The Effect of the Menstrual Cycle on Cognitive Performance: Spatial Reasoning, Visual & Numerical Memory

The menstrual cycle has been a topic of interest in relation to behavior and cognition for many years, with historical beliefs associating it with cognitive impairment. However, recent research has challenged these beliefs and suggested potential positive effects of the menstrual cycle on cognitive performance. Despite these emerging findings, there is still a lack of consensus regarding the impact of the menstrual cycle on cognition, particularly in domains such as spatial reasoning, visual memory, and numerical memory. Hence, this study aimed to explore the relationship between the menstrual cycle and cognitive performance in these specific domains. Previous studies have reported mixed findings, with some suggesting no significant association and others indicating potential differences across the menstrual cycle. To contribute to this body of knowledge, we explored the research question of whether the menstrual cycles have a significant effect on cognition, particularly in the domains of spatial reasoning, visual and numerical memory in a regionally diverse sample of menstruating females. A total of 30 menstruating females from mixed geographical backgrounds participated in the study, and a repeated measures design was used to assess their cognitive performance in two phases of the menstrual cycle: follicular and luteal. The results of the study revealed that while spatial reasoning was not significantly related to the menstrual cycle (p = 0.256), both visual and numerical memory had significant positive associations (p < 0.001) with the luteal phase. However, since the effect sizes were very small, the importance of this relationship might be commonly overestimated. Future studies could thus entail designs with larger sample sizes, including neuro-biological measures of menstrual stages, and consequently inform competent interventions and support systems.

Spatial Cognition of Chinese“Qian/Hou”and English“Front/Back”

“Front/back”orientation is a basic understanding of the spatial relationship between people and objects and represents a dimensional spatial relationship in the relative horizontal direction.The“front/back”orientation is judged based on human body experience both in Chinese“qian/hou”and English“front/back”.The spatial cognition of Chinese“qian/hou”and English“front/back”orientation can be analyzed from two aspects:topological space and reference space.

Route Guidance for Visually Impaired Based on Haptic Technology and Their Spatial Cognition

Haptic(vibration)information expression is an effective human-computer interaction mode and information transfer method.It makes up shortcomings of sound under certain conditions and is an important channel of information transfer for route guidance field.As a special kind of walkers,the visually impaired pedestrians have a specific type of cognition or perception of route guidance environment(including spatial orientation,distance and walking speed etc.)and they have sharp sense of touch resources form the ordinary.This work integrated application of GPS,GIS and Haptic(vibration)technology to develop more reliable mode route guidance for the visually impaired.It provides different vibration to the user under two circumstances:key nodes of roads ahead and deviation planning path.It resists environmental noise,reflects timely and has high effectiveness.Based on Google Legend phone,we developed the prototype and realized the designed functions,and verified the effectiveness of the system.We initially determined the thresholds of deviating from the path,those at road junctions and other nodes through experiments,interviews etc.And we used the thresholds for experiments testing and guiding.Then they were inspected,corrected and improved in the field practice.Finally,more reasonable thresholds were drawn out for future applications in reality.

Distinguishing normal brain aging from the development of Alzheimer＇s disease：inflammation,insulin signaling and cognition

As populations age, prevalence of Alzheimer＇s disease（AD） is rising. Over 100 years of research has provided valuable insights into the pathophysiology of the disease, for which age is the principal risk factor. However, in recent years, a multitude of clinical trial failures has led to pharmaceutical corporations becoming more and more unwilling to support drug development in AD. It is possible that dependence on the amyloid cascade hypothesis as a guide for preclinical research and drug discovery is part of the problem. Accumulating evidence suggests that amyloid plaques and tau tangles are evident in non-demented individuals and that reducing or clearing these lesions does not always result in clinical improvement. Normal aging is associated with pathologies and cognitive decline that are similar to those observed in AD, making differentiation of AD-related cognitive decline and neuropathology challenging. In this mini-review, we discuss the difficulties with discerning normal, age-related cognitive decline with that related to AD. We also discuss some neuropathological features of AD and aging, including amyloid and tau pathology, synapse loss, inflammation and insulin signaling in the brain, with a view to highlighting cognitive or neuropathological markers that distinguish AD from normal aging. It is hoped that this review will help to bolster future preclinical research and support the development of clinical tools and therapeutics for AD.

