Assessing the Role of Dark Sweet Cherry (Prunus avium L.) Consumption on Cognitive Function, Neuropeptides, and Circadian Rhythm in Obesity: Results from a Randomized Controlled Trial

To examine the practical efficacy of cognitive enhancement interventions through a gold-standard template for assessing use of such tools, and to assess NeuroTracker evidence against the template for enhancing attention, working memory and visual information processing speed.

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To assess cognitive tools and NeuroTracker specifically against the following gold-standard criteria and with qEEG findings on changes in neuroelectric brain activity: 1. Robust transfer effects, 2. No Side Effects or Risk of Toxicity, 3. Minimal time and monetary investment, 4) Lasting effects, 5) No ethical issues, 6) Can be used in combination with other interventions, 7) Can be applied to any population.

3-hours of training over 5-weeks with NeuroTracker demonstrated robust effects on attention, working memory, and visual information processing speed as measured by neuropsychological tests. Corresponding changes measured by qEEG were also corroborated these intervention effects. NeuroTracker was concluded to meet the gold standard criteria in points 1, 2, 3, and 5, with some evidence to support the other points, but further research needed.

To evaluate the potential for sports vision training to improve objective and subjective visuomotor function in a low vision patient.

A 37-year-old woman with Usher syndrome underwent a 14-week sports vision training program with pre-post cognitive assessments.

The patient was able to improve the use of remaining visual abilities. A 27 to 31% improvement in hand-eye coordination was achieved along with a 41% improvement NeuroTracker performance. The patient also subjectively reported clear improvements in visual abilities. The researcher concluded sports vision training may reduce the impact of the reduced visual function and aid in activities of daily living.

To evaluate the impact of the nutritional impact of dietary intake of whole eggs, egg white, and egg yolk on visual cognitive performance (NeuroTracker) in healthy older adults.

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99 healthy men and women aged 50 to 75 years were randomly assigned to one of five groups with different daily consumption of eggs alongside a record of their usual dietary intake. Over 1-month period participants either consumed four egg whites, two whole regular eggs, two whole omega-3-fortified eggs, four egg yolks, or no eggs (control). During the final 2 weeks of the study all participants completed 15 NeuroTracker.

On average male participants performed significantly better at NeuroTracker than females. All participants on egg-based diets performed significantly better across 2-weeks of NeuroTracker training than the no-egg controls. Findings suggest that whole eggs, egg whites and egg yolks are beneficial for visual cognitive performance in healthy older adults.

To examine the influence of nutritional intake on visual perceptual-cognitive performance, measured by NeuroTracker, in young healthy adults.

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98 healthy men (38) and women (60) aged 18–33 years maintained their usual dietary intake while completing NeuroTracker 15 sessions of NeuroTracker over a 15-day period. Food logs and extensive lifestyle measures including body composition, cardiovascular health, sleep and exercise patterns, and general readiness to perform were collected for analysis.

Males consumed significantly more calories, macronutrients, cholesterol, choline, and zinc and performed significantly better on NeuroTracker than the females. Participants who consumed more than 40% of kcals from carbohydrates, less than 24% of kcals from protein, more than 2,000 μg/day lutein/zeaxanthin or more than 1.8 mg/ day of vitamin B2 performed significantly better on NeuroTracker than those who consumed less than those amounts. The researchers concluded that perceptual-cognitive performance is positively influenced by higher carbohydrate, lutein/ zeaxanthin, and vitamin B2 dietary intake, while high protein consumption had negative impacts.

To enhance the visual perception ability of motorcycle taxi riders by using a NeuroTracker training intervention.

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60 motorcycle taxi riders were volunteers and recruited from Chonburi, Thailand, and randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The experimental group completed 30-minutes of NeuroTracker training sessions for twice a week over five weeks in total. Pre-post assessments of the Development Test of Visual Perception – Adolescent and Adult (DTVP-A) were completed by both groups.

Results revealed that the experimental group had a significantly higher visual perception ability score after training. In addition, the average DTVP-A score in the experimental group increased to significantly higher than that of the control group. The study findings suggest NeuroTracker training can improve the visual perception ability of motorcycle taxi riders.

To investigate if real-time Neurofeedback can enhance learning rates for NeuroTracker training.

40 healthy adults were assigned to four training groups (ten each), performing either:-

• Standard NeuroTracker training

• No training (control group)

• NeuroTracker with EEG-Neurofeedback

• NeuroTracker with sham Neurofeedback

EEG-Neurofeedback involved closed-loop feedback that automatically detects when a participant has lost track of their targets and immediately reindexes them.

The standard NeuroTracker group, control group and EEG-Neurofeedback groups started a similar level, higher than the sham Neurofeedback group. However the EEG-Neurofeedback showed superior learning rates over all other groups over the course of 10 training sessions. The results show that a closed-loop learning paradigm is highly effective at enhancing learning outcomes on the NeuroTracker task.

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