Children with autism often focus intently on a single activity or feature of their environment. A study involving 17 autistic children (6-16 years) and 17 controls has compared brain activity as they watched a silent video of their choice while tones and vibrations were presented, separately and simultaneously.
Latest Research News
Many survivors of childhood cancer experience cognitive problems as a result of their treatment. The drug methylphenidate (marketed under several names, the best known of which is Ritalin) has previously been shown to help attention problems in such survivors in the short term. Now a new study demonstrates that it can also be of benefit in the long term.
A couple of years ago I reported on a finding that walking in the park, and (most surprisingly) simply looking at photos of natural scenes, could improve memory and concentration (see below). Now a new study helps explain why. The study examined brain activity while 12 male participants (average age 22) looked at images of tranquil beach scenes and non-tranquil motorway scenes.
Metamemory or metacognition — your ability to monitor your own cognitive processes — is central to efficient and effective learning. Research has also shown that, although we customarily have more faith in person’s judgment the more confident they are in it, a person’s accuracy and their confidence in their accuracy are two quite separate things (which is not to say it’s not a useful heuristic; just that it’s far from infallible).
A study involving 110 toddlers (aged 14-42 months), of whom 37 were diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder and 22 with a developmental delay, has compared their behavior when watching a 1-minute movie depicting moving geometric patterns (a standard screen saver) on 1 side of a video monitor and children in high action, such as dancing or doing yoga, on the other.
A study involving 2,050 people aged 70 to 89 has found that mild cognitive impairment was 1.5 times more common in men than women. Among the 1,969 who did not have dementia, over 16% (329) had MCI — around 11% amnestic MCI (MCI-A) and 5% non-amnestic (MCI-MCD). A total of 19% of men had MCI, compared to 14% of women. MCI was also more common among the never-married, those with the APOEe4 (Alzheimer’s risk) gene, and those with less education.
Analysis of the brain sizes of 197 marsupial and 457 placental mammals has found that marsupial mammals (e.g. kangaroos, possums), had relative brain sizes that are at least as big as placental mammals. Previous belief that marsupials have relatively smaller brains appears to be produced by the inclusion of the one outlier group — primates. In both placental and marsupial groups, big brains were correlated to length of maternal care (i.e. lactation).
Findings from the long-running Religious Orders Study, from 354 Catholic nuns and priests who were given annual cognitive tests for up to 13 years before having their brains examined post-mortem, has revealed that even the very early cognitive impairments we regard as normal in aging are associated with dementia pathology. Although pathology in the form of neurofibrillary tangles, Lewy bodies, and cerebral infarctions were all associated with rapid decline, they were also associated with “normal” mild impairment.
Confirming earlier research, a study involving 257 older adults (average age 75) has found that a two-minute questionnaire filled out by a close friend or family member is more accurate that standard cognitive tests in detecting early signs of Alzheimer’s.
The AD8 asks questions about changes in everyday activities:
A study involving 134 cannabis users aged 16-23 has found that when they were smoking cannabis containing a low percentage of cannabidiol they performed much worse on the memory tests. In contrast, those smoking cannabis high in cannabidiol performed just as well on the tests when they were intoxicated as when they were sober. There were no differences in the THC content of the cannabis smoked by any of the participants (THC is the main psychoactive ingredient, which gives the characteristic ‘stoned’ feeling, and feelings of paranoia).