1,721,073 research outputs found

    Non-invasive brain stimulation and neuro-enhancement in aging

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    The ability to plan, execute, and control skillful actions was crucial for the survival of our ancestors when throwing projectiles to hunt for food (Stout et al., 2008). In today’s society, the required motor repertoire may have changed, but the ability to acquire new motor skills is still essential for most of our daily activities, including independent living. For example, to sufficiently be able to interact with the rest of the world, we need to manipulate small devices such as smartphones or other gadgets with our fingers. Older people are not exempted. Adequate motor control should thus be considered central throughout the lifespan, and developing means for improving motor skill learning in old age is of great importance

    Greater cognitive-motor interference among patients after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction compared with controls

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    Background: Chaotic sporting environments require the performance of concurrent cognitive and motor tasks. A reduced capacity for either or both of the tasks when performed concurrently is known as cognitive-motor interference (CMi) and is believed to increase the injury risk. A greater susceptibility to CMi after a rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) has been suggested to be caused by central nervous system adaptations, thus possibly contributing to high secondary ACL injury rates. Purpose: To investigate whether patients after ACL reconstruction (ACLR) demonstrate greater CMi than noninjured controls when adding secondary cognitive tasks to the drop vertical jump (DVJ) and explore the potential influence of sex on CMi. Study Design: Controlled laboratory study. Methods: A total of 40 (50% male) sports-active patients who had undergone ACLR (mean, 24.9 ± 16.1 months after surgery) and 40 (50% male) sports-active noninjured controls performed DVJs with and without secondary cognitive tasks targeting short-term memory, attention, fast decision-making, and inhibitory control. Outcomes included a letter position recall task and 3 motor variables: (1) correct action (landing or landing with a subsequent vertical jump), (2) relative jump height (relative between DVJs), and (3) relative peak vertical ground-reaction force (relative between DVJs). Participants also completed isolated cognitive tests (CANTAB) included as covariates in multivariate analysis. Results: Multivariate analysis of variance revealed that the ACLR group had greater CMi than the control group (P < .001), as manifested by more incorrect answers for the cognitive letter recall task (mean difference [MD], –13.3% [95% CI, –20.8% to –5.9%]; P < .001), more incorrect motor actions (MD, –7.5% [95% CI, −12.4% to –2.6%]; P = .003), and a reduced relative jump height (MD, –4.5% [95% CI, –7.9% to –1.2%]; P = .010). No difference in relative peak vertical ground-reaction force was found (MD, 2.8% [95% CI, –7.7% to 13.3%]; P = .59). Isolated cognitive outcomes did not affect these results, and there were no significant differences between male and female participants. Conclusion: Patients after ACLR showed greater CMi than noninjured controls, which was unrelated to isolated cognitive outcomes, thus indicating aberrant neurocognitive function. Clinical Relevance: Clinicians should consider cognitive and dual-task training and screening during ACL rehabilitation to better prepare patients for chaotic and uncontrolled sporting environments in which dual tasking is prevalent. Such interventions may help to reduce the risk of secondary ACL injuries

    Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis

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    The present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed

    Stimulating aged brain with transcranial direct current stimulation : Opportunities and challenges

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    Ageing involves significant neurophysiological changes that are both systematic while at the same time exhibiting divergent trajectories across individuals. These changes underlie cognitive impairments in elderly while also affecting the response of aged brains to interventions like transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). While the cognitive benefits of tDCS are more variable in elderly, older adults also respond differently to stimulation protocols compared to young adults. The age-related neurophysiological changes influencing the responsiveness to tDCS remain to be addressed in-depth. We review and discuss the premise that, in comparison to the better calibrated brain networks present in young adults, aged systems perform further away from a homoeostatic set-point. We argue that this age-related neurophysiological deviation from the homoeostatic optimum extends the leeway for tDCS to modulate the aged brain. This promotes the potency of immediate tDCS effects to induce directional plastic changes towards the homoeostatic equilibrium despite the impaired plasticity induction in elderly. We also consider how age-related neurophysiological changes pose specific challenges for tDCS that necessitate proper adaptations of stimulation protocols. Appreciating the distinctive properties of aged brains and the accompanying adjustment of stimulation parameters can increase the potency and reliability of tDCS as a treatment avenue in older adults. Special Issue:SI</p

    Variations on the Author

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    “Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship

    Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis

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    We provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis

    Cognitive Neuroscience in Alpine Skiing:Introducing Computational Sports Medicine for Performance Optimization

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    While sport psychology has long emphasized mental and cognitive aspects of performance, sports medicine has traditionally focused on musculoskeletal and physiological aspects, largely overlooking the brain's central role in athletic performance. This narrative review aims to bridge this gap by introducing Computational Sports Medicine, a novel framework that integrates cognitive neuroscience with established physiological and biomechanical measures. Using alpine skiing as a primary example, this review examines the critical role of working memory updating in dynamic environments, discusses how neural processes enable adaptation, and proposes Computational Sports Medicine as a unifying predictive framework. This approach moves beyond descriptive analysis to provide objective, quantifiable metrics, testable models, and the ability to simulate "what-if" scenarios for proactive intervention. Practical implications for training include developing sport-specific cognitive tasks, individualizing variability in motor and cognitive learning, and leveraging technologies like virtual reality and wearable sensors. The review primarily targets elite and sub-elite athletes, for whom cognitive and environmental demands are most pronounced. This brain-inclusive framework offers a personalized approach to performance optimization, injury prevention, and safe return-to-play decisions, positioning the brain as the central organ to the future of sports medicine

    Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts

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    We conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more sophisticated methods
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