Efforts to enhance reproducibility in a human performance research project.

Ensuring the validity of results from funded programs is a critical concern for agencies that sponsor biological research. In recent years, the open science movement has sought to promote reproducibility by encouraging sharing not only of finished manuscripts but also of data and code supporting their findings. While these innovations have lent support to third-party efforts to replicate calculations underlying key results in the scientific literature, fields of inquiry where privacy considerations or other sensitivities preclude the broad distribution of raw data or analysis may require a more targeted approach to promote the quality of research output.

Investigating nutrient biomarkers of healthy brain aging: a multimodal brain imaging study.

The emerging field of Nutritional Cognitive Neuroscience aims to uncover specific foods and nutrients that promote healthy brain aging. Central to this effort is the discovery of nutrient profiles that can be targeted in nutritional interventions designed to promote brain health with respect to multimodal neuroimaging measures of brain structure, function, and metabolism. The present study therefore conducted one of the largest and most comprehensive nutrient biomarker studies examining multimodal neuroimaging measures of brain health within a sample of 100 older adults.

The utilitarian brain: Moving beyond the Free Energy Principle.

The Free Energy Principle (FEP) is a normative computational framework for iterative reduction of prediction error and uncertainty through perception-intervention cycles that has been presented as a potential unifying theory of all brain functions (Friston, 2006). Any theory hoping to unify the brain sciences must be able to explain the mechanisms of decision-making, an important cognitive faculty, without the addition of independent, irreducible notions. This challenge has been accepted by several proponents of the FEP (Friston, 2010; Gershman, 2019).

Assessing blood oxygen level-dependent signal variability as a biomarker of brain injury in sport-related concussion.

Mild traumatic brain injury is a complex neurological disorder of significant concern among athletes who play contact sports. Athletes who sustain sport-related concussion typically undergo physical examination and neurocognitive evaluation to determine injury severity and return-to-play status. However, traumatic disruption to neurometabolic processes can occur with minimal detectable anatomic pathology or neurocognitive alteration, increasing the risk that athletes may be cleared for return-to-play during a vulnerable period and receive a repetitive injury.

Connectome-based predictive modeling of fluid intelligence: evidence for a global system of functionally integrated brain networks.

Cognitive neuroscience continues to advance our understanding of the neural foundations of human intelligence, with significant progress elucidating the role of the frontoparietal network in cognitive control mechanisms for flexible, intelligent behavior. Recent evidence in network neuroscience further suggests that this finding may represent the tip of the iceberg and that fluid intelligence may depend on the collective interaction of multiple brain networks. However, the global brain mechanisms underlying fluid intelligence and the nature of multi-network interactions remain to be well established.

Investigating cognitive neuroscience theories of human intelligence: A connectome-based predictive modeling approach.

Central to modern neuroscientific theories of human intelligence is the notion that general intelligence depends on a primary brain region or network, engaging spatially localized (rather than global) neural representations. Recent findings in network neuroscience, however, challenge this assumption, providing evidence that general intelligence may depend on system-wide network mechanisms, suggesting that local representations are necessary but not sufficient to account for the neural architecture of human intelligence. Despite the importance of this key theoretical distinction, prior research has not systematically investigated the role of local versus global neural representations in predicting general intelligence.

The Effects of Sustained Literacy Engagement on Cognition and Sentence Processing Among Older Adults.

Considerable evidence suggests that language processing depends on memory processes, which are vulnerable to declines with aging. Yet little is known about the effects of language processing in the form of sustained literacy engagement on memory and other aspects of cognition. In the current study, adults (60-79 years of age) were randomly assigned to an 8-week program of leisure reading ( = 38) or to an active puzzle control ( = 38).

Beyond IQ: The Importance of Metacognition for the Promotion of Global Wellbeing.

Global policy makers increasingly adopt subjective wellbeing as a framework within which to measure and address human development challenges, including policies to mitigate consequential societal problems. In this review, we take a systems-level perspective to assemble evidence from studies of wellbeing, of collective intelligence, and of metacognition and argue for a virtuous cycle for health promotion in which the increased collective intelligence of groups: (1) enhances the ability of such groups to address consequential societal problems; (2) promotes the wellbeing of societies and the individual wellbeing of people within groups; and, finally, (3) enables prosocial actions that further promote collective problem-solving and global wellbeing. Notably, evidence demonstrates that effective collaboration and teamwork largely depend on social skills for metacognitive awareness-the capacity to evaluate and control our own mental processes in the service of social problem-solving.

Cognitive Neuroscience Meets the Community of Knowledge.

Cognitive neuroscience seeks to discover the biological foundations of the human mind. One goal is to explain how mental operations are generated by the information processing architecture of the human brain. Our aim is to assess whether this is a well-defined objective.

Carotenoid-Rich Brain Nutrient Pattern Is Positively Correlated With Higher Cognition and Lower Depression in the Oldest Old With No Dementia.

Healthy dietary patterns are related to better cognitive health in aging populations. While levels of individual nutrients in neural tissues are individually associated with cognitive function, the investigation of nutrient patterns in human brain tissue has not been conducted. Brain tissues were acquired from frontal and temporal cortices of 47 centenarians from the Georgia Centenarian Study.

Enhanced physical and cognitive performance in active duty Airmen: evidence from a randomized multimodal physical fitness and nutritional intervention.

