Cognitive Neuropsychology

Neurological research has made amazing strides in recent years. Enough is now known about what specific brain areas do to make it possible to start examining how various parts of the brain interact.
What is missing is a general theory of cognition to tie all of this information together.
Back in the 1980s, a cognitive theory was developed that began with a system of cognitive styles and was expanded through an in-depth study of biographies. It was discovered at that time that this theory mapped in a general way onto the brain. This cognitive theory, known as the theory of mental symmetry, has recently been tested as a meta-theory by using it to analyze a number of fields and theories dealing with human thought and behavior.
This paper shows that personality traits that were discovered by mental symmetry correspond in detail to the functioning of brain regions described in current neurological papers. In brief, the cognitive model suggests that there are seven cognitive styles: There are four simple styles, and there are three composite styles that combine the thinking of the simple styles.
Two of the simple styles use emotions and emphasize a circuit composed of orbitofrontal cortex, inferior frontal cortex, temporal lobe, and amygdala, with one in the left hemisphere and the other in the right hemisphere. The other two simple styles use confidence and emphasize a circuit consisting of dorsolateral frontal cortex, frontopolar cortex, parietal cortex, and hippocampus, again with one in the left hemisphere and the other in the right hemisphere.
The three composite styles form a processing chain. The first composite style combines the two simple emotional styles and emphasizes the ventral striatum, and dopamine. This leads to the second composite style, which combines the two simple confidence styles and emphasizes the anterior cingulate, the dorsal striatum, and serotonin. This is followed by the third composite style which balances the functioning of the mind and emphasizes the thalamus and noradrenaline.

Virtual reality (VR) head-mounted displays (HMD) appear to be effective research tools,
which may address the problem of ecological validity in neuropsychological testing.
However, their widespread implementation is hindered by VR induced symptoms
and effects (VRISE) and the lack of skills in VR software development. This study
offers guidelines for the development of VR software in cognitive neuroscience and
neuropsychology, by describing and discussing the stages of the development of Virtual
Reality Everyday Assessment Lab (VR-EAL), the first neuropsychological battery in
immersive VR. Techniques for evaluating cognitive functions within a realistic storyline
are discussed. The utility of various assets in Unity, software development kits, and other
software are described so that cognitive scientists can overcome challenges pertinent
to VRISE and the quality of the VR software. In addition, this pilot study attempts to
evaluate VR-EAL in accordance with the necessary criteria for VR software for research
purposes. The VR neuroscience questionnaire (VRNQ; Kourtesis et al., 2019b) was
implemented to appraise the quality of the three versions of VR-EAL in terms of user
experience, game mechanics, in-game assistance, and VRISE. Twenty-five participants
aged between 20 and 45 years with 12–16 years of full-time education evaluated various
versions of VR-EAL. The final version of VR-EAL achieved high scores in every sub-score
of the VRNQ and exceeded its parsimonious cut-offs. It also appeared to have better
in-game assistance and game mechanics, while its improved graphics substantially increased the quality of the user experience and almost eradicated VRISE. The results
substantially support the feasibility of the development of effective VR research and
clinical software without the presence of VRISE during a 60-min VR session.

NB: Out of Stock. The 2nd edition, entitled "Neurology: Self-Assessment for MRCP(UK) Neurology SCE", was published in 2023 and is found here: https://www.academia.edu/96771620/Neurology_Self_Assessment_for_MRCP_UK_Neurology_SCE
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You will find 792 questions of different formats, distributed into 3 chapters. The 215 multiple choice questions of chapter one will surf you onto a rapid review of information to consolidate your background knowledge of neuro-anatomy, neuro-physiology, neuro-pharmacology, neuro-pathology,…etc. In addition, testing the clinical aspects of various diseases is also included. Chapter two will self-assess you in terms of how to make a provisional diagnosis, what features refute or confirm your preliminary diagnosis, how to investigate, what to do next, the best treatment option, and the prognosis of various diseases. The photographic materials are found in chapter three. You will encounter various neurological complications/manifestations/signs of system diseases as well. Brain CT scan, MRI, MRV, and EEG images,…etc of common diseases will test your ability to interpret/read/analyze their diagnosis and management. About 490 pages, full-color, on white.

