Ignite Creation Date:
2024-05-05 @ 7:40 PM
Last Modification Date:
2024-10-26 @ 9:52 AM
Study NCT ID:
NCT00713570
Status:
UNKNOWN
Last Update Posted:
2010-12-13
First Post:
2008-07-09
Brief Title:
Explore the Nature Factors Relevant to Learning-Pioneering Natural Factors That Influences Science Learning II
Sponsor:
National Taiwan University Hospital
Organization:
National Taiwan University Hospital
Study Overview
Official Title:
the Cognitive Ability Dose Associate With COMT 5HT6 BDNF and Biological Systemic Pathway Candidate Genes in General Population
Status:
UNKNOWN
Status Verified Date:
2010-12
Last Known Status:
RECRUITING
Delayed Posting:
No
If Stopped, Why?:
Not Stopped
Has Expanded Access:
False
If Expanded Access, NCT#:
N/A
Has Expanded Access, NCT# Status:
N/A
Acronym:
None
Brief Summary:
Genetic research has provided the most exciting breakthroughs in neuroscience and cognitive science Partially genetically determined cognitive impairments have been described in people with COMT 5HT6 BDNF Swillen et al 2000 Moss et al 1999 Henry et al 2002 Bilder et al 2002and biological systemic pathway candidate genes
Selective inhibitors of COMT proved to improve cognitive function in animals and in patients with Parkinsons disease Carlsson et al 2000 Recent studies suggested that variation in COMT activity might have neurobiological effects specific to the prefrontal cortex the COMT Val allele with high activity impairs tasks of prefrontal cognition in people with schizophrenia Egan et al 2001 and higher loading of the COMT Met allele is associated with better cognitive performance on attention and processing speed in people with chronic schizophrenia Bilder et al 2002 Moreover prefrontal dopamine levels are increased in COMT knockout mouse model Gogos et al 1998 This suggests that in people who have heterozygosis on COMT dopamine levels could be abnormal Thus variation in COMT expression could also affect performance on prefrontal cognitive tasks In the previous study we found the neuropsychological profile in students with COMT Met allele is better in object perception problem solving and planning and abstract and social thinking Henry et al 2002
5-HT6 inhibitor has been reported to raise extracellular acetylcholine levels in the cortex and hippocampus Dawson et al 2001 and Riemer et al 2003 Acetylcholine release in hippocampal and cortical regions is known to be important for memory acquisition and retention and several groups have demonstrated that 5-HT6 blockade overcomes scopolamine-induced amnesia We hypothesize that variations in COMT and 5-HT6 are associated with genotype that will cause a poorbetter performance in cognitive tasks
With the aim to establish the possible correlation between candidate genes COMT 5HT6BDNF and biological systemic pathway candidate genes etc and cognitive ability which will provide us an understanding on factors and its extent that affect students thinking and then develop appropriate teaching models or strategies for assisting students in learning It seems timely therefore to consider how we might implement our increased understanding of brain development and brain function to explore educational questions
Selective inhibitors of COMT proved to improve cognitive function in animals and in patients with Parkinsons disease Carlsson et al 2000 Recent studies suggested that variation in COMT activity might have neurobiological effects specific to the prefrontal cortex the COMT Val allele with high activity impairs tasks of prefrontal cognition in people with schizophrenia Egan et al 2001 and higher loading of the COMT Met allele is associated with better cognitive performance on attention and processing speed in people with chronic schizophrenia Bilder et al 2002 Moreover prefrontal dopamine levels are increased in COMT knockout mouse model Gogos et al 1998 This suggests that in people who have heterozygosis on COMT dopamine levels could be abnormal Thus variation in COMT expression could also affect performance on prefrontal cognitive tasks In the previous study we found the neuropsychological profile in students with COMT Met allele is better in object perception problem solving and planning and abstract and social thinking Henry et al 2002
5-HT6 inhibitor has been reported to raise extracellular acetylcholine levels in the cortex and hippocampus Dawson et al 2001 and Riemer et al 2003 Acetylcholine release in hippocampal and cortical regions is known to be important for memory acquisition and retention and several groups have demonstrated that 5-HT6 blockade overcomes scopolamine-induced amnesia We hypothesize that variations in COMT and 5-HT6 are associated with genotype that will cause a poorbetter performance in cognitive tasks
With the aim to establish the possible correlation between candidate genes COMT 5HT6BDNF and biological systemic pathway candidate genes etc and cognitive ability which will provide us an understanding on factors and its extent that affect students thinking and then develop appropriate teaching models or strategies for assisting students in learning It seems timely therefore to consider how we might implement our increased understanding of brain development and brain function to explore educational questions
Detailed Description:
In the past decade the number of studies concerning the connections between neuroscience and cognitive science has been growing dramatically The findings might inform us how learners find a better way to learn However it has been proven that it is difficult to apply these findings to the real classrooms Bruer 1997 Goswami 2006 This is mainly because learning behavior requires interactions among various cognitive abilities yet most neuroscience-related research stressed only on a cognitive ability or microstructure alone In other words neuroscience research often focuses on microstructure of cells while cognitive research focuses on systematic integrations Generally speaking a single-neuron cell is insufficient for behavior development