Achieving military mission objectives requires high levels of performance from Airmen who operate under extreme physical and cognitive demands. Thus, there is a critical need to establish scientific interventions to enhance physical fitness and cognitive performance-promoting the resilience of Airmen and aiding in mission success. We therefore conducted a comprehensive, 12-week randomized controlled trial in active-duty Air Force Airmen (n = 148) to compare the efficacy of a multimodal intervention comprised of high-intensity interval aerobic fitness and strength training paired with a novel nutritional supplement [comprised of β-hydroxy β-methylbutyrate (HMB), lutein, phospholipids, DHA and selected micronutrients including B12 and folic acid] to high-intensity interval aerobic fitness and strength training paired with a standard of care placebo beverage.

Standard-space atlas of the viscoelastic properties of the human brain.

Standard anatomical atlases are common in neuroimaging because they facilitate data analyses and comparisons across subjects and studies. The purpose of this study was to develop a standardized human brain atlas based on the physical mechanical properties (i.e.

Opposing associations between sedentary time and decision-making competence in young adults revealed by functional connectivity in the dorsal attention network.

How daily physical activity and sedentary time relate to human judgement and functional connectivity (FC) patterns that support them remains underexplored. We investigated the relationships between accelerometer-measured moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and sedentary time to decision-making competence (DMC) in young adults using a comprehensive Adult-Decision Making Competence battery. We applied graph theory measures of global and local efficiency to test the mediating effects of FC in cognitively salient brain networks (fronto-parietal; dorsal attention, DAN; ventral attention; and default mode), assessed from the resting-state fMRI.

Comorbid Conditions Differentiate Rehabilitation Profiles in Traumatic Versus Nontraumatic Brain Injury: A Retrospective Analysis Using a Medical Database.

Purpose: We examined the relationship between comorbid medical conditions and changes in cognition over the course of rehabilitation following acquired brain injury. In particular, we compared outcomes between traumatic brain injury (TBI) and non-TBI using a retrospective inpatient rehabilitation dataset. We hypothesized that differences by diagnosis would be minimized among subgroups of patients with common comorbid medical conditions.

Antioxidant Therapies in Traumatic Brain Injury.

Due to a multiplicity of causes provoking traumatic brain injury (TBI), TBI is a highly heterogeneous pathology, characterized by high mortality and disability rates. TBI is an acute neurodegenerative event, potentially and unpredictably evolving into sub-chronic and chronic neurodegenerative events, with transient or permanent neurologic, cognitive, and motor deficits, for which no valid standardized therapies are available. A vast body of literature demonstrates that TBI-induced oxidative/nitrosative stress is involved in the development of both acute and chronic neurodegenerative disorders.

Individual differences in the neurobiology of fluid intelligence predict responsiveness to training: Evidence from a comprehensive cognitive, mindfulness meditation, and aerobic exercise intervention.

Background: Fluid intelligence (G) is a critical cognitive ability that is predictive of real-world outcomes, and it has been a persistent aim to characterize its neural architecture.

Procedure: We advance our prior research by applying latent class analysis to evaluate individual differences in the neural and cognitive foundations of G over the course of a 16-week randomized, multi-modal intervention trial in neurologically healthy, younger adults (N = 424).

Results: Controlling for pre-intervention ability, three latent classes described individual performance at post-intervention and one group (n = 71) showed greater gains in visuospatial reasoning and high performance at post-intervention.

Concentrations of Circulating Phylloquinone, but Not Cerebral Menaquinone-4, Are Positively Correlated with a Wide Range of Cognitive Measures: Exploratory Findings in Centenarians.

Background: Vitamin K (VK) exists in the form of phylloquinone (PK) and menaquinones (MKs). Roles of VK on cognitive health in the elderly are emerging, but there is limited evidence on VK uptake and metabolism in human brain.

Objectives: The primary objective of this study was to characterize VK distribution in brains of an elderly population with varied cognitive function.

Metabolomic stability of exercise-induced sweat.

Due to increased interest in the use of excreted sweat for biomarker discovery, data must be generated supporting sample collection and handling methods to allow for controlled, large-scale biomarker discovery studies to be performed. In this manuscript, twelve amino acids were quantitated from exercise-induced excreted sweat held at room temperature or a simulated body temperature of 37 °C for up to 90 min. The data illustrate a large dynamic range exists among amino acids in sweat.

Enhanced decision-making through multimodal training.

A central aim of research in the psychological and decision sciences is to establish interventions that enhance performance, investigating the efficacy of modern approaches to improve human inference and decision-making. Whereas the decision sciences have established interventions to reduce decision biases by promoting strategies for critical thought and reasoning, methods from psychology have instead focused on enhancing cognition through skill-based training of executive functions. Contemporary research in psychology has engaged these operations through multi-modal interventions designed to enhance cognition and physical health through training of executive functions, mindfulness meditation, and physical fitness.

Essential Amino Acids, Vitamins, and Minerals Moderate the Relationship between the Right Frontal Pole and Measures of Memory.

Scope: Nutrition has increasingly been recognized for its ability to help prevent and protect against disease, inspiring new programs of research that translate findings from nutritional science into innovative assessment tools, technologies, and therapies to advance the practice of modern medicine. A central aim in this effort is to discover specific dietary patterns that promote healthy brain aging and moderate the engagement of neural systems known to facilitate cognitive performance in later life.

Methods And Results: The present study therefore investigates estimates of nutrient intake derived from food frequency questionnaires, structural measures of brain volume via high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging, and standardized neuropsychological measures of memory performance in nondemented elders (n = 111) using a moderation analysis.