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Your Brain on Laughter

Your Brain on Laughter

Quick Hits
Daily brief research updates from the cognitive sciences

brain laughter

Oh, I do like a good laugh, I do. In fact many of us do with humour being a feature of our societies be that in daily interactions to paying money to see comedians to TV and streaming series that are humorous. And this is something that can be seen in all cultures.

But what part of the brain drives this humour and playfulness and are they related? Well, this is not a well-researched area, alas more serious topics get the focus in neuroscience research.

This is where a group researchers around Michael Brecht and Natalie Goveli at the Humboldt University in Berlin come in – see the Germans do have humour! In this research the researchers had the enviable task of making rats first of all feel comfortable in their environment and then playing (chase the hand) and tickling them!

Yup, rats are ticklish and giggle too – they vocalise high pitch subsonic squeaks – sweet. And don’t you just love the image of scientific researchers tickling rats.

First off, it must be noted that the rats need to feel comfortable in their environment, anxiety and stress inhibits playfulness. Not surprising but a good reminder to ourselves also.

During the play and subsequent laughter the researchers scanned the rats brains and were able to identify the regions involved in this – and this also highlights the surprising importance of play and subsequently laughter.

The researchers identified a region known as the peridaqueductal gray as being both involved in play and laughter. This region sits deep in the brain and is considered an older and more “primitive” part of the brain that controls instinctive behaviours and also survival important behaviour such as the fight or flight response. Other research has also shown that play can persist even if the newer “more advanced” region of the brain, the cortex, is missing.

This suggest that play is deeply instinctive and present to some degree in all of us – most noticeably , of course, in children. But rather than being childish we can consider it an essential feature of our brain. What’s more, lead researcher Brecht sees that play is a self-training behaviour meaning that play is essential in helping to build brains.

And therfore it is certainly something that is not just for children – indeed our societies with our laughter, jokes, and comedy shows, show this. This not to mention plenty of other benefits of laughter and play such as stress reduction and social bonding.

So go on, have a laugh will you.

Andy Habermacher

Andy Habermacher

Andy is author of leading brains Review, Neuroleadership, and multiple other books. He has been intensively involved in writing and research into neuroleadership and is considered one of Europe’s leading experts. He is also a well-known public speaker, speaking on the brain and human behaviour.

Andy is also a masters athlete (middle distance running) and competes regularly at international competitions (and holds a few national records in his age category).

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References

Natalie Gloveli, Jean Simonnet, Wei Tang, Miguel Concha-Miranda, Eduard Maier, Anton Dvorzhak, Dietmar Schmitz, Michael Brecht.
Play and tickling responses map to the lateral columns of the rat periaqueductal gray.
Neuron, 2023
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2023.06.018

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How Exercise Helps New Brain Cells Grow

How Exercise Helps New Brain Cells Grow

Quick Hits
Daily brief research updates from the cognitive sciences

brain growth exercise

Ok, I know we all know that exercise is good for us. Many of you also know that I have reported multiple times over the years on the many positive impacts exercise has on our brains and one of these is in building new brain cells.

Yup, we can grow new brain cells – it was long thought that our brains were fixed with some flexibility in how our brain cells wire together and potentially rewire. However, over the years neurogenesis, the birth of new brain cells has been seen. Granted this is in limited areas of the brain – so don’t get too excited.

It is also know that exercise increases the production of new brain cells (in animal models) – and this could be as simple as walking. But why and how this happens was a mystery and this is where this piece of research published din June 2023 comes in because it shows how this can happen.

If you’re a sports person you may have heard of lactate – often in the form of lactic acid which is the by product of short bursts of intensive exercise that gives you that heavy “pumped” feeling in your muscles and can also lead to lack of coordination (the mechanisms of this has also been misunderstood to the lay sports person but that’s not for here – hint it’s not the “acid” that causes the problem).

As I said lactate is a by product of exercise and metabolism – that is the old story but we also know that lactate can be an energy source in itself and it is known that lactate is also an important signalling molecule in the nervous system i.e. triggers other cells to activate or not. And this signalling seems to be involved in brain cell growth and formation of new cells. The precise mechanisms, however, was unknown – enter Yidan Xu working in the team of Ryoichi Nagatomi at the University of Tohuku University in Japan.

They examined the role of lactate in the central nervous system and particularly in combination with a protein called NDRG3. This mediates gene regulation and in their experiments they showed NDRG3 is modulated by lactate stimulating plasticity and growth of new cells when present (that’s a very simplified summary).

So there you have it – not only do we know exercise is good for health, and good for your brain, we now know that lactate, that is a by product of exercise, is one of the factors that influences your genetic activation to build and grow brain cells.

If that’s not a good reason to exercise I don’t know what is.

Andy Habermacher

Andy Habermacher

Andy is author of leading brains Review, Neuroleadership, and multiple other books. He has been intensively involved in writing and research into neuroleadership and is considered one of Europe’s leading experts. He is also a well-known public speaker, speaking on the brain and human behaviour.

Andy is also a masters athlete (middle distance running) and competes regularly at international competitions (and holds a few national records in his age category).

