Paper vs Pixels. Does it matter how we read? Part 2.

Posted on June 2, 2013 by

Image courtesy of ereadersincanada.com

Image courtesy of ereadersincanada.com

The Book

My daughter, bless her, has to read Great Expectations for college. It’s part of the English curriculum for Year 9 students.

She has low hopes for it.

Not that she dislikes Dickens. She was particularly taken by some gruesomeness in Oliver Twist when she was 11.

But The Books were handed out in class along with instructions.  Read only as far as you’re told, and no further. Then we’ll have questions on each chapter, or section. If you’re a reader, you’ll know how difficult it is to be told you can’t read any further.

It lies on the dresser, calling you, doesn’t it… Reeeeeead me! REEEEEEEEAD ME!

So she has.

And it’s been a fascinating exercise, given our recent questions, watching her read it in book form, then switch to the web searching for answers to the questions she’s been set, then back to the book, then the web.

Straw poll

Last time we ran a completely unscientific poll, results of which are at the bottom. We were poking a stick at an increasingly complex question, that of reading screens vs reading from paper.

Because it was a blunt instrument, it didn’t make an important distinction.

As one of our respondents pointed out (thanks Glen), there is a case to be made for reading with book-like electronic devices instead of books, by separating electronic reading into two, distinct forms. One is the usual online, laptop or monitor-based style. The other is with Kindles and nooks.

The difference

The key difference between online reading and something like a Kindle, is the quality of the lighting.

The argument is, in general, that laptops, smartphones and monitors are backlit, creating a lighting effect that we struggle with, more so than paper. Kindles, nooks and the like have a lighting effect much more akin to traditional paper, making them easier to read than online text.

Eye strain is a problem with the lighting on backlit devices, and this is not really an issue with reading devices. Moreover, there is increasing preference for these over paper and ink. Some claim that the ease, huge storage and accessibility of them will make them ubiquitous. And because books can be so cheap, we might even read more.

As the quality of these devices improves, and the reader experience improves along with it, it’s conceivable that the differences will be negligible and they will replace books in many contexts.

But even for reading devices there are some differences, too. So what we want to do then, is put a little thinking around our poll, and see where we get to.

By the way, there’s a lot to say. I’ll break it up into separate posts although they really should be read together. However, this is already getting long…

So a little context, some brain information, and then into the material proper.

A little reminder from last time

Back in the day, books didn’t exist and, like any other tool, we’ve learned to use them. Reading doesn’t come naturally, or easily in some cases, and although we now expect kids to learn to read at home and school, it’s a skill that is only a few hundred years old for most people. Yes, reading and writing is older than that, but not for most people, and not as an expectation of most kids.

We can date reading as a skill for the general populace only from well after Gutenberg in the mid-fifteenth century when books became more readily available. Even then, they were expensive. Now we consider it a basic educational right and skill. It begins with knowing which way up we hold a book, which is the front and back, and how we turn pages. They’re all things to learn, as with this kid.

Books and brains

For the brain though, the book is just a thing, as much as a cow, or a table. How words look on a page is a somewhat arbitrary image, as are letters.

While it’s true that some letters may have once looked like something from daily life and were simply re-purposed, that isn’t really true anymore. The capital ‘A’ for example, Greek Alpha, comes from Aleph, which came originally from a stylized ox-head. You can see it from left to right, Egyptian, Phoenician, Greek and Roman, which we use in English.

For our brains, the capital ‘A’ is just three straight lines. It has no connection at all to oxen.  Similarly, other letters are lines and curves.

Some brain cells are dedicated to identifying curves, lines, edges and particular angles. That’s all those brain cells do, and they help us identify, among other things, letters.

When we put a certain set of lines and curves together, we end up with a word, and it’s the meaning we’ve attached to the set of lines and curves that’s relevant for us. One of the great things about language is that it is generally an abstract representation of real or imagined things, and that’s part of what makes language so versatile.

When we put all these abstractions of curves, lines and words on a page, the brain sees both a collection of small images, and an overall representation of the page. Call it the wood and the trees. 

Extracting the meaning from that collection of things is what we call reading.

Finding where you are

67% of you said you can find where you left off more easily in a book, than electronically. Research would, in the main, support you.

In seeing the wood and the trees, the brain takes a number of markers about location from these images.  Consequently, when trying to remember where you’re up to, it’s often easier to remember where on the page you were, than the page number. And how often have you flipped through pages looking for the image on the top right corner of the left hand page. Maybe you’ve heard people say “I can see it on the page…” as they struggle to remember which page.

