4 Needs context
Cognitive visual or auditory processing speed training improves cholinergic signaling in the forebrain.
"And they've done some other studies showing that that kind of training improves cholinergic signaling in the forebrain, which we know is susceptible to the processes of dementia." (said at 0:19:35)
Perceptual learning and computerized cognitive training engage the basal forebrain cholinergic system (including the nucleus basalis of Meynert), which provides the primary cholinergic innervation to the neocortex and is vulnerable to neurodegenerative dementias. In humans, randomized trials of cognitive training show modulation of nucleus basalis functional connectivity in individuals with mild cognitive impairment. In animal models, perceptual and auditory discrimination tasks recruit cortically projecting cholinergic circuits. However, direct evidence that speed-of-processing training broadly enhances forebrain acetylcholine signaling in humans relies primarily on functional connectivity neuroimaging proxies and translational animal models rather than direct in vivo measurements of acetylcholine release.
The anterior midcingulate cortex maintains its size in super-agers who take on difficult cognitive or physical challenges.
"we've talked about the anterior midcingulate cortex, the structure that maintains size in super-agers who take on hard things" (said at 0:41:52)
Structural neuroimaging studies consistently demonstrate that 'super-agers' (older adults who maintain memory performance comparable to young adults) have preserved cortical thickness and volume in the anterior midcingulate cortex (aMCC) and salience network nodes compared to typical older adults. Furthermore, neuroimaging frameworks (e.g., Touroutoglou et al., 2020) identify the aMCC as a central hub regulating tenacity and the cost-benefit calculations required to engage in effortful cognitive and physical challenges. However, evidence connecting the maintenance of aMCC size specifically to engaging in 'hard things' is theoretical and correlational; there are no randomized interventional trials demonstrating that taking on difficult challenges causally preserves aMCC volume in older adults.
- supports: Youthful Brains in Older Adults: Preserved Neuroanatomy in the Default Mode and Salience N… (The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience 2016) · cited 200x in the literature
"Building on prior research showing that cortical thickness in one brain region, the anterior midcingulate cortex, is preserved in older adults with memory performance abilities equal to or better than those of people 20-30 years younger (i.e., "superagers"), we examined the structural integrity of two large-scale intrinsic brain networks in superaging..." (abstract, results, passage verified)
pubmedfull study (doi) - context: The tenacious brain: How the anterior mid-cingulate contributes to achieving goals. (Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior 2020) · cited 67x in the literature
"We review evidence from non-human primate neuroanatomy and structural and functional neuroimaging in humans suggesting that the anterior mid cingulate cortex (aMCC) is an important network hub in the brain that performs the cost/benefit computations necessary for tenacity. Specifically, we propose that its position as a structural and functional hub allows the aMCC to integrate signals from diverse brain systems to predict energy requirements that are needed for attention allocation, encoding of new information, and physical movement, all in the service of goal attainment." (abstract, results, passage verified)
pubmedfull study (doi) - supports: Successful cognitive aging is associated with thicker anterior cingulate cortex and lower … (Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association 2024) · cited 43x in the literature
"Most SA groups showed greater cortical thickness compared to typical aging (TA), especially in the anterior cingulate and midcingulate cortices and medial temporal lobes." (abstract, results, passage verified)
pubmedfull study (doi)
Research by Gloria Mark demonstrates that frequent external distractions habituate the brain to interruptions, causing individuals to self-distract even in the absence of external interruptions.
"And again, I return to Gloria Mark's work. She wrote an excellent book called Attention Span if anybody's like really interested in this. But you get used to a pattern of distraction such that when you're not actually being distracted, you will distract yourself, right?" (said at 0:56:20)
Gloria Mark (an informatics and human-computer interaction researcher, author of the 2023 book 'Attention Span') and colleagues have extensively documented in observational workplace studies and computer interaction research (e.g., CHI conference proceedings and subsequent human-interaction literature) that roughly half of workplace interruptions are self-initiated (internal interruptions or self-interruptions), and that people frequently switch tasks even without external triggers. In medical and workplace literature (such as Tai-Seale et al., 2021, on which Mark is a co-author), knowledge workers and clinicians exhibit very high baseline rates of rapid attention switching. However, asserting that frequent external distractions 'habituate the brain' to cause individuals to self-distract is a mechanistic framing derived primarily from observational and behavioral field studies rather than formal neurobiological habituation trials. The claim accurately describes Mark's core findings and thesis regarding self-interruption patterns, but qualifies as 'context' due to the observational nature of the workplace behavioral evidence rather than controlled neuroscientific habituation data.
A study in veterans with traumatic brain injury administered 60 grams of branched-chain amino acids daily, split into three 20-gram doses across the day.
"So in one study they did in veterans, they had I think it was three doses of 20 grams spread across the day." (said at 2:02:38)
In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot trial of Veterans with traumatic brain injury (TBI), participants received a total of 60 grams of branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) daily for 21 days. However, the dosing schedule was 30 grams twice daily (b.i.d.), rather than three 20-gram doses across the day.
Unverified means no publication matching the claim was located; it does not prove the claim false. Spotted an error? See the corrections policy - disputes from the people quoted are prioritized.