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"Experimental research on cognition needs more realistic paradigms to achieve ecological validity as well as to transfer and eventually generalize the results to clinical practice. Selective attention was found to be highly related to memory and training of attentional filtering enhanced memory performance. Moreover, a real memory room might provide a more interesting environment for cognitive training, even though it is very demanding for the examiner to arrange the set-up. Therefore, we developed a change detection task using a virtual reality (VR) environment and compared it with one in a real environment (RE) room. Data of healthy younger and older adults were analyzed regarding their memory and distractor inhibition performance. The results indicate that both test set-ups reveal age effects but only RE in younger adults produces a distractor effect. For younger adults, VR was found to be more challenging as compared to the real room whereas OA performed similar in VR and RE. Technical development like VR becomes more and more attractive to create interesting experimental test settings but their additional value needs to be further investigated."

Myasthenia gravis is an autoimmune disease affecting neuromuscular transmission and causing skeletal muscle weakness. Additionally, systemic inflammation, cognitive deficits and autonomic dysfunction have been described. However, little is known about myasthenia gravis-related reorganization of the brain. In this study, we thus investigated the structural and functional brain changes in myasthenia gravis patients. Eleven myasthenia gravis patients (age: 70.64 ± 9.27; 11 males) were compared to age-, sex- and education-matched healthy controls (age: 70.18 ± 8.98; 11 males). Most of the patients (n = 10, 0.91%) received cholinesterase inhibitors. Structural brain changes were determined by applying voxel-based morphometry using high-resolution T1-weighted sequences. Functional brain changes were assessed with a neuropsychological test battery (including attention, memory and executive functions), a spatial orientation task and brain-derived neurotrophic factor blood levels. Myasthenia gravis patients showed significant grey matter volume reductions in the cingulate gyrus, in the inferior parietal lobe and in the fusiform gyrus. Furthermore, myasthenia gravis patients showed significantly lower performance in executive functions, working memory (Spatial Span, P = 0.034, d = 1.466), verbal episodic memory (P = 0.003, d = 1.468) and somatosensory-related spatial orientation (Triangle Completion Test, P = 0.003, d = 1.200). Additionally, serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels were significantly higher in myasthenia gravis patients (P = 0.001, d = 2.040). Our results indicate that myasthenia gravis is associated with structural and functional brain alterations. Especially the grey matter volume changes in the cingulate gyrus and the inferior parietal lobe could be associated with cognitive deficits in memory and executive functions. Furthermore, deficits in somatosensory-related spatial orientation could be associated with the lower volumes in the inferior parietal lobe. Future research is needed to replicate these findings independently in a larger sample and to investigate the underlying mechanisms in more detail.

BackgroundPublic health recommendations and government measures during the COVID-19 pandemic have enforced restrictions on daily living, which may include social distancing, remote work/school, and home confinement. While these measures are imperative to abate the spreading of COVID-19, the impact of these restrictions on mental health and emotional wellbeing is undefined. Therefore, an international online survey was launched on April 6, 2020 in seven languages to elucidate the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on mental health and emotional well-being. This report presents the preliminary results from the first thousand responders on mental wellbeing and mood and feelings questionnaires.MethodsThe ECLB-COVID19 electronic survey was designed by a steering group of multidisciplinary scientists and academics, following a structured review of the literature. The survey was uploaded and shared on the Google online survey platform. Thirty-five research organizations from Europe, North-Africa, Western Asia and the Americas promoted the multi-languages survey through their networks to general society. Of the 64 questions, 7 were from the Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (SWEMWBS), and 13 were from the Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (SMFQ), which are both validated instruments.ResultsAnalysis was conducted on the first 1047 replies (54% women) from Asia (36%), Africa (40%), Europe (21%) and other (3%). The COVID-19 home confinement had a negative effect on both mental wellbeing and on mood and feelings. Specifically, a significant decrease (pΔ%= 9.4 %) in the total score of mental wellbeing was noted. More individuals (+12.89%) reported a low mental wellbeing “during” compared to “before” home confinement. Furthermore, results from the mood and feelings questionnaire (i.e., depressive symptoms) showed a significant increase by 44.9% (pConclusionThe ECLB-COVID19 survey revealed an increased psychosocial strain triggered by the enforced home confinement. To mitigate this high risk of mental disorders and to foster an Active and Healthy Confinement Lifestyle (AHCL), a crisis-oriented interdisciplinary intervention is urgently needed.

Decision-making is an important everyday function that deteriorates during normal aging. Here, we asked whether value-based decision-making can be improved in the elderly by cognitive training. We compared the effects of two training regimens on the performance in the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), a real-life decision-making simulation task. Elderly participants (age 62&ndash, 75 years) were randomized into three matched groups. The filter training (FT) group performed a selective attention task and the memory training (MT) group performed a memory storage task on five consecutive days. The control group (CG) did not perform another task besides the IGT. Only the FT group showed an improvement in IGT performance over the five days&mdash, the overall gain rose and the prominent deck B phenomenon decreased. The latter refers to the selection of cards associated with high gains and rare losses, which are nevertheless a disadvantageous choice as the frequent losses lead to a negative net outcome. As the deck B phenomenon has been associated with impaired cognitive abilities in aging, the positive effect of FT here is of special importance. In sum, attention training seems superior in improving decision-making in the elderly.