Additionally, there are more landmarks with books.

For a kick off, there are two pages, left and right, each with four corners, which provide useful, physical anchor points for the brain, along with the page numbers, even on one side and odd on the other.

Then there’s the depth of the pages you’ve already turned which acts as another landmark. “I’m about two-thirds through” is a rough and ready guide to where you’re up to. A friend of mine, an architect, was quirky to watch when he used this while navigating a heavy textbook. When remembering where something was, he knew it as 5/8 of an inch from the start, which he’d measure with his thumb!

A reader is always the same thickness to hold, no matter how many pages you’ve read.

Together, these features give the book a feel not yet matched by electronic devices. Swiping isn’t the same as turning a page (see the video) and being able to hold open two or three pages with a finger in each spot adds a tactility not achievable with a reader.

It’s certainly easier to flip back and forth to different pages in a book than in a reader, which is essentially a long scroll of same looking material, unlike the pages in a book. Online, we can bookmark, or flick between windows, but this still isn’t as effective as a book.

All up, books still have it for the topographical strengths they maintain.

So here’s the take home bit

In terms of the brain finding its way around, and for remembering where you’re up to and where information is, books are, still, clearly ahead of readers, and certainly online.

And once we’ve learned how, reading is a skill we never lose, including for people with dementia.

There are other advantages too. More on that next post

Impressive words to drop into the morning coffee chat

Book topography

What do you think?

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SURVEY RESULTS

1. What is your age?

18 to 24      10%

25 to 34      37%

35 to 44      27%

45 to 54      17%

55 to 64      6%

65 to 74      3%

2. Are you male or female? 69% female

3. In general, do you prefer reading from paper or electronically? 63% paper

4. For more complex material, do you prefer to read electronically or on paper? 83% paper

5. Do you find you are more easily distracted when reading from paper, or electronically? 80% electronically

6. Do you find you are more able to remember what you’ve read from paper, or electronically? 72% paper

7. Do you spend more time reading from paper, or electronically? 73% electronically

8. Are you more likely to read an indexed footnote on a page or a hyperlink from a screen? 53% hyperlink

9. Do you believe it’s easier to find where you left off on paper, or electronically? 67% paper

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Paper vs pixels. Does it matter how we read? Part 1.

Posted on April 29, 2013 by

Image courtesy of ereadersincanada.com

Image courtesy of ereadersincanada.com

Books

They get poked, scratched, picked at, bent, ripped, dropped, stood on, licked, eaten, dribbled on,scribbled on and dropped in the bath amid a host of other abuses.

Despite that, they have endured, largely unchanged, for centuries. Certainly, they have more color and are easier to produce than ever before but, notwithstanding, Gutenberg would recognize a book today for exactly what it was.

What and how we read

For some hundreds, even thousands, of years, paper-based (parchment, papyrus, vellum etc) text was the only real way of transmitting the writing we did and, in most cases, reading was the preserve of the wealthy.

In recent centuries however, subsequent to Gutenberg’s moveable-type press, books became cheap to produce, and reading began to spread. Now, of course, we assume reading is a fundamental educational right, and something that we all ought to be able to do.

But reading is a skill; we have to learn how to do it and to become expert at it. No doubt you know people who picked it up easily and those who struggled to master it.

And in addition to there being competition for what we read, now there is significant competition for how we read. Do we read on screen, or on paper?

Paper natives and digital natives

Naturally, there’s a lot to be said for plain old preference. Some people just like the electronic format. Others just prefer paper. With preferences, each can defend their position. And there is an argument to be made for the brain preferring what its used to also, as new habits are hard to develop.

Online news has certainly become the preference for many (witness The Huffington Post) and newspapers have noticed rapidly declining readerships, but e-books and e-readers have not put books into the same position. In fact, book numbers are increasing, still. Moreover, a glance at my magazine store would suggest that there are an increasing number of magazines, also.

That said, my children are growing up with iPads, Kindles, smart phones and tablets. They are, in the vernacular, digital natives. I was, by contrast, a paper native. For many kids today, the preference, by dint of exposure, is for electronic over paper. For me, it’s paper. But for many of my peers, it’s becoming electronic as they spend more and more time online and less and less time with paper.

So for your children, and mine, what do they do? And not just our kids. What do you, and I, do? Is it better to read one form or another? Can we tell the difference? Does it matter? Do we care?

