Lets hear it for morning Java/expresso!!! - #neurocognitve #brain #cogntion #whitematter #java #coffee #morningjoe #expresso #Gf #flluidintelligence

I’ve only got one addiction I still indulge in.  Double expresso’s (actually a lungo is my preference) in the morning.  Yet another study extolling the value of Java and brain health, this time with brain white matter integrity and cortical thickness.  White matter tracts serve as the brain’s internet backbone or interestate system.  

Long live morning Joe☕️

Maybe I should bring back the IAP Gf fluid intelligence coffee mugs!

Double click to enlarge the images for easier reading

Click here to download PDF if you want to read the article.

Abstract: 

Despite associations of regular coffee consumption with fewer neurodegenerative disorders,its association with microstructural brain alterations is unclear. To address this, we examined the association of coffee consumption with brain MRI parameters representing vascular brain damage, neurodegeneration, and microstructural integrity in 2316 participants in the population-based Hamburg City Health Study. Cortical thickness and white matter hyperintensity (WMH) load were measured on FLAIR and T1-weighted images. Microstructural white matter integrity was quantified as peak width of skeletonized mean diffusivity (PSMD) on diffusion-weighted MRI. Daily coffee consumption was assessed in five groups (<1 cup, 1–2 cups, 3–4 cups, 5–6 cups, >6 cups). In multiple linear regressions, we examined the association between brain MRI parameters and coffee consumption (reference group <1 cup). After adjustment for covariates, 3–4 cups of daily coffee were associated with lower PSMD (p = 0.028) and higher cortical thickness (p = 0.015) compared to <1 cup. Moreover, 1–2 cups per day was also associated with lower PSMD (p = 0.022). Associations with WMH load or other groups of coffee consumption were not significant (p > 0.05). The findings indicate that regular coffee consumption is positively associated with microstructural white matter integrity and cortical thickness. Further research is necessary to determine longitudinal effects of coffee on brain microstructure.

Keywords: cerebral small vessel disease; coffee consumption; cortical atrophy; diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging; microstructural integrity; neurodegenerative diseases; white matter hyperintensities

White matter matters—Gf and white matter connectivity

A neuromarker of individual general fluid intelligence from the white-matter functional connectome.  Link.

Jiao Li1, Bharat B. Biswal, Yao Meng, Siqi Yang, Xujun Duan, Qian Cui, Huafu Chen, and Wei Liao

Abstract

Neuroimaging studies have uncovered the neural roots of individual differences in human general fluid intelligence (Gf). Gf is characterized by the function of specific neural circuits in brain gray-matter; however, the association between Gf and neural function in brain white-matter (WM) remains unclear. Given reliable detection of blood-oxygen-level-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging (BOLD-fMRI) signals in WM, we used a functional, rather than an anatomical, neuromarker in WM to identify individual Gf. We collected longitudinal BOLD-fMRI data (in total three times, ~11 months between time 1 and time 2, and ~29 months between time 1 and time 3) in normal volunteers at rest, and identified WM functional connectomes that predicted the individual Gf at time 1 (n = 326). From internal validation analyses, we demonstrated that the constructed predictive model at time 1 predicted an individual's Gf from WM functional connectomes at time 2 (time 1 ∩ time 2: n = 105) and further at time 3 (time 1 ∩ time 3: n = 83). From external validation analyses, we demonstrated that the predictive model from time 1 was generalized to unseen individuals from another center (n = 53). From anatomical aspects, WM functional connectivity showing high predictive power predominantly included the superior longitudinal fasciculus system, deep frontal WM, and ventral frontoparietal tracts. These results thus demonstrated that WM functional connectomes offer a novel applicable neuromarker of Gf and supplement the gray-matter connectomes to explore brain–behavior relationships.

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White matter matters: Changes in white matter tracts due to reading intervention

More research supporting “white matter matters”.




