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

To examine the effects of different rehydration strategies on cognitive performance under the effects of physical fatigue.

‍

12 male endurance-trained runners (av. age: 23. years) were tasked with running on a treadmill at 70% of their predetermined VO2max for 1 h followed by running at 90% of VO2max until exhaustion on four separate days. On each day different hydration modalities were given (no hydration, electrolyte drink, electrolyte drink with a low dose of Sustamine, electrolyte drink with a high dose of Sustamine), drinking 250 mL every 15 min. Before and after each hour run, cognitive function (NeuroTracker) and reaction tests were administered.

Results showed that physical reaction time was faster for the low dose trial than the high dose trial. Analysis of lower body quickness indicates that performance in both the low and high dose trials were likely improved in comparison to the no hydration trial. NeuroTracker results indicated a possible greater performance for dehydration and low dose compared to only the electrolyte drink, while there was a likely greater performance in multiple object tracking for the high dose trial compared to consumption of the electrolyte drink only.

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

‍

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.

‍

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 evaluate the effectiveness and transfer of an NeuroTracker training on visual and executive functions in youth elite soccer players.

‍

29 elite youth soccer players were recruited and divided into training and control groups. Visual and executive functions were analyzed in a pre–post test design with both groups doing regular soccer training, and the trained group also completing 10 weeks of NeuroTracker training twice a week. Transfer assessments included tests with the Senaptec Sensory Station, the Trail Making Test, and the Design Fluency test.

Large differences in NeuroTracker initial baselines were found both between the groups, and within the groups. For the trained group, initial baselines were strongly correlated with improvement rates. Assessments show gains for both groups in working memory, cognitive flexibility, inhibition, metacognition, MOT, attention window and processing speed, but only measures inhibition, visual clarity showed advantages specific to the trained group. The researchers recommended studies with a dual-task training intervention and larger number of participants may be needed to reveal training effects for this population.

To determine timeframes required for baseline updates for NeuroTracker and ImPACT, based on long-term retest reliability.

At the start of two consecutive seasons, 30 athletes with no recent history of mTBI completed baseline assessments of NeuroTracker and ImPACT. The test–retest reliability of the results was assessed via three different statistical analyses.

‍

The Visual Motor Speed composite score of the ImPACT was the only component of the assessment with outcomes with acceptable retest reliability. NeuroTracker baselines also met these standards. The researchers concluded that NeuroTracker has an acceptable level of test–retest reliability after one year in comparison to ImPACT.

‍

The objective of the study was to examine MOT capability at different levels of cognitive load (tracking 1,2,3, or 4 objects) and its association to higher level processes, particularly fluid reasoning intelligence.

‍

70 adult participants (mean= 23 years of age) completed NeuroTracker and were then assessed on the Weschler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence 2 test. Participants were asked to track one, two, three and four targets out of a total of 8 spheres for eight seconds.

The results showed that as the number of targets increased, the average speed the participants successfully tracked all the objects decreased. This finding allowed the researchers to confirm that average speed score can be used as a suitable metric for MOT and in turn, attention resource capacity. As a result, the outcomes indicate that visual tracking capability is positively associated with fluid reasoning intelligence. Consequently, this finding demonstrates that there is a link between fluid reasoning intelligence and MOT capability, especially in conditions of high load (tracking 4 out of 8 targets).

This was a pilot study with a selection of elementary school children based on test measures showing significant attention problems and impulse control, but not clinically diagnosed as ADHD. The purpose of this pilot study was to see if NeuroTracker has the potential be an efficacious short-term intervention for young students with severe attention impairments, based on changes in standardised neuropsychological assessments.

A test and control group of 5 Elementary school students each were included in the study, selected based on severely impaired rating on the IVA+PlusTM Continuous Performance Test. Both groups produced NeuroTracker initial baselines with statistically insignificant differences. The test group completed 21 five-minute NeuroTracker training sessions distributed over 3.5 weeks, the control group did no training. Both groups were then retested on the neuropsychological assessments.

