EF Science

Whether you’re answering hard questions, making impromptu remarks, analyzing a situation, or synthesizing a bunch of data points into a cohesive and convincing presentation, the ability to think and process multiple pieces of information quickly and effectively is a vital skill to have. In our fast-paced and fluid world, you’ve got to be able to pull out the right piece of knowledge at the right time.

A landmark NeuroTracker study published Nature Scientific Reports showed that elite athletes have brains with superior capacities for learning, which could be a critical factor as to why they can achieve such high levels of performance on the sports field. Professor Faubert, the inventor of NeuroTracker explained the meaning of this for world-class athletes, “The fact that they are there…is because they are more plastic.  I think that’s one of the criteria.  You would think that this brain is optimal at the highest competitive level, that it’s reached its maximum potential.  But maybe they are there because they can acquire new potential so much more rapidly and so more efficiently.” Neuroplasticity is also known to be a key factor in brain health, with reduced plasticity being a related factor for increased risks of cognitive conditions such as dementia in older populations.

The NeuroTracker score itself is established in the neuroscience literature as a high-level measure of attentional capacity.  This means that the higher your score is, the better your attention.  It’s a high-level measure because performing NeuroTracker requires using and integrating several different types of attention.

Distributed or Divided Attention – similar to multi-tasking, tracking several targets at the same time requires allocating attentional resources separately to each individual target.

Adolescence is a time of considerable development at the level of behaviour, cognition and the brain. This article reviews histological and brain imaging studies that have demonstrated specific changes in neural architecture during puberty and adolescence, outlining trajectories of grey and white matter development. The implications of brain development for executive functions and social cognition during puberty and adolescence are discussed. Changes at the level of the brain and cognition may map onto behaviours commonly associated with adolescence. Finally, possible applications for education and social policy are briefly considered.

Recent MRI studies indicate that the time at which the brain reaches maturity may be much later than the end of adolescence. One such study of participants aged between 7 and 30 revealed that the loss of grey matter in the frontal cortex accelerated during adulthood between the early 20s and up to the age of 30 (Sowell et al., 2001).

The non‐linear decrease in grey matter was concomitant with a linear increase in white matter, consistent with earlier MRI data and with post‐mortem studies.

Sleep problems in children diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder are treated with a variety of medications, many off label for sleep and unstudied for safety and effectiveness in children, a study of Medicaid prescriptions has found.

The aim of this study is to investigate motor and cognitive effects of a 9-week exercise intervention in children aged 6–10 years.

It is hypothesised that all groups gain motor and cognitive effects, but highest benefits are expected for the combination of automatised coordination exercises with mental tasks.

Abstract 1 Introduction 2 Methods and analysis 2.1 Study design and setting 2.2 Population 2.3 Recruitment 2.4 Screening and consent procedures 2.5 Study interventions 2.6 Safety considerations 2.7 Study assessments 2.7.1 Screening assessments 2.7.2 Primary outcomes 2.7.3 Secondary outcomes 2.7.4 Posited mediators 2.7.5 Covariates and moderators 2.8 Statistical analyses 2.9 Quality control and monitoring 2.10 Ethics and dissemination 3 Discussion 3.1 Strengths and limitations 4 Conclusion Author contributions References

He suggests eSports athlete should be following diets similar to those in professional sports, as well as performing regular physical training to support better motor-skills. His thought is that this may extend career time by 5 years or more. “My advice is that gaming is more than just playing video games. It is a complex interaction of many different, mostly cognitive, skills. To improve these skills and guarantee sustainable results, a holistic approach is needed.” In fact now some of the biggest eSports teams are turning to sports science to raise their game, including using NeuroTracker to sharpen their minds. This means that in coming years we’re likely to see cyber athletes pushing the boundaries of human performance.

Psychology of Individual Differences: Intelligence and Personality in Action. Chapter 2: The Nature of Intelligence

This chapter showsthat intelligence, defined as “a very general mental capability that involves the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly, and learn from experience” (Gottfredson, 1997) is at the centerof the cosmos composed by a range of psychological factors(Figure 1).Figure 1. The Psychological Cosmos.

Nevertheless, finding the most likely‘structure’ of human personality (including intelligence) based on behavioural differencesmeasured by standardized tests,is just the first stepof a long and fascinating voyage.The identified elements,or factors,that define the ‘structure’ of human personality follow a given ‘dynamic’ and they may be rooted in human‘biology’.

The Self Regulation Questionnaire (SRQ) was found to be a valid and reliable tool which measures unique psychosomatic abilities. Self regulation deals with competence and autonomy and can be regarded as a problem solving capacity in terms of an active adaptation to stressful situations to restore wellbeing. The tool is an interesting option to be used particularly in complementary medicine research with a focus on behavioural modification.

Despite the large number of childhood and adolescent obesity treatment trials, we were only able to partially assess the impact of obesity treatment interventions on school achievement and cognitive abilities. School and community‐based physical activity interventions as part of an obesity prevention or treatment programme can benefit executive functions of children with obesity or overweight specifically. Similarly, school‐based dietary interventions may benefit general school achievement in children with obesity. These findings might assist health and education practitioners to make decisions related to promoting physical activity and healthy eating in schools. Future obesity treatment and prevention studies in clinical, school and community settings should consider assessing academic and cognitive as well as physical outcomes.