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Decentering, a detached, observer perspective on one’s mental activity, is an important concept for understanding mental health. Meta-awareness, people’s awareness of their own current mental activity, is thought to facilitate decentering. However, trait measures of these concepts are not available or have validity concerns. We sought to create a theoretically derived measure of meta-awareness and decentering that allowed an exploration of questions in the literature regarding whether there are multiple forms of decentered awareness and whether meta-awareness and external awareness are distinct. Across six samples and 2,480 participants, we developed the 25-item Multidimensional Awareness Scale, with subscales assessing meta-awareness (present moment awareness of mental activity), decentered awareness (meta-awareness from a psychologically distant perspective), and external awareness (present moment awareness of the world outside of oneself). The scales demonstrated acceptable reliability and validity. Results are discussed in terms of the conceptual implications of the scale structure and its potential uses.

Although the rise of operationalized diagnostic criteria and the creation of DSM-III were influenced in the USA by a neo-Kraepelinian ‘revival’ of interest in psychiatric nosology, Kraepelin was only a distal influence on the specific diagnostic criteria proposed. The historical origins of the DSM-III criteria for mania and major depression (MD) are traceable back to the 1950s and contain no direct link to Kraepelin's writings. George Dreyfus, a student and assistant to Kraepelin, authored in 1907 a monograph on Involutional Melancholia which reviewed cases seen by Kraepelin in Heidelberg. In this monograph, Dreyfus presents the ‘characteristic’ symptoms for mania and depression ‘as described by Kraepelin.’ This historical finding provides the unprecedented opportunity to examine the resemblance between the criteria proposed for mania and depression in DSM-III, inspired by Kraepelin's nosologic vision, and those specifically suggested by Kraepelin 73 years earlier. Kraepelin's symptoms and signs for mania paralleled seven of the eight DSM-III criteria (except the decreased need for sleep), with two not included in DSM-III (increased mental activity and short bursts of sadness). Kraepelin's signs and symptoms paralleled six of the nine DSM-III criteria for MD, lacking suicidal ideation and changes in appetite/weight and sleep but including obsessions, reduced expressive movements, and decreased mood responsiveness. Although Kraepelin's overall approach to mania and depression emphasized their close inter-relationship in the cyclic course of manic-depressive illness, it is noteworthy Kraepelin's ‘characteristic’ symptoms for mania and depression as described by Dreyfus, bear substantial but incomplete resemblance to the criteria proposed in DSM-III.

INTRODUCTION Physical and mental activity post-concussion has received renewed attention to improve concussion management, however most protocols start after several days and do not assess the acute window. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess physical and mental activity in the first 48 hours post-concussion on the time to symptom free status and return to play. METHODS We recruited 78 NCAA Division I athletes (Male: 51.3%, Age: 19.6 ± 1.4 y.o., Height: 173.7 ± 11.5 cm, Weight: 80.1 ± 23.2 kg) who were diagnosed with a sports related concussion. Participants completed a 0 - 5 physical activity (PA) and mental activity (MA) scale daily until fully cleared for return to participation (mean: 15.1 ± 6.9 days). A quadratic model regression assessed PA and MA over the first two days (acute) post-concussion on to time to symptom free and return to play. RESULTS The overall model was significant for both time to symptom free (r2 = 0.27, p = 0.004) and return to play (r2 = 0.23, p = 0.019). Reported PA was the only significant predictor for time to symptom free (p = 0.002) and RTP (p = 0.006) day. Reported MA was not associated either outcome. CONCLUSION The primary finding of this study was that mild to moderate PA acutely post-concussion was associated with reduced time to symptom free and return-to-participation as opposed to either lower or higher levels of PA. Conversely, acute MA was not associated with recovery outcomes. These results further elucidate the role of post-concussion physical activity.

Managers face risk in explorative decision-making and those who are better at such decisions can achieve future viability. To understand what makes a manager effective at explorative decision-making requires an analysis of the manager’s motivational characteristics. The behavioral activation/inhibition system (BAS/BIS), fitting the motivational orientation of “approach” or “avoidance,” can affect individual decision-making. However, very little is known about the neural correlates of BAS/BIS orientation and their interrelationship with the mental activity during explorative decision-making. We conducted an fMRI study on 111 potential managers to investigate how the brain responses of explorative decision-making interact with BAS/BIS. Participants were separated into high- and low-performance groups based on the median exploration-score. The low-performance group showed significantly higher BAS than that of the high-performance group, and its BAS had significant negative association with neural networks related to reward-seeking during explorative decision-making. Moreover, the BIS of the low-performance group was negatively correlated with the activation of cerebral regions responding to risk-choice during explorative decision-making. Our finding showed that BAS/BIS was associated with the brain activation during explorative decision-making only in the low-performance group. This study contributed to the understanding of the micro-foundations of strategically relevant decision-making and has an implication for management development.

A period of rest after learning results in better explicit memory for the material than a period of unrelated mental activity. This study investigated whether the same applies to priming. Thirty-four people with memory impairments due to acquired brain injury took part. In a repeated measures design, participants studied word lists; then either engaged in a relaxation technique (wakeful rest condition) or completed visuo-spatial tasks (control condition); and finally completed two priming tasks. Priming effects were significantly larger in the wakeful rest condition. This result is difficult to explain in terms of some of the explanations used to account for the benefits of wakeful rest on explicit memory, and alternative explanations are considered. One possibility is that the attentional demands of the control task resulted in inhibition of activity in neocortical areas associated with perception that contributed to the priming effect. The findings have implications for memory rehabilitation. Acquired memory impairments typically impact on explicit memory, and implicit memory is often relatively intact. It is important to find ways of enabling those with more severe explicit impairments to make best use of their implicit memory as a way of compensating for the deficits in their explicit memory.