NOVEL SPECTRUM SENSING METHOD BASED ON THE SPATIAL SPECTRUM FOR COGNITIVE RADIO SYSTEMS

Spectrum sensing is the key problem for Cognitive Radio(CR) systems.A method based on the Peak-to-Average Amplitude-Ratio(PAAR) of the Spatial Spectrum(SS) of the received signals is proposed to sense the available spectrum for the cognitive users with the help of the multiple antennas at the receiver of the cognitive users.The greatest advantage of the new method is that it requires no information of the noise power and is free of the noise power uncertainty.Both the simulation and the analytical results show that the proposed method is robust to noise uncertainty,and greatly outperform the classical Energy Detector(ED) method.

Treadmill exercise improves hippocampal neural plasticity and relieves cognitive deficits in a mouse model of epilepsy

Epilepsy frequently leads to cognitive dysfunction and approaches to treatment remain limited.Although regular exercise effectively improves learning and memory functions across multiple neurological diseases,its application in patients with epilepsy remains controversial.Here,we adopted a 14-day treadmill-exercise paradigm in a pilocarpine injection-induced mouse model of epilepsy.Cognitive assays confirmed the improvement of object and spatial memory after endurance training,and electrophysiological studies revealed the maintenance of hippocampal plasticity as a result of physical exercise.Investigations of the mechanisms underlying this effect revealed that exercise protected parvalbumin interneurons,probably via the suppression of neuroinflammation and improved integrity of blood-brain barrier.In summary,this work identified a previously unknown mechanism through which exercise improves cognitive rehabilitation in epilepsy.

The Feasibility of a Novel Dual-Task Exercise Program Which Integrates Balance, Gaze, Mobility and Cognition in Community Dwelling Older Adults: Protocol for a Randomized Clinical Pilot Trial

Background: Mobility limitations and cognitive impairments which are common with ageing often coexist, causing a reduction in the levels of physical and mental activity and are prognostic of future adverse health events and falls. Consequently, multi-task training paradigms that simultaneously address both mobility and cognition benefit healthy ageing are important to consider in rehabilitation as well as primary prevention. Objectives: An exploratory RCT is being conducted to: a) describe the feasibility and acceptability of the study design and process, procedures, resources and management in two game-based dual-task training programs delivered in the community;b) to explore the lived experiences of the study participants who completed their respective exercise programs. A secondary objective is to obtain preliminary data on the therapeutic effectiveness of the two dual-task training programs. Methods: Thirty healthy older community dwelling participants aged 70 - 85 with previous history of falls will be recruited and randomized to either dual- task treadmill walking (experimental group) or dual-task recumbent bicycle (control group). Data analysis: The qualitative data will be analyzed by two investigators using a content analysis approach. For the quantitative data, outcome measures will be collected pre and post intervention and included measures to assess core balance, spatial-temporal gait variables, visual tracking and cognitive function, as well as, balance and gait analysis under dual-task conditions. Discussion: This research will demonstrate the feasibility of the dual-task training programs in the community, and demonstrate the system’s ability to improve targeted and integrated (dual-task) aspects of balance, mobility, gaze, and cognitive performance. A blended analysis of balance, mobility gaze and cognition will also contribute to a better understanding of the functional consequences of decline in physical and mental skills with age. Trial registration: This pilot clinical trial has been registered at ClinicalTrials.gov Protocol Registration System: NCT01940055.