Recent reviews have shown that acute exercise can improve cognitive functions, especially executive functions. However, a closer look at the included studies revealed a wide inter-individual variability in the effects of exercise on cognition. Therefore, thirty-nine healthy adults (age: 19&ndash, 30 years) were analyzed in a randomized, controlled cross-over study with two exercise groups (n = 13 each) and a sedentary control group (n = 13). The exercise conditions included moderate (30 min at 40&ndash, 59% VO2max) and high intensity interval (five &times, 2 min at 90% VO2max with 3 min active recovery at 40% VO2max) treadmill exercise. The main outcome assessed was cognitive performance (attention, inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility) and underlying inter-individual variability in young adults. On the group level no significant group or group &times, time interaction effects were observed. Using a median split, we found significant differences between low and high cognitive performers regarding cognitive function following moderate and high intensity interval treadmill exercise. Furthermore, using a pre-determined threshold we could identify responders and non-responders to acute exercise. Therefore, future research should consider individual performance requirements.

In the context of the demographically induced increase in the prevalence of dementia and the simultaneous lack of causal pharmacological therapies, preventive approaches are gaining in importance. By reducing risk factors and with measures which induce neuroplasticity successful aging can be supported. This article summarizes the current developments in preventing dementia by modification of life style factors. The main focus lies on the impact of cognitive and physical activity on neuroprotection. A promising approach combines both activities within a dance training program. Further studies that meet the demanding criteria of a randomized clinical trial are urgently needed.

Der demografische Wandel und eine alternde Gesellschaft begrunden eine verstarkte Forschung zu geriatrischen Problemen und Fragestellungen. Im Verlauf des Alterungsprozesses sind Volumenverluste der grauen Hirnsubstanz zu verzeichnen, welche oftmals in neurodegenerativen Erkrankungen munden. Sportliche und kognitive Interventionsmasnahmen haben sich in der Vergangenheit als vielversprechende Methoden zur Neuroplastizitat erwiesen, wobei eine Kombination aus beiden Masnahmen am effektivsten scheint. Eine solche Kombination stellt aus unserer Sicht das Tanzen dar, welches konditionelle, koordinative und kognitive Inhalte verbindet. 26 gesunde Senioren (63–80 Jahre) wurden in eine Tanztrainingsgruppe (n = 14) und eine Gesundheitsportgruppe (n = 12) randomisiert. Nach 18-monatiger Trainingsintervention zeigten sich in der Tanzgruppe Volumenzunahmen in der grauen Substanz vor allem in frontalen und temporalen Regionen, u. a. im Gyrus parahippocampalis und Gyrus praecentralis. In der Gesundheitssportgruppe zeigten sich Volumenzunahmen in der grauen Substanz subkortikaler Regionen. Die Ergebnisse deuten an, dass ein Tanztraining einem Gesundheitssporttraining hinsichtlich der induzierten Neuroplastizitat uberlegen ist, da dabei Volumenzunahmen in Regionen zu verzeichnen sind, die mit hoheren kognitiven Funktionen assoziiert werden. Wir vermuten, dass speziell die multimodale Leistungsstruktur des Tanzens, welche kognitive, koordinative und konditionelle Elemente enthalt, dies begrunden. Die Ergebnisse demonstrieren erstmalig in einer Langsschnittstudie die positiven Auswirkungen eines Tanztrainings bei der Pravention von Volumenverlust der grauen Substanz und neurodegenerativen Erkrankungen bei Senioren.

Decision-making has a high practical relevance for daily performance. Its relation to other cognitive abilities such as executive control and memory is not fully understood. Here we asked whether training of either attentional filtering or memory storage would influence decision-making as indexed by repetitive assessments of the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). The IGT was developed to assess and simulate real-life decision-making (Bechara et al., 2005). In this task, participants gain or lose money by developing advantageous or disadvantageous decision strategies. On five consecutive days we trained 29 healthy young adults (20-30 years) either in working memory storage or attentional filtering and measured their IGT scores after each training session. During memory training (MT) subjects performed a computerized delayed match-to-sample task where two displays of bars were presented in succession. During filter training (FT) participants had to indicate whether two simultaneously presented displays of bars matched or not. Whereas in MT the relevant target stimuli stood alone, in FT the targets were embedded within irrelevant distractors (bars in a different color). All subjects within each group improved their performance in the trained cognitive task. For the IGT, we observed an increase over time in the amount of money gained in the FT group only. Decision-making seems to be influenced more by training to filter out irrelevant distractors than by training to store items in working memory. Selective attention could be responsible for the previously noted relationship between IGT performance and working memory and is therefore more important for enhancing efficiency in decision-making.