Background: In many developed countries, mood disorders have become problematic, and the economic loss due to treatment costs and interference with work is immeasurable. Therefore, a simple technique to determine individuals’ depressive state and stress level is desired. Methods: We developed a method to assess specific the psychological issues of individuals with major depressive disorders using emotional components contained in their voice. We propose two indices: vitality, a short-term index, and mental activity, a long-term index capturing trends in vitality. To evaluate our method, we used the voices of healthy individuals (n = 14) and patients with major depression (n = 30). The patients were also assessed by specialists using the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D). Results: A significant negative correlation existed between the vitality extracted from the voices and HAM-D scores (r = −0.33, p &lt, 0.05). Furthermore, we could discriminate the voice data of healthy individuals and patients with depression with a high accuracy using the vitality indicator (p = 0.0085, area under the curve of the receiver operating characteristic curve = 0.76).

Introduction: Healthy people often experience headache, cognitive failures, or mental fatigue. Some people even experience these symptoms on a level comparable to patients with mild spectrum brain injuries. In these individuals, the fear-avoidance model explains symptoms as a consequence of catastrophizing and fear-avoidance toward mental activities. This experimental study investigated in healthy adults whether fear-avoidance and catastrophizing about mental activities are related to fear-avoidance behavior (i.e., behavioral avoidance of mental activities) according to the fear-avoidance model.Method: A randomized crossover within-subject design was used with two measurements and 80 participants. Participants were exposed to three demanding cognitive tasks and their simplified counterparts. Post-concussion symptoms, catastrophizing, fear-avoidance, behavioral avoidance (time spent working on cognitive tasks), exposure to mental activity, depression, heart rate, and state-trait anxiety were assessed.Results: Significant correlations between the variables of the fear-avoidance model were found. Furthermore, catastrophizers spent less time on difficult tasks compared to easy tasks. Both catastrophizing and female sex predicted time spent on difficult tasks, whereas only female sex predicted time spent on easy tasks.Conclusions: This study found that, according to the fear-avoidance model, catastrophizing is related to behavioral avoidance of cognitively challenging tasks in a community sample.

Humans spend a considerable portion of their lives engaged in ‘stimulus-independent thoughts' (SIT), or mental activity that occurs independently of input from the immediate external environment. Although such SITs are, by definition, different from thoughts that are driven by stimuli in one's external environment (i.e. stimulus-dependent thoughts; SDTs), at times, the phenomenology of these two types of thought appears to be deceptively similar. But how similar are they? We address this question by comparing the content of two types of SIT (dreaming and waking SITs) with the content of SDTs. In this 7 day, smartphone-based experience-sampling procedure, participants were intermittently probed during the day and night to indicate whether their current thoughts were stimulus dependent or stimulus independent. They then responded to content-based items indexing the qualitative aspects of their experience (e.g. My thoughts were jumping from topic to topic). Results indicate substantial distinctiveness between these three types of thought: significant differences between at least two of the three mental states were found across every measured variable. Implications are discussed. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Offline perception: voluntary and spontaneous perceptual experiences without matching external stimulation’.

A study of the changes in psychophysical function of the human body before and after relaxation sessions and acupuncture application has been conducted. The impact of relaxation sessions on psychophysical performance was studied on a group of university students and postgraduates aged between 18 and 30 years old; the impact of an acupuncture session course - on a group of subjects of a broad age range between 14 and 72, as they underwent rehabilitation therapy for their supportive locomotive apparatus disorders. The recording techniques used included electroencephalography (EEG), psychomotor reaction recording, minute-long time span accuracy reproduction; TST technique (Tactile Solar Test) of meridian and microsystem examination The results of this study suggest that relaxation sessions contribute to the enhancement of neurodynamical performance and mental activity efficiency. After the acupuncture therapy, relaxation effect, and restored tactile sensation on the meridians and microsystems was noted. A conclusion has been made that relaxation sessions and acupuncture may be used to improve psychophysical function.Авторы изучали особенности изменений психофизиологических функций до и после воздействия релаксации и акупунк-туры. Влияние релаксации на психофизиологические показатели изучали в группе студентов и аспирантов университета в возрасте от 18 до 30 лет; влияние курса акупунктуры - в группе лиц широкого возрастного диапазона от 14 до 72 лет в процессе реабилитации в связи с нарушениями двигательного аппарата. Обследование проводили на основе добровольного информированного согласия в соответствии с протоколом, утвержденным Комитетом по этике Российской академии наук и в соответствии с принципами, изложенными в Хельсинкской декларации. Применяли методики электроэнцефалографии, регистрации психомоторных реакций, измерение точности воспроизведения минутного интервала времени; TST-методики (тактильный Соларов тест) диагностики меридианов и микросистем. Результаты исследований показали, что занятия релаксацией способствуют повышению нейродинамических показателей и умственной работоспособности. После акупунктурной терапии у большинства испытуемых выявлен релаксационный эффект и восстановление тактильной чувствительности на энергетических меридианах и микросистемах, свидетельствующее о восстановлении нарушенной энергоинформационной устойчивости. Сделано заключение, что релаксационные упражнения и акупунктура могут использоваться для повышения психофизиологических функций за счет релаксационного восстановительного эффекта.

Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a chronic illness that is defined and diagnosed by its symptoms: extreme fatigue made worse by physical and mental activity, pain and decreased mental stamina, among others. A long-held, erroneous belief that ME/CFS is not a physiological illness has persisted among some clinicians, leading to the denial of a patient’s physical illness and attributing the symptoms to other causes. The debilitating effects of ME/CFS in the pediatric population can affect all aspects of academic, social, emotional, and physical development. ME/CFS has been diagnosed in children younger than 10 years. Therefore, the school nurse is likely to encounter one or more students in the various stages of this disease, putting the school nurse in a position to ameliorate the impact of this potentially devastating chronic condition.

