While brain laterality exists widely among animal species, the strong dominance of right-handedness in humans is something of an anomaly. As this implies a left-hemisphere dominance for motor function, it’s been suggested that the evolution of language (also mainly a function of the left hemisphere) may be behind the right-handed bias, leading to a search for a connection between hand preference and language disorders. To date, no convincing evidence has been found.
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A study involving 750 sets of twins assessed at about 10 months and 2 years, found that at 10 months, there was no difference in how the children from different socioeconomic backgrounds performed on tests of early cognitive ability. However, by 2 years, children from high socioeconomic background scored significantly higher than those from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Among the 2-year-olds from poorer families, there was little difference between fraternal and identical twins, suggesting that genes were not the reason for the similarity in cognitive ability.
Following indications that the curry spice curcumin (the active ingredient in turmeric) may help protect brain cells from damage, two new studies have been testing a compound called CNB-001, derived from curcumin.
The first (rabbit) study found that CNB-001 is at least as effective as the only existing drug used to treat stroke (TPA), without the unwanted side-effect of reducing clotting in the blood vessels of the brain.
The number of items a person can hold in short-term memory is strongly correlated with their IQ. But short-term memory has been recently found to vary along another dimension as well: some people remember (‘see’) the items in short-term memory more clearly and precisely than other people. This discovery has lead to the hypothesis that both of these factors should be considered when measuring working memory capacity. But do both these aspects correlate with fluid intelligence?
A simple new cognitive assessment tool with only 16 items appears potentially useful for identifying problems in thinking, learning and memory among older adults. The Sweet 16 scale is scored from zero to 16 (with 16 representing the best score) and includes questions that address orientation (identification of person, place, time and situation), registration, digit spans (tests of verbal memory) and recall. The test requires no props (not even pencil and paper) and is easy to administer with a minimum of training. It only takes an average of 2 minutes to complete.
Last month I reported on a finding that toddlers with autism spectrum disorder showed a strong preference for looking at moving shapes rather than active people. This lower interest in people is supported by a new imaging study involving 62 children aged 4-17, of whom 25 were diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorder and 20 were siblings of children with ASD.
A rat study using powerful imaging techniques has revealed how an injured brain continues to change long after the original trauma. Widespread decreases in brain functioning over a period of months were seen in specific brain regions, in particular the hippocampus, amygdala, and ipsilateral cortex, even when these were remote from the site of direct trauma and unaccompanied by signs of injury.
The findings indicate that there is a time window during which intervention could reduce these processes and protect against some of the disabling consequences of TBI.
More evidence that vascular disease plays a crucial role in age-related cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s comes from data from participants in the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative.
There are a number of ways experts think differently from novices (in their area of expertise). A new study involving 72 college-age typists with about 12 years of typing experience and typing speeds comparable to professional typists indicates that our idea that highly skilled activities operate at an unconscious level is a little more complex than we thought.
Following on from previous studies showing that drinking beet juice can lower blood pressure, a study involving 14 older adults (average age 75) has found that after two days of eating a high-nitrate breakfast, which included 16 ounces of beet juice, blood flow to the white matter of the frontal lobes (especially between the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex) had increased. This area is critical for executive functioning.
Poor blood flow in the brain is thought to be a factor in age-related cognitive decline and dementia.