Rapid and widespread white matter plasticity during an intensive reading intervention

Nature Communications

Elizabeth Huber, Patrick M. Donnelly, Ariel Rokem & Jason D. Yeatman

ABSTRACT

White matter tissue properties are known to correlate with performance across domains ranging from reading to math, to executive function. Here, we use a longitudinal intervention design to examine experience-dependent growth in reading skills and white matter in grade school-aged, struggling readers. Diffusion MRI data were collected at regular intervals during an 8-week, intensive reading intervention. These measurements reveal large-scale changes throughout a collection of white matter tracts, in concert with growth in reading skill. Additionally, we identify tracts whose properties predict reading skill but remain fixed throughout the intervention, suggesting that some anatomical properties stably predict the ease with which a child learns to read, while others dynamically reflect the effects of experience. These results underscore the importance of considering recent experience when interpreting cross-sectional anatomy–behavior correlations. Widespread changes throughout the white matter may be a hallmark of rapid plasticity associated with an intensive learning experience.

Very interesting. The arcuate fasciculus tracts have also been implicated in higher order thinking (Gf) such as in the P-FIT model of intelligence. Also see white paper that implicates the AF in temporal processing “brain clock” timing interventions




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The salience brain network and personality (self-directedness; cognitive control)

Abstract:

A prevailing topic in personality neuroscience is the question how personality traits are
reflected in the brain. Functional and structural networks have been examined by functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging, however, the structural correlates of functionally defined networks have not been investigated in a personality context. By using the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) and Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI), the present study assesses in a sample of 116 healthy participants how personality traits proposed in the framework of the biopsychosocial theory on personality relate to white matter pathways delineated by functional network imaging. We show that the character trait self-directedness relates to the overall microstructural integrity of white matter tracts constituting the salience network as indicated by DTI-derived measures. Self-directedness has been proposed as the executive control component of personality and describes the tendency to stay focused on the attainment of long-term goals. The present finding corroborates the view of the salience network as an executive control network that serves maintenance of rules and task-sets to guide ongoing behavior.

Click here for info regarding one of the better brain network overview articles by Bressler and Menon.


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Research Byte: Is General Intelligence Little More Than the Speed of Higher-Order Processing?

Although a small sample, this is still and interesting study. The results are consistent with the continued nexus of the g, Gf, Gwm, attentional control and speed of higher order processing (especially P300 in ERP’s), white matter tract integrity and the PFIT model of intelligence as well as the recent process overlap theory (POT) of g.

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Article link.

Anna-Lena Schubert, Dirk Hagemann, and Gidon T. Frischkorn Heidelberg University

ABSTRACT

Individual differences in the speed of information processing have been hypothesized to give rise to individual differences in general intelligence. Consistent with this hypothesis, reaction times (RTs) and latencies of event-related potential have been shown to be moderately associated with intelligence. These associations have been explained either in terms of individual differences in some brain-wide property such as myelination, the speed of neural oscillations, or white-matter tract integrity, or in terms of individual differences in specific processes such as the signal-to-noise ratio in evidence accumulation, executive control, or the cholinergic system. Here we show in a sample of 122 participants, who completed a battery of RT tasks at 2 laboratory sessions while an EEG was recorded, that more intelligent individuals have a higher speed of higher-order information processing that explains about 80% of the variance in general intelligence. Our results do not support the notion that individuals with higher levels of general intelligence show advantages in some brain-wide property. Instead, they suggest that more intelligent individuals benefit from a more efficient transmission of information from frontal attention and working memory processes to temporal-parietal processes of memory storage.

Keywords: ERP latencies, event-related potentials, intelligence, processing speed, reaction times



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Working memory training (dual n-back) improves white matter tract integrity: White matter matters

White matter matters.  Yes, my readers may be tiring of this common mantra.

But, another new study has again implicated the importance of white matter integrity.  More importantly, the study suggests that a working memory training program (dual n-back) may be effective in increasing white matter integrity, thus increasing the efficiency and synchronization of communication between different brain networks.  Click on the images below to enlarge.

This study is consistent with my hypothesis that the effectiveness of some brain training programs may be due to increased white matter tract integrity.  An explanation, with a link to a MindHub pub white paper outlining this hypothesis, can be found here.  Other white matter related posts can be found here.