Evidence primarily exists in adults that engaging in task-related mental activity after new learning results in increased forgetting of learned information, compared with quietly resting in the minutes that follow learning, where less forgetting is observed. The current study investigated whether the beneficial effect of post-encoding rest can be observed in children aged 13-14 years. Each child (N = 102) encoded two word lists. After the presentation and immediate recall of one word list, children wakefully rested for 10 min (resting condition), after presentation and immediate recall of the other word list, they solved visuo-spatial problems for 10 min (problem-solving condition). Seven days later, a surprise free recall test for the two word lists took place. Our results showed that children retained more words over 7 days in the resting condition than with the problem-solving condition. Post-hoc analyses revealed that the resting effect was a function of the number of words recollected during the immediate recall. Specifically, those children who recalled fewest words (≤ 13/30 words) in the immediate recall showed a significant resting effect. There was no resting effect in those who recalled a mid-range (14-16/30 words) or a high number (>16/30 words) of words. These results provide new insights into the factors that influence memory in children, and suggest that a few minutes of wakeful rest benefits memory, relative to engaging in an ongoing task. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Task-related mental activity after encoding weakens memory retention more than wakeful resting. Beneficial effect of resting after encoding was found primarily in younger and older adults. What does this study add? We investigated children at the age of 13-14 years. 8-min post-encoding wakeful resting supports memory retention over 7 days. Individuals differ in the impact of a brief period of wakeful resting after learning. Only children with lower immediate memory performances profited from wakeful resting.

Biological activities, including cellular metabolic pathways, protein folding and brain function, can be described in terms of curved trajectories in hyperbolic spaces which are constrained by energetic requirements. Here, starting from theorems recently-developed by a deceased Field Medal young mathematician, we show how it is feasible to find and quantify the shortest, energy-sparing functional trajectories taking place in nervous systems’ concave phase spaces extracted from real EEG traces. This allows neuroscientists to focus their studies on the few, most prominent functional EEG’s paths and loops able to explain, elucidate and experimentally assess the rather elusive mental activity.

This paper is an effort to describe, in neuroscientific terms, one of the most ambiguous concepts of the universe-the soul. Previous efforts to understand what the soul is and where it may exist have accepted the soul as a subjective and individual entity. We will make two additions to this view: (1) The soul is a result of uninhibited mental activity and lacks spatial and temporal information; (2) The soul is an undivided whole and, to become divided, the soul has to be reduced into unconscious and conscious mental events. This reduction process parallels the maturation of the frontal cortex and GABA becoming the main inhibitory neurotransmitter. As examples of uninhibited mental activity, we will discuss the perceptual differences of a newborn, individuals undergoing dissociation, and individuals induced by psychedelic drugs. Then, we will explain the similarities between the structure of the universe and the structure of the brain, and we propose that consideration of the rules of quantum physics is necessary to understand how the soul is reduced into consciousness.

Studies have convincingly shown that both physical and mental activity are positively associated with cognitive task performance in aging. Little is known, however, about whether still being employed or doing volunteer work, which obviously engages physical and/or mental activity, is similarly associated with cognitive ability at an older age. The current study explored this relationship in 28 volunteers aged sixty years and older. Participants completed a neuropsychological test battery, and data regarding the number of working hours (paid and voluntary) per week were collected. A total of 28 participants were included, 13 of whom worked three or more hours per week. As a group, these active participants achieved better episodic memory, sustained attention and psychomotor speed results. This study shows that older people who are still working demonstrate better neuropsychological task performance. An important question for future research concerns the causality of this relationship.

Background and Objectives: Although the effects of physical exercise on brain functions are well studied, the influence of mental activity is unknown. The aim of this study was to assess the influence of a session of mental activity on brain neurobiological factors in chess players. Materials and Methods: Ten elite and novice chess players were recruited to participate in this study as volunteers. The subjects performed a session of standard chess matches as a mental activity. Before and after each chess match, blood samples were drawn to analyze changes in serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1). Results: After each chess match, both the elite and novice groups showed significant increases in serum BDNF and IGF-1 concentrations. The elite group also showed significantly greater changes in BDNF and IGF-1 levels (p &le, 0.05) than the novice group. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that a session of standard chess matches as a mental activity is effective for elevating BDNF and IGF-1 levels, and that their elevation in elite players seems to be more pronounced than those in novice players.

This study aimed to examine the associations between home blood pressure (HBP) and sleep and activity assessed using data obtained via a wristwatch-type pulsimeter with accelerometer (Pulsense®) using original software. We recruited 28 elderlies and 40 employees aged 24-81 years who were not on hypotensive agents and sleeping drugs. Sleep, activity, and HBP were measured consecutively over a 5-7-day period. Body mass index (BMI), base heart rate (HR

Cognitive dysfunction is a core defect for schizophrenia subjects. This is due to structural and functional abnormalities of the brain which can be determined using Electroencephalogram (EEG). The objective of this study is to analyze EEG in patients with schizophrenia using power spectral density during mental activity. The subjects included in this study are 52 schizophrenia subjects and 29 Normal subjects. EEG is recorded under resting condition and during mental activity. Two modified odd ball paradigms are designed to stimulate mental activity and named as stimulus 1 and stimulus 2. EEG signal is filtered using FIR band pass filter to extract delta, theta, alpha, and beta band EEG. This method measures powers of each band using Welch power spectral density method called absolute power. The absolute power of alpha band is low and beta band is high for schizophrenia subjects compared to normal subjects during rest and two stimuli. Student’s t-test is used to find the significant features (p

