That dumb jock might be smarter than he looks

For young men, the fitter you are, the better your brain works.

A  study recently published online in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences took advantage of data collected on 1.2 million Swedish men born between 1950 and 1976, and found that those in better shape displayed higher intelligence. Note that the findings were based on cardiovascular health, which led to better blood flow, less anxiety and less fatigue. All of these things could help to raise brain power. Muscle mass had nothing to do with it.

The study also looked at 3,000 young men who were twins (1,432 of them identical twins) – and using these data were able to determine that four-fifths of smarts was due to environmental factors and only 15% could be chalked up to genetics.

Bottom line? Can’t blame your bad math grades on your parents’ genes. Here’s some helpful information from the Mayo Clinic on aerobic exercise and its benefits.

-- Amina Khan

Coffee won't make you sober

What do cold showers, hard slaps and hot coffee have in common? All have been touted as cures for drunkenness. They're also dangerous -- a merrymaker looking to get serious could down a couple shots of espresso, for instance, and think that he's ready to get behind the wheel.

Now, a study published in the current issue of Biological Neuroscience confirms that relying on coffee is a bad idea. Researchers fed mice alcohol, caffeine or a combination thereof, and watched how well they navigated a maze. The tipsy ones appeared relaxed but couldn't effectively avoid the bright lights and loud noises that scientists set up in the maze. The buzzed rodents fared better, but were "less savvy about avoiding the unpleasant stimuli." Those that had consumed both alcohol and caffeine, however, were alert but still unable to avoid the nasty shocks sprinkled throughout the maze.

Ultimately, nothing beats time -- the key element the body needs as it works through all that booze coursing through the bloodstream. No quantity of frigid water or frappuccino will change that.

Meanwhile, if you want to know how stewed you are, check out this handy blood-alcohol content calculator from the University of Oklahoma police. It's like a Breathalyzer for your Blackberry.

-- Amina Khan

The mind unchecked: Is a toddler's lack of self-control key to early learning?

Anyone who's seen a young toddler "at work" can tell that her learning style is a study in chaos. She moves from banging pots and pans to tormenting the cat to demanding food to bursting into tears when she can't open the back door and hurdle off the deck--all in the span of minutes.

But when it comes to, say, the daunting task of mastering language, that same baby is a turbo-charged learning machine. She is building her toolkit of words and phrases by the hour, forming sentences that not only get her needs met but generally comply with rules we would never think to try to teach her.

How does this distractible little creature manage to derive so much information from her surroundings when she seems to be moving too fast to make sense of anything? Why, if we adults are so good at learning and doing things, is she so much better and faster at learning something as complex as, say, a language?

Maybe, suggests an intriguing article published today in the journal Current Directions in Psychological Science, it's because her underdeveloped powers of paying attention, of filtering out distractions and of imposing regular patterns on her experiences. Maybe it's because she lacks the very thing that makes her dad so good at filtering out distractions and getting things done--a fully formed prefrontal cortex.

Babies are born with the foremost part of the brain--the prefrontal cortex--almost completely undeveloped. For children developing normally, it takes about four years for that so-called "seat of higher reasoning" to catch up with the rest of the brain in size and complexity. (For children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, the maturation of the prefrontal cortex takes longer; for those with autism, the prefrontal cortex develops early.) This would explain why toddlers (and some with ADHD) are inattentive, distractible, do not remember what you told them 15 seconds ago, and "live in the moment": when developed, the prefrontal cortex plays a key role in suppressing impulses, focusing on the task at hand and setting priorities among competing demands.

 Yet, by the time a typical baby is 4, she will have learned to speak (in fact, she may never be quiet), and will have learned all kinds of complex behaviors--that small creatures with fur are fun to torment, that climbing up a slide's ladder will yield a fun ride down, that stealing a friend's toy will bring momentary triumph but will also cause her friend to cry and a teacher to intervene.

In those crucial four years, a toddler's accumulation of knowledge about her world may be unhampered by the discipline imposed by the prefrontal cortex, suggests a trio of neuroscientists from the University of Pennsylvania and Stanford University. She vacuums up experience raw, the way she'd ingest anything she found on the carpet. Her prefrontal cortex doesn't stand in the way and try to keep her "on task." It won't make her reject the use of a pan as, say, a hat because hats cannot be made of shiny metal.

