qEEG Measures of Attentional and Memory Network Functions in Medical Students: Novel Targets for Pharmacopuncture to Improve Cognition and Academic Performance
Objectives:Attentional and memory functions are important aspects of neural plasticity that, theoretically, should be amenable to pharmacopuncture treatments. A previous study from our laboratory suggested that quantitative electroencephalographic (qEEG) measurements of theta/beta ratio (TBR), an in...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Korean Pharmacopuncture Institute
2019-09-01
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| Series: | Journal of Pharmacopuncture |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.journal-pharm.com/sub/view/293 |
| _version_ | 1819020160578617344 |
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| author | Vasavi R. Gorantla Vernon Jr Bond James Dorsey Sarah Tedesco Tanisha Kaur Matthew Simpson Sudhakar Pemminati Richard M. Millis |
| author_facet | Vasavi R. Gorantla Vernon Jr Bond James Dorsey Sarah Tedesco Tanisha Kaur Matthew Simpson Sudhakar Pemminati Richard M. Millis |
| author_sort | Vasavi R. Gorantla |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Objectives:Attentional and memory functions are important aspects of neural plasticity that, theoretically, should be amenable to pharmacopuncture treatments. A previous study from our laboratory suggested that quantitative electroencephalographic (qEEG) measurements of theta/beta ratio (TBR), an index of attentional control, may be indicative of academic performance in a first-semester medical school course. The present study expands our prior report by extracting and analyzing data on frontal theta and beta asymmetries. We test the hypothesis that the amount of frontal theta and beta asymmetries (fTA, fBA), are correlated with TBR and academic performance, thereby providing novel targets for pharmacopuncture treatments to improve cognitive performance.Methods:Ten healthy male volunteers were subjected to 5-10 min of qEEG measurements under eyes-closed conditions. The qEEG measurements were performed 3 days before each of first two block examinations in anatomy-physiology, separated by five weeks. Amplitudes of the theta and beta waveforms, expressed in µV, were used to compute TBR, fTA and fBA. Significance of changes in theta and beta EEG wave amplitude was assessed by ANOVA with post-hoc t-testing. Correlations between TBR, fTA, fBA and the raw examination scores were evaluated by Pearson’s product-moment coefficients and linear regression analysis.Results:fTA and fBA were found to be negatively correlated with TBR (P<0.03, P<0.05, respectively) and were positively correlated with the second examination score (P<0.03, P=0.1, respectively).Conclusion:Smaller fTA and fBA were associated with lower academic performance in the second of two first-semester medical school anatomy-physiology block examination. Future studies should determine whether these qEEG metrics are useful for monitoring changes associated with the brain’s cognitive adaptations to academic challenges, for predicting academic performance and for targeting phamacopuncture treatments to improve cognitive performance. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T03:46:48Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f8a3e288032a4988b4ae8b40b757dd2e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2093-6966 2234-6856 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T03:46:48Z |
| publishDate | 2019-09-01 |
| publisher | Korean Pharmacopuncture Institute |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Pharmacopuncture |
| spelling | doaj.art-f8a3e288032a4988b4ae8b40b757dd2e2022-12-21T19:17:04ZengKorean Pharmacopuncture InstituteJournal of Pharmacopuncture2093-69662234-68562019-09-0122316617010.3831/KPI.2019.22.022qEEG Measures of Attentional and Memory Network Functions in Medical Students: Novel Targets for Pharmacopuncture to Improve Cognition and Academic PerformanceVasavi R. Gorantla0Vernon Jr Bond1James Dorsey2Sarah Tedesco3Tanisha Kaur4Matthew Simpson5Sudhakar Pemminati6Richard M. Millis7Department of Behavioural Sciences and Neuroscience, AUA College of Medicine, Antigua and BarbudaDepartment of Recreation, Human Performance & Leisure Studies and Exercise Science & Human Nutrition Laboratory, Howard University Cancer Centre, Washington, DC 20060, United States of AmericaDepartment of Recreation, Human Performance & Leisure Studies and