The article provides an analysis of the possibility of neurotrophic therapy of delayed speech development (DSD) in 266 children who underwent dynamic clinical, laboratory, functional and neuropsychological examinations and received neurotrophic therapy. This study confirmed the effectiveness of neurotrophic therapy in the treatment of as isolated speech disorder (ISD) as well speech disorder in the structure of the general psychomotor developmental delay (PDD). The lack of effect in the use of neuroprotective therapy in every sixth child of the latter group can be a marker for the individualization of the treatment of each individual with an emphasis on non-drug rehabilitation methods. The use of cortexin in monotherapy in the treatment of delayed speech development is justified not only by its effectiveness in improving speech development and good tolerance, but also in connection with an improvement in behavior in children of the studied groups, which is possibly associated with a positive effect on mental activity in general, and on self-control function in particular.В статье приводится анализ возможности нейротрофической терапии задержки речевого развития (ЗРР) у 266 детей, которым проводились динамическое клинико-лабораторно-функциональное и нейропсихологическое обследование и нейротрофическая терапия. Проведенное исследование подтвердило эффективность нейротрофической терапии как изолированной задержки речевого развития, так и ЗРР в структуре общей задержки психомоторного развития (ЗПМР). Отсутствие эффекта при применении нейропротекторной терапии у детей с ЗРР в структуре общей ЗПМР у каждого шестого ребенка может являться маркером для индивидуализации лечения каждого индивидуума с уклоном на немедикаментозные методы реабилитации. Применение кортексина в монотерапии при лечении ЗРР оправданно не только в связи с его эффективностью в отношении улучшения речевого развития и хорошей переносимостью, но и в связи с улучшением поведения у детей исследуемых групп, что, возможно, вызвано его позитивным влиянием в целом на психическую активность и в частности на функцию самоконтроля.

The aim of the study was to study the effect of the drug recognan (citicoline) on the neurodynamic characteristics of mental activity in patients with mild cognitive impairment.A survey of 58 subjects (17 of them male and 41 female) aged 18-45 years (average age 27.2±12.5 years) was conducted. Clinical diagnosis according to ICD-10 «Mild cognitive impairment» (F06.7). The main subgroup included29 people received oral recognan therapy (in solution, 100 mg in 1 ml) for 30 days, with a daily dosage of 500 mg (5 ml of solution). In the control group (29 people) drug therapy was not performed. Tests were used: «Graphic sample», the sample on the reciprocal coordination of the hands (Ozeretsky test), test for the compression of fingers, the test «number series». The follow-up period was 30 days. All subjects were examined three times (initially, in the middle of the study - on day 15, at the end of the study - on day 30).The results obtained showed that the use of the drug recognan (citicoline) has a positive effect on the indicators of visual-motor coordination and spatial representations, neurodynamic characteristics of movement, and cognitive functions. After a 2-week treatment with recognan improved graphical sample, 84% of patients, with reliable improvement according to the Wilcoxon (Изучение влияния препарата Рекогнан (цитиколин) на нейродинамические характеристики психической деятельности у пациентов с легкими когнитивными нарушениями.Проведено обследование 58 пациентов (17 мужчин и 41 женщина) в возрасте 18—45 лет (средний возраст 27,2±12,5 года) с клиническим диагнозом по МКБ-10 «Легкое когнитивное расстройство» (F06.7). В основную группу вошли 29 пациентов, которые получали пероральную терапию Рекогнаном (в растворе, 100 мг в 1 мл) в течение 30 дней, при этом суточная дозировка препарата составляла 500 мг (5 мл раствора). В группе сравнения (29 человек) медикаментозная терапия не проводилась. Использовались тесты «Графическая проба», проба на реципрокную координацию рук (проба Озерецкого), проба на сжимание пальцев, тест «Числовые ряды». Все пациенты обследовались трижды (до начала терапии, на 15-й день терапии, после лечения — на 30-й день).Полученные результаты показали, что применение препарата Рекогнан (цитиколин) оказывает положительное влияние на показатели зрительно-моторной координации и пространственных представлений, нейродинамические характеристики движения, когнитивные функции. После 2 нед лечения Рекогнаном отмечалось улучшение выполнения графической пробы у 84% обследованных, с достоверным улучшением (

The capacity to tell a joke is a highly complex interpersonal event that depends upon the maturation of certain developmental achievements which are absent or stunted in children with Asperger's Syndrome. These include the ability to know another's mind, a sense of interpersonal timing and, most notably, a capacity for abstract thinking. The author discusses Freud's () notion of joke-work, which is akin to dream-work, both of which are pathways to forming mental representations. Freud considered joke-work as a mental activity that operated on the verbal level and the author examines the preverbal dimensions that are rooted in the earliest mother/infant interactions. An extended case discussion of the psychoanalytic treatment of an Asperger boy is offered to illustrate these points and to demonstrate the activity of joke-work as a means of building mental representations.

Item does not contain fulltext The feeling of effort is familiar to most, if not all, humans. Prior research shows that the feeling of effort shapes judgments (e.g., of agency) and decisions (e.g., to quit the current task) in various ways, but the proximal causes of the feeling of effort are not well understood. In this research, I address these proximal causes. In particular, I conducted two preregistered experiments in which participants performed a difficult vs. easy cognitive task, while I measured effort-related phenomenology (feeling of effort) and physiology (pupil dilation) on a moment-to-moment basis. In both experiments, difficult tasks increased the feeling of effort; however, this effect could not be explained by concurrent increases in physiological effort. To explain these findings, I suggest that the feeling of effort during mental activity stems from the decision to exert physiological effort, rather than from physiological effort itself. 10 p.

Summary Background and aims Dysphagia is a highly prevalent condition in hospitalized older adults. One major consequence of dysphagia is reduced oral intake due to difficulty in safe and/or efficient swallowing. The aim of the present study was to explore the factors associated with the level of oral intake in older adults with dysphagia. Methods The subjects were enrolled from older patients admitted to an acute hospital presenting with dysphagia, consisting of 36 patients (16 men and 20 women) with a mean age of 88.1 years. Level of oral intake was evaluated with the Food Intake Level Scale (FILS). Mental function was measured with the vitality index (as a measure of mental vitality related to activities of daily living) and a comprehension scale. Physical ability was evaluated with a mobility index. Nutritional status was assessed with the Mini Nutritional Assessment short-form. Results The FILS had significant correlations with the vitality index (rs = 0.49, p = 0.002), comprehension scale (rs = 0.49. p = 0.002), mobility index (rs = 0.42, p = 0.010), and MNA-SF score (rs = 0.37, p = 0.025). Although patients with dementia tended to have lower scores compared with those without dementia, there were no significant differences between the two groups except for the comprehension scale (p = 0.001). Conclusion The results showed associations between the level of food intake and the mental, physical, and nutritional status in hospitalized older adults with dysphagia.