So here’s the take home bit

We’re going to work through this in three or four posts. I think there is an answer, and there are implications, but more on that later.

For now, I’m keen to find out what you do. Please take this quick survey to help us kickstart the conversation.

What do you think?

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The visible brain – clear as Jell-O

Posted on April 12, 2013 by

Image courtesy of Deisseroth Lab

We see what you mean

“It’s the consistency of Jell-O, as transparent and colorful as a child’s model, but vastly more useful.

Scientists at Stanford University reported on Wednesday that they have made a whole mouse brain, and part of a human brain, transparent so that networks of neurons that receive and send information can be highlighted in stunning color and viewed in all their three-dimensional complexity without slicing up the organ.

Even more important, experts say, is that unlike earlier methods for making the tissue of brains and other organs transparent, the new process, called Clarity by its inventors, preserves the biochemistry of the brain so well that researchers can test it over and over again with chemicals that highlight specific structures and provide clues to past activity.”

You can read the rest of the article here.

 

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Eating together is good for you

Posted on April 5, 2013 by

You waaaaaant to watch the tv

Television is more interesting than people. If it were not, we would have people standing in the corners of our rooms.

Among some other pretty funny stuff, Alan Corenk said that about tv*.

But there’s a neck-straining, willpower-depleting, almost irresistible pull to watch a television if it’s on.

The flashing screen is engaging, and it tugs the brain’s orient response, which forces us to look at the new thing that’s happened, making it difficult to draw our attention away. (By the way, this constant re-orientation is partly why we can watch tv all evening, know we’ve done nothing and, yet, still feel tired.)

TV Dinner

But in my family, at least, tv was a no-go during the evening meal. Call it fusty old traditionalism, call it smart enough to keep the kids under watchful eye so they couldn’t escape before it was time to do the dishes, call it what you like. My parents insisted.

Dinner was at the table. Always.

Recent research published in the Journal of Adolescent Health suggests that my parents were, even if inadvertently, onto something.

Conventional wisdom would say that family meals bring families together, kids eat better, parents get a chance to talk with their kids and keep communication channels open, families share more, and so on.

What family meals offer,  (phones off, iPads and tablets left behind) are routine and structure, consistency and predictability, and good eating habits.

Further, there are some traditional things to learn that are acquired by sheer repetition (or nagging, you choose) such as table etiquette (elbows off, no talking with your mouth full), taking turns and cooperation.

Research would supplement these views, adding that family meals can help prevent obesity, diabetes and poor nutrition.

Certainly, in today’s times, family meals can be a useful break from electronic media. In an increasingly wired age, dragging attention from screens to faces can be difficult. Really difficult.

(This is due in part to the repeated re-orientation that our screens require of us and our brains, as we mentioned above and, also, because we just don’t know when the next SMS, update, status change and whatever else, will occur, we continually check. Just in case. For those of you who really want to know, this constant checking follows a variable interval reinforcement schedule.)

This research goes further.

Mental health

In short, the research shows that eating as a family, even if the conversation can be awkward, can significantly improve teenage mental health. It goes on to say that teenagers from families who eat together are usually more trusting and emotionally stable, by comparison with those who aren’t.

Side note: They say nothing about the mental health of parents who have meals with their teenage children even if the conversation is awkward but I guess that’s for another study…

The researchers studied 26,069 teens aged between 11 and 15, to examine the relationship between the frequency of family meals and effects on mental health.

What was particularly noteworthy was that they found a positive effect on mental health for those teens who regularly had family meals regardless of their gender, age or socioeconomic level.

Fewer problems

Lead author, Frank Elgar, McGill Professor, Institute for Health and Social Policy, said

“More frequent family dinners related to fewer emotional and behavioural problems, greater emotional well-being, more trusting and helpful behaviours towards others and higher life satisfaction.”

Moreover:

“We were surprised to find such consistent effects on every outcome we studied. From having no dinners together to eating together 7 nights a week, each additional dinner related to significantly better mental health.”

Abraham Maslow, in his famous Hierarchy of Needs, wrote on the importance of belonging. Family meals help facilitate this by providing opportunities for teaching and coaching, communication and sharing, with teens able to express positives and negatives while still feeling valued.

Naturally, these are important gains.

So here’s the take home bit

The authors are encouraging family dinners, even though they may be awkward, and the conversation stilted.

Push on. It might be worth it.