From animal research, it is known that combining physical activity with sensory enrichment has stronger and longer-lasting effects on the brain than either treatment alone. For humans dancing has been suggested to be analogous to such combined training. Here we assessed whether a newly designed dance training program that stresses the constant learning of new movement patterns is superior in terms of neuroplasticity to conventional fitness activities with repetitive exercises and whether extending the training duration has additional benefits. Twenty-two healthy seniors (63–80 years) who had been randomly assigned to either a dance or a sport group completed the entire 18-month study. MRI, BDNF and neuropsychological tests were performed at baseline and after 6 and 18 months of intervention. After 6 months, we found a significant increase in gray matter volume in the left precentral gyrus in the dancers compared to controls. This neuroplasticity effect may have been mediated by the increased BDNF plasma levels observed in the dancers. Regarding cognitive measures, both groups showed significant improvements in attention after 6 months and in verbal memory after 18 months. In addition, volume increases in the parahippocampal region were observed in the dancers after 18 months. The results of our study suggest that participating in a long-term dance program that requires constant cognitive and motor learning is superior to engaging in repetitive physical exercises in inducing neuroplasticity in the brains of seniors. Therefore, dance is highly promising in its potential to counteract age-related gray matter decline.

Background Studies using neuromelanin-sensitive-MRI have established the locus coeruleus (LC)-to-pons intensity ratio as a biomarker for diagnosis of Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases. More detailed analysis is needed for exploiting the highest clinical potential of this technique. Objective The aim is to determine the location of the highest LC-to-pons ratio within the LC and develop an easy-to-use tool for clinical application. Methods Ten patients diagnosed with various stages of Alzheimer's disease (74.1±3.9 years, range 68-80, 7 females) and ten healthy elderly subjects (72.4±3.1 years, range 68-77, 5 females) participated in the study. Five subsequent slices with a thickness of 2.5 millimeters were analyzed using the image analysis tool FSL, starting with the first slice below inferior colliculus. The outcome variable was the intensity ratio between maximum values of LC and adjacent pontine region. Results The section located 10 millimeters below the inferior colliculus has the highest potential in differentiating between healthy controls and patients, with the intensity-ratio difference between groups of 12.3% and effect size of 1.577. For the cut-off value of 1.09, the sensitivity and specificity values were 100% and 80%, respectively. Conclusion We consider the method a promising clinical tool to aid AD diagnosis workup.

In the context of the demographically induced increase in the prevalence of dementia and the simultaneous lack of causal pharmacological therapies, preventive approaches are gaining in importance. By reducing risk factors and with measures which induce neuroplasticity successful aging can be supported. This article summarizes the current developments in preventing dementia by modification of life style factors. The main focus lies on the impact of cognitive and physical activity on neuroprotection. A promising approach combines both activities within a dance training program. Further studies that meet the demanding criteria of a randomized clinical trial are urgently needed.

Transkranielle Gleichstromstimulation (tDCS) kann durch Erhöhung (anodale tDCS) oder Verringerung (kathodale tDCS) der Erregbarkeit von Neuronen die Aktivität verschiedener Gehirnregionen modulieren. Stimulationseffekte sind abhängig von der Elektrodenposition und -größe, Dauer und Stromstärke der tDCS. Diese Überblicksarbeit behandelt Gedächtnis- und Sprachstudien mit gesunden Probanden und Patienten (Morbus Parkinson, Morbus Alzheimer, Aphasie). Anodale Stimulation führt im Allgemeinen zu Leistungsverbesserungen, nach kathodaler Stimulation wurden häufiger keine Effekte oder Leistungsverschlechterungen beobachtet. Weitere Untersuchungen sollten die Wechselwirkung der Stimulationsparameter bei tDCS und das Potential transorbitaler Wechselstromstimulation (tACS) betrachten, die möglicherweise zu länger anhaltenden Stimulationseffekten führt. Stabile Gesichtsfeldverbesserungen von Patienten mit Nervus opticus Läsionen wurden im 2-Monate-Follow-up nach 10-tägiger tACS beobachtet. Es ist zu erwarten, dass nicht-invasive Hirnstimulationsverfahren zunehmende Bedeutung in der klinischen Anwendung erhalten werden.

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Background Errorless learning is advantageous over trial and error learning (errorful learning) as errors are avoided during learning resulting in increased memory performance. Errorful learning challenges the executive control system of memory processes as the erroneous items compete with the correct items during retrieval. The left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) is a core region involved in this executive control system. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) can modify the excitability of underlying brain functioning. Results In a single blinded tDCS study one group of young healthy participants received anodal and another group cathodal tDCS of the left DLPFC each compared to sham stimulation. Participants had to learn words in an errorless and an errorful manner using a word stem completion paradigm. The results showed that errorless compared to errorful learning had a profound effect on the memory performance in terms of quality. Anodal stimulation of the left DLPFC did not modulate the memory performance following errorless or errorful learning. By contrast, cathodal stimulation hampered memory performance after errorful learning compared to sham, whereas there was no modulation after errorless learning. Conclusions Concluding, the study further supports the advantages of errorless learning over errorful learning. Moreover, cathodal stimulation of the left DLPFC hampered memory performance following the conflict-inducing errorful learning as compared to no modulation after errorless learning emphasizing the importance of the left DLPFC in executive control of memory.