Spring 2008 - Brain Matters
Middle School Brain: The Risk and Potential
The Middle School Years is a challenging time for parents, teachers, counselors, and teens. New discoveries suggest that during this epoch in a child’s life, the brain is undergoing more changes than at any other time in the lifespan, except infancy. The brain development taking place during these years makes it an optimal time to teach reasoning skills that will enhance learning and problem solving for years to come. Sadly, our school systems are not maximizing this important development period.
Brain imaging has shed light on aspects of brain function and brain development that we did not previously know. In particular, we now know that the frontal lobes of the brain, which are essential for high-level reasoning and critical thinking, go through extensive changes from ages 10 to 25. Training the brain to reason during the growth period of the Middle School Years helps form the neural connections that are crucial for optimal brain function for the rest of our lives.
Many school systems, under increasing pressure to have children pass standardized tests, focus on ‘information in, information out’. As one of our adolescent research participants so adroitly stated, “I feel like I’ve always been taught just to repeat what the teacher or the book said.”
Reasoning abilities across the lifespan have been at the forefront of research at the Center for BrainHealth since its inception. One of our latest initiatives is training reasoning skills to children and adolescents through Strategic Memory and Reasoning Training (SMART©).
Reasoning is important in all aspects of life, from being able to understand texts and lectures in school, to functioning well in the workplace or being a productive community member. Our reasoning ability helps us think beyond the bare bones of facts presented and enables us to problem solve and grasp the “big picture.”
The lack of reasoning training in the Middle School Years yields detrimental effects for the future. We already know the consequences of our children’s lack of reasoning practice during crucial phases of brain development are life-long. Researchers at the Center for BrainHealth are not idly waiting; we are actively working to rescue reasoning abilities. In addition to our SMART© program, we are engaged in seeking funding with state and federal agencies to turn the tables and restore reasoning experiences to Middle School Classrooms.
Distinguished Research Scholar
If a child does not make it in school, they rarely make it in life. Consider the following. Students who drop out of school :
- have eight times the poverty rate of college graduates;
- comprise over 50 percent of the prison population;
- have significantly higher drug and alcohol abuse;
- have average lifetime wages that are at least a million dollars less than a college graduate;
- are significantly more likely to suffer from chronic medical conditions; and
- have limited resources to obtain health care for themselves and their families.
Indeed, failure to learn in school is not only an educational problem, but a public health problem as well. This is the bad news. The good news is neuroscientists at the Center for Brain Health are serving as the “tip of the spear” in developing educational programs and interventions that can dramatically reduce the rate of school failure and thus improve the lives of millions of our citizens. To what can we attribute the achievements of these scientists? They understand that education, like other professions that serve the public welfare, must have reliable information about what works and why it works. In short, the development of educational programs, strategies, and policies must be based on the science of how children learn, why some children have difficulties, and how we can eradicate those difficulties. What is unique about the Center for Brain Health is not only a dedication to discovering how the brain reads, calculates and reasons mathematically, attends to the environment, thinks critically and solves problems, but a focus on using this information to actually teach children to become proficient learners. In my own reading research over the past three decades we have been able to develop interventions that can reduce reading failure by 90 percent when implemented properly. And, by the way, we found that when children learn to read and then read to learn, their brains become stronger – and healthier.
The Center for BrainHealth welcomes distinguished research scholar and scientist, Dr. Reid Lyon. Dr. Lyon is the former Chief of Child Development in the Behavior Branch of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. He has moved to Dallas to create with Synergistic Education Solutions, an institution dedicated to improving assessment, instruction, professional development and educational policy. We are excited about the opportunity to collaborate with Dr. Lyon.
Ringle Fitness and Brain Health
Is your 30 minutes at the gym making an impact on your brain health? Benefits from physical exercise are well documented, but few people consider the impact of physical exertion on thinking abilities. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 67 million individuals are age 55 or older in the Unites States alone. One of the biggest risk factors for this age group is decline in brain function. Knowing how to strengthen the brain as we age is an area of keen interest to both the scientific community and the general public.
