’t very significant. However, for common cognitive impairments caused by age-related neurodegeneration, such as dementia, loss of fine motor control can affect daily quality of life.

The degree of loss of hand dexterity has also been established in research to differentiate between mild, moderate, and severe dementia. Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is common in older aged adults, and is a precursor to the onset of dementia, which is also associated with Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). The amount of people with MCI and dementia are increasing year on year, affecting around 22% of people over the age of 65. 50% people over 85 years old typically experience mild to severe forms dementia and AD.

One of the most pressing challenges to improve the quality of life of older adults is to find interventions that can reduce both physical and mental disabilities.

What Was Studied

38 hospital patients over 65 years of age volunteered for the study. Half of the participants were diagnosed with mild dementia due to the onset of AD, and the other half were diagnosed with MCI and associated memory difficulties.

All participants completed a NeuroTracker training intervention consisting of 36 sessions (approximately 3.5 hours of training), carried out over several weeks. Due to their cognitive impairments, the number of targets tracked was reduced to 2 (the standard being 4 targets). The NeuroTracker scores and learning rates were also used an independent measure of cognitive functions.

Before and after the intervention, the following assessments were completed.

Grooved Pegboard Test (GPT) - assesses psychomotor speed and fine motor control through accurate placement of 25 pegs into differently orientated keyholes.

Minnesota Manual Dexterity Test (MMDT) - evaluates fine and coarse manual dexterity, performed with one and two hands, as well manual motor speed and speed in hand–eye coordination.

What Was Found

NeuroTracker scores were expectedly much lower than healthy older people, even at the level of 2 target tracking. However initial learning was significantly higher than expected over the first 10 to 20 sessions. For these participants, overall performance was lower in the MCI group with memory impairments, than in the mild dementia group (DM).

Overall, the NeuroTracker data showed that age-related cognitive impairment can be clearly differentiated from healthy aging, and that there is a significant learning response.

The pre-post manual dexterity assessments both showed strong far transfer effects from the NeuroTracker intervention, also with similar effects for both groups. Participants could execute the tests significantly more quickly and accurately following the training.

These consistent improvements in fine motor skills suggests that the benefits of cognitive training are both robust and reliable. Additionally, the researchers of the study advise that the findings show only 15 sessions (or 90 minutes) of training is likely to be sufficient for such transfer, based on the high initial NeuroTracker learning responses.

The results support other research in older populations with subjective memory complaints, which showed far transfer in motor skills on the Trail Making Test and the Stroop test of psychomotor speed. Also related, another clinical study showed that NeuroTracker training significantly reduced fall-risk with elderlies in care homes, due to positive far transfer across 5 assessments of gross motor skills.

Improving Body and Mind in Aging

Along with previous studies showing significant benefits across a range of high-level cognitive functions for older adults completing NeuroTracker interventions, this research points towards 3D multiple object tracking being an accessible and efficient way to counter the physical and cognitive effects of both healthy aging and age-related neurodegeneration.

Little research in neuroscience exists for improving neurophysical abilities later in life, but it seems to be a promising research avenue that could be very helpful for maintaining a higher quality of life into old age.

Reference

‘Effect of 3D-Multiple Object Tracking Training on Manual Dexterity in Elderly Adults with Dementia and Mild Cognitive Impairment’, Ángel Daniel Santana-Vargas, et al.

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