轻度认知障碍老人与认知正常老人在不同单双任务下姿势控制能力的差异性

背景:老年人由于轻度认知障碍而引起姿势控制能力下降,导致跌倒风险增高。双任务是在接近真实生活场景下评估认知与姿势控制能力关系的主要研究范式,站立时足底压力中心位移样本熵可代表姿势控制的复杂程度。目的:基于压力中心位移样本熵分析轻度认知障碍老年人与认知正常老年人在姿势控制-空间工作记忆任务中姿势稳定性特征及控制策略的差异,探究认知功能损伤对站立姿势控制能力影响。方法:筛选出符合条件的16名轻度认知障碍老年人和17名认知正常老年人为研究对象,老年人分别完成5种测试任务,包括空间工作记忆、双脚平衡站立、Romberg站立、双脚平衡站立-空间工作记忆双任务、Romberg站立-空间工作记忆双任务,每个任务有效完成3次。使用Kistler三维测力台采集足底压力中心数据,测试指标包括认知行为学指标(认知得分与反应时长)、动力学指标(压力中心位移及样本熵)。结果与结论:①轻度认知障碍老年人在执行空间工作记忆任务时认知得分最大、反应时间最短,双脚平衡站立-空间工作记忆双任务居中,Romberg站立-空间工作记忆双任务认知得分最小、反应时长最长,任务间比较差异均有显著性意义(P<0.05);②与双脚平衡站立、Romberg站立任务相比,轻度认知障碍老年人在执行双任务时压力中心前后、内外方向位移显著更大,压力中心前后、内外方向位移样本熵值显著更小(P<0.05);③在空间工作记忆任务下,轻度认知障碍老年人与认知正常老年人的认知得分、反应时长差异均无显著性意义(P>0.05);在两种双任务下,与认知正常老年人相比,轻度认知障碍老年人的认知得分更小、反应时长更长(P<0.05),同时轻度认知障碍老年人压力中心前后、内外方向位移更大,压力中心前后、内外方向位移样本熵值更小(P<0.05);④结果表明:与认知正常老年人相比,轻度认知障碍老年人在执行双任务时姿势控制复杂度降低,系统适应性较差,自动调控能力下降,更容易受到空间工作记忆干扰,跌倒风险增大。

认知功能损伤对双任务站立影响的中枢机制:功能性近红外脑成像系统分析

背景:轻度认知障碍老年人由于认知功能下降,姿势控制能力下降,易发生跌倒。双任务范式由于更贴近日常生活,常被用于评估姿势控制能力,但以往对于轻度认知障碍老年人的认知与姿势控制双任务研究主要探讨姿势控制的外在表现特征,中枢神经机制的直接证据依然缺乏。目的:探讨轻度认知障碍老年人在执行站立姿势控制-空间工作记忆双任务时大脑躯体感觉运动皮质激活特征。方法:采用蒙特利尔认知量表(MoCA-B)筛选受试者,共纳入轻度认知障碍老年人16人、认知功能正常老年人17人,进行5种任务测试,分别为空间工作记忆(SIT)、双足平衡站立(SD)、Romberg站立(SR)、双足平衡站立-空间工作记忆双任务(DD)、Romberg站立-空间工作记忆双任务(DR);同时使用功能性近红外脑成像系统和三维测力台收集躯体感觉运动皮质(20个通道)的血液动力学、足底压力中心(COP)摆动轨迹数据。结果与结论:①在Romberg站立、双足平衡站立-空间工作记忆双任务、Romberg站立-空间工作记忆双任务下,轻度认知障碍老年人前后、内外方向足底压力中心位移均显著大于认知功能正常老年人(P<0.05);②在双足平衡站立-空间工作记忆双任务下,轻度认知障碍老年人15通道(右侧前运动皮质/辅助运动区)的氧合血红蛋白变化量值显著大于认知功能正常老年人(P<0.05);在Romberg站立-空间工作记忆双任务下,轻度认知障碍老年人15,17通道(右侧前运动皮质/辅助运动区)的氧合血红蛋白变化量值均显著大于认知功能正常老年人(P<0.05);③在Romberg站立-空间工作记忆双任务下,轻度认知障碍老年人内外方向足底压力中心位移与15通道的氧合血红蛋白变化量存在显著正相关(r=0.659,P<0.05),认知功能正常老年人内外方向足底压力中心位移与15通道的氧合血红蛋白变化量存在高度正相关(r=0.840,P<0.05)。结果表明,与认知功能正常老年人相比,轻度认知障碍老年人在站立姿势控制-空间工作记忆双任务中站立姿势控制能力较弱,右侧前运动皮质与辅助运动区激活水平更高,更多的脑资源用于侧向姿势控制,可能是轻度认知障碍老年人认知衰退导致站立姿势控制能力变弱的大脑补偿机制。