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References

Yidan Xu, Joji Kusuyama, Shion Osana, Satayuki Matsuhashi, Longfei Li, Hiroaki Takada, Hitoshi Inada, Ryoichi Nagatomi.
Lactate promotes neuronal differentiation of SH-SY5Y cells by lactate-responsive gene sets through NDRG3-dependent and -independent manners.
Journal of Biological Chemistry, 2023; 299 (6): 104802
DOI: 10.1016/j.jbc.2023.104802

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Light Activity Improves Brain Function

Light Activity Improves Brain Function

Quick Hits
Daily brief research updates from the cognitive sciences

walking brain health

In the quest for fitness and health there has been a focus on exercise as a key factor – we all know that. And recommendations are normally about increasing heart rates over long periods of time or possible also shorter more intensive sessions. These have also been shown to improve cognitive function – making your brain more effective.

However, the route to greater health may be easier – or more specifically of enhanced brain function. The effects of light activity in the focus on more intensive and extensive exercise has been largely underestimated – and is considered by some to be a key factor in public health. Our engagement in light activity has over the decades decreased significantly – see my previous article here.

In this research just out Ryuta Kuwamizu and colleagues of the University of Tsukuba in Japan conducted a simple but effective experiment. In this participants did 10 mins of easy exercise – in this case light pedalling while seated. During this they measured pupil dilation because this is also related to brain function specifically executive function. Executive function refers to harder cognitive tasks such as decision making, short-term, memory, calculation, and analysis – basically what many consider the heavy lifting of the brain in our daily lives.

Yes, and indeed just this short light exercise intervention increased delation of the pupil and this was directly related to improved executive functions which was determined though scanning the frontal part of the brain where our executive functions reside with a technique called near infrared spectroscopy.

This therefore points to, as I have mentioned in other places, the significant benefits of short bouts of light exercise on improved brain function – something of particular interest to businesses no doubt. I have long since promoted the idea of regular short walking breaks – this shows again why. For a review of the benefits of walking see this article here).

Not that it has to be at work – a walk or light exercise will improve your brain function – and that is good for all of us, all the time.

Andy Habermacher

Andy Habermacher

Andy is author of leading brains Review, Neuroleadership, and multiple other books. He has been intensively involved in writing and research into neuroleadership and is considered one of Europe’s leading experts. He is also a well-known public speaker, speaking on the brain and human behaviour.

Andy is also a masters athlete (middle distance running) and competes regularly at international competitions (and holds a few national records in his age category).

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References

Ryuta Kuwamizu, Yudai Yamazaki, Naoki Aoike, Taichi Hiraga, Toshiaki Hata, Michael A. Yassa, Hideaki Soya.
Pupil dynamics during very light exercise predict benefits to prefrontal cognition
NeuroImage, Volume 277, 2023.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2023.120244

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Espresso Combats Alzheimer’s

Espresso Combats Alzheimer’s

Quick Hits
Daily brief research updates from the cognitive sciences

espresso coffee brain alzheimer

Yay, more good news for us coffee drinkers!

I am always interested in the research that is coming out with regard to coffee as a coffee drinker. Yes, so I am biased. Coffee had been considered unhealthy for many years but research over the years has shown multiple health benefits (including living longer) – I first discovered this after encountering a coffee expert who told me of all the antioxidants and natural ingredients in coffee beans – I was converted.

This research just out, though, is even more fascinating – it showed that espresso can reduce clumping of proteins in the brain that lead to Alzheimer’s – wow!

In this fascinating research by Roberto Tira and colleagues of the University of Verona in Italy – no surprise in the location there – they incubated various coffee compounds found in freshly extracted coffee and also a complete espresso compound next to tau proteins.

Tau proteins are natural occurring in the human brain but it is precisely these that end up becoming dysfunctional and clumping up to form blobs of protein that the brain can no longer clean out. This is also a key indicator of Alzheimer’s.

When these molecules from coffee were incubated alongside the proteins the fibres they formed were shorter and didn’t form into sheets suggesting that they would be less likely to form clumps. What’s more the most effective at reducing this was the full espresso compound rather than individual molecules extracted from the espresso compound.

This could be for many reasons such as having multiple molecules that are beneficial.

Obviously this was a lab test and in the human body your espresso doesn’t go directly to your brain – alas. But, nevertheless, another piece in the increasing large collection of research showing that coffee has multiple potential benefits.

Another shot of espresso for me then

Andy Habermacher

Andy Habermacher

Andy is author of leading brains Review, Neuroleadership, and multiple other books. He has been intensively involved in writing and research into neuroleadership and is considered one of Europe’s leading experts. He is also a well-known public speaker speaking on the brain and human behaviour.

Andy is also a masters athlete (middle distance running) and competes regularly at international competitions (and holds a few national records in his age category).

twitter / LinkedIn

Reference

Roberto Tira, Giovanna Viola, Carlo Giorgio Barracchia, Francesca Parolini, Francesca Munari, Stefano Capaldi, Michael Assfalg, Mariapina D’Onofrio.
Espresso Coffee Mitigates the Aggregation and Condensation of Alzheimer′s Associated Tau Protein.
Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2023; DOI: 10.1021/acs.jafc.3c01072

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leadership brain magazine

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The Importance of Daily Rhythms

That we, and other plants and animals, have daily rhythms has been known for centuries. Over the years this has been shown to be much more fundamental to all aspects of biological functioning and therefore health – than many could have assumed . . .

 

This content is only for Premium Brains - please subscribe to access this. All subscriptions come with a free trial.
Register for free to receive access to "Healthy Brains" and other selected articles.
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leadership brain magazine