Brain health center receives award for studies exploring neurocapacity
The Rudi Schulte Research Institute of Santa Barbara California has awarded the Ross Center for Brain Health and Performance (CBHP) a 3-year $1 million contract for three pilot studies exploring the dynamic status of neurocapacity—the finite capacity to expend effort on a brain function. The three interconnected projects provide a comprehensive method for detecting neurocapacity, revealing the impact of sleep and its role in replenishment and evaluating the relationship between physical effort and cognitive fatigue.
A “lifelogging” pilot study will use GPS-enabled wearable sensors and other performance measures to detect the ebb and flow of neurocapacity by simultaneously monitoring the entire nervous system, other organ system outputs, and the person’s behavior and environment. These data, along with EEG and fMRI recordings, will be used to construct a computer model relating physiological variables to neural processes, and neural processes to neurocapacity.
Modern environmental lighting conditions cause excessive exposure to light at night. Previous studies have implicated nocturnal illumination in driving obesity and depression by decreasing the amplitude of core circadian clock gene expression and ramping up neuroinflammation. Center researchers will carry out a pilot studies in rodents and humans to investigate whether nocturnal light exposure negatively affects the timing of sleep onset, sleep quality and quantity, and provokes inflammation. The regenerative role of sleep for optimizing neurocapacity may be limited by any of these factors.
Finally, a pilot study will extend the gamification of physical therapy to persons with multiple sclerosis (MS), a disease in which depletion of capacity, i.e., fatigue, is a central symptom. The study will examine how neurocapacity is impacted by a novel form of physical therapy, called constraint-induced (CI) movement therapy, in which participants with upper extremity motor impairment, another common symptom of MS, enhance the movement of a weaker arm by restraining their fully functioning arm.
A “lifelogging” pilot study will use GPS-enabled wearable sensors and other performance measures to detect the ebb and flow of neurocapacity by simultaneously monitoring the entire nervous system, other organ system outputs, and the person’s behavior and environment. These data, along with EEG and fMRI recordings, will be used to construct a computer model relating physiological variables to neural processes, and neural processes to neurocapacity.
Modern environmental lighting conditions cause excessive exposure to light at night. Previous studies have implicated nocturnal illumination in driving obesity and depression by decreasing the amplitude of core circadian clock gene expression and ramping up neuroinflammation. Center researchers will carry out a pilot studies in rodents and humans to investigate whether nocturnal light exposure negatively affects the timing of sleep onset, sleep quality and quantity, and provokes inflammation. The regenerative role of sleep for optimizing neurocapacity may be limited by any of these factors.
Finally, a pilot study will extend the gamification of physical therapy to persons with multiple sclerosis (MS), a disease in which depletion of capacity, i.e., fatigue, is a central symptom. The study will examine how neurocapacity is impacted by a novel form of physical therapy, called constraint-induced (CI) movement therapy, in which participants with upper extremity motor impairment, another common symptom of MS, enhance the movement of a weaker arm by restraining their fully functioning arm.