The present study investigates the external validity of emotional value measured in economic laboratory experiments by using a physiological indicator of stress, heart rate variability (HRV). While there is ample evidence supporting the external validity of economic experiments, there is little evidence comparing the magnitude of internal levels of emotional stress during decision making with external stress. The current study addresses this gap by comparing the magnitudes of decision stress experienced in the laboratory with the stress from outside the laboratory. To quantify a large change in HRV, measures observed in the laboratory during decision-making are compared to the difference between HRV during a university exam and other mental activity for the same individuals in and outside of the laboratory. The results outside the laboratory inform about the relevance of laboratory findings in terms of their relative magnitude. Results show that psychologically induced HRV changes observed in the laboratory, particularly in connection with social preferences, correspond to large effects outside. This underscores the external validity of laboratory findings and shows the magnitude of emotional value connected to pro-social economic decisions in the laboratory.

This article examines the possible relevance of physical–mathematical multidimensional or quantum concepts aiming at understanding the (human) mind in a neurobiological context. Some typical features of the quantum and multidimensional concepts are briefly introduced, including entanglement, superposition, holonomic, and quantum field theories. Next, we consider neurobiological principles, such as the brain and its emerging (physical) mind, evolutionary and ontological origins, entropy, syntropy/neg-entropy, causation, and brain energy metabolism. In many biological processes, including biochemical conversions, protein folding, and sensory perception, the ubiquitous involvement of quantum mechanisms is well recognized. Quantum and multidimensional approaches might be expected to help describe and model both brain and mental processes, but an understanding of their direct involvement in mental activity, that is, without mediation by molecular processes, remains elusive. More work has to be done to bridge the gap between current neurobiological and physical–mathematical concepts with their associated quantum–mind theories.

Sir, Sandrone et al. (2012, 2013) rediscovered, translated, and commented on the manuscripts of Angelo Mosso (1882, 1884), in which Mosso described his ‘human circulation balance’; James (1890) described this as a ‘delicately balanced table which could tip downwards either at the head or the foot if the weight of either end were increased’. Mosso claimed that the balance allowed him to observe changes in cerebral blood volume associated with mental effort and emotional responses, and consequently the balance is regarded as the direct forerunner of modern non-invasive functional neuroimaging techniques. However, Sandrone et al. (2012, 2013) stated that ‘we have no direct evidence that the balance was really able, as stated, to measure changes in cerebral blood flow during acts of cognition … despite its proven ability to measure blood volume changes in various organs (e.g. lungs, feet, hands)’. In our laboratory, we recently constructed a balance similar to Mosso’s, and using modern data collection and analysis methods that were unavailable to Mosso, we investigated whether the balance was sensitive to changes in cerebral blood volume produced by modulating the level of mental activity. The construction and mechanism of our balance is depicted and explained in Fig. 1, and may be compared with Figs 3 and 8 in Sandrone et al. (2013), which show Mosso’s apparatus. The balance is a class 1 lever, in which the moment of a force measured at the fulcrum is proportional to the magnitude of the force and its distance from the fulcrum. With a participant lying on the balance across the fulcrum, if mental activity produces a net shift of blood towards or away from the head then this will produce a slight change in the centre of mass of the participant relative to the fulcrum of the lever, …

This study examined whether training can increase the reflective function (RF) of novice therapists about patients with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). A total of 48 students in clinical psychology were randomly assigned to mentalization training or didactic training. Their RF regarding patients was assessed with the Therapist Mental Activity Scale (TMAS: Normandin, Ensink, & Maheux, 2012). The RF of trainees assigned to the mentalization training improved significantly, while participants who received traditional didactic training actually became significantly less reflective. These findings show that brief mentalization training can help beginner therapists develop their mentalization capacities with challenging patients.

The objective of this paper is to investigate if bioelectrical signals, generated from trunk muscles identified in an electrocardiogram (ECG) signal presented in this paper as ECG-Trunk Muscles Signals amplitude (Ecg-TMSA) are correlated with Heart rate (HR) during different levels of physical activity and also if Ecg-TMSA is not influenced by mental activity. HR and Ecg-TMSA were derived from ECG in 14 subjects when walking and jogging at different treadmill velocities from 4-10 (km h(-1)). The mean relationship for all 14 subjects was HR = (42.3 ± 0.2) + (45.3 ± 2.8) Ecg-TMSA, r(2 )= 0.91. The result of one individual data points example for a 21 min experiment was (r(2 )= 0.93, p 0.0001, n = 336). The obtained results show a linear relationship between Ecg-TMSA and HR. Moreover, the Ecg-TMSA was not affected by mental activity.

The aim of this study was to investigate whether leisure activity is associated with incident dementia in an older sample.We examined a sample of 1,475 elderly (≥ 65 years) who were dementia free at baseline over a follow-up period of up to 15 years. In addition to analyses involving the total time period, separate analyses of three time periods were performed, 1-5, 6-10, and 11-15 years, following baseline measurement of leisure activity.After controlling for a variety of potential confounders, analyses of data for the total time period revealed that higher levels of "Total activity" and "Social activity," but not "Mental activity," were associated with decreased risk of dementia. However, analyses of the separate time periods showed that this association was only significant in the first time period, 1-5 years after baseline.The results from this study provide little support for the hypothesis that frequent engagement in leisure activities among elderly serve to protect against dementia diseases across a longer time frame. The finding of a relationship for the first time period, 1-5 years after baseline, could indicate short-term protective effects but could also reflect reverse causality.

