NORTH TEXAS ON THE BRAIN
decline and push it so we can extend independent
living? Can we also improve basic cognitive
capabilities so we can use technology tools more
efficiently? If memory and attention are in good
shape, it’s possible,” Dr. Basak said.
STUDYING WORKING
MEMORY IN THE
COCKPIT Disease. Researchers at the center are not only
working on methods for the early detection of
diseases such as Alzheimer’s, but are also studying
how the brain supports memory and other
fundamental cognitive processes.
M “As we get older, our frontal lobes decline,”
Dr. Basak explained. “The older you get, the
more trouble you may have with multi-tasking,
switching from one task to another. For example,
when you are driving the brain has to decide
things like, ‘Should I go now, or should I stop?’
There are a lot more challenges as we get older.
Working memory can hold four to five items when
you’re young and two to three when you’re an
older adult.”
any people don’t realize that attention
is fundamental to memory. For example,
you won’t remember where your keys are if you
weren’t paying attention to the drawer you put
them in. Being on “autopilot,” so to speak, doesn’t
allow memories to be encoded, as neuroscientists
say. Working memory, or the ability to not forget
what you were doing when you have to switch to
another task or are interrupted by a distraction,
is crucial to many things, including the ability to
drive, scuba dive and, especially, fly a plane.
The Center was founded in 2010 by Dr. Denise
Park and currently led by cognitive neuroscientist
Dr. Michael Rugg. Six labs bring together an
expert group of research scientists who are using
advanced brain-imaging technologies and research
techniques in cognitive neuroscience to better
understand, maintain and improve the health of
the aging mind.
TEAM APPROACH
TO CONCUSSION
TREATMENT
I
t’s no secret that there are just a few fans of
the game of football in North Texas. (Okay
– perhaps more than “just a few.”) North Texas
is home to the world headquarters of the Dallas
Cowboys, after all.
But at this NFL team’s home base at The Star in
Frisco, a suburb of Dallas and center of the “$5
Billion Mile,” a new team is taking the field. In a
“I study working memory, the kind of memory
world’s first collaboration between an NFL team,
you remember for a maximum of 20 seconds.
a school district (Frisco ISD) and a healthcare
Your mind is a juggler, and you have to grab the
system, a unique initiative to enhance sports safety
right ball at the right time,” Chandramallika
has been launched. The Baylor Scott & White
Basak, Ph.D., explained. Her lab at the Center
Sports Therapy & Research at The Star
for Vital Longevity at The University of
is a 300,000-sq.-ft. integrated sports
Texas at Dallas focuses on the intersection
Making your brain increase in volume in
medicine, research and performance
of memory and attention, pertinent to
specific areas, or improving brain function
complex where providers will advance
just about any complicated pursuit. For
in those areas, to help your brain act more
wellness, prevent injury and treat
years, researchers in her lab have been
patients using a team-based approach,
like a younger adult – that’s the goal. Our
tracing working memory and attentional
while innovating methods through
control, as well as the sources of individual
hope is to make older brains look closer to
ongoing research.
differences in enhanced learning and
memory, and how they are affected by age
and memory disorders.
It doesn’t take a brainiac to see that North Texas is an exciting place for healthcare. What might not cross your mind
are the many researchers putting their heads together to advance the health of one of our body’s most vital assets: our brains. We
tapped into the thinking behind some of the region’s most fascinating studies to see what’s going on upstairs.
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SUMMER 2018
The goal with studies like this is to work toward
behavioral interventions that may help improve
brain function. Dr. Basak explains that it may be
a combination of games and physical fitness, or
other non-drug therapies.
younger brains in terms of memory and
attention tasks. Chandramallika Basak, Ph.D.
Dr. Basak recently expanded her work from
the lab to a new venue: the cockpit. With the
mandatory retirement age for pilots raised to 65,
airline executives have been taking an interest in
her research and bringing what she knows to flight
simulators in North Texas. Recently, Dr. Basak
spent three days with an airline, explaining what
to look for in those who may be experiencing
cognitive difficulty and attention problems as a
result of age. The Center is also home to the one of the largest
and longest investigations of neural structure,
brain function and cognition across the lifespan:
the Dallas Lifespan Brain Study. Determining how
the brain functions in healthy individuals across
their lives is the first step in understanding the
ways in which it can decline – whether normally,
as a byproduct of age, or pathologically, with the
onset of certain dementias.
As our general population ages, increasing
numbers of people face the possibility of falling
victim to age-related disorders such as Alzheimer’s “We are increasing in life span, but can
we also push back Alzheimer’s and mental
decline to later in life? Can we slow the
Erin Reynolds, Psy.D., is clinical
director of the Sports Concussion
Center at Baylor Scott & White Sports
Therapy & Research at The Star. Her research
interests include the idea of “active recovery”
from concussions, a research-backed departure
from previous standards of care that used to
require the injured person be relegated to a dark
room for days on end to remove all stimuli as
the brain recovered. New research suggests that
an earlier return to light or moderate activity
is not detrimental and may, in fact, facilitate
improvement in concussion recovery.
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