Some of Law and Economics’ basic claims have come to be criticized as a result of empirical findings that question their viability. Particularly, the premise that agents consistently act rationally and with their self-interest in mind seems problematic. What the consequences of the criticism mean for Law and Economics’ tenability depends largely on the questions whether (1) some elements are unassailable to the alternative’s objections and (2) the alternative is a systematic whole. It is argued that Law and Economics may be salvaged, if it is minimized and its ambitions are tempered. This means focusing on the stable, a priori, elements inherent to it.

A case study with a 12-year-old boy, R.F., who was a monolingual speaker of Greek is reported. R.F. showed slow word reading and a difficulty in spelling irregular words but not nonwords. Assessments revealed that R.F. did not appear to have a phonological deficit, but indicated impaired multicharacter processing ability for visually presented letter arrays. On the basis of previous research linking multicharacter processing and reading we developed an intervention aimed at improving R.F.’s ability to report letter arrays of increasing length. Following a 9-week programme, improvement was observed, and investigation of R.F.’s reading revealed gains in single word reading speed and accuracy. The findings support the significance of intervention studies for testing hypotheses regarding causal relationships among cognitive processes and the notion of specific profiles of developmental dyslexia/dysgraphia in both opaque and transparent orthographies.

Advances in neuroimaging have ushered in a new era of developmental neuroscience. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is particularly well suited for pediatric studies because it does not use ionizing radiation which enables safe longitudinal scans of healthy children. Key findings related to brain anatomical changes during childhood and adolescent are increases in white matter volumes throughout the brain and regionally specific inverted U-shaped trajectories of gray matter volumes. Brain morphometric measures are highly variable across individuals and there is considerable overlap amongst groups of boys versus girls, typically developing versus neuropsychiatric populations, and young versus old. Studies are ongoing to explore the influences of genetic and environmental factors on developmental trajectories.

Numerous studies have been published on the psychosis prodrome and have explored a wide array of its many aspects. However, the set of risk factors identified by these various efforts is not homogenous across studies. This could be due to unique population factors or relatively small sample sizes. Only few studies were conducted on Asian populations, whose socio-cultural characteristics differ – in some cases remarkably – from those in western populations. Singapore is a highly dense city-state in South-east Asia, with low rates of substance abuse. The Longitudinal Youth at Risk Study (LYRIKS) commenced in Singapore in 2008, designed to comprehensively assess a group of ultra high risk (UHR) individuals and identify clinical, social, neuropsychological and biological risk factors unique to the local population. 173 UHR individuals were recruited from this single-site study over 4 years. Here, we detail aspects of the study methodology and report on the baseline social and clinical characteristics of the sample population. 78% of the UHR sample suffered from a psychiatric disorder, with Major Depressive Disorder present in more than half of the sample. The mean Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) score was 57.4, which indicated a moderate level of impairment. Although the recruited sample did not differ significantly by social and clinical characteristics when compared to previously published reports, the conversion rate to psychosis was 3.5% (n = 6) at 6 months. Follow-up measures are currently underway to assess longitudinal incidence of psychosis and impact of risk factors on cognition, functioning and remission.

Adaptive and intelligent behavior in living cells is little discussed. This ground-breaking article proposes that intelligence resides, not just in cell assemblies, but is inherent in each single living cell. The functioning of the brain, currently centered on activity at the synapses, can only be understood when we recognise intra-neuronal data processing.

Following the death of 17-year-old Leelah Alcorn, a transgender teen who committed suicide after forced “conversion therapy,” President Barack Obama called for a nationwide ban on psychotherapy aimed at changing sexual orientation or gender identity. The administration argued that because conversion therapy causes substantial psychological harm to minors, it is neither medically nor ethically appropriate. We fully agree with the President and believe that this is a step in the right direction. Of course, in addition to being unsafe as well as ethically unsound, current conversion therapy approaches aren’t actually effective at doing what they claim to do – changing sexual orientation. But we also worry that this may be a short-term legislative solution to what is really a conceptual problem. The question we ought to be asking is “what will happen if and when scientists do end up developing safe and effective technologies that can alter sexual orientation?”

This research investigates the brainwave entrainment process and aims to demonstrate the usefulness of such an approach within the framework of cognitive performance improvements. In the introductory part the theories regarding the neurophysiological structure and the psychological processing of the cognitive system are discussed, for each of their components that are considered to be relevant for this research. The hypothesis states that the stimulation with binaural beats and stroboscopic light, synchronized at 10.2 Hz frequency, will produce a positive change in cognition. The research variables are the cognitive performance (the dependent variable) and the brainwave entrainment (the independent variable). The brainwave entrainment program consists in the synchronized application of Alpha binaural beats and stroboscopic light, at a 10.2 Hz frequency, in a 30 minutes long session. The difference was made by the stroop effect based exercise that was used as a frame. There were 60 participants, divided into two independent samples. The two independent samples t test for the means differences was used in the statistical analysis. The obtained results by evaluations and by statistics confirmed this research’s hypothesis, stating that the stimulation with binaural beats and stroboscopic light, synchronized at 10.2 Hz frequency, will produce a positive change in cognition.