It is commonly known that mental activity helps to maintain a healthy brain. Recent research has unraveled the underlying molecular mechanisms that explain why an active brain lives longer. These mechanisms involve the activation of a comprehensive transcriptional program that is triggered by enhanced synaptic activity and renders neurons resistant to harmful conditions. Functionally, this state of acquired neuroprotection may be achieved mainly via one mechanism, which is the stabilization of mitochondria. In this review we propose a model that describes the signaling network that links synaptic activity to neuroprotection. We suggest that the divergent-convergent architecture of this signaling network ensures both robust and reliable as well as persistent activation of the neuroprotective machinery.

Artificial neural systems and nervous graph theoretical analysis rely upon the stance that the neural code is embodied in logic circuits, e.g ., spatio-temporal sequences of ON/OFF spiking neurons. Nevertheless, this assumption does not fully explain complex brain functions. Here we show how nervous activity, other than logic circuits, could instead depend on topological transformations and symmetry constraints occurring at the micro-level of the cortical microcolumn, i.e. , the embryological, anatomical and functional basic unit of the brain. Tubular microcolumns can be flattened in fullerene-like two-dimensional lattices, equipped with about 80 nodes standing for pyramidal neurons where neural computations take place. We show how the countless possible combinations of activated neurons embedded in the lattice resemble a barcode. Despite the fact that further experimental verification is required in order to validate our claim, different assemblies of firing neurons might have the appearance of diverse codes, each one responsible for a single mental activity. A two-dimensional fullerene-like lattice, grounded on simple topological changes standing for pyramidal neurons’ activation, not just displays analogies with the real microcolumn’s microcircuitry and the neural connectome, but also the potential for the manufacture of plastic, robust and fast artificial networks in robotic forms of full-fledged neural systems.

The Primordial Mind in Health and Illness: A Cross-Cultural Perspective. By Michael Robbins. London/New York: Routledge, 2011. 240 pp.

This study was conducted to develop muscle and mental activities on repetitive precision tasks. A laboratory experiment was used to address the objectives. Surface electromyography was used to measure muscle activities from eight upper limb muscles, while electroencephalography recorded mental activities from six channels. Fourteen university students participated in the study. The results show that muscle and mental activities increase for all tasks, indicating the occurrence of muscle and mental fatigue. A linear relationship between muscle activity, mental activity and time was found while subjects were performing the task. Thus, models were developed using those variables. The models were found valid after validation using other students’ and workers’ data. Findings from this study can contribute as a reference for future studies investigating muscle and mental activity and can be applied in industry as guidelines to manage muscle and mental fatigue, especially to manage job schedules and rotation.

The Global Consciousness Project (GCP) maintains a long-term experiment that investigates the possibility of a subtle connection between the collective mental activity of humans and the physical behavior of systems in the surrounding environment. The Project formulates this proposition as a broad hypothesis that relates the output of true random number generators (RNGs) to times of intense, collective mental attention during major world events. Over 17 years, the hypothesis has been tested on nearly 500 events, yielding a cumulative result that rejects the null hypothesis by seven standard deviations, apparently lending strong support to the proposal of global consciousness. However, an alternate interpretation is that the result is due to an anomalous effect associated with persons directly engaged with the experiment. This article examines these interpretations and finds that the data do not support the global consciousness proposal. Rather, analyses indicate that the GCP result is due to a goal-oriented effect associated with individuals, similar to effects reported in prior research that studies subject engagement with RNG outputs. An operational definition of goal-oriented effects is presented, which allows for explicit tests of the data. All of the tests favor the interpretation of a goal-oriented effect.

Around the age of 66 Cajal consulted neurologist Nicolas Achucarro complaining of “unbearable cephalalgias”. He had not ever suffered from headaches. The diagnosis of early arteriosclerosis that was considered at the time a physiological, irreversible ailment of ageing had a strong emotional impact on Cajal. Comorbid depression, insomnia and self-treatment with escalating doses of Veronal® (barbital), a short-acting barbiturate, presumably aggravated the situation. Exposure to warm environments and being involved in tense discussions were identified as triggering factors of the headaches. Achucarro and Cajal were probably assuming scientific concepts at the time, such as cerebral congestion, increased temperature at the cerebral cortex during mental activity and vasoconstriction and vasodilatation phenomena. Up to his death aged 82, no evidence was discovered of any organic nervous system disorder. Cajal remained anxious up to the end of his life fearing an impending cerebral haemorrhage. The diagnosis was followed by profound lifestyle changes such as social isolation, which forced him to leave his laboratory. Cajal's cephalalgias marked in some way the end of the Spanish school of neurohistology.

Non-stationarity and inherent variability of the noninvasive electroencephalogram (EEG) makes robust recognition of spontaneous EEG patterns challenging. Reliable modulation of EEG patterns that a BCI can robustly detect is a skill that users must learn. In this paper, we present a novel online co-adaptive BCI training paradigm. The system autonomously screens users for their ability to modulate EEG patterns in a predictive way and adapts its model parameters online. Results of a supporting study in seven first-time BCI users with disability are very encouraging. Three of 7 users achieved online accuracy > 70% for 2-class BCI control after 24 minutes of training. Online performance in 6 of 7 users was significantly higher than chance level. Online control was based on one single bipolar EEG channel. Beta band activity carried most discriminant information. Our fully automatic co-adaptive online approach allows to evaluate whether user benefit from current BCI technology within a reasonable timescale.

