Cognitive Science

The latest breakthroughs, innovations, and cool happenings at the cutting edge of the world of cognitive science. Updated daily.

Activated microglia release β−galactosidase that promotes inflammatory neurodegeneration

Beta (β)-galactosidase is a lysosomal enzyme that removes terminal galactose residues from glycolipids and glycoproteins. It is upregulated in, and used as a marker for, senescent cells. Microglia are brain macrophages implicated in neurodegeneration, and can upregulate β-galactosidase when senescent. We find that inflammatory activation of microglia induced by lipopolysaccharide results in translocation of β-galactosidase […]

Published on January 12, 2024

Preoperative mild cognitive impairment as a risk factor of postoperative cognitive dysfunction in elderly patients undergoing spine surgery

IntroductionAny persistent degree of cognitive impairment in older adults is a concern as it can progress to dementia. This study aimed to determine the incidence and risk factors for early postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) in elderly patients undergoing spine surgery.MethodsPatients were enrolled from a previous prospective observational study after screening for normal cognitive function using […]

Published on January 12, 2024

Multi‐Level Linguistic Alignment in a Dynamic Collaborative Problem‐Solving Task

Abstract Cocreating meaning in collaboration is challenging. Success is often determined by people’s abilities to coordinate their language to converge upon shared mental representations. Here we explore one set of low-level linguistic behaviors, linguistic alignment, that both emerges from, and facilitates, outcomes of high-level convergence. Linguistic alignment captures the ways people reuse, that is, “align […]

Published on January 11, 2024