KEYWORDS: brainwave entrainment, binaural beats, stroboscopic light, cognitive performance

The formation of paramilitary groups can have both positive and negative effects. There is no reason for an automatic alarm if one emerges—but there is always a reason for caution. This article looks into reasons behind the formation and growth of paramilitary organizations in CEE region - on individual level, current affairs level same as long-term sociocultural level.

This report presents findings of a study that was conducted by Brain Sciences Institute and Graduate School of Integrative Medicine, Swinburne University of Technology, on behalf of Enzo Bioactives Pty Ltd. The study investigated the effects of an extract of Pinus radiata, pine bark (Enzogenol) on neurological cognitive function and cardiovascular disease risk factors amongst older at risk subjects.
The primary focus of this study was application of novel steady-state probe topography (SSPT) neuroimaging techniques to investigate changes in brain electrical activity associated with Enzogenol supplementation.
The study has found significant changes in patterns of brain electrical activity, reflecting improvements in performance on object working memory and episodic memory tasks, following 5 weeks of Enzogenol supplementation but not following placebo supplementation.
Secondly, a battery of computerized cognitive tests was used to investigate the effects of Enzogenol on cognitive processes. Increased speed of response was found on tests of spatial working memory and simple recognition memory with Enzogenol supplementation but not with placebo supplementation.
Given these findings it is suggested that Enzogenol may improve cognitive processes in the brain and may act to reduce the deleterious effects of ageing on cognition.
The effects of Enzogenol on blood pressure were also investigated. A reduction in systolic blood pressure means by 7 mm Hg in the Enzogenol group compared to 0.9 mm Hg in the placebo group did not reach significance. However, it is suggested that with a larger sample size the reduction of 7 mm Hg in systolic blood pressure would be significant and consistent with a previous open-labeled study. A meta-analysis of systolic blood pressure data combining the present results with other clinical studies on Enzogenol is recommended. Other markers of cardiovascular health did not show any significant changes in this study.
Finally, using a number of standard biochemical and hematological indices to evaluate treatment safety it was concluded that Enzogenol was safe and well tolerated at a daily dose of 960 mg over the five week treatment.
Investigators
Dr Andrew Pipingas* Prof Richard Silberstein* Dr Luis Vitettaψ
Cindy Van Rooy*
Prof Avni Saliψ
ψ
*Brain Sciences Institute, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia ψGraduate School of Integrative Medicine, Swinburne University, Melbourne, Australia
Dr Fernando Cortizo Dr Joseph Nastasiψ Dr John Song*

The knowledge gained from the study of the human genome has surprisingly revealed fascinating and visible details of gene expression in humans. Extremely fascinating for neuroscience are phylogenetic correspondents of physiognomic, the relative different adaptive behavioral responses in the environment, the consequent variations of the brain functions and each of their peculiarities. The color of human eyes is determined by...

[AMAZON LINK BELOW TO BOOK ITSELF -- TOC and book intro in downloadable .pdf] 

"It is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it." --John Steinbeck Scientific research confirms what people have always known: answers, ideas, and inspiration do come to us in dreams. Harvard psychologist and world-renowned dream specialist Deirdre Barrett, Ph.D., offers this rich collection of examples of how the world's most creative practitioners in art, music, film, science, literature and other fields have used the revelations of their dream life to inform their work. Dr. Barrett offers insights showing us how to encourage lucid, meaningful dreaming, and how to apply the meanings of our dreams to solving problems--from the everyday to the extraordinary. This is the stuff dreams are made of. In the visual arts, Jasper Johns couldn't find his unique artistic vision until he dreamed it in the form of a large American flag. Salvador Dali and his colleagues built the startling new genre of surrealism out of dreams. Kubla Kahn dreamed the design for his stately pleasure dome; thousands of years later, Lucy Davis, chief architect at a major firm, continues the tradition of dreaming designs into life in her extraordinary buildings. Film is a fertile avenue for dreams: "Twice I have transferred dreams to film exactly as I had dreamed them," confides director Ingmar Bergman, as have Federico Fellini, Orson Welles, Akira Kurosawa, Robert Altman, and John Sayles. From Mary Shelley's terrible nightmare, which became Frankenstein, to Stephen King's haunting dream as a little boy, which led to his first bestseller, countless writers have consulted the Committee. Musicians from Beethoven to Billy Joel and Paul McCartney have whistled the Committee's tunes. In science, physiologist Otto Loewi dreamed the medical experiment that earned him the Nobel Prize. In sports, Marion Jones dreamed she'd broken a world record, then brought the dream to life. Gandhi translated his dream of resistance into a movement that changed the world. Since Freud, we take it for granted that our dreams reflect our past. In The Committee of Sleep, Barrett reveals how dreams can also tell us about our future potential--and how to reach it.