The Test Group improved NeuroTracker speed thresholds by an average of 61% over the course of the training. The control group showed negligible difference in pre-post neuropsychological assessments scores, whereas the trained group showed variable but significant improvements across a range of visual and auditory measures. Gains were most pronounced in Prudence, Consistency and Focus in both visual and auditory domains, matching previous findings, and suggesting cross-modal performance transfer.In general the improvement ratios suggested that a short-term NeuroTracker training intervention can improve severe attention deficits towards moderate attention deficits in this population, with potential to positively impact learning outcomes at a young age.

‍

‍

To investigate if a NeuroTracker intervention could improve cognitive abilities in older adults with subjective cognitive decline, and determine if AI models could be used to increase training efficacy.

48 participants between 60 and 90 years of age with subjective cognitive complaints, but otherwise healthy, were assigned to NeuroTracker training group (26) or a control group (22). All participants provided detailed socio-demographic information via questionnaires and baseline neuropsychological assessments (California Verbal Learning Test, Digit Span, D-KEFS Trail Making Test, D-KEFS Verbal Fluency Test, and Stroop Test). The NeuroTracker group performed 7 weeks of training, the control group only performed NeuroTracker baseline assessments. Both groups performed follow-up neuropsychological assessments at 8 weeks and 11 weeks. Machine Learning models were used to analyze demographic and assessment data to test if cognitive performance and responsiveness to training could be predicted.

‍

The NeuroTracker group experience a large improvement in scores of around 70%, along with wide and robust performance transfer on the neuropsychological assessments at week 8, with further gains (without training) at week 11. AI models yielded highly accurate predictions of responsiveness to the training intervention. The researchers propose that such models can be used to effectively tailor NeuroTracker programs to the needs of individuals.

To investigate NeuroTracker baselines could be predictive of driving performance across 3 simulated scenarios, to see if these measures could be predictive of driving risks.

115 drivers were divided into three age and experience groups: young inexperienced (18-21 years old), adult experienced (25-55 years old) and older adult (70-86 years old). Participants were tested for 2 hours across three different driving scenarios varying in mental workload (low, medium, high), using a highly sophisticated driving simulator. A total of 18 different metrics on driving behavior were evaluated and compared to NeuroTracker baseline scores.

Statistical analysis of NeuroTracker results and driving performance metric yielded significant correlations, including being predictive of driving speed, breaking speed, and reaction to dangerous events. Low NeuroTracker scores effectively predicted elevated risks of crashes. Lower NeuroTracker scores also correlated significantly with slower average driving speed for older adults, providing evidence towards the theory that driving more slowly is related to the cognitive effects of aging.

Working Memory (WM) capacity has been linked to performance on a wide range of elementary and higher order cognitive tasks. Due to evidence suggesting that NeuroTracker speed thresholds are an indicator of the quality of high-level brain function, and because it is an adaptive task, the researchers selected NeuroTracker to investigate whether training could improve WM capacities. A further reason was to test a training approach with short intervention times for practical military implementations for the Canadian Armed Forces.

41 soldiers in the Canadian Armed Forces volunteered for the study. First they were tested on three WM span tasks: word (verbal) span, matrix span, and visual span, establishing a baseline measure for each test. Participants were then distributed evenly into 3 groups based on demographic and cognitive factors,Experimental group: performed 10 NeuroTracker Core sessions over a 2 week periodActive control group: performed an adaptive dual n-back task over a 2 week period Passive control group: No activity over a 2 week periodAt the end of the two weeks, the three WM span tests were retaken.

For the NeuroTracker group, speeds thresholds increased considerably over the 10 sessions, and training resulted in a significant pre-post increase in word span, matrix span, and visual span, with medium to large effect sizes. In contrast, for the active control, group training did not alter any of the WM span measures. Similarly, WM span measures did not alter for the passive control group. The researchers concluded that a short amount of NeuroTracker training can benefit WM capacity in a military sample. Additionally, the consistent NeuroTracker improvements across each type of WM span reflect a primarily domain-general construct (a generality of WM capacity).

‍