Microstructural damage pattern of vascular cognitive impairment: a comparison between moyamoya disease and cerebrovascular atherosclerotic disease

Moyamoya disease and cerebrovascular atherosclerotic disease are both chronic ischemic diseases with similar presentations of vascular cognitive impairment. The aim of the present study was to investigate the patterns of microstructural damage associated with vascular cognitive impairment in the two diseases. The study recruited 34 patients with moyamoya disease(age 43.9 ± 9.2 years; 20 men and 14 women, 27 patients with cerebrovascular atherosclerotic disease(age: 44.6 ± 7.6 years; 17 men and 10 women), and 31 normal controls(age 43.6 ± 7.3 years; 18 men and 13 women) from Huashan Hospital of Fudan University in China. Cognitive function was assessed using the Mini-Mental State Examination, long-term delayed recall of Auditory Verbal Learning Test, Trail Making Test Part B, and the Symbol Digit Modalities Test. Single-photon emission-computed tomography was used to examine cerebral perfusion. Voxel-based morphometry and tract-based spatial statistics were performed to identify regions of gray matter atrophy and white matter deterioration in patients and normal controls. The results demonstrated that the severity of cognitive impairment was similar between the two diseases in all tested domains. Patients with moyamoya disease and those with cerebrovascular atherosclerotic disease suffered from disturbed supratentorial hemodynamics. Gray matter atrophy in bilateral middle cingulate cortex and parts of the frontal gyrus was prominent in both diseases, but in general, was more severe and more diffuse in those with moyamoya disease. White matter deterioration was significant for both diseases in the genu and body of corpus callosum, in the anterior and superior corona radiation, and in the posterior thalamic radiation, but in moyamoya disease, it was more diffuse and more severe. Vascular cognitive impairment was associated with regional microstructural damage, with a potential link between, gray and white matter damage. Overall, these results provide insight into the pathophysiological nature of vascular cognitive impairment. This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board in Huashan Hospital, China(approval No. 2014-278). This study was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov on December 2, 2014 with the identifier NCT02305407.

Antidiabetic treatment on memory and spatial learning: From the pancreas to the neuron

The detrimental effects of constant hyperglycemia on neural function have been quantitatively and qualitatively evaluated in the setting of diabetes mellitus. Some of the hallmark features of diabetic encephalopathy (DE) are impaired synaptic adaptation and diminished spatial learning capacity. Chronic and progressive cognitive dysfunction, perpetuated by several positive feedback mechanisms in diabetic subjects, facilitates the development of early-onset dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Despite the numerous clinical manifestations of DE having been described in detail and their pathophysiological substrate having been elucidated in both type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus, an effective therapeutic approach is yet to be proposed. Therefore, the aim of this review is to summarize the growing body of evidence concerning the effect of current antidiabetic treatment options on diabetic and non-DE.

Comprehensive neurocognitive assessment of patients with anorexia nervosa

AIM:To utilise a comprehensive cognitive battery to gain a better understanding of cognitive performance in anorexia nervosa(AN).METHODS:Twenty-six individuals with AN and 27 healthy control participants matched for age,gender and premorbid intelligence,participated in the study.A standard cognitive battery,the Measurement and Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia Consensus Cognitive Battery,was used to investigate performance on seven cognitive domains with the use of 10 different tasks:speed of processing[Brief Assessment Of Cognition In Schizophrenia:Symbol Coding,Category Fluency:Animal Naming(Fluency)and Trail Making Test:Part A],attention/vigilance[Continuous Performance Test-Identical Pairs(CPT-IP)],working memory[Wechsler Memory Scale(WMS?-Ⅲ):Spatial Span,and Letter-Number Span(LNS)],verbal learning[Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised],visual learning[Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised],reasoning and problem solving[Neuropsychological Assessment Battery:Mazes],and social cognition[Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test:Managing Emotions].Statistical analyses involved the use of multivariate and univariate analyses of variance.RESULTS:Analyses conducted on the cognitive domain scores revealed no overall significant difference between groups nor any interaction between group and domain score[F(1,45)=0.73,P=0.649].Analyses conducted on each of the specific tasks within the cognitive domains revealed significantly slower reaction times for false alarm responses on the CPT-IP task in AN[F(1,51)=12.80,P<0.01,Cohen’s d=0.982]and a trend towards poorer performance in AN on the backward component of the WMS?-ⅢSpatial Span task[F(1,51)=5.88,P=0.02,Cohen’s d=-0.665].The finding of slower reaction times of false alarm responses is,however,limited due to the small number of false alarm responses for either group.CONCLUSION:The findings are discussed in terms of poorer capacity to manipulate and process visuospatial material in AN.