In recent years, there has been an increasing line of research dedicated to the investigation of the default mode network (DMN) of the brain and resting state networks. However, the mental activity of the DMN has not been rigorously assessed to date. The specific aims of the current study were 2-fold: First, we sought to determine whether the current source density (CSD) levels in the DMN would correspond to other neuroimaging techniques. Second, we sought to understand the subjective mental activity of the DMN during baseline recordings. This study was conducted with 63 nonclinical participants, 34 female and 29 males with a mean age of 19.2 years (standard deviation = 2.0). The participants were recorded in 8 conditions. First, 4-minute eyes-closed baseline (ECB) and eyes-opened baseline (EOB) were obtained. The participants then completed 3 assessment instruments and 3 image conditions while the electroencephalography (EEG) was continuously recorded. Participants completed subjective reports for baselines and image conditions. These were rated by 3 independent raters and compared for reliability using a random effects model with an absolute agreement definition. The mean CSD between all conditions differed significantly, in many but not all regions of interest in the DMN. Interestingly, as suggested by other studies, the DMN appears preferential to self-relevant, self-specific, or self-perceptive processes. The reliability analyses show α for interrater agreement for ECB at .95 and EOB at .96. The subjective reports obtained from the participants regarding the mental activities employed during baseline recordings correspond to attentional and self-regulatory processes, which may also implicate the resting state or DMN as playing a direct role in the maintenance of a complex behavior (eg, being still, attending, and self-regulating). Thus, attention and self-regulation constitute the phenomenology of the resting state (DMN) in this study. The results also demonstrate that EEG CSD is a useful method to examine the DMN during concept-specific tasks to elucidate the neural activity associated with these concepts. Standardized low-resolution electromagnetic tomography (sLORETA) can localize to 5 mm3, which is comparable to the findings in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). However, sLORETA can provide data about the difference in activity between groups, individuals, or populations which in many cases fMRI cannot provide.

Alexithymia is a trait characterized by a diminished capacity to describe and distinguish emotions and to fantasize; it is associated with reduced introspection and problems in emotion processing. The default mode network (DMN) is a network of brain areas that is normally active during rest and involved in emotion processing and self-referential mental activity, including introspection. We hypothesized that connectivity of the DMN might be altered in alexithymia. Twenty alexithymic and 18 non-alexithymic healthy volunteers underwent a resting state fMRI scan. Independent component analysis was used to identify the DMN. Differences in connectivity strength were compared between groups. Within the DMN, alexithymic participants showed lower connectivity within areas of the DMN (medial frontal and temporal areas) as compared to non-alexithymic participants. In contrast, connectivity in the high-alexithymic participants was higher for the sensorimotor cortex, occipital areas and right lateral frontal cortex than in the low-alexithymic participants. These results suggest a diminished connectivity within the DMN of alexithymic participants, in brain areas that may also be involved in emotional awareness and self-referential processing. On the other hand, alexithymia was associated with stronger functional connections of the DMN with brain areas involved in sensory input and control of emotion.

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of physical, mental, social activity, and health concern on cognition in the elderly by means of the health concern and activity (HCA) model. Data were obtained from 3157 subjects aged 60 years and above. The subjects were divided into four groups according to the HCA model. Cognitive function was assessed by the Korean version of the mini-mental state examination (K-MMSE). A cross-sectional, factorial design was used in which the K-MMSE score was the dependent variable, with physical, mental, and social activity as one factor and health concern as the other. Analysis of covariance revealed significant differences in the K-MMSE score between all four groups after adjusting for age, sex, education, current smoking, and alcohol consumption for all subjects. The results suggest that having health concerns as well as physical, mental, or social activity is associated with cognitive function in the elderly.

One approach to investigate psychophysiological processes occurring in the Concealed Information Test (CIT) is to use a parallel task, which engages specific mental activity in addition to the CIT. In the present study, the influence of an interfering n-back task on the physiological responses in a Concealed Information Test (CIT) was investigated. Forty participants underwent a mock-crime experiment with a modified CIT. In a within-subject design, the CIT was applied in blocks with and without an additional n-back task. Electrodermal activity (EDA), respiration line length (RLL), heart rate (HR), and finger pulse waveform length (FPWL) were registered. Reaction times in the n-back task and the CIT were recorded. The parallel task enhanced the differential EDA response to probe vs. irrelevant items, while it diminished the response differences for RLL and phasic HR. Results shed light upon working-memory-related processes in the CIT. The diverging effects of the interfering mental activity on electrodermal and cardiopulmonary measures, if replicable, might contribute to a better understanding of the psychophysiological responsiveness underlying the CIT.

The well-known deactivation of the default mode network (DMN) during external tasks is usually thought to reflect the suppression of internally directed mental activity during external attention. In three experiments with human participants we organized sequences of task events identical in their attentional and control demands into larger task episodes. We found that DMN deactivation across such sequential events was never constant, but was maximum at the beginning of the episode, then decreased gradually across the episode, reaching baseline towards episode completion, with the final event of the episode eliciting an activation. Crucially, this pattern of activity was not limited to a fixed set of DMN regions but, across experiments, was shown by a variable set of regions expected to be uninvolved in processing the ongoing task. This change in deactivation across sequential but identical events showed that the deactivation cannot be related to attentional/control demands which were constant across the episode, instead, it has to be related to some episode related load that was maximal at the beginning and then decreased gradually as parts of the episode got executed. We argue that this load resulted from cognitive programs through which the entire episode was hierarchically executed as one unit. At the beginning of task episodes, programs related to their entire duration is assembled, causing maximal deactivation. As execution proceeds, elements within the program related to the completed parts of the episode dismantle, thereby decreasing the program load and causing a decrease in deactivation.

Recently, human brain activity during a resting-state has attracted increasing attention. Several studies have found that there are two networks: the default mode network and its anti-correlation network. Some studies have subsequently showed that the functions of brain areas within the default mode network are crucial in human mental activity. To further discern the brain default mode network as well as its anti-correlation network during resting-state, we used three methods to analyze resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data; regional homogeneity analysis, linear correlation and independent component analysis, on four groups of dataset. Our results showed the existence of these two networks prominently and consistently during a resting- and conscious-state across the three methods. This consistency was exhibited in four independent groups of normal adults. Moreover, the current results provided evidences that the brain areas within the two anti-correlated networks are highly integrated at both the intra- and inter-regional level.