In language, her underdeveloped powers of attention will keep her from getting bogged down by pesky exceptions to rules of grammar or syntax. So, she'll always apply the most general rules she knows--say, that adding an "s" makes things plural. She'll incorrectly say, "the mouses are running away," because her underdeveloped prefrontal cortex didn't slow her down and take note that the plural of "mouse" is "mice."

The authors call this period of disorderly learning "cognition without control." They note that it happens beyond babyhood as well: deep sleep, during which the prefrontal cortex is generally quiet and the sensory cortex is working overtime, would seem to afford even adults a nightly return to cognition without control--and an opportunity to do what babies seem to do so well: to derive broad inferences from recently learned things without getting too bogged down in petty exceptions and details.

This is a theory, not a finding, note the authors, led by University of Pennsylvania's Sharon L. Thompson-Schill: that evolution may have favored a delay in the maturation of the brain's "braking system" as a means of allowing rough-but-rapid learning of complex matter such as language and social conventions. But it's a theory that might help clinicians and educators begin to identify what are the best windows for teaching very young children and for helping kids with developmental differences to learn as well.

-- Melissa Healy

Men and women see things differently

Brain-imaging comparisons of men and women viewing the same series of positive and negative images suggest what many of us have long suspected: we think differently. That was the upshot of research conducted by a group of Polish researchers and presented Monday at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America.

When men viewed a lengthy series of images conveying negative events, their brains responded in a way that cues a rapid physical response--say, fight or flight: in men, the pictures evoked a burst of activity in the left insula, a portion of the brain that appears to serve as a kind of tracking station for involuntary physiological responses: as signals such as elevated heart rate, increased sweating or rapid heartbeat are detected, the insula appears to give rise to subjective feelings, which, in turn, serve as a guide for action.

Comparatively speaking, women responded to the same pictures with quieter response in the insular cortex. Instead, researchers noted strong and sustained activity in the women's left thalamus--a relay station for sending sensory information to the brain's cerebral cortex, including pleasure and pain centers. That pattern, said Dr. Andrzej Urbanik, the study's lead author, suggests that women's brains responded to the negative images by trying first to identify and analyse the emotional content of stimuli.

Men's and women's brains responded differently as well to the positive images. As men viewed a series of everyday objects and images intended to evoke positive emotions, their visual processing centers dominated, showing the greatest activity. When women did so, an area of the brain associated with auditory processing and memory--the right superior temporal gyrus-- showed strongest and most extensive activity. Urbanik suggested that "positive images are devoured by men's visual and motivational systems," while women's brains seem wired to analyze positive images in the context of their own memories and social experience.

In an interview, Urbanik said he was surprised by the starkness of the differences he and his colleagues observed in the functional MRIs of 21 men and 19 women. 

--Melissa Healy

Internet use may help you search and find...a healthier mind

Here's an inducement for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and fellow seniors who've stayed off the information superhighway: if you take the on-ramp now, you'll get extra benefits in the form of improved cognitive dexterity and better short-term memory. So says a study presented today at the Society for Neuroscience's annual meeting in Chicago.

 A team of UCLA researchers scanned the brains of 24 older adults--half of them Internet savvy, the others not--as subjects performed a task that simulated an Internet search. After providing online training for those with little Internet familiarity, the researchers instructed subjects to spend at least seven hours over the next two weeks conducting practice Internet searches, exploring websites and reading information on a range of questions. When they returned, the subjects' brains were again scanned by functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging machines, which detect blood flow throughout the brain's many regions, as the subjects conducted another round of simulated searches.

Researchers found that for the Internet-"naive" subjects, two weeks of cruising the information super highway had revved up brain function markedly. Before they had been trained to conduct Internet searches, the newbies--who had an average age of 66.8 years--had used many of the regions of brain associated with judgment, visual and spatial perception, and higher-order reasoning to perform their faux-search task. But a scan of their brains found that after two weeks of honing their search-skills, the newbies used those brain regions as well as several others when performing the faux-search task.

And not just any regions: Their brains showed activation in portions of the superior and medial frontal gyrus and the inferior frontal gyrus. Those are regions of the brain key to decision-making, working memory and interference resolution--the skill of fending off distracting intrusions and allowing necessary ones while "bookmarking" one's place in a task to return.