Impressive words to drop into the morning coffee chat

Variable interval reinforcement

What do you think?

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* Not to be outdone by Groucho Marx who said: 

“I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book!”

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Sleep, teenagers and bird brains

Posted on March 29, 2013 by

I don’t get it.

Are you the parent of a teenager?

My condolences.

I’m kidding. I’m sure they’re lovely and we’re not talking about yours just now, just some other teenagers you might know because this won’t apply to yours.

If you are the parent of a teenager, you might be familiar with the interminable going to bed process that seems to involve more false starts than the entire Olympic track history combined and more drama than Hollywood.

Truth be told, I’ve felt like handing out awards too.

And the excuses? Seriously.

The times they are a changin’

However, it’s generally true that sleep changes for teenagers, insofar as they need more and, often, their chronotype changes. By chronotype, I mean that the time they would naturally go to bed, if the brain had its way, shifts, often to a later time, becoming more owl-like than lark-like.

We’ve covered a little on chronotypes here, and related to them, circadian rhythms, here.

Some schools recognize this, starting and finishing later to accommodate the shift. Anecdotally, they would claim they note the benefits in performance from their students.

For all that though, it’s true, despite what we know, that much of why we sleep is, still, a bit of a mystery. But one thing is for sure, and I sure wish my teenager would get it.

Sleep consolidates memory. Without good sleep, memory and, therefore, learning, suffers.

learning –> sleep –> memory –> learning –> performance

Recent work at the University of Chicago, reported here, was testing just that.

Bird brains

They were looking more specifically at learning on tasks, which involves procedural memory, as opposed to facts, which is declarative memory, and teasing out the importance of sleep in consolidating learning when there were two, competing tasks, learned on the same day.

The new study, measuring starlings’ ability to recognize new songs, highlighted how learning a second task, on the same day, can hinder performance on the previously learned task. But critically, they show also that a good night’s sleep aids the brain in keeping both  new memories.

“Starlings provide an excellent model for studying memory because of fundamental biological similarities between avian and mammalian brains”, they wrote in Sleep Consolidation of Interfering Auditory Memories in Starlings*,  published online in  Psychological Science.

“These observations demonstrate that sleep consolidation enhances retention of interfering experiences, facilitating daytime learning and the subsequent formation of stable memories,” the authors wrote.

The paper was written by graduate psychology researcher Timothy Brawn at UChicago; Howard Nusbaum, professor of psychology; and Daniel Margoliash, professor of psychology, organismal biology and anatomy. Nusbaum is an expert on learning, while Margoliash is a pioneer in the research of brain function and its development in birds.

Four and twenty starlings

There were two experiments, each using 24 starlings. They played the birds two recorded songs from other starlings and then tested the birds’ ability to recognize and, importantly, repeat, the two songs.

Side note: There’s a nod in there to an effect you might notice of recognition versus recall. Ever noticed that you might struggle to remember the words of an old song (recall) but, when it comes on the radio, you can sing along (recognition)? 

After learning to recognize the two songs, the birds were later trained to recognize and perform a different pair of songs.

The authors then examined the effect of sleep on memory consolidation.  After learning the second pair of songs, they were tested on the first, prior to going to sleep, varying the time between testing.

Learning the second pair of songs interfered with the starlings’ ability to remember the first pair, regardless of the time between the daytime testing periods. Interestingly, learning the first pair of songs also interfered with the birds’ ability to remember the second pair when they were tested on the second pair before they went to sleep.

However, when the starlings were allowed to sleep, performance increased on both pairs of songs, overcoming the interference effect. Moreover, if they were taught a new song after waking up, the starlings could still remember the previous day’s learning, despite this new interference.

“The study demonstrates that sleep restores performance and makes learning robust against interference encountered after sleep. This process is critical to the formation and stability of long-term memories,” Nusbaum said.

So here’s the take home bit

Paying attention to chronotype can be useful, if it allows full sleep and, thus, time for consolidation.

Sleep hygiene is also important for a good bedtime routine.

Poor sleep = poor learning.

No excuses!

Impressive words to drop into the morning coffee chat

Memory consolidation

What do you think?

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APA

*University of Chicago. (2013, March 22). “Sleep Critical To The Formation And Stability Of Long-Term Memories.” Medical News Today. Retrieved from

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/257991.php
.


 

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Who wants to live forever?

Posted on March 22, 2013 by

It’s the stuff of myth isn’t it?

The fountain of eternal youth.

