LECTURE 1: OPTIMIZING BRAIN AND BEHAVIOR
Contemporary Neuroscience:
- The brain as a puzzle or maze (knowledge from postmortem brains)
- To studying living, active brains
- Study of structure, function in real time
How plastic is our brain?
- Neuroplasticity: capacity of the brain to recognize by changes in structure and function in
reaction to experience or environmental stimulation throughout life
- Repeated performance of routine tasks because of occupation leads to permanent brain changes
- Short, intensive training of a new task also leads to structural and functional brain changes
Tips to Keep the Brain Healthy
- Exercise regularly
- Get plenty of sleep: sleep helps clear abnormal proteins in the brain and consolidates memories
- Eat a Mediterranean diet: plant-based foods, whole grains, fish and healthy fats like olive oil
- Stay mentally active: use it or lose it
- Remain socially involved: social interaction helps ward off depression and stress which
contributes to memory loss
- Keep blood vessels healthy: Regular checkups for blood pressure, sugar, and cholesterol
LECTURE 2: COGNITIVE ENHANCEMENT
Amplification if extension of core capacities of the mind, through improvement or augmentation of
internal or external info processing systems
- Improves someone’s cognitive performance
- Not necessarily therapy, also for healthy individuals
- Not repairing something that is broken
- Not only drugs, but also psychological intervention
Why cognitive enhancement: cognitive decline negatively impacts daily life in many people
Neurobiology of cognition in some disorders –
o Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) – only one of the disorders in which dementia is seen – overlap of AD
with other forms of dementia
• Neurobiology – Acetylcholine (Ach) – starts in hippocampus (or medial temporal lobe) –
imp for memory functioning
• Travels to cerebral cortex – other brain regions start getting impact due to neurobiology
– change in personality due to pathology in the brain
, • Original main theory of AD: amyloid cascade hypothesis – increased production of AB42
(part 1) → AB42 form clusters and interferes with functioning (part 2) → formation of
amyloid plaques causing inflammation (part 3) → plaques start attaching to membranes
and forms tangles (part 4) → this causes cell death
• Many people have plaques, yet not AD, drugs to remove plaques doesn’t work
• Multi-pathology convergence to chronic neuronal stress (Decourt et al. 2022)
▪ Neuronal stress occurs in the brain
▪ AB is expressed as physiological response to protect brain from stress
o Major Depressive Disorder – neurobiology of cognitive symptoms – serotonin (5HT)
• Overactivation of HBA system - neurofeedback doesn’t work
• Chronic stress leads to impairments in dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin –
leading to disruptions in memory
o ADHD – different variations of ADHD → DA and NA/NE – dopamine meso-cortical pathway and
norepinephrine prefrontal pathway
• Behavioral – ADHD symptoms
• Cognitive – cognitive control, reward processing, timing
• Brain – dorsal-fronto striatal circuits, orbitofronto-striatal circuits, fronto-cerebellar
circuits
o Schizophrenia – dopamine (DA) pathway – too active – cause positive symptoms seen in
schizophrenia and memory issues
• Striatum (responsible for reward processing): dopamine increase, glutamate increase
• Frontal cortex: decrease in dopamine, glutamate, GABA, gray matter volume, synaptic
markers
• Temporal cortex: reduced gray matter volume
How to establish cognitive enhancement?
Cognitive Enhancement Strategies
o Pharmacological interventions
o Behavioral interventions
• Exercise
• Cognitive training
▪ Restorative approaches
▪ Compensatory/adaptive
approaches
• Sleep hygiene
o Neuromodulation
Contemporary Neuroscience:
- The brain as a puzzle or maze (knowledge from postmortem brains)
- To studying living, active brains
- Study of structure, function in real time
How plastic is our brain?
- Neuroplasticity: capacity of the brain to recognize by changes in structure and function in
reaction to experience or environmental stimulation throughout life
- Repeated performance of routine tasks because of occupation leads to permanent brain changes
- Short, intensive training of a new task also leads to structural and functional brain changes
Tips to Keep the Brain Healthy
- Exercise regularly
- Get plenty of sleep: sleep helps clear abnormal proteins in the brain and consolidates memories
- Eat a Mediterranean diet: plant-based foods, whole grains, fish and healthy fats like olive oil
- Stay mentally active: use it or lose it
- Remain socially involved: social interaction helps ward off depression and stress which
contributes to memory loss
- Keep blood vessels healthy: Regular checkups for blood pressure, sugar, and cholesterol
LECTURE 2: COGNITIVE ENHANCEMENT
Amplification if extension of core capacities of the mind, through improvement or augmentation of
internal or external info processing systems
- Improves someone’s cognitive performance
- Not necessarily therapy, also for healthy individuals
- Not repairing something that is broken
- Not only drugs, but also psychological intervention
Why cognitive enhancement: cognitive decline negatively impacts daily life in many people
Neurobiology of cognition in some disorders –
o Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) – only one of the disorders in which dementia is seen – overlap of AD
with other forms of dementia
• Neurobiology – Acetylcholine (Ach) – starts in hippocampus (or medial temporal lobe) –
imp for memory functioning
• Travels to cerebral cortex – other brain regions start getting impact due to neurobiology
– change in personality due to pathology in the brain
, • Original main theory of AD: amyloid cascade hypothesis – increased production of AB42
(part 1) → AB42 form clusters and interferes with functioning (part 2) → formation of
amyloid plaques causing inflammation (part 3) → plaques start attaching to membranes
and forms tangles (part 4) → this causes cell death
• Many people have plaques, yet not AD, drugs to remove plaques doesn’t work
• Multi-pathology convergence to chronic neuronal stress (Decourt et al. 2022)
▪ Neuronal stress occurs in the brain
▪ AB is expressed as physiological response to protect brain from stress
o Major Depressive Disorder – neurobiology of cognitive symptoms – serotonin (5HT)
• Overactivation of HBA system - neurofeedback doesn’t work
• Chronic stress leads to impairments in dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin –
leading to disruptions in memory
o ADHD – different variations of ADHD → DA and NA/NE – dopamine meso-cortical pathway and
norepinephrine prefrontal pathway
• Behavioral – ADHD symptoms
• Cognitive – cognitive control, reward processing, timing
• Brain – dorsal-fronto striatal circuits, orbitofronto-striatal circuits, fronto-cerebellar
circuits
o Schizophrenia – dopamine (DA) pathway – too active – cause positive symptoms seen in
schizophrenia and memory issues
• Striatum (responsible for reward processing): dopamine increase, glutamate increase
• Frontal cortex: decrease in dopamine, glutamate, GABA, gray matter volume, synaptic
markers
• Temporal cortex: reduced gray matter volume
How to establish cognitive enhancement?
Cognitive Enhancement Strategies
o Pharmacological interventions
o Behavioral interventions
• Exercise
• Cognitive training
▪ Restorative approaches
▪ Compensatory/adaptive
approaches
• Sleep hygiene
o Neuromodulation