Cognitive effects of long-term residence in the Antarctic environment

This study examined whether prolonged residence in the Antarctica had a significant impact on cognitive performance. Participants were members of the 24th and 25th Chinese National Antarctic Research Expeditions. Cognitive performance was measured with tests designed to evaluate short-term recognition, memory search and spatial cognition, measured four times： January, March, April, and June 2010. Age was controlled as a covariate, and data were analyzed using repeated-measures ANOVA. The results revealed that subjects＇ short-term memory and recognition ability remained stable, while 82% of team members exhibited improved scores on a spatial cognitive ability test. These findings have important implications for furthering our understanding of cognitive functioning in extreme environments.

A Map Construction Method Based on the Cognitive Mechanism of Rat Brain Hippocampus

The entorhinal-hippocampus structure in the mammalian brain is the core area for realizing spatial cognition.However,the visual perception and loop detection methods in the current biomimetic robot navigation model still rely on traditional visual SLAM schemes and lack the process of exploring and applying biological visual methods.Based on this,we propose amap constructionmethod thatmimics the entorhinal-hippocampal cognitive mechanismof the rat brain according to the response of entorhinal cortex neurons to eye saccades in recent related studies.That is,when mammals are free to watch the scene,the entorhinal cortex neurons will encode the saccade position of the eyeball to realize the episodicmemory function.The characteristics of thismodel are as follows:1)A scenememory algorithmthat relies on visual saccade vectors is constructed to imitate the biological brain’s memory of environmental situation information matches the current scene information with the memory;2)According to the information transmission mechanism formed by the hippocampus and the activation theory of spatial cells,a localization model based on the grid cells of the entorhinal cortex and the place cells of the hippocampus was constructed;3)Finally,the scene memory algorithm is used to correct the errors of the positioning model and complete the process of constructing the cognitive map.The model was subjected to simulation experiments on publicly available datasets and physical experiments using a mobile robot platform to verify the environmental adaptability and robustness of the algorithm.The algorithm will provide a basis for further research into bionic robot navigation.

Cognitive Skill Enhancement System Using Neuro-Feedback for ADHD Patients

The National Health Interview Survey(NHIS)shows that there are 13.2%of children at the age of 11 to 17 who are suffering from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder(ADHD),globally.The treatment methods for ADHD are either psycho-stimulant medications or cognitive therapy.These traditional methods,namely therapy,need a large number of visits to hospitals and include medication.Neurogames could be used for the effective treatment of ADHD.It could be a helpful tool in improving children and ADHD patients’cognitive skills by using Brain–Computer Interfaces(BCI).BCI enables the user to interact with the computer through brain activity using Electroencephalography(EEG),which can be used to control different computer applications by processing acquired brain signals.This paper proposes a system based on neurofeedback that can improve cognitive skills such as attention level,mediation level,and spatial memory.The proposed system consists of a puzzle game where its complexity increases with each level.EEG signals were acquired using the Neurosky headset;then sent the signals to the designed gaming environment.This neurofeedback system was tested on 10 different subjects,and their performance was calculated using different evaluation measures.The results show that this game improves player overall performance from 74%to 98%by playing each game level.