The elixir of life.

Outwitting Father Time.

It’s a cosmetics favorite too – “guaranteed to reduce the visible signs of aging”.

Turn back the clock.

Take years off your life.

Freddie Mercury asked the question. Little did Freddie know that a question like that wasn’t one for the bright lights of the music biz but for the corporate fluorescents of Massachusetts.

Cambridge. Massachusetts. 2006.

Trees, alternating with street lights, try to soften the glass and concrete frontage. The effort at green falls short. It needs more.

Some grass. Other planting, maybe. Something.

Inside number 200, at Sirtris, they probably don’t care about the industrial look and uninviting frontage. They’re looking for something else.

Sirtris Pharmaceuticals was founded to make drugs.

Powerful, potent drugs.

Drugs that could make people rich. Drugs to die for.

Inside, research chemists hunkered over microscopes, comparing notes, hoping for the big one.

Leads and red herrings. Repeat.

In this game, hopes are, frequently, raised and dashed, raised and dashed. Still, they look, striving for the breakthrough.

At Sirtris, they think they’ve cracked it.

Of mice and men

You see, their mice lived longer than others. Sirtris had extended their lifespan.

Think about what that means for humans if you can extend life.

Population increase. Urban planning problems. Aged care ghettos. And longer working lives. More productivity. Fewer, or maybe just delayed disease costs. That’s just for starters.

Sirtris, and others, are working on a small group of genes believed to protect many living things, mammals included, from familiar diseases of aging. They’re called sirtuins. And there’s evidence, really good evidence, that we can jumpstart them and kick them back into action, with profound implications for health.

In 2006, David Sinclair published the work, showing as much. But others disagreed. The studies were flawed they claimed. Sinclair’s conclusions couldn’t be drawn from the work. It was a step too far they opined.

Sirtris, and Sinclair, still thought they’d cracked it.

Pharmaceuticals companies thought so, too. Sirtris is now a GlaxoSmithKline company who bought the research project in 2008, kept Sinclair as an adviser and who, like an expectant father, is just waiting for the project to bear fruit.

March 8, 2013

Professor Sinclair’s work was published in the March 8 issue of Science, after some considerable effort to isolate, and target, an anti-aging mechanism. The goal is to slow or, better, prevent, aging, and extend lifespans.

Along with this comes the potential that the familiar nasty age-related diseases of cancer, type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease, could have met their match. There has already been promising, exciting work in trials with benefits for Parkinson’s disease, cataracts, fatty liver disease, osteoporosis, sleep disorders, muscle wasting, colitis, psoriasis, arthritis and cardiovascular disease.

It’s due to a single, anti-aging enzyme.

It’s called resveratrol. Learn how to say it so you can casually drop it into conversation, emphasis on the ‘ver’.

Res-VER-a trol.

Professor David Sinclair, from UNSW Medicine and now based at Harvard, might have a tiger by the tail. Check him out on TED just after his 364th birthday.

Resveratrol

Resveratrol works by boosting the effects of SIRT1, a specific sirtuin. In particular, it energizes the mitochondria. Imagine a cell, with a wind-up handle. As we age, the handle turns more and more slowly. Resveratrol winds it back up again, recharging the mitochondrial battery.

Mice have been shown to have twice the endurance and stay largely free from obesity and the effects of aging. What would the military make of that?

And there’s never been a drug that does what this does.

For the pharmacophobic (fear of taking medication), SIRT1 is turned on naturally by two key things

  • calorie restriction
  • exercise

Diet and physical activity. Go figure.

Resveratrol is different again. It’s a SIRT1 activator, directly working on the SIRT1 enzyme. You find it naturally in red wine (grape and berry skins, peanuts too).

But red wine isn’t what interests GlaxoSmithKline, is it?

Back in the lab, four thousand (you read that right) synthetic agents, each 100 times more powerful than a single glass of red wine, have been worked up.

The best three are in trials.

Red wine pill, anyone?

You’ll be able to take them orally or, as a topical to smear on your skin. While they haven’t been aimed directly at anti-aging cosmetics, it is just a matter of time. Skin care companies are playing with it in face crème. Watch this space.

In mice, overweight mice given synthetic resveratrol ran twice as far as slim mice, and then outlived them by 15%. Fat and happy.

Given results like that, it’s understandable that diabetes is probably the first target. As you may have read before, that’s also good news for brain health and dementia prevention.

It may one day, Sinclair says, be taken as a preventative.