After the training, the brain function of the Internet-naive adults during the task looked pretty much like that of the Internet-savvy older adult subjects, whose ages averaged 62.4 years. But the Internet-savvy adults actually seemed to be dogging it on the second try, using less brainpower  than they had the first time to perform the faux-search task. That's probably because they had recognized the task the second time around, and found it easier to do, researchers said.

UCLA neuroscientist Gary Small, author of the book iBrain and one of the study's authors, said the study makes clear that for older adults looking to sharpen their memories and boost their cognitive fitness, the answer is at their fingertips. Small, who researches memory function and conducts seminars to improve it, has argued that society's growing reliance on technology is likely helping to "rewire" our brains in ways that are not fully understood. While he says heavy reliance on technological conveniences can be a significant cause of inattention, mastering new information technologies can be a powerful means of brain-building.

-- Melissa Healy 

Rodent of the week: Gabapentin may be unsafe for developing brains

A study performed in mice and in cell culture suggests that the heavily prescribed drug gabapentin halts the formation of new synapses, or nerve connections, in the brain. That ability may be the reason the drug is effective in treating epileptic seizures and pain. But the findings also suggest that the medication may harm fetuses and young children, whose brains are still developing.

Stanford University researchers examined the interaction between neurons and brain cells called astrocytes. Previous studies showed that a protein that astrocytes secrete, thrombospondin, is critical to the formation of the brain's circuitry. In the study, researchers found that thrombospondin binds to a receptor, called alpha2delta-1, on the outer membrane of neurons. In a study in mice, they showed that the neurons that lacked alpha2delta-1 could not form synapses in response to the presence of thrombospondin.

Alpha2delta-1 is the receptor for gabapentin. That has been known, although scientists did not understand how gabapentin worked. But the new research revealed that when gabapentin was given to mice, it prevented thrombospondin from binding to the receptor, thus stopping the synapse formation.

While gabapentin, which is sold under the trade name Neurontin, does not dissolve pre-existing synapses, it prevents the formation of new ones. That's why the medication may be dangerous if given to pregnant women or young children, the authors said. The majority of the brain's synapses are formed in utero and early childhood.

"It's a bit scary that a drug that can so powerfully block synapse formation is being used in pregnant women," Dr. Ben Barres, a professor of neurobiology and the senior author of the study, said in a news release. "This potential effect on fetal brains needs to be taken seriously. Right now, doctors have the view that gabapentin is the safest anticonvulsant. There is no question that pregnant women with epilepsy who have been advised by their neurologists to continue their anticonvulsant treatment with gabapentin during their pregnancy should definitely remain on this drug until instructed otherwise. But there is no long-term registry being kept to track gabapentin-exposed babies. Our findings are saying that we need to be following up on these newborns so that their cognitive performance can be studied as they grow older."

The study is published online in the journal Cell.

-- Shari Roan

Photo: Advanced Cell Technology Inc.

Drug testing could stop 'academic doping'

Students taking important exams could one day find themselves in the same position as professional athletes -- submitting to a drug test before the big event. The practice of students taking cognitive-enhancing drugs, such as methylphenidate, has become so common that those who don't "dope" are at an unfair advantage, argues a psychologist writing in the new issue of Journal of Medical Ethics.

Chemically enhanced academic performance is cheating, says Vince Cakic, of the department of psychology at the University of Sydney, Australia. Already, he notes, medications meant to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder are used by college students to improve their test scores. And many other cognitive-enhancing medications, which he calls nootropics, are being developed for diseases such as Alzheimer's. While the ADHD drugs improve performance only modestly, future drugs for dementia may make a big difference in an individual's capacity to study and test scores. "The possibility of purchasing 'smartness in a bottle' is likely to have broad appeal to students with normal or above average cognitive functioning to begin with," he wrote

Rules prohibiting the use of performance-enhancing drugs in sports fail unless athletes are subjected to routine urine tests, Cakic says. The same strategy would likely be necessary to prevent cheating in academics. According to his paper, the use of methylphenidate and amphetamines is as high as 25% on some U.S. college campuses. The most academically competitive schools are thought to have the highest usage rates of these drugs. The more students who take the drugs, the more non-cheating student are put at a disadvantage and thus may feel compelled to cheat, too.