With regards to its current meaning, it can be put forward that cognitive science emerged with the invention of machines capable of computing, namely Data processing machines and computers. The great support provided to thinking based on computing and information technology understanding by especially electronic technology and rapid momentum gained thereof have revealed many problems associated with information as well. In this research it will be described what cognitive science is, what main problems related to information are and basic views about these questions. It will be claimed that these emerging problems re-raise many issues from definition of what intelligence, consciousness and cognition are to what coding, processing and transmission of information mean.

Music can be a powerful tool in the treatment of brain disorders and acquired injuries, helping patients recover language and motor skills. New music-based therapies can trigger neuroplasticity—fostering local connections and long-range pathways that compensate for impairments in damaged regions of the brain. The greatest benefits from therapy—cognitive, emotional and social—come from effortful engagement with music.

Full reference: Thompson, W.F., & Schlaug, G. (2015). The healing power of music. Scientific American: Mind, 26(2), 33-41.

The main goal of this dissertation is to show the results of Michael Persingers research on the mystic states of consciousness from the third person perspective. In this paper also my own studies based on TMS rule will be shown. The research did in the 1973 by Andrew Greeley et al. clearly show that a 87 million (37%) people who live in the US had at least one experience of sensed presence. How-ever there was many studies on the mystic states of consciousness, many of them was rather phenomenological analysis than a science. This study shows that third person approach to the mystic has real explanatory power.
The second goal of this dissertation is to show the importance of the third person approach in the philosophical disciplines connected to anthropology. Using the third person methods in the research on traditional subjects is not the depreciation of these subjects. Just in opposite – using the scientific methods in the right way, we can save the traditional subjects from the devaluation.

Recent studies have reported that males show better naming of nonliving things than females, while females show better naming of living things than males. Such effects may reflect sex differences in the size of lexicons across categories or their access/retrieval strategies. These possibilities were examined in three experiments using semantic fluency tasks for two living (animals, fruits) and two nonliving (tools, vehicles) categories. Experiment 1docu mented better fluency for ‘fruits’ in females (n=300) and for ‘tools’ and ‘vehicles’ in males (n=300). Experiment 2 examined fluency consistency by re-testing a subgroup of subjects again 30 min later. This confirmed the pattern across sex and revealed that subjects reproduced 70% of the same words (even when not instructed to do so). Finally, in Experiment 3, a new sample of male and
female subjects was tested for 4 min to exhaust their fluency lexicons and overcome access/strategy effects. This confirmed the female advantage for fruits and male advantage for tools. These findings are consistent with differences in the size of lexicons for males and females and are attributed to sex differences in domain-specific processing systems.

Resumen
El presente escrito es una propuesta que surge desde la Tecnológica Fitec en su empeño de trabajar por hacer coherente sus procesos pedagógicos, buscando desarrollar competencias en sus estudiantes a partir de una metodología que le permita organizar los procesos de enseñanza - aprendizaje y la evaluación en coherencia con sus propósitos de formación. Por tanto, se presenta un modelo didáctico fundamentado desde la neuropsicología, que ha permitido articular los aspectos integrales y constitutivos de la competencia: QUERER SER – SABER Y SABER HACER, con los procesos motivacionales, de cognición y aplicación que intervienen en el aprendizaje.
Se han establecido tres fases que dan cuenta de una secuencia didáctica y en cada una de
ellas se han establecido los mecanismos o subprocesos que favorecen la estructuración de la mente del estudiante hacia la consecuencia de la competencia. Estableciendo los propósitos esperados en cada fase, las enseñanzas que favorecen ese proceso, formulando las preguntas que guían la estructuración de las mismas, y el paso a paso que orientan las acciones de enseñanza a los que puede recurrir el docente, así como los componentes de la evaluación.
A pesar del detalle del proceso, no es su pretensión que se considere un recetario rígido, sino por el contrario, se espera que evidencie unas pautas de orientación que guían y generan conciencia del proceso en el docente que en su labor planifica, generar recursos, propone actividades y evalúa el aprendizaje de los estudiantes.

