corticalmetrics insights

TBI, TBI severity and dementia: what is the relationship?

May 23, 2018

There has been enormous speculation recently about how repetitive concussions could lead to dementia and/or early Alzheimer’s (or Alzheimer like symptoms). Loss of brain function with repetitive blows to the head does not seem like it would be debatable, but many hesitate to take a stand on it because of “lack of evidence”. After all, it could just be coincidence that people get dementia in their late 40s or early 50s after a long career in a sport or activity that repetitively causes glial damage without having time

The TOJ Measure

May 22, 2018

Discussing the Temporal Order Judgement task
One of the cortical metrics that you get is called “TOJ” which stands for Temporal Order Judgement. This test delivers two taps, one to each of the two fingers positioned on the Brain Gauge, and queries “which came first?”. The test starts out easy (taps are initially 150 msec apart) and gets harder each time you get the question right (sort of like reading an eye chart – it gets more difficult the farther you progress). If you look at your TOJ raw score (on

The Connectivity Measure

May 21, 2018

In a previous report, we discussed how an illusory conditioning stimulus could be context dependent and that frequently delivering repetitive stimuli has the effect of suppressing the percept of a stimulus. Repeat a stimulus many times (the conditioning stimuli that are delivered by the Brain Gauge are typically sinusoidal at a frequency that delivers many repeats to the same place on the finger tip) and the effect is that stimuli feel much smaller. Are there other illusions? The obvious answer is yes, since we’re writing this report. The illusion

For some, a concussion is a temporary inconvenience. For others, the effects can be long lasting.

May 18, 2018

Neurophysiological deficits detected over one year post-concussion
Even though the water swirls the opposite direction down under, it looks like concussed brains in Australia look like concussed brains in North America; regardless of how long it has been since someone’s last concussion, it’s hard to hide neurophysiological changes that persist from the Brain Gauge methods. Dr. Alan Pearce of the University of Melbourne recently presented some very interesting data at an international meeting in Toronto. In his study, he made observations on individuals from three different groups: post-concussion

Reaction time is a measure that is extremely useful for assessing brain health - but only if it is collected accurately.

May 14, 2018

Reaction time is one of the most frequently collected and depended upon metrics for cognitive assessment – but most methods are extremely inaccurate. The Brain Gauge is the world’s most accurate commercially available device that can deliver the reaction time test.

It seems like there is a constant and steady improvement in technology and computing power. The cell phones that we carry now have exponentially more computational power than computers that we (I speak for the people in my generation) were programming in the late 1970s and early 1980s. However,

The Plasticity Measure

May 11, 2018

Measuring tactile illusions with Brain Gauge .
Most people are familiar with optical illusions. For example, the one shown here is a context dependent illusion. Glancing at the two sets of circles, it appears that the center circle of the cluster on the left is smaller than the center circle of the cluster on the right. But in fact, the two center circles are of equal size. Why does the brain trick you into thinking this? Part of the answer is that your brain quickly evaluates the center circle in the

The Speed Measure

May 09, 2018

Reaction time has been used since the mid-1800s to assess cognitive function, and it is still useful for that today.
The reaction time test has been used for a really long time to investigate nervous system function. Papers written as early as the mid 1800’s describe the reaction time test and since that time, most papers focused on differences in reaction time and other populations. In other words, most of these papers demonstrated comparisons that were made between healthy control populations and populations of individuals that had some condition

Effects of Alcohol on College-Age Brains

May 07, 2018

Results of our study demonstrate that 18-22 year olds that drink excessively have diminished plasticity.

We conducted a study on college-aged subjects (age 18-22) to assess the impact of their drinking behavior on cortical metrics scores. The study involved testing a large number of individuals in that age range and having them answering questionnaires about their drinking behavior. Interestingly (as an aside), the regulatory oversight committee did not want to approve the study at first because they claimed that the study was assuming that individuals under the age of 21

The Impact of Cough Syrup on Plasticity

May 02, 2018

Brain Gauge methods are sensitive enough to detect changes in plasticity with a small dose of cough syrup.
Ever take cough syrup and feel a bit strange? And then maybe wonder how it was impacting your brain? It probably did a good job suppressing your cough, but some medications do change the way you think.

One of the studies that we performed over a decade ago investigated the impact of cough syrup on plasticity. Cough syrup – and more specifically DXM (dextromethorphan) – is what is known as an NMDA receptor antagonist.

Stand Up For Better Brain Health

April 27, 2018

Exercise alone is not the only thing you need to do to insure good brain health. Measuring with the Brain Gauge can make sure that your lifestyle is not impacting your brain health in a negative way.
The link between exercise and brain health is strongly support by research and as recently been widely publicized. We've even written about it on this blog. But what if exercise alone is just a piece of the entire picture of brain health?

A recent study performed by researchers at UCLA reveals the specific