Brain-age estimation with a low-cost EEG-headset: effectiveness and implications for large-scale screening and brain optimization.

Over time, pathological, genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors can age the brain and diminish its functional capabilities. While these factors can lead to disorders that can be diagnosed and treated once they become symptomatic, often treatment is difficult or ineffective by the time significant overt symptoms appear. One approach to this problem is to develop a method for assessing general age-related brain health and function that can be implemented widely and inexpensively.

Mindset matters: contributions from grit and growth mindsets to successful aging.

Objective: Though we all age, some age more successfully than others. Health and social connections have been identified as cornerstones to successful aging, yet the contributions from psychological factors are less clear. Our goal was to examine the influence of grit and growth mindset in successful aging in middle and older age.

Effective Care Practices in Patients Receiving Prolonged Mechanical Ventilation. An Ethnographic Study.

Patients receiving prolonged mechanical ventilation experience low survival rates and incur high healthcare costs. However, little is known about how to optimally organize and manage their care. To identify a set of effective care practices for patients receiving prolonged mechanical ventilation.

Lung Transplant Pulmonologists' Views of Specialty Palliative Care for Lung Transplant Recipients.

Lung transplant recipients with serious illness may benefit from but rarely receive specialty palliative care (SPC) services. Transplant pulmonologists' views of SPC may be key to understanding SPC utilization but have not been well characterized. (1) To understand how transplant pulmonologists view SPC and decide to refer transplant recipients and (2) to identify unique aspects of lung transplantation that may influence referral decisions.

Distinct Functional Connectivity Patterns Are Associated With Social and Cognitive Lifestyle Factors: Pathways to Cognitive Reserve.

The importance of diverse lifestyle factors in sustaining cognition during aging and delaying the onset of decline in Alzheimer's disease and related dementias cannot be overstated. We explored the influence of cognitive, social, and physical lifestyle factors on resting-state lagged linear connectivity (LLC) in high-density electroencephalography (EEG) in adults, ages 35-75 years. Diverse lifestyle factors build cognitive reserve (CR), protecting cognition in the presence of physical brain decline.

Should we pay attention to eye movements? The impact of bilateral eye movements on behavioral and neural responses during the Attention Network Test.

Bilateral eye movements (EMs) have been associated with enhancements in episodic memory and creativity. We explored the influence of EMs on behavior and event related potential (ERP) responses during the Attention Network Test (ANT). Participants completed ANT trials after bilateral EMs or a center-fixation control manipulation.

Determinants of Intensive Care Unit Telemedicine Effectiveness. An Ethnographic Study.

Rationale: Telemedicine is an increasingly common care delivery strategy in the ICU. However, ICU telemedicine programs vary widely in their clinical effectiveness, with some studies showing a large mortality benefit and others showing no benefit or even harm.

Objectives: To identify the organizational factors associated with ICU telemedicine effectiveness.

Changes in brain connectivity following exposure to bilateral eye movements.

The present research assessed how engaging in bilateral eye movements influences brain activity. Participants had their resting-state brain activity recorded with electroencephalography (EEG) before and after they performed 30 s of bilateral eye movements or a center-control manipulation. We assessed differences in change scores for absolute power and coherence between the eye-movement and center-control conditions.

Perceptions of rounding checklists in the intensive care unit: a qualitative study.

Background: Rounding checklists are an increasingly common quality improvement tool in the intensive care unit (ICU). However, effectiveness studies have shown conflicting results. We sought to understand ICU providers' perceptions of checklists, as well as barriers and facilitators to effective utilisation of checklists during daily rounds.

The Impact of Age and Cognitive Reserve on Resting-State Brain Connectivity.

Cognitive reserve (CR) is a protective mechanism that supports sustained cognitive function following damage to the physical brain associated with age, injury, or disease. The goal of the research was to identify relationships between age, CR, and brain connectivity. A sample of 90 cognitively normal adults, ages 45-64 years, had their resting-state brain activity recorded with electroencephalography (EEG) and completed a series of memory and executive function assessments.

Frontal-posterior coherence and cognitive function in older adults.

The reliable measurement of brain health and cognitive function is essential in mitigating the negative effects associated with cognitive decline through early and accurate diagnosis of change. The present research explored the relationship between EEG coherence for electrodes within frontal and posterior regions, as well as coherence between frontal and posterior electrodes and performance on standard neuropsychological measures of memory and executive function. EEG coherence for eyes-closed resting-state EEG activity was calculated for delta, theta, alpha, beta, and gamma frequency bands.

Influence of handedness and bilateral eye movements on creativity.

We investigated the effects of increased inter-hemispheric interaction (IHI) on five creativity dimensions (appropriateness, detail, categorical distinctiveness, fluency, and originality) of the Alternate Uses Task. Two methods were used to indicate degree of IHI. Trait IHI was indicated by individual differences in handedness, mixed-handers showing greater IHI than strong-handers.

Semantic richness and the activation of concepts in semantic memory: evidence from event-related potentials.

Semantic richness refers to the amount of semantic information associated with a concept. Reaction-time (RT) studies have shown that words referring to rich concepts elicit faster responses than those referring to impoverished ones, suggesting that richer concepts are activated more quickly. In a recent functional neuroimaging study, richer concepts evoked less neural activity, which was interpreted as faster activation.

The transliminal brain at rest: baseline EEG, unusual experiences, and access to unconscious mental activity.

Transliminality reflects individual differences in the threshold at which unconscious processes or external stimuli enter into consciousness. Individuals high in transliminality possess characteristics such as magical ideation, belief in the paranormal, and creative personality traits, and also report the occurrence of manic/mystic experiences. The goal of the present research was to determine if resting brain activity differs for individuals high versus low in transliminality.

The origins of insight in resting-state brain activity.

People can solve problems in more than one way. Two general strategies involve (A) methodical, conscious, search of problem-state transformations, and (B) sudden insight, with abrupt emergence of the solution into consciousness. This study elucidated the influence of initial resting brain-state on subjects' subsequent strategy choices.

The prepared mind: neural activity prior to problem presentation predicts subsequent solution by sudden insight.

Insight occurs when problem solutions arise suddenly and seem obviously correct, and is associated with an "Aha!" experience. Prior theorizing concerning preparation that facilitates insight focused on solvers' problem-specific knowledge. We hypothesized that a distinct type of mental preparation, manifested in a distinct brain state, would facilitate insight problem solving independently of problem-specific knowledge.

New approaches to demystifying insight.

After a person has become stuck on a problem, they sometimes achieve a clear and sudden solution through insight--the so-called Aha! experience. Because of its distinctive experience, the origins and characteristics of insight have received considerable attention historically in psychological research. However, despite considerable progress in characterizing insight, the underlying mechanisms remain mysterious.

The use of verbal protocols as data: an analysis of insight in the candle problem.

In the present study, we examined the use of verbal protocols as data in the study of the cognitive processes underlying insight. Fifty-eight Temple University undergraduates attempted to solve Duncker's (1945) candle problem either silently or while thinking aloud. Solution rates, solving times, and solution types were comparable between conditions, suggesting that verbal overshadowing (Schooler, Ohlsson, & Brooks, 1993) did not occur when the participants attempted to solve the candle problem.