So here’s the take home bit

In case you missed it, two of the best ways to prolong life are, still, by eating well, and by exercising. They are fundamentals of general brain fitness.

Red wine, too, is also good for you, taken moderately.

But the real work is still to come.

Red wine pills are a clear objective, as are interventions and preventions for a number of conditions.

Sinclair believes that living to 150 is achievable.

There are significant implications for wider society, industry and military.

It might not be as much of a myth as we thought.

Impressive words to drop into the morning coffee chat

Resveratrol, sirtuins

What do you think?

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Get the mental edge you’ve wanted. Chew gum.

Posted on March 14, 2013 by

Image taken from Answers.com

Looking for a mental edge?

According to British investigators, prior research has found that the act of chewing gum could boost concentration when doing sight-related memory tasks, reproduced here, and see the original at 
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-gum-brain-edge.html#jCp

Their new study looked at the effects of chewing gum during a hearing-related memory test. The experiment included 38 people who were split into two groups, each of which performed a 30-minute task that involved listening to a list of numbers from one to nine read aloud in a random order.

The participants were scored on how accurately and quickly they were able to detect a sequence of odd-even-odd numbers, such as seven-two-one.

One group chewed gum while doing the task.

Overall, participants who chewed gum had quicker reaction times and more accurate results than those who didn’t chew gum. This was especially true toward the end of the task, according to the study, which was published March 8 in the British Journal of Psychology.

“Interestingly, participants who didn’t chew gum performed slightly better at the beginning of the task but were overtaken by the end,” Kate Morgan, of Cardiff University, said in a journal news release. “This suggests that chewing gum helps us focus on tasks that require continuous monitoring over a longer amount of time.”

So here’s the take home bit

If you’re a nervous parent and want to know more, The Nemours Foundation explains what happens when you swallow gum.

Impressive words to drop into the morning coffee chat

Reaction times

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Woman’s brain vs Man’s brain. Game on.

Posted on March 5, 2013 by

Women have smaller brains

But they use them more efficiently than men.

Aaaaaand that’s when the fight started.

Neil Sears took a look at some recent research, copied here in its entirety for you.

We’ll have more to say on this soon.

Neil writes…

  • Female brains are typically 8 per cent smaller
  • However they are more efficient at tracking changes and inductive reasoning

It’s a standing joke among many men… that women have smaller brains.

Now research seems to indicate that while this may be true, it doesn’t matter because women use their brains more efficiently.

A woman’s works more efficiently than the man’s by using less energy and fewer brain cells to achieve the same, or even better results.

Research has found that despite women having 8 per cent smaller brains this could help it perform quickerSmaller brains, greater efficiency: Research has found that despite women having 8 per cent smaller brains this could help it perform quicker
page 3 cartoon

It could be because while men have more of the bundles of brain cells essential for reasoning – neurons – the women have more connections between theirs, enabling quicker thinking despite having less grey matter.

The new research, carried out by University of California neuroscientists assisted by colleagues in Madrid, set out to question why women, with brains typically 8 per cent small than those of men, were of equal intelligence.

It focused on the section of the brain known as the hippocampus – vital for a useful memory and emotions.

In men, the larger the hippocampus, and the more neurons, the higher the intelligence.

But the researchers found that in women, a larger hippocampus, typically of course smaller than men’s, was no indication of greater intelligence – and even suggested that the smaller the hippocampus, the better.

The scientists carried out psychological tests on 59 women and 45 men aged from 18 to 27.

In line with previous studies they found the women were better at inductive reasoning and tracking a changing situation, while the men showed greater prowess at spatial reasoning.

Men showed greater prowess at spatial reasoning, but fell behind women on inductive reasoning and tracking changing situationsBrain power: Men showed greater prowess at spatial reasoning, but fell behind women on inductive reasoning and tracking changing situations

But the women’s brains were the more efficient, suggested the published results of the research, published in the scientific journal Intelligence.

The paper concluded: ‘At this structural level, females might show greater efficiency requiring less neural material for achieving behavioural results on a par with males.’

Cambridge University professor of Trevor Robbins said the research was fascinating but required further examination.

Prof Robbins said: ‘The research suggests that, in women, the smaller the hippocampus, the better it works. The size of a structure doesn’t necessarily bear any relation to how well it performs.

‘The smaller size could represent more intense packing of nerve cells or more active signalling between them, meaning they are operating more efficiently.’