Based on the statement whole does not equal to sum of every single part simply examining a microstructure will not lead to an understanding of behavior that produced by cell assemblysynergy The current neuroscience technology for detecting activities in two or more cells simultaneously is still in progress and issues on how cells can work harmoniously have been seriously considered recently Clearly educators do not study learning at the level of the cell A successful learning depends on the curriculum the teacher context provided by the classroom and the family and the context of the school and the wider community All of these factors synergistically interact with the characteristics of individual brains For example children with high levels of the monoamine oxidise A who experience maltreatment and adverse family environments seemed to be protected from developing antisocial behavior Caspi et al 2002 possibly via moderating effects on their neural response to stress Diet is also reported to affect the brain A child whose diet is poor will not be able to respond to excellent teaching in the same way as a child whose brain is well-nourished It is already possible to study the effects of various medications on cognitive function Methylphenidate Ritalin has been shown to improve stimulus recognition in children with ADHD Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Seifert et al 2003 Neuroimaging techniques also offer the potential to study the effects of different diets food additives and potential toxins on educational performance In our opinion applying neuroscience findings to actual classroom will be beneficial to students in learning It will be of value if studies about the connections between neuroscience and education can be extended to other related topics such as practical mechanisms which will result in a meaningful integration Therefore exploring the behavior-cognitive-neuron-gene system BCNG system Fig 1 and developing science educational theories from neuroscience-related studies will be the main objectives and long-term goads as a result of our future research
The BCNG system includes two main categories namely science education and neuroscience Currently science education research including our previous endeavors emphasizes how cognitive abilities affects learners academic achievement and performance for example Wang Chang Li published online Chang et al 2006 while neuroscience stresses on the relationships between individuals cognitive ability and neurophysiology biochemistry mechanism Currently there are ten aspects about cognitive ability including intelligence attention memory linguistic ability spatial ordering higher order cognition ordering system action system social interaction system and emotion These aspects can be divided further into sub-topics
Changes on cognitive ability are caused both by innate genetic inherence of learning ability and acquired ability enforced by learning However researchers have not yet clearly understood the extent that innate and acquired factors influence an individuals cognitive abilities
In learning process students who do not perform well in academic as other students due to poor cognitive ability will affect their willingness to learn In other words low cognitive ability will affect students willingness to learn Deficiencies in linguistic system includes defects in listening speaking reading and writing elements that affect language skills containing disabilities in phonemes morphemes and syntax and disagreements in activities of muscles which cause messy in writing will make students considered to be clumsy and indolent or teased by peers and lead to decreased learning motivation Therefore Livan2001 asserts that educationists should first understand each students innate cognitive ability and then give a priority to develop a subject that matches a students cognitive ability so that a students learning interest and achievement outcome will be raised and eventually this modelstrategy will also work for the subjects that do not actually match students cognitive ability This suggestion is to some extent in alignment with our previous work Chang and Tsai 2005 which we found that teacher-centered instructional approach seemed to enhance more positive attitudes of less constructivist-oriented learning preferences students whereas the student-centered method was more beneficial to more constructivist-oriented learning preferences students on their attitudes toward earth science in a computer-assisted learning environment In the process of developing and undertaking the BCNG system this research project starts with innate factors that might affect learners cognitive ability Based on the understanding of relationships existed between cognitive ability and genotypes of possible cognition-related genes appropriate instructional models or strategies might be appropriately developed to better assistmatch students learning
1 Using existing test batteries to understand subjects intellectual functioning memoryvisual-spatial and perceptual function executivefunction attention and science problem-solving ability
2 Identifying genetic polymorphism of human COMT BDNF 5-HT6 and other genes in Taiwan by investigating single nucleotide polymorphism SNPs of the genes among Taiwanese subjects using PCR and DNA sequencing
3 Screening and comparing the allelic distribution of each SNP among tested subjects and exploring if there is cognitive-associated SNPs in these gene
