The Brain's Full Potential is Being Unlocked by Businesses Everywhere

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of the L-Alanyl-L-Glutamine dipeptide (AG) and electrolyte drink (ED) on cognitive function (NeuroTracker) following endurance exercise, in order to measure the effects of rehydration effectiveness.

12 male endurance athletes performed four trials, each consisting of running on a treadmill at 70% of VO2max for 1h, then at 90% of VO2max until exhaustion. One trial consisted of no hydration, another required ingestion of only a sports electrolyte drink (ED) and two trials required ingestion of a low dose (LD) and high dose of AG (HD) added to the ED. Cognitive function was measured through NeuroTracker baselines pre and post-exercise.

Before rehydration, subjects lost on average 2.4% of their body mass. Pre-post rehydration changes showed HD to be the most effective in aiding cognitive function, and electrolyte only having questionable benefit.

To investigate if working memory in Canadian Armed Forces can be improved with unsupervised remote NeuroTracker training as a practical performance enhancement tool.

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66 Canadian Armed Forces soldiers were randomly assigned to NeuroTracker training (30 sessions over two weeks), Dual n-back training, or a passive control group. Verbal and matrix WM span were assessed before and after training, along with the Multi-Attribute Task Battery: MATB-II multi-tasking assessment.

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Both active groups improved on the training tasks with 10-50% improvement in post-training working memory measures. No significant transfer was found for the MATB-II multi-tasking assessment.

To examine if NeuroTracker training transfers to useful field of view (UFOV) performance, a measure strongly associated with driving performance.

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Twenty healthy young adults between the ages of 23 and 33 years were recruited and evenly assigned to either a NeuroTracker training program or active control group using a math game (2048). Both groups completed 5 hours of training distributed over 5 weeks. Both groups completed pre-post standardized assessments of UFOV.

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The NeuroTracker training group exhibited significantly improved UFOV performance, whereas the active control group showed only a small, statistically nonsignificant improvement in the task. The researchers suggest that NeuroTracker and UFOV performance are likely dependent on overlapping cognitive abilities, and that these abilities can be trained and measured in young adults which could lead to improving driving safety.

To investigate if cognitive training programs can reduce expected cognitive decline associated with aging.

44 participants of 60 years or older were equally divided into an experimental (with NeuroTracker) and a comparative group (without NeuroTracker) and completed 12 training sessions per week. Both groups practiced mnemonic memory training techniques. Pre and post assessments were also conducted, including a a sociodemographic questionnaire, neuropsychological assessment and NeuroTracker pre and post baseline measures.

Both groups experienced some benefits from the memory training, however only the NeuroTracker trained group achieved transfer benefits for attention, reaction time, visual processing speed, episodic, semantic, subjective and working memory as well as aspects of social cognition. The researchers concluded that NeuroTracker with memory training contributed to significantly improved cognitive performance over memory training alone, and that more research should be conducted for elderly populations with and without cognitive deficits.

To compare the learning efficiency 3D-MOT (NeuroTracker) with 2D-MOT, and investigate whether any advantages can be reflected by heart rate variability (HRV).

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26 female U15 soccer players completed the 2D- and 3D-MOT tasks with the order reversed for half of the participants. HRV measures were recorded live during the training.

The female soccer players displayed higher learning efficiency in the 3D-MOT task than in the 2D-MOT. HRV analysis revealed that the training had some stimulation associated with inducing flow states in 2D, but that this effect was significantly greater with 3D-MOT. The researchers concluded that this study highlights the role of flow experience in the utility and applicability of 3D-MOT in soccer sport.

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To analyze the effectiveness of NeuroTracker training to improve sports vision and cognitive performance using a progressive single and dual-task training protocol.

37 elite water polo (13), taekwondo (12) and tennis elite athletes (12) completed 26 NeuroTracker sessions progressing from single-task training to progressively complex dual-task training. Pre and post training all athletes underwent a comprehensive battery of optometric vision assessments. Throughout the training program both athletes and their coaches completed frequent visual-analogue questionnaire assessments to assess changes in concentration, perception speed and peripheral vision performance.

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Overall NeuroTracker learning rates were high. Although scores initially dropped on progressing to more complex dual-task motor-skills, performance recovered quickly to the level expected with single-task performance. This that dual-task training methods with NeuroTracker can efficiently consolidate new skills into using a progressive overload methodology. Post-training assessments revealed a statistically significant gains in most visual abilities, including static visual acuity, stereopsis, spatial contrast sensitivity, saccadic ocular movements, and visual selective attention. Transfer to related sports performance abilities was seen with both coach and athlete questionnaire assessments, with consistently significant improvements throughout the program. Although the athletes tended to rate their performance higher than coaches, their improvement ratings were close to identical.

To investigate whether acute cognitive fatigue, induced via a Stroop task, affects multiple object tracking performance in young basketball athletes.

Participants were young basketball players who completed a standard Stroop task designed to induce cognitive fatigue. After the Stroop protocol, participants were assessed on a 3D multiple object tracking (3D-MOT) task to evaluate perceptual-cognitive tracking performance under fatigued cognitive conditions. Performance on the NeuroTracker task was compared between the fatigue condition and either baseline or control conditions.

Participants’ 3D-MOT performance did not show a significant decrement following Stroop-induced cognitive fatigue. Dynamic tracking thresholds and accuracy remained statistically similar across the fatigued and non-fatigued conditions, suggesting that the athletes’ perceptual-cognitive tracking ability was resilient to this laboratory-induced mental fatigue protocol.

To compare the visual tracking performance of professional as well as amateur eSport players and traditional sportsmen using NeuroTracker.

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19 professional players, 22 amateur players and 18 traditional sportsmen completed 3 NeuroTracker sessions. The first session was completed in 2D (non-stereo), and sessions 2 and 3 were completed in 3D (stereo). Experience and playtime data was also collected for analysis.

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Professional players spent significantly more time playing esports than amateurs. Pearson correlations revealed positive associations between hours of esport / week and NeuroTracker scores. Mean session score averages across each session consistently found esport professional to have the highest NeuroTracker performance, following by traditional sportsmen. Analysis of prior NeuroTracker research showed that session scores for all three groups were higher than the scores of the normal population.

To test the theory that driving performance is strongly associated with dynamic processing of multiple objects, by evaluating if NeuroTracker measures correlate with older driving performance in simulated scenarios.

30 experienced drivers with ages ranging from 65-85 years old were tested on one session of NeuroTracker (3D-MOT), and completed up to 3 driving scenarios on the STISIM 3.0 driving simulator. 5 unexpected events were included in the scenarios to test crash risk. The correlations between NeuroTracker speed thresholds and simulator measures (crash rate, lane deviation) were then calculated.

Highly significant correlations were found between NeuroTracker thresholds and both crash rate and lane deviation in the highway driving scenarios. Lower NeuroTracker scores were strongly associated with lane deviation during highway merging, and higher NeuroTracker scores related to participants being less likely to crash across different scenarios, and to have better overall lane maintenance skills. This study adds plausibility to the idea that a multiple object tracking test such as NeuroTracker could be a candidate for inclusion in an assessment battery for older drivers.