The Synapse Project: Engagement in mentally challenging activities enhances neural efficiency

The Synapse Project: Engagement in mentally challenging activities enhances neural efficiency

PURPOSE Correlational and limited experimental evidence suggests that an engaged lifestyle is associated with the maintenance of cognitive vitality in old age. However, the mechanisms underlying these engagement effects are poorly understood. We hypothesized that mental effort underlies engagement effects and used fMRI to examine the impact of high-challenge activities (digital photography and ...

The impact of sustained engagement on cognitive function in older adults: the Synapse Project.

In the research reported here, we tested the hypothesis that sustained engagement in learning new skills that activated working memory, episodic memory, and reasoning over a period of 3 months would enhance cognitive function in older adults. In three conditions with high cognitive demands, participants learned to quilt, learned digital photography, or engaged in both activities for an average ...

on the teacher-generated v.s. leaner-generated noticing-the-gap activities in language classes

abstract the purpose of this study is twofold: on the one hand, it is intended to see what kind of noticing-the –gap activity (teacher generated vs. learner generated) is more efficient in teaching l2 grammar in classroom language learning. on the other hand, it is an attempt to determine which approach of the noticing-the-gap- activity is more effective in the long- term retention of grammar...

Synapse Language Project Report

Challenging the Neurocentric View of Neuromuscular Synapse Formation

heterologous cells appears to be able to mobilize surface Precision of synaptic connectivity is essential for proper AChRs into small clusters. Subsequently, these small clusfunction of the nervous system. This is achieved by the ters of AChRs coalesce into synaptic densities by anchorprojection of axons to correct targets within a region of ing to a transmembrane complex of dystrophin-associat...