Read more: 
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2287523/Women-really-smaller-brains–use-efficiently-men.html#ixzz2McOuyGZY

So here’s the take home bit

Maybe you didn’t learn anything new. Maybe you have more questions…

Notice the careful use of qualifying terms:

  • suggests
  • might
  • could
  • may

But let’s open up the argument. I mean, conversation.

Thoughts and questions welcome..

Impressive words to drop into the morning coffee chat

Hippocampus

What do you think?

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Caffeine!

Posted on February 28, 2013 by

Mmmmmmm
But what does it really do…

Mmmmmmm

Jack Russells are what happens when an upholstered rat swallows your stash of NoDoz and trips out on caffeine.

Ours was the same.

Including running on only three legs, which is totally odd, which I never understood, but which is, apparently, normal for Jack Russells.

Told you they’re odd.

For us, rather than NoDoz, caffeine usually comes in coffee.

Mmmmmmm.

I like mine milky, easy on the fluff.

Caffeine

Caffeine is a bitter, white, crystalline alkaloid that’s derived from coffee and tea. Officially, it belongs to a group of compounds called xanthines. A close relative is theophylline, also found in coffee and tea, which is used as a medication for asthma and COPD.

Caffeine is an interesting little guy.

A central nervous stimulant.

A psychoactive substance.

A drug.

Soooooo, might have to wake up and smell the coffee.

You might be a stoner.

Yep, at your age.

Am I really a stoner?

If you have a regular coffee habit, which engages you in drinking coffee before work, when you get to work, on break, over lunch, on break, plus one or two for good measure, and one to be social, and then maybe one, or even two, once you get home, then, it’s true, you’re probably a waster.

At least you might be according to current psychiatric criteria.

You might also notice that you get headaches on Saturdays. This is your body and brain going into withdrawal. They’re expecting their regular, work-routine dictated hit of caffeine and you’ve deprived them by sleeping in or doing some other thing.

To get back at you, your brain and body develop symptoms as a result. If this is you, and you get headaches on Saturdays, it could well be because you’re out of your caffeine routine.

And because you’re a stoner!

So here’s a pop quiz for you

Okay, it’s actually a checklist of psychiatric symptoms for caffeine withdrawal, but pop quiz sounds better.

See how you stack up.

The most commonly reported withdrawal symptoms are:

  • Headache
  • Fatigue
  • Drowsiness/sleepiness
  • Difficulty concentrating
  • Work difficulty (such as decreased motivation for jobs)
  • Irritability
  • Depressed mood
  • Anxiety
  • Flu-like symptoms
  • Impairment in psychomotor (coordination), vigilance and cognitive performance

If that sounds like you on a Saturday morning, well, you know where I’m going with how much coffee you’re drinking… especially as most of us underestimate how much we drink. It takes only 12 to 24 hours for withdrawal symptoms to appear.

Caffeinism is the dependency.

And caffeine does some interesting things to the brain and, therefore, behavior.

Come with me to NASA.

Spiders

In 1995, a bunch of NASA scientists started playing with drugs. Truth be told, it probably wasn’t the first time, but that’s another story.

In actual fact, what they did was to replicate an experiment first undertaken in, when else, the 1960s. The experiment completed by Swiss pharmacologist Peter N Witt tested the effect of various substances on spiders.

Ostensibly, he was looking for changes in when they spun webs.

Sure.

Sounds legit.

But the results may surprise you.

Or, if you drink coffee or drop acid, they might not.

A little clarification

Broadly, drugs are classified into one of three categories:

  • hallucinogens (those that distort your senses and perceptions)
  • stimulants (such as amphetamines, that rev you up, not called ‘speed’ for nothing)
  • depressants (those that depress the central nervous system, knock you out, shut you down)

Some have more than one effect, and so don’t fit tidily into only one category, but it’s a pretty good rule of thumb.

Back to the spiders

You’ll see in the picture below that there are five webs. The bottom picture is a normal web spun by a normal garden spider. The remaining webs shown have been influenced by the ingestion of various drugs.

  • LSD (also called acid; hallucinogen)
  • Speed (amphetamines; stimulant)
  • Marijuana (weed and many other names; primarily hallucinogenic)
  • Caffeine (stimulant)

So a quick glance at their respective performance will tell you

  • LSD. Beautiful, but missing some key elements
  • Speed. 60% there
  • Marijuana. Starting to fall away. 
  • Caffeine. Well. What do you say?

