Ask the Expert: Introducing Dr. Cynthia Green

Got a question about memory or brain fitness? Cynthia Green, Ph.D., the nationally recognized expert on developing better memory and brain health, is here to help with the new Ask the Expert column.

Dr. Green began the Memory Enhancement Program at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, where she has been a faculty member since 1990. Her first book, Total Memory Workout: 8 Easy Steps to Maximum Memory Fitness, has already been published in 5 languages due to its general applicability for developing a more effective memory. Now, as president of Memory Arts, she continues to lecture and teach the practical principles of brain health.

Submit your cognitive queries as an email to us or as a comment below. Check back at the Brain Health blog for Dr. Green’s expert responses to the most interesting and frequently asked questions.

[Update: Dr. Green has addressed some of your questions in Brain Health 101.]

Working memory and neurogenesis at the Bay Area Neuroscience Gathering

By Lumos Labs Science Associate Paul Li, MS Neuroscience.

Last Friday afternoon, UCSF held their annual Bay Area Neuroscience Gathering (BANG) where local grad students and neuroscientists showcased their research posters to the Bay Area neuroscience community. Universities included UCSF, UC Davis, UC Berkeley, San Francisco State and Stanford. Lumos Labs presented an investigation into web-based experimentation and cognitive training.

Though not many posters were directly related to brain health, I wanted to report the ones that were of relevance and of possible interest to you:

Wesley Clapp, PhD at UCSF found subjects consolidate information differently in their working memory when they know they will face distractors than without any distractors present. They looked at two electroencephalography (EEG) signals that are associated particularly with memory, attention, and perception: the P100 and the N170 (these are electrical signals from the brain that occur at 100 and 170 milliseconds after the event has happened). Clapp and colleagues found that these latencies are modulated differently depending on if the information presented to the subject is relevant or not. He also showed that the amount subjects pay attention to irrelevant information directly correlates with their impairment in working memory performance. To learn more, see Clapp’s research poster.

Leslie Meltzer, a Ph.D student working with Karl Deisseroth at Stanford is studying the effects of antidepressants in rodent models of depression. Meltzer and colleagues found that the therapeutic effects of antidepressants required the growth of new neurons in the hippocampus, a brain region important for memory formation. This suggests that antidepressants might improve mood by increasing the production of new neurons. During Alzheimer’s disease, neurons in the hippocampus begin to die. Could antidepressants be helpful for fighting off dementia? It’s possible, but there are too many unknowns to have a clear picture. Bear in mind that a combination of mental and physical exercises, the types of food we eat, and social activities we do all matter in shaping the condition of our brain.

Are you smarter than a chimp?

Ayumu, a 7-year old chimp living in a lab at Kyoto University, was in the news the last month for his remarkable cognitive performance. In a test of working memory, Ayumu and 5 other chimpanzees were able to outclass college students. Watch him go at it here.

Have you got what it takes to outsmart a chimp? Pit your wits against Ayumu in the Chimp Game.

Early Biomarker for Alzheimer’s?

By contributing author Paul Li, a neuroscience graduate student at Columbia.

Researchers from Stanford might have found a biological marker for Alzheimer’s disease via a simple blood test. This is exciting news given that it might predict the onset of the disease several years before the symptoms begin. The procedure involves examining 18 key proteins in the blood that are typical in Alzheimer’s patients. Preliminary tests have been 90% accurate at detecting the disease. Dr Susanne Sorensen, of the Alzheimer’s Society, said that “Early diagnosis is essential if we are ever to develop treatments that can change the course or halt the progression of dementia rather than just treat the symptoms.”

Cell phone use and brain activity

By contributing author Paul Li, a neuroscience graduate student at Columbia.
Ever since the advent of cellular phones, horror stories have been circulating on issues about its safety, particularly the effects it has on the human brain. Some have become increasingly worried and resort to using an ear piece whenever they are on the phone. While others, like myself included, make sure that their cell phones are no where close to their heads when sleeping. I’ve met people who become agitated when a cell phone antenna is pointing in their direction. Amongst the public’s concern, I was soon caught up in buying a “Safe Guard,” a round sticker that fits nicely on top of the receiving end of the phone, to reduce Electromagnetic Waves, or so the company claimed.

Although no studies have shown a correlation between cell phone use and brain damage, the International Journal of Neuroscience published a study that found a slower EEG brain wave pattern during cell phone use. This difference in brain activity was subtle – within the normal range – but may reflect a
different state of awareness. In fact, they also discovered that frequent cell phone users performed better in selective attention tasks. It’s possible that talking on the phone in the midst of the bustling world’s distractions requires a level of concentration that effectively works as cognitive training of attention.

Eat your vegetables, do your homework, and play your video games?

By contributing author Paul Li, a neuroscience graduate student at Columbia.

When I was a kid, I was constantly scolded by my mother for spending countless hours on my 1989 Nintendo Entertainment System. She thought reading or playing outside would be more beneficial for me than Duck Hunt or Super Mario Brothers. My mother could have never predicted that recent research would show that video games can sometimes actually be good for your brain!

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Cancer drug enhances memory… but that’s old news

In the past couple months of maintaining the Brain Health Blog, I’ve been surprised at how frequently the press release for a scientific finding has little to do with the research that was done. Maybe the cynical among you already figured as much, but it struck me as a bit disconcerting.

For example, I read this press release about a cancer-fighting drug that enhances memory, and thought it would be interesting to cover here. The subtitle:

“U.S. scientists have demonstrated for the first time a cancer-fighting drug might also enhance long-term memory and strengthen neural connections.”

When I found the original paper by Vecsey et al., however, I realized that this was not the scientists’ finding at all.

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Care to Read my Brain Waves?

Serina Deen, who has a background in neuroscience research, is a 4th year medical student at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Here she describes how your brain waves could get involved in your gaming.

I remember back in my freshman year of college, sitting in a pitch black room the size of a closet, staring straight ahead of me at a screen with a blinking green light on it, while an infrared sensor hanging from the motorcycle helmet strapped on my head beamed into my eyes. Fraternity hazing, perhaps? No, just another undergraduate trying to make a buck by participating in a paid psych experiment. They told me at the end of the grueling hour that they were monitoring my concentration by tracking my eye movements, which were supposed to be vigilantly following the blinking green light (I have to admit, my eyes wandered a bit as I kept trying to steal glances at the clock).

Well, things have improved significantly since then. Now, they’re coming up with games that are supposed to actually read your brain waves to gauge your concentration…

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