A central aim of neuroscience is to map neural circuits, in order to learn how they account for mental activities and behaviours and how alterations in them lead to neurological and psychiatric disorders. However, the methods that are currently available for visualizing circuits have severe limitations that make it extremely difficult to extract precise wiring diagrams from histological images. Here we review recent advances in this area, along with some of the opportunities that these advances present and the obstacles that remain.

Rips and Estin (1998) provided evidence that mental events such as dreaming are more homogeneous than physical events such as checking out a book; that is, their parts are more difficult to distinguish. In their experiment, participants listed more distinctive properties for the parts of physical events than for the parts of mental events. However, the physicality of stimuli was confounded with temporal aspects. Mental stimuli tended to be processes, and physical stimuli, events. This study tested homogeneity with new stimuli separating out the factors of physicality and aspect. Consistently, both physicality and aspect had significant effects on the perceived homogeneity of activities, as measured by the number of listed parts, the number of distinctive properties of each part, and homogeneity ratings. The study shows that homogeneity is strongly influenced by aspect but that physicality remains a robust factor for homogeneity, even after taking aspect into account.

Physicians can promote healthy nutrition, physical activity, socialization, and mental activity, but no drug is approved for it.

Carbohydrate (CHO) receptors in the mouth signal brain areas involved in cognitive tasks relying upon motivation and task persistence; however, the minimal CHO dose that improves mental activity is unclear.To determine if CHO (via ingestion or oral rinse) influences sustained attention without eliciting glycemic responses when in a fasted state.Study A: Six healthy adults completed five treatment trials, ingesting 0-6% CHO solutions to evaluate glycemic response. Peak blood glucose for 6% and 1.5% CHO was greater (p0.05) than 0% and 0.4% CHO; thus, the low 0.4% CHO was evaluated further. Study B: Following an overnight fast, ten healthy adults completed three trials in a crossover design: 1) 400 ml 0.4% CHO ingested serially via 25 ml boluses, 2) 375 ml 0% CHO control (CON) ingested followed by one 25 ml 6% CHO isocaloric (1.5 g CHO) mouth rinse, and 3) CON ingest followed by CON rinse. Following treatments, a 20 min Continuous Performance Task (CPT) was performed to assess accuracy and precision.Accuracy and precision were not different during the first 5 min of CPT. However, accuracy was maintained with CHO ingest (p=1.0) but decreased over 20 min (p0.05) with both CHO and CON rinse treatments. Precision tended to decline over 20 min CPT with CON (p=0.06) and CHO rinse (p=0.05) but were maintained with CHO ingest (p=1.0). No differences in glycemic responses were observed between treatments.Compared to mouth rinsing CON or CHO (1.5 g in 6% CHO), ingestion of an isocaloric low-CHO drink maintained sustained attention over a mentally fatiguing task and appears effective after fasting without eliciting a glycemic response.

It has long been known that the diameter of human pupil enlarges with increasing effort during the execution of a task. This has been observed not only for purely mechanical effort but also for mental effort, as for example the computation of arithmetic problems with different levels of difficulty. Here we show that pupil dilation reflects changes in visuospatial awareness induced by attentional load during multi-tasking. In the single-task condition, participants had to report the position of lateralized, briefly presented, masked visual targets ("right", "left", or "both" sides). In the multitasking conditions, participants also performed additional tasks, either visual or auditory, to increase the attentional load. Sensory stimulation was kept constant across all conditions to rule out the influence of low-level factors. Results show that event-related pupil dilation strikingly increased with task demands, mirroring a concurrent decrease in visuospatial awareness. Importantly, pupil dilation significantly differed between two dual-task conditions that required to process the same number of stimuli but yielded differed levels of accuracy (difficulty). In contrast, pupil dilation did not differ between two conditions which were equally challenging but differed both in the modality of the dual task (auditory vs. visual) and in the number of stimuli to be attended. We conclude that pupil dilation genuinely reflects the top-down allocation of supramodal attentional resources.

The ageing society has stimulated interest in the ‘use it or lose it’ approach to memory decline, where aspects of lifestyle such as mental activity (Wilson et al., 2002) or exercise (Larson et al....

SummaryWe evaluated 22 patients with epileptic seizures in which the seizures were triggered by various games or game-related materials. Based on whether spontaneous seizure coexisted or not, these 22 patients were divided into two groups. Ten patients who experienced seizures exclusively while playing or watching specific games were referred to as Group I, while 12 patients that had both game-induced and spontaneous seizures were classified as Group II. The patients in Group I had a middle-age onset (39.1 years) with a male predominance (90%). The electroencephalogram (EEG) or brain magnetic resonance imaging revealed non-specific abnormalities in 60%, and the partial onset seizure was recognized in 30% of patients. Antiepileptic drugs had uncertain benefits in this group. In Group II, patients had a male predominance (67%), with onset during adolescence (16.3 years). Most of them had generalized tonic–clonic seizures, myoclonic seizures, and absences, and 42% showed epileptiform discharge on EEG. These 12 patients were categorized into idiopathic generalized epilepsies. Although photosensitivity was an important factor, higher mental activity seemed to be significant precipitants of seizures in Group II. Antiepileptic drugs were necessary and valproic acid alone or combined with clonazepam was effective in this group. The results showed that game-related seizures are not a unique and homogeneous syndrome and may consist of different mechanisms. Teenage onset, coexistent spontaneous seizure, and associated idiopathic generalized epilepsies were crucial factors in the determination of antiepileptic drug therapy. Moreover, avoiding the related games altogether may be a more productive preventive measure.