Exercise Science & Human Nutrition Laboratory, Howard University Cancer Centre, Washington, DC 20060, United States of AmericaAUA College of Medicine, Antigua and BarbudaAUA College of Medicine, Antigua and BarbudaAUA College of Medicine, Antigua and BarbudaDepartment of Medical Pharmacology, AUA College of Medicine, Antigua and BarbudaDepartment of Behavioural Sciences and Neuroscience, AUA College of Medicine, Antigua and BarbudaObjectives:Attentional and memory functions are important aspects of neural plasticity that, theoretically, should be amenable to pharmacopuncture treatments. A previous study from our laboratory suggested that quantitative electroencephalographic (qEEG) measurements of theta/beta ratio (TBR), an index of attentional control, may be indicative of academic performance in a first-semester medical school course. The present study expands our prior report by extracting and analyzing data on frontal theta and beta asymmetries. We test the hypothesis that the amount of frontal theta and beta asymmetries (fTA, fBA), are correlated with TBR and academic performance, thereby providing novel targets for pharmacopuncture treatments to improve cognitive performance.Methods:Ten healthy male volunteers were subjected to 5-10 min of qEEG measurements under eyes-closed conditions. The qEEG measurements were performed 3 days before each of first two block examinations in anatomy-physiology, separated by five weeks. Amplitudes of the theta and beta waveforms, expressed in µV, were used to compute TBR, fTA and fBA. Significance of changes in theta and beta EEG wave amplitude was assessed by ANOVA with post-hoc t-testing. Correlations between TBR, fTA, fBA and the raw examination scores were evaluated by Pearson’s product-moment coefficients and linear regression analysis.Results:fTA and fBA were found to be negatively correlated with TBR (P<0.03, P<0.05, respectively) and were positively correlated with the second examination score (P<0.03, P=0.1, respectively).Conclusion:Smaller fTA and fBA were associated with lower academic performance in the second of two first-semester medical school anatomy-physiology block examination. Future studies should determine whether these qEEG metrics are useful for monitoring changes associated with the brain’s cognitive adaptations to academic challenges, for predicting academic performance and for targeting phamacopuncture treatments to improve cognitive performance.http://www.journal-pharm.com/sub/view/293theta/beta ratiofrontal theta asymmetryfrontal beta asymmetryacademic performanceneural plasticityquantitative electroencephalography (qeeg)pharmacopuncture |
| spellingShingle | Vasavi R. Gorantla Vernon Jr Bond James Dorsey Sarah Tedesco Tanisha Kaur Matthew Simpson Sudhakar Pemminati Richard M. Millis qEEG Measures of Attentional and Memory Network Functions in Medical Students: Novel Targets for Pharmacopuncture to Improve Cognition and Academic Performance Journal of Pharmacopuncture theta/beta ratio frontal theta asymmetry frontal beta asymmetry academic performance neural plasticity quantitative electroencephalography (qeeg) pharmacopuncture |
| title | qEEG Measures of Attentional and Memory Network Functions in Medical Students: Novel Targets for Pharmacopuncture to Improve Cognition and Academic Performance |
| title_full | qEEG Measures of Attentional and Memory Network Functions in Medical Students: Novel Targets for Pharmacopuncture to Improve Cognition and Academic Performance |
| title_fullStr | qEEG Measures of Attentional and Memory Network Functions in Medical Students: Novel Targets for Pharmacopuncture to Improve Cognition and Academic Performance |
| title_full_unstemmed | qEEG Measures of Attentional and Memory Network Functions in Medical Students: Novel Targets for Pharmacopuncture to Improve Cognition and Academic Performance |
| title_short | qEEG Measures of Attentional and Memory Network Functions in Medical Students: Novel Targets for Pharmacopuncture to Improve Cognition and Academic Performance |
| title_sort | qeeg measures of attentional and memory network functions in medical students novel targets for pharmacopuncture to improve cognition and academic performance |
| topic | theta/beta ratio frontal theta asymmetry frontal beta asymmetry academic performance neural plasticity quantitative electroencephalography (qeeg) pharmacopuncture |
| url | http://www.journal-pharm.com/sub/view/293 |
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