Based on the statement whole does not equal to sum of every single part simply examining a microstructure will not lead to an understanding of behavior that produced by cell assemblysynergy The current neuroscience technology for detecting activities in two or more cells simultaneously is still in progress and issues on how cells can work harmoniously have been seriously considered recently Clearly educators do not study learning at the level of the cell A successful learning depends on the curriculum the teacher context provided by the classroom and the family and the context of the school and the wider community All of these factors synergistically interact with the characteristics of individual brains For example children with high levels of the monoamine oxidise A who experience maltreatment and adverse family environments seemed to be protected from developing antisocial behavior Caspi et al 2002 possibly via moderating effects on their neural response to stress Diet is also reported to affect the brain A child whose diet is poor will not be able to respond to excellent teaching in the same way as a child whose brain is well-nourished It is already possible to study the effects of various medications on cognitive function Methylphenidate Ritalin has been shown to improve stimulus recognition in children with ADHD Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Seifert et al 2003 Neuroimaging techniques also offer the potential to study the effects of different diets food additives and potential toxins on educational performance In our opinion applying neuroscience findings to actual classroom will be beneficial to students in learning It will be of value if studies about the connections between neuroscience and education can be extended to other related topics such as practical mechanisms which will result in a meaningful integration Therefore exploring the behavior-cognitive-neuron-gene system BCNG system Fig 1 and developing science educational theories from neuroscience-related studies will be the main objectives and long-term goads as a result of our future research
The BCNG system includes two main categories namely science education and neuroscience Currently science education research including our previous endeavors emphasizes how cognitive abilities affects learners academic achievement and performance for example Wang Chang Li published online Chang et al 2006 while neuroscience stresses on the relationships between individuals cognitive ability and neurophysiology biochemistry mechanism Currently there are ten aspects about cognitive ability including intelligence attention memory linguistic ability spatial ordering higher order cognition ordering system action system social interaction system and emotion These aspects can be divided further into sub-topics
Changes on cognitive ability are caused both by innate genetic inherence of learning ability and acquired ability enforced by learning However researchers have not yet clearly understood the extent that innate and acquired factors influence an individuals cognitive abilities
In learning process students who do not perform well in academic as other students due to poor cognitive ability will affect their willingness to learn In other words low cognitive ability will affect students willingness to learn Deficiencies in linguistic system includes defects in listening speaking reading and writing elements that affect language skills containing disabilities in phonemes morphemes and syntax and disagreements in activities of muscles which cause messy in writing will make students considered to be clumsy and indolent or teased by peers and lead to decreased learning motivation Therefore Livan2001 asserts that educationists should first understand each students innate cognitive ability and then give a priority to develop a subject that matches a students cognitive ability so that a students learning interest and achievement outcome will be raised and eventually this modelstrategy will also work for the subjects that do not actually match students cognitive ability This suggestion is to some extent in alignment with our previous work Chang and Tsai 2005 which we found that teacher-centered instructional approach seemed to enhance more positive attitudes of less constructivist-oriented learning preferences students whereas the student-centered method was more beneficial to more constructivist-oriented learning preferences students on their attitudes toward earth science in a computer-assisted learning environment In the process of developing and undertaking the BCNG system this research project starts with innate factors that might affect learners cognitive ability Based on the understanding of relationships existed between cognitive ability and genotypes of possible cognition-related genes appropriate instructional models or strategies might be appropriately developed to better assistmatch students learning
1 Using existing test batteries to understand subjects intellectual functioning memoryvisual-spatial and perceptual function executivefunction attention and science problem-solving ability
2 Identifying genetic polymorphism of human COMT BDNF 5-HT6 and other genes in Taiwan by investigating single nucleotide polymorphism SNPs of the genes among Taiwanese subjects using PCR and DNA sequencing
3 Screening and comparing the allelic distribution of each SNP among tested subjects and exploring if there is cognitive-associated SNPs in these gene
Study Oversight
Has Oversight DMC:
None
Is a FDA Regulated Drug?:
None
Is a FDA Regulated Device?:
None
Is an Unapproved Device?:
None
Is a PPSD?:
None
Is a US Export?:
None
Is an FDA AA801 Violation?:
None