Thanks to a grant from Lyda Hunt Hill, researchers at the Center for BrainHealth and The Cooper Institute, in partnership with UT Southwestern Medical Center, are joining forces to deepen our understanding of the mental benefits associated with improved physical
fitness. A long-time advocate for the benefits of physical exercise, Ms. Hill was inspired to learn more about the effect of physical exercise on brain function after completing a brain physical at the Center.
The study is examining the cognitive effects of physical exercise and a specialized cognitive intervention on overall thinking abilities, memory, attention, and problem solving. Dr. Hanzhang Lu, Associate Professor of Radiology at UTSW Advanced Imaging Research Center, is an innovator in the field of functional brain imaging and adds a dynamic component to the research team. Dr. Lu’s specialized approach in measuring brain blood flow through fMRI is unprecedented and will provide information never before available. This sophisticated approach will provide insightful information about the neurological benefits of physical exercise. This pioneering study will also be used to investigate possible biomarkers and predictors of cognitive change with activity.
Honoring Brett and Sue Ringle, the Ringle Fitness and BrainHealth Project promises to be a forerunner to more comprehensive investigations into the effects on cognition, not only by physical training and fitness, but also by brain exercise and health.Understanding the Brain
From Virtual Reality to Real-Life Laboratory
The Rees Jones Foundation, formed in 2006 to support the development of programs that enhance the lives of children, youth, and their families, recently awarded the UTD Center for BrainHealth $250,000 to advance its innovative social cognition research. Social cognition is the ability to understand perspectives of other people, show appropriate empathy, regulate one’s own emotions, and demonstrate appropriate social behavior. Often, children who have autism, Asperger’s syndrome, ADHD, or who have sustained a traumatic brain injury have social cognition deficits. Children who show difficulty getting along with peers, understanding and expressing emotions, and showing concern for others are at serious risk of becoming delinquents or school drop outs and may have difficulty maintaining a job later in life.
The Rees Jones Foundation’s gift will enhance the scope of the Center for BrainHealth’s Virtual Social Learning Program by furnishing a real-life interactive learning environment. As part of the social cognition study, patients interact in a virtual world created by the UTD Arts and Technology department to practice social skills. The virtual world has environments encountered in every day life that promote social interactions, such as a playground, school, lunchroom, park, and library. Virtual reality allows the patient to practice social interactions in a non-threatening environment to target specific social skills.
The Rees Jones BrainHope Suite will equip a real-life, controlled environment to promote carry-over of the skills practiced in the virtual world. It will be outfitted with interactive games and media to encourage patient interaction with otherse and simulate their interactions in real life. The generalization of these skills from virtual reality to real-life is pivotal to successful social interactions in the patients everyday lives. The Rees Jones BrainHope Suite provides a vital stepping stone to improved social relationships and will have a lasting impact in the lives of many.
BrainHealth Research
Dr. Denise Park
Dallas Lifespan Brain Study 
After many months in the making, the Dallas Lifespan Brain Study (DLBS) led by Dr. Denise Park is now underway! The DLBS aims to shed light on the aging process by carefully characterizing cognitive and brain function across the lifespan in 350 adults aged 20 to 89. Cognitive function will be assessed using a broad range of tasks that target specific aspects of cognition. In addition, brain function will be assessed using two neuroimaging techniques: functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). The DLBS is one of the largest studies ever undertaken in the field of cognitive neuroscience of aging; and one of the first studies in the field to include middle aged adults. This study is funded by the National Institute on Aging.