"It is apparent that the failures and inconsistencies inherent in anti-doping policy in sport will be mirrored in academia unless a reasonable and realistic approach to the issue of nootropics is adopted," Cakic wrote.

Cheating is not the only worry for college administrators. The rampant use of nootropics may lead to serious health problems in some students who take them without a doctor's approval.

". . . there is a greater need to examine the safety and efficacy of putative nootropics in the healthy rather than only in clinical populations," he wrote. "However, the widespread non-medical use of methylphenidate suggests that students will use nootropics regardless of their safety and legality."

-- Shari Roan

Photo credit: Keith Beaty / Toronto Star / ZUMA Press

Background TV noise impairs parent-child interactions, study finds

The sounds emanating from a television have become the backdrop for family life in the United States. But that constant drone can affect the quality of parent-child interactions, according to a study published today in the journal Child Development.

Researchers from the University of Massachusetts studied 50 children, ages 1 to 3, each of whom was with a parent in a university child study center. In the first half of a one-hour session, the parent and child were in a room without a TV, and in the other half-hour the parents chose a program to watch -- not a child's show but something aimed at adults, such as "Jeopardy!"

The researchers found that both the quality and quantity of parent-child interactions declined when the television was on. Parents spent about 20% less time talking to their children, were less active, less attentive and less responsive to their children.

About one-third of all young children grow up in households where the television is on all or most of the time, even when no one is watching, according to previous studies. It's unlikely babies and toddlers understand much of the content of programs for older children or adults. It's just background noise. Yet another study, published last year in Child Development, found that background TV noise disrupts a child's solitary play with toys as well. "Both findings may in part explain the negative associations found between early exposure to television and subsequent development," the authors of the current study wrote.

Parental attention is likely to be even less in actual homes compared to the child-study center, the authors said. And, in an ongoing study, preliminary findings suggest that the quality of parent-child interactions also decreases when a children's television program is on.

-- Shari Roan

Another reason to control blood pressure

Chronic high blood pressure puts people at risk for a heart attack or stroke. Now a study shows that it may also cause memory problems, even among middle-aged people.

The research, published in the current issue of Neurology, showed that people with high diastolic blood pressure (that's the bottom number in a blood pressure reading) were more likely to have problems with memory and thinking skills compared to people with normal diastolic readings. For every 10-point increase in the reading, the odds of a person having cognitive problems was 7% higher. The study controlled for other factors that could affect cognition, such as age, smoking, exercise level, education or other illnesses. High blood pressure is defined as a reading equal to or higher than 140/90. The study involved almost 20,000 people, age 45 and older, from across the country who participated in a stroke study but had never had a stroke or mini stroke.

Researchers suggest a higher diastolic reading signals that the smaller arteries in the brain are weakening, which can result in subtle brain damage.

"It's possible that by preventing or treating high blood pressure, we could potentially prevent cognitive impairment, which can be a precursor to dementia," the lead author of the study, Dr. Georgios Tsivgoulis, of the University of Alabama, said in a news release.

The National Institutes of Health is currently organizing a large study to learn whether aggressive control of blood pressure can lower the risk of various conditions, including cognitive decline.

-- Shari Roan

Photo credit: Los Angeles Times

Depressed and confused? Let the sun shine

Rainy days have long been tied to a poor mood, while sunshine often lifts one's spirits. A new study now suggests that a lack of sunlight is associated with reduced cognitive function among depressed people as well.

Researchers at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, looked at national data from 14,474 people. They found that among people with depression, low exposure to sunlight led to a significantly higher probability of cognitive impairment, such as poorer memory. The relationship was found even when the researchers adjusted for seasonal differences.

"This new finding that weather may not only affect mood, but also cognition, has significant implications for the treatment of depression, particularly seasonal affective disorder," the lead author of the study, Shia Kent, said in a news release.

Kent said that the physiological mechanisms and neurochemicals that cause seasonal depression may also have an effect on cognition. Light has been shown to affect blood flow in the brain, which can impact cognitive functions.

The study "also suggests the possibility that light therapy that is prescribed for seasonal affective disorder may also improve cognitive function," the authors wrote.

The study is published in BioMed Central's open access journal Environmental Health.

-- Shari Roan

Photo credit: Giuseppe Cacace / AFP/Getty Images