The Groton Maze : An Effective Method For Measuring Cognitive Functioning

In the article titled, “Secrets of the Brain” published in the February 2014 issue of National Geographic, we learn that there have been many advances in understanding the inner workings of our brains. One of the leading scentists, Van Weeden, is working hard to understand the connections that occur within our heads.

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Imagine a football player is tackled and hits the back of his head. As a result, his brain has hit the back of the cranium, then the front.

The brain can be considered the most complex organ in the body and the centrepiece of the nervous system. Although the brain works as a unified whole, neuroscientists have identified areas within it that perform specific functions. This makes the brain interconnected by three different layers: the central core, the limbic system, and the cerebral cortex. All of which contain structures that regulate everyday life and psychological function.

One of the original and most influential neuropsychological test batteries for athletes is the testing program developed for the NFL (Pellman, Lovell, Viano, Casson, & Tucker, 2004). The battery includes six abridged neuropsychological tests and takes approximately 30 minutes to administer. The first of these is the Revised Hopkins Verbal Learning Test (HVLT-R), which assesses verbal learning via three immediate word recall trials, verbal memory via a delayed recall task, and recognition via a yes/no task (Allen & Gfeller, 2011). The next subtest is the Revised Brief Visuospatial Memory Test (BVMT-R) which assesses visual memory via three image recall trials, a delayed recall task and a recognition task (Allen & Gfeller, 2011). The third subtest used in the NFL test battery is the Trail Making Test (TMT), which requires the accurate completion of a number of tasks using spatial scanning, speed and cognitive flexibility skills. Score is determined by the the time taken to complete the test and the number of errors made (Allen & Gfeller, 2011). The fourth subtest is the Controlled Oral Word Association Test (COWAT). The COWAT assesses verbal fluency via three trials of word naming, in which 60 seconds are provided to generate as many words as possible with a given letter of the alphabet. Scores are norm-referenced according to gender, education and age (Allen & Gfeller,

Have you ever sat down planning to watch one TV show or play one round of video games or quickly check your Snapchat, only to find yourself doing the same activity hours later? I can extremely relate to this. I may be watching one episode of netflix than i find myself on to the fifth episode when i do not even realize the time. People do this because watching television, playing video games, using your phone or doing many other non active activities are all “cognitively stimulating”. Angus Chen explains how television is cognitively stimulating, in his article “Too Much TV And Chill Could Reduce Brain Power Over Time”. A cognitive stimulation is an activity that is enjoyable that you use thinking, concentration and memory while doing. Furthermore,

Psychogist #3 was concerned with heterogeneity of variance and wanted to test the contrasts without assuming homogeneity of variance across groups. After running the Fisher Least Significant Difference test, we found multiple mean differences (Fig. 6). The means for No-Task Control and Reactivation+Tetris were significantly different MD(3.222), SE(1.058), CI [1.1098, 5.3346], D(1.0145), CI D [.348, 1.747], F(18,72)= 6.088, p=.003, and Reactivation only and Reactivation +Tetris were different MD(2.944), SE(1.058), CI [.0675, 5.8213], D=.9270, CI D [.234, 1.613], F(18,72)=5.563,

In this experiment we tried to replicate the Monsell 2003 Task Switching experiment. 18 Participants took a brief task-switching test via program Revolution Maker©. Each trial was randomly assigned. The participants were presented with numbers one through nine and on each trial had to react to the number, to identify either its odd or even or if the magnitude was either less than 5 or more than 5. We hypothesis that when individuals are engaged in a cognitive task there is a time cost that occurs when asked to switch between tasks as opposed to repeating tasks.

I suppose human brain is the most complex machine that ever existed! With over 7.146 billion models it is also the most ubiquitous. Despite the research and the studies, scientists are still unsure of brain complexity. Scientists still do not understand how the brain works. Regardless of defining the functionality of certain areas of the brain, and by understanding some of the mechanics at the neural chemical level, scientists remain ignorant of how the brain coordinates all its activities and develops language, thought and a sense of self. Thus, will human entirely or exactly understand how the brain cause the hearts to beat, or make people happy, breathe without thinking, fall in love, fear see, dream, learn, remember, taste, feel or smell? How could such a small organ that only weight about 3 pounds and around 15 centimeters long, become so complex and complicated?

Signal processing within the amygdala is further regulated by interactions with a network of external structures. In particular, the dMT and its projections to the CeL have been demonstrated to play a role in fear memory retrieval. Notably, the dMT is assumed to be extensively modulated by opioids considering its innervation with opioidergic fibers and the high expression levels of MORs. Previous studies have reported the MOR system in the PVT, as part of the dMT, to be involved in managing physical pain. Moreover, social pain, which describes social rejection, being excluded or not being liked by others and which is associated with symptoms of anxiety and depression, appears to involve the MOR system in the PVT (Hsu et al). However, so far a direct implication of

It is widely accepted that our actions within our environments have a bioenergetic cost. This does not apply solely to physiological actions; an abundance of psychological research indicates that a multitude of cognitive tasks and functions also have associated bioenergetic costs. The brain’s singular source of energy is from glucose which is carried in the bloodstream, or from stores of glycogen in the liver (Schnall, Zadra & Proffitt, 2010) if glucose is not readily available in the blood. Conversely, low levels of glucose may lead to deterioration of both physical and psychological functioning. Schnall et al. proposed that supplementation of glucose via providing participants with sugary drinks could increase perception accuracy of hill

The term ‘amygdala’ was first used by Burdach (1819) and referred to a set of nuclei in the brain (Aggleton & Saunders, 2000). In 1939, researchers Klüver & Bucy inflicted bilateral lesions of the inferior temporal lobe of monkeys in a laboratory in an attempt to reduce aggression. These lesions affected the cortical areas, amygdala, and the hippocampus. Later this became known as Klüver-Bucy syndrome, and consisted of symptoms such as psychic blindness, hypermetamorphsis, oral tendencies, and changes in emotional and sexual behaviors. Lesions of the amygdala made monkeys fearless of e.g. humans or snakes, and affectively flat, tame. This research brought recognition to the notion that the amygdala plays a significant role in the

It targets executive functions like impulse control, flexible problem solving skills, controlling emotional responses, regulating behavior in social settings, generating ideas and initiating activities, cognitive skills, planning, and organizing, and lastly, task monitoring, (Roth et al, 2005).

You live and you learn, from the moment that we breathe our first breath, we are assimilating and are acquiring information. Life changing and profound learning experiences happen before we can even speak, as children our learning process is grandiose. Harvard University published a series of summaries on Child development. One of these articles mentions that “The basic architecture of the brain is constructed through an ongoing process that begins before birth and continues into adulthood.” ("InBrief: The Science of Early Childhood Development," n.d.).

But before that one must ask whether these games increase brain function to a beneficial point by examining the effects on one’s brain, one must also examine the changes in their performance periodically and lastly the practicality of the “brain games” (how easy and simple are they?)