Executive Function

Older people with early, asymptomatic Alzheimer’s at risk of falls

Older people without cognitive problems who experience a fall may have undetected neurodegeneration in their brains that puts them at high risk of developing Alzheimer's dementia, according to a new study.

Vitamin B1 deficiency a key factor in the development of alcohol-related dementia

A research group has now developed a hypothesis whereby iron deposits in the brain -- resulting from alcohol-induced vitamin B1 deficiency -- can be regarded as key factors in cognitive decline.

Common class of drugs linked to increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease

Researchers report that a class of drugs used for a broad array of conditions, from allergies and colds to hypertension and urinary incontinence, may be associated with an increased risk of cognitive decline, particularly in older adults at greater risk for Alzheimer's disease....
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Acute NMDA receptor antagonism impairs working memory performance but not attention in rats—Implications for the NMDAr hypofunction theory of schizophrenia.

Cognitive deficits in schizophrenia, which include impairments in working memory and attention, represent some of the most disabling symptoms of this complex psychiatric condition, and lack effective treatments. NMDA receptor (NMDAr) hypofunction is a strong candidate mechanism underlying schizophre...
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Investigation of the cortical activity during episodic future thinking in schizophrenia: A functional near-infrared spectroscopy study.

Episodic future thinking (EFT) refers to mental simulation of possible future events, a process that mostly depends on episodic memory (EM). EFT impairment in schizophrenia was proposed to disturb continuity in self-functioning. Schizophrenia patients are also impaired in EM as well as executive fun...
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A role for neurogenesis in probabilistic reward learning.

Rewards are often unreliable and optimal choice requires behavioral flexibility and learning about the probabilistic nature of uncertain rewards. Probabilistic learning occurs over multiple trials, often without conscious knowledge, and is traditionally associated with striatal function. While the h...
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Alzheimer’s gene triggers early breakdowns in blood-brain barrier, predicting cognitive decline

New USC research reveals how APOE4, a genetic culprit for Alzheimer's disease, triggers leaks in the brain's plumbing system, allowing toxic substances to seep into the brain areas responsible for memory encoding and other cognitive functions.
The damage is linked to future problems i...
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Implant-free optogenetics minimizes brain damage during neuronal stimulation

A minimally invasive optogenetic technique that does not require brain implants successfully manipulated the activity of neurons in mice and monkeys, researchers report April 29th in the journal . The researchers first genetically engineered neurons to produce a newly developed, extremely light-s...
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Molecular switch plays crucial role in learning from negative experiences

Neurobiologists at KU Leuven have discovered how the signalling molecule Neuromedin U plays a crucial role in our learning process. The protein allows the brain to recall negative memories and, as such, learn from the past. The findings of their study on roundworms have been published in the jour...
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How the heart affects our perception

The first mechanism establishes a relationship between the phase of the heartbeat and conscious experience. In a regular rhythm, the heart contracts in the so-called systolic phase and pumps blood into the body. In a second phase, the diastolic phase, the blood flows back and the heart fills up a...
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