September 2020
in
Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research
To examine if β-Alanine supplementation can increase brain-derived neurotropic factor (BDNF) to benefit cognition and mood under anticipatory stress prior to simulated military operations.
19 healthy males were randomized into and active group (14 days of β-Alanine Supplementation) and a placebo group. Pre- and post-intervention assessments included NeuroTracker baselines, visuomotor reaction time (Dynavision™), mathematical processing (Serial Subtraction Test), and neuropsychological assessments (ANAM™). Mood was assessed using the Profile of Mood States questionnaire.
No change in measures of cognitive function or BDNF concentrations were observed. However, the active group experienced significant reductions in subjective feelings of depression.
NeuroTracker training reveals some moderate benefits for the decision-making abilities of law enforcement officers engaged in active duty.
To investigate if NeuroTracker training can improve perceptual-cognitive skills related to decision-making skills for law enforcement officers.
40 elite law enforcement officers completed a pre-post test experiment on a video based simulated task environment to establish baseline scores for situational awareness, anticipation and decision-making skills. Participants were randomly assigned to training, control and passive groups. The training group completed NeuroTracker sessions around duty schedules over a period of three-weeks. Pre- and post-testing was scored by five police procedures subject-matter-experts.
The simulated task results showed an average decline in scores, the control participants remained unchanged, while the NeuroTracker group showed moderate increases. Improvements in NeuroTracker scores were observed overall, but varied atypically. Although some far transfer effects to law enforcement decision-making abilities were seen, fatigue and stress-related effects of active duty may have influenced results.
NeuroTracker baselines more sensitively detect effects on cognition than other cognitive assessments after open heart surgery.
To examine whether cognitive baselines can be used to detect changes in cognitive function in open-heart surgery patients.
16 open-heart surgery patients (av. 60 years) completed NeuroTracker, Montreal Cognitive Assessment, and Trails B assessments at 3 time points: 1 to 2 days pre-surgery, at discharge or 1-week post-surgery, and at 12-weeks post-surgery.
No significant differences were detected between baseline and 1-week/discharge measurements on all measures. Patients improved significantly from 1-week/discharge to 12-weeks in NeuroTracker baseline scores. A similar but non-significant trend was found on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment. The researchers concluded that post-surgical cognitive changes in heart surgery patients were detectable using NeuroTracker, and that future research should explore whether it is usable for the retraining of cognition after heart surgery.
To evaluate the potential for sports vision training to improve objective and subjective visuomotor function in a low vision patient.
A 37-year-old woman with Usher syndrome underwent a 14-week sports vision training program with pre-post cognitive assessments.
The patient was able to improve the use of remaining visual abilities. A 27 to 31% improvement in hand-eye coordination was achieved along with a 41% improvement NeuroTracker performance. The patient also subjectively reported clear improvements in visual abilities. The researcher concluded sports vision training may reduce the impact of the reduced visual function and aid in activities of daily living.
Individual with Autism can perform NeuroTracker at different cognitive loads and benefit from feedback at low difficulty levels.
To investigate the cognitive characteristics of individuals with with Autism compared to neurotypical individuals in response to different NeuroTracker loads and feedback.
27 adolescents and adults with Autism and 28 neurotypical adolescents and adults ASD were tasked with performing NeuroTracker at low load (1-target tracking) and high load (4-target tracking) across two sessions of training. Half of the participants received feedback on each trial, and half did not.
Although participants with Autism scored lower than neurotypicals, high load sessions were tolerated equally in comparison to low load sessions. Feedback improved NeuroTracker performance overall, except for participants with Autism on the high load sessions. Participants with Autism receiving feedback scored better than neurotypical participants without feedback, but only on the low load sessions. The results suggest that individuals with Autism can perform NeuroTracker at different loads, and that feedback aids performance at low difficulty levels.
NeuroTracker baselines reveal the longer-term and short term negative impacts of night shift duties on hospital physicians.
To evaluate the effects of night shift work on cognitive performance in medical resident physicians.
44 night shift physicians at Hospital General de Mexico were recruited. 12 students with day shift medical careers were also recruited as a control group.
Questionnaires recorded incidents or accidents suffered during or after a day on duty. Each night shift physician completed a 3-session NeuroTracker baseline (20-mins), both 24 hours before a night shift of duty, and at the end of the duty. The control group completed the same baselines before and after a normal day shift of duty. This was repeated again for both groups.
75% of the physicians reported incidents or accidents during their hospital activities, most commonly related to sleepiness during shift work. NeuroTracker pre-night shift baselines were significantly below that of the control group, suggesting some negative longer-term cognitive effects of night shift duties. Post-shift baselines were further significantly reduced (a 25% decrease), revealing short term negative effects of night shift duties. Improvements in cognitive performance from a total of 12 NeuroTracker sessions were found, indicating these effects may be partially mitigated with further NeuroTracker training. The researchers suggested the finding support the value of using such cognitive assessments for the evaluation of medical staff and quality of patient care.
A 20-30 minute NeuroTracker training intervention significantly improves multiple object tracking skills and working memory abilities.
To assess transfer from a NeuroTracker training intervention to near, mid-level, far transfer tasks.
84 graduate participants (av. 21 years old) were randomized to 3 trained groups and 1 passive control group. The trained groups completed either 5 or 3 standard sessions of NeuroTracker, or 5 sessions of a portable version of NeuroTracker (Microsoft Surface Pro tablet). The passive group completed only pre-post NeuroTracker baselines. All groups then completed pre-post assessments on a simplified 2D multiple object tracking task, an N-back working memory assessment, and on a video-based military driving task.
All trained groups showed significant improvements in NeuroTracker scores from 20-30 minutes of training. The passive control group also showed some modest improvements from only completing baselines. NeuroTracker training transferred to significant pre-post improvements in the 2D multiple object tracking test, but with smaller effects that improvements in NeuroTracker scores. Performance was found to be significantly better post-training for the trained groups on the working memory test, but not for the control group. No transfer effects were found for the video-based military task.
NeuroTracker is one of the most widely researched cognitive training systems, used in elite sports, military, and human performance settings worldwide. Built on 20 years of neuroscience research.
.png)