Palabras clave: didáctica, neuropsicología, enseñanza, aprendizaje, competencias,
motivación, cognición, aplicación.

Special issue of "Culture Unbound". Through an introduction and six original articles, the issue investigates a variety of cultural and scientific discourses and practices that in different ways are related to neuroscience and the brain.

The special issue was edited by guest editors Peter Bengtsen and Kristofer Hansson.

Shaping built environment of psychiatric hospitals is a process that requires predominantly adaptation of introduced solutions to particular patterns of patient behaviour. In contrast to other health care facilities, a psychiatric hospital admits patients with severe disorders of various origins. In a majority of cases, admitted patients in severe condition pose threat to themselves and/or for those around them.

Definição e método de trabalho com estados mentais.
Toda tecnologia inventada transforma a realidade. Toda nova realidade inspira novas tecnologias.
Mas as tecnologias precisam estimular o pensamento e não substituí-lo. Tecnologias parecem mágicas quando não pensamos para o que elas servem. Reduzir o pensar às próprias tecnologias, dando a ilusão de que delas surgem pensamentos, é uma ilusão (ou alucinação) muito em prática. Isso pode ser muito perigoso, pois nós pessoas, podemos  ficar com a falsa impressão de que são elas as coisas físicas e tecnológicas que pensam e não a gente.
Essa relação entre realidade observada, examinada e a criação de novas possibilidades só é possível pelo exame do pensamento. Se isso acontecer, abdicamos do que temos de melhor e mais diferenciado: nossa competência para pensar.
Pensar só é possível através das representações mentais que fazemos das coisas e da experiência com elas. 
A ideia da existência de uma realidade dissociada do observador que a examina tem sido posta em dúvida na filosofia da ciência, na neurociência e de uma forma ainda mais desafiadora no campo das ciências humanas. É possível examinar coisas e pessoas em si mesmas?
Com a expansão das tecnologias a noção de realidade tem sido desafiada: realidade “virtual”, “à distância”, "híbrida", “metaverso”, “ inteligência artificial” etc., indicam uma evidente dificuldade em discernir os planos e campos de quem pensa e o que é  o objeto do pensar. Quando o objeto do pensar é um semelhante, a compreensão da redução do pensamento a realidade física fica  muito mais evidente.
Não é possível compreender uma relação humana sem admitir que não se trata de uma relação entre comportamentos e sim entre idéias, imaginários, sentidos e sentimentos operando os comportamentos. Somos seres desejantes e pensantes. Então:
Quem examina delimita o campo do que examina.
Como resultado da observação e da experimentação, o observador não só transforma o objeto mas a sua própria forma de observá-lo. Nesse sentido, não sejamos ingênuos: não existe a rigor uma observação absolutamente neutra. A intenção do examinador delineia a investigação, as hipóteses e os meios físicos ( ou mentais) de comprovação. Se o objeto da observação for um semelhante, ele também examina o examinador. Aí se constitui um jogo entre momentos de exame e de teste de hipóteses entre ambos, o que é a definição cognitiva de Conversação. Quando a conversa ( converter a versão de um na versão de outro) tende a se compor em uma versão de conjunto, de um Nós, temos então a produção de um Diálogo. Se não, temos a discussão e os conflitos.

This paper presents a new corpus of 140 high quality colour images belonging to 14 subcategories and covering a range of naming difficulty. One hundred and six Spanish speakers named the items and provided data for several psycholinguistic variables: age of acquisition, familiarity, manipulability, name agreement, typicality and visual complexity.
Furthermore, we also present lexical frequency data derived internet search hits. Apart from the large number of variables evaluated, these stimuli present an important advantage with respect to other comparable image corpora in so far as naming performance in healthy individuals is less prone to ceiling effect problems. Reliability and validity indexes showed that our items display similar psycholinguistic characteristics to those of other corpora. In sum, this set of ecologically valid stimuli provides a useful tool for scientists engaged in cognitive and neuroscience-based research.