James C. Bartlett
Individual Differences in Face Recognition
Despite the vast literature on the face processing, we know little about how people differ in recognizing faces. It is critical that we fill this gap for a number of reasons, particularly because failures of face recognition are a major social problem in the domain of eyewitness testimony. We have initiated a research program aimed at identifying the ways people differ in face recognition memory, addressing general cognitive processes that affect face memory as well as processes that may be unique to faces. Recent findings indicate that healthy adults differ in false recognition of new faces more than in correct recognition of faces seen before.
Lori Cook 
Exploring self-regulation in children with brain injury
Research suggests that traumatic brain injury (TBI) in childhood may disrupt the development of self-regulation abilities, or the ability to form, enact, and monitor a plan of action to achieve a specific goal. To address this, researchers at the UTD Center for BrainHealth, have developed a novel assessment tool that aims to gauge self-regulation abilities in children with TBI using “real-world” action. The task requires children to achieve several goals while following specific rules and resisting distractions. This work will provide the foundation for developing new assessment and intervention tools that better target real-life functioning in children with brain injury.
Dr. Mette Posamentier
Schizophrenia and TBI
Interestingly, people with schizophrenia and traumatic brain injury show social interaction deficits akin to those present in autism spectrum disorder. In particular, behavioral testing has shown that negative facial expressions such as fear, anger and disgust are often confused and misinterpreted. To understand the deficits in these groups, we will examine the brain’s social cognition networks by using EEG recordings to look at the time course and functional MRI to look at the structures involved in perception of faces and facial expressions.
Participant Perspectives
“Our son received a perfect score on the reading TAKS. The school called this morning and he is so so so excited. Please let the funders of the programknow that we thank you and the program for all of the help you provided him and for helping him feel confidentabout his abilities.”
-Mother of participant in the SMART program
“I continue incorporate your suggestions. The information from the brain physical has been helpful in improving my productivity.”
- 47-year-old business executive after a brain physical
“Since our son has been training in the "virtual world", his social skillshavedramatically improved. His newability tointerpret social situations and react appropriatelyto them has changed his life. It has been amazing to watch him progress so quickly inthe ‘virtual world’”.
-Parent of child with social cognition deficits
“We are truly gratefulfor the contributions that all of you are makingin the medical community but most importantly the positive impact that you are making in thelivesof patientswith dementia and their families.”
-Wife of man with dementia
Leadership Spotlight
Bob Strasser exudes a passion for BrainHealth and after only 6 months of service on the Advisory Board, has contributed immeasurably through his leadership and enthusiasm.
Bob strongly agrees with the proactive mission of the Center. “As Dr. Chapman says, ‘We get checkups for all of our body parts – skin, teeth, heart, private parts – but we neglect our brains.’ This is our most important organ, and I’m proud to be a part of an organization that is so forward-thinking in this arena.”
One board responsibility particularly interested Bob: being the leader of the board’s “Team Cortex” during the 2008 Lecture Series. In this leadership position, Bob successfully united 20 board members to help plan one of the Center’s lectures. Because of his dedication, enthusiasm, and hard work, this lecture was one of the most successful the Center has ever had.
From a professional standpoint, Bob serves as the Senior Vice President and Group Counsel at Affiliated Computer Services (ACS). The Center is fortunate to have such a dynamic force as part of its Advisory Board.
Many Thanks to the Container Store
Many thanks to The Container Store for sponsoring this year's Lecture Series. Their support made the 2008 series the most successful ever.
Front row (left to right): Beth Papahronis, Kip Tindell (CEO), Sharon Tindell, Karla Buie
Back row (left to right): Cindy Luttrell, Lucy Witte, Melissa Collins, Renee Morris
New BrainHealth Collaborator 
The Center for BrainHealth is honored to welcome Miriam Reiner, associate professor at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, as a research collaborator. Head of the Technion Virtual Reality Touch lab and visiting professor at Stanford for the last 10 years, she has a wealth of research experience in reasoning, sensory experience, brain plasticity, and translating virtual training into the real world. One of the most exciting technological advances Dr. Reiner is leading is the use of simulated haptic feedback to train surgical procedures.