Functional Brain Network Learning Based on Spatial Similarity for Brain Disorders Identification

Functional brain network (FBN) measures based on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data, has become important biomarkers for early diagnosis and prediction of clinical outcomes in neurological diseases, such as Alzheimer’s diseases (AD) and its prodromal state (i.e., Mild cognitive impairment, MCI). In the past decades, researchers have developed numbers of approaches for FBN estimation, including Pearson’s correction (PC), sparse representation (SR), and so on. Despite their popularity and wide applications in current studies, most of the approaches for FBN estimation only consider the dependency between the measured blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) time series, but ignore the spatial relationships between pairs of brain regions. In practice, the strength of functional connection between brain regions will decrease as their distance increases. Inspired by this, we proposed a new approach for FBN estimation based on the assumption that the closer brain regions tend to share stronger relationships or similarities. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed method, we conduct experiments on a public dataset to identify the patients with MCIs from health controls (HCs) using the estimated FBNs. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach yields statistically significant improvement in seven performance metrics over using the baseline methods.

Pioneering Studies of Spatial Behavior in Animals: Ivane Beritashvili and Edward Tolman

Ivane S. Beritashvili’s doctrine of image-driven behavior was established in the late 1920s and finally extended in his books in English (1965;1971). It bears a strong resemblance to the concepts of purposive behavior and “cognitive maps” developed in parallel by Edward C. Tolman (1932;1948) and significantly anticipated respective modern concepts. John O’Keefe and his disciples May-Britt Moser and Edvard I. Moser received the Nobel Prize in 2014 for their discoveries of cells that constitute a navigation system in the brain. The latter fact brings us to the pioneers of the study of the spatial orientation of animals that figuratively speaking, provided the giant’s shoulders on which O’Keefe and the Mosers stood to receive their award. Beritashvili and Tolman upheld the holistic and goal-directed nature of spatial behavior. A major contribution of Beritashvili to the science of animal behavior was the demonstration of the universality of learning following a single presentation of an object vitally important to the animal: either a food object or a noxious signal. Beritashvili showed that such “image-driven” behavior has a strong spatial component, i.e., the image is projected into a definite point in space. Thus, he came to maintain that there is a class of behavior that is image-driven that does not require a repetition of associations. Tolman made several significant contributions to the field of experimental psychology. He thought of learning as developing from bits of knowledge and cognitions about the environment and how the organism relates to it. He examined the role that reinforcement plays in the way that rats learn their way through complex mazes. These experiments eventually led to the theory of latent learning which describes learning that occurs in the absence of an obvious reward. Tolman also strongly advocated the theory that rats learn the place where they have been rewarded rather than the particular movements required to get there. To a great extent, Tolman’s work determined the direction of American psychology in the 1930s-1950s. The contribution of Beritashvili and Tolman, thus, is the groundwork of modern studies of spatial cognitive processes in human and nonhuman animals.

Spatial Models in Thinking and Communication

Spatial models joint external and internal aspects of human activity,mental schemas of thinking,and spatial structures of things.These models represent objects of knowledge,valuation,and transformation due to similarity with them in various relations,and they participate in inter-subject communication using schemata common for many people.The spatial models can reproduce a modelled object or be productive regarding it.These models are created in cognitive modus of comprehension as images of objects known at various mental levels;in projective modus,they appear as projects of object’s transformation and planes of subject’s actions;in communicative modus,they are interpreted as spatial texts expressing certain senses.All of them interact in spatial thinking,which deals with the relationship of parts and the whole,unlike logical thinking operating with genus-species relations.Both practical and theoretical thinking use common spatial schemas as means of internal modelling,which are elaborated in collective and individual experience.Due to their simplicity and unification,these schemas can serve also as units of spatial codes mediating the objects representation and inter-subject communication through spatial texts created in the semiotized space.

A Cognitive Comparative Analysis of UP-DOWN Metaphorical Extension in Chinese and English

This paper aims at making some research on spatial metaphor from cognitive angle.Spatial metaphor is a basic tool which can make us more familiar with our world,and lots of abstract concepts are based on it.Take "UP-DOWN" for example,this paper will mainly discuss the symmetry and dissymmetry of its extension in Chinese and English.