In 1995, it was NASA‘s Dr David Noever from the Marshall Space Flight Center who did it again.

Same experiment, slightly different set of substances. Benzedrine (also called ‘Bennies’) is an amphetamine and thus a stimulant. Choral Hydrate is a sleeping tablet (depressant) used for insomnia, as an anti-anxiety agent and sometimes in surgery.

Let’s review.

The normal web is obviously our control sample. 

The marijuana spider started well and the web is recognizable, but this took him all day. He clearly got a little lost, couldn’t remember what he was supposed to do, found the cognitive effort too much and gave up. He was probably distracted by a sudden huge appetite and the fez-wearing whale he saw floating through the sky.

The benzedrine spider started at the same time as the marijuana spider. He did this in three seconds flat, decided he’d spring clean the entire forest, got into a fight, got arrested, spent time in the slammer and still got home before the marijuana spider had finished. Overall, though, only moderately effective.

The choral hydrate guy got started, but was asked to count backwards from 10 and clearly never got past 6. He fell asleep, and fell off the web. The marijuana spider ate him.

The caffeine spider. What a crazy web. Notice that it lacks the basic elements required in Web 101. Notice too, that this may not have taken long, but he’s all over the place.

We’re not spiders, but the effects are similar.

What does it mean for us?

Increasingly, caffeine is in medication, bottled water, soft drinks, weight loss programs and, for obvious reasons, energy drinks.

Caffeine crosses easily into the brain from your bloodstream. You do have a layer or protection called the blood-brain barrier, but caffeine gets through it easily.

In small doses, caffeine is effective at increasing our mental alertness. We can concentrate better, think faster and perform better. It works well as a pick me up, but its effects are short-lived. By the way, it’s a diuretic, which means that it we dehydrate and want to use the bathroom.

Smokers process caffeine at about twice the rate of non-smokers, perhaps explaining why they may drink more coffee. Pregnant women process caffeine at half the rate of non-smokers.

Caffeine itself doesn’t actually stimulate us. What it does do is bind to the brain’s numerous adenosine receptors. It’s a good fit, and the brain thinks its loaded with adenosine. What this does is allow the natural stimulants like dopamine and glutamate to run wild.

They do the stimulating. Caffeine prevents the brain from putting the brakes on.

It’s not that you have more power or control, but that you have more speed. That’s how caffeine affects us.

So here’s the take home bit

While drinks range in caffeine content, here’s a guide;

  • Full-strength brewed coffee             100mg
  • Instant coffee                                      75mg
  • Tea                                                       50mg
  • Same volume of many soft drinks   50mg
  • Recommended daily maximum       500mg

Interested to hear your thoughts.

Impressive words to drop into the morning coffee chat

Adenosine, dopamine, glutamate

What do you think?

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The research is in: Physical activity enhances cognition

Posted on February 20, 2013 by

 

Walking is fine, too!

Walking is fine, too!

No excuses now…

The research is in: Physical activity enhances cognition.

It can’t be denied any longer…

Time to get off the couch y’all.

University of Illinois psychology professor Art Kramer, a nationally recognized expert on the role of physical fitness on cognition, discussed these brain-changing outcomes at a session of the 2013 meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Boston on Feb. 16, as reported here.

Kramer is the director of the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the U. of I.

“Populations throughout the industrialized world are becoming increasing sedentary as a result of the changing nature of work and leisure activities,” Kramer said. “As a result of these societal changes, increases in diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, osteoporosis and some cancers are increasing. Physical activity serves to reduce susceptibility to these diseases.”

“Increased physical activity also has direct, and relatively rapid effects on cognition and brain health,” he said. “Such results have now been reported, over the course of several decades, in animal studies of physical activity.”

Walking is fine, too!

Studies in humans, many conducted in Kramer’s lab, also show that regular exercise, such as walking three times per week, also increases brain power. Kramer presented research from his own lab and others that demonstrates that older adults who participate in fitness training and physical activity benefit from significant improvements in their brain structure and function.

He detailed how scientists use both behavioral measures and non-invasive neuroimaging techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), functional MRI, event-related brain potential, and event-related optical signals to assess cognition. He concluded his presentation with a dissection of the gaps present in human and animal cognitive and brain health literature and described how future research can remedy this.

Read more at: 
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-physical-cognition.html#jCp

So here’s the take home bit

See you on the streets!

Impressive words to drop into the morning coffee chat

Cognition

What do you think?

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