Me: For Mind Hack XV, I found this amazing interview a past memory champion Joshua Foer did on his journey and process to learn the ways and techniques to make one’s mind better at memorization and thinking. I highly recommend the interview since it is very insightful. If you don’t have the time to watch the video, I will outline the major points they bring up in the video.

You can train yourself to do unbelievable feats.The memory champions in memory competition are using their brains differently so you can learn what they are doing..

In Ancient times like in Greece, there were many well known memory techniques and tools for the scholar. We have totally forgotten about these techniques.

Major Technique #1: Creating a memory palace – Most people have terrific spatial memory. If we can use that spatial memory to remember stuff that we actually want to remember, it gives you an extraordinary advantage. The memory palace is an imaginary building in your mind’s eye that you are intimately familiar with. You walk through it in your imagination creating images of the stuff that you wish to remember.

By putting imagery in a specific location in the memory palace, you are attaching it in an order, in a spatial arrangement,

Idea: If you can create images that are so weird, so bizzarre, so strange, gory, raunchy, etc. something that is so emotionally resonant, where you use all of your senses to embrace the image, that will be a memory you will not be able to shake away from your memory.

• Interesting fact #1: The term “In the first place” actually is referring to the “First Place” in your memory palace.
• Interesting fact #2: The word “Topic” comes from the Greek word “Topos” which means “place”.

Idea: The things that we remember are the things that are …

• 1. NEW,
• 2. STRANGE,
• 3. UNUSUAL,
• 4. THINGS THAT MAKE AN IMPRESSION ON US,
• 5. THINGS THAT GRAB OUR ATTENTION

We can will our brains to remember.

Idea: We can change our brain through memory. Remembering a lot like cab drivers enlarges the hippocampus which is what controls spatial memory.

Our working memory capacity has a clear limit. We can only hold roughly 7 things in our head at one time. The idea and key is then to see how we can package and put as much stuff in those 7 parts as possible.

Chunking – The process of packaging large sets of data and information into smaller parts to make it easier to recall.

Baker-Baker Paradox (from psychology): A person who is asked to remember a guy’s name is Baker is less likely to remember than a guy who is asked to remember that a guy’s profession is a baker. 

The name “Baker” does not mean anything. It is not associated or attached to anything in our memory as a hook. The word Baker however does have something we can associate with. There is a whole network of meaning that the word “baker” is attached with it.

The entire trick to remembering other people’s names is to take their names, turn it into something that they can associate with, in a visual way that would give it more meaning.

Most of the memory techniques uses a concept from psychology called elaborative encoding – You take information and make it memorable by embedding it in other information we already know.

William James – “We structure our experience of time around chronological landmarks” – Exciting things that happen in our life helps shape the passage of time. As we grow older, our lives get less interesting. We are doing less new stuff everyday. Things start to become routine. They become rote….And as a result, time starts to feel like it is flying by….So, literally our life is becoming less memorable.”

Solution: To live a life that is memorable. To do things that are new, different, exotic.

Case with EP (patient): Struck with viral disease that ate away a significant part of his brain, the hippocampus. Lead to him being fully functional except not remembering short term memory and long term memory up to a certain point. Does not even realize that he even has a memory problem. Is content and happy because he can’t remember the past and does not worry about the future.

Memory is very costly due to energy consumption: Brain uses up to around 20% of all the Oxygen and 25% of the glucose that is available in the body. We need memory to shape our perceptions of the present, our ability to make sense of the present, to plan for the future.

Our identity can be defined as our memories. EP could be considered to be an empty vessel and incapable of telling you anything about time.

Thinking is not so much about remembering, but actually about forgetting – processing what things do they not need to remember.

Even at elite memorizing level, everyone has a weakness. Conversely, almost everyone has a great memory for something. Thus, the things that we are fascinated with and become experts in, we develop an extraordinary memory for the details of that field of study.

With great expertise comes memory. People are structuring memory differently. Theya re seeing the world differently. and as a result are remembering better.

True knewledge is having an understanding of the world, make sense of it, find meaning in its structure.

We are probably all better off not having to remember numbers and facts which we can find easily through books and google.

The Latin word inventio is the source or root word for two modern words, invention and inventory.

We should be teaching kids better how their memories work. If you teach kids how to think about thinking, they think better. The principles behind the memory devices and techniques like the memry palace are crucial in helping us do well in the world.

The best way to learn something is to space out the information over time. When we start learning, we will start forgetting.

The single best piece of advice for a person who just wants to improve their memory: The art of remembering is the art of paying attention. To be mindful..

The difference between natural memory and artificial memory – natural memory is what we are born with in terms of raw talent, artificial memory is what we can develop through learning and using structuring for information processing.

Grit and tenaciousness is very good at creating success

The YouTube link where the source is found is HERE

Me: This is one of those posts which I felt was extremely insightful in its wisdom on how the modern male in Western developed countries should be living his life. As always, this type of advice should never be used as gospel and not questioned but to be critically reviewed for its practically, usefulness, and value.

The reason why I felt this video is so powerful is because it tells us young men still in our 20s how to avoid some of the biggest traps which can sap away our resources. In our 20s, whether we have been to college or graduate school, most men are very busy at trying to achieve, win, and climb the corporate ladder in making a name for themselves in the world. We have the energy, ambition, and motivation to try to, as Steve Jobs put it, “put a dent in the universe”. Whether we ultimate succeed in whatever endeavor we have set for ourselves, that is still need to be proven. However there are some clear decisions we make which will make us far less likely to succeed.

On a side note, I would like to state that in many polls done on people in their 40s, they would say that the #1 decision which will determine the quality of their later years, whether it is in the area of health, finances, or relationships is the person they choose to marry, is they ever do get married ever at all. One’s decision on who will be one’s life partner is far greater in determining one’s happiness and success in life than almost anything else. We find from many reports that divorce is not just an emotional and mental negative event, but also for one’s finances too. So besides the tips that Tim will tell you, I wanted to give 4 tipes of my own.

• Tip #1: Be extremely careful on who you choose to spend your life with. Your emotional health and financial health will depend on it later on.
• Tip #2: It is important to realize that the two most common causes for personal bankruptcy is a major health issue racking up healthcare costs or divorce.
• Tip #3: Having a child is extremely expensive, and be wise about having children.
• Tip #4: Things become harder to do as one gets older so go ahead in your younger years, go crazy and have fun, and try to reach for one’s dreams. If you want to do something, do it now. You will definitely regret on doing trying it out later in life if you don’t try and go for what you want.

This video is taken from Youtube link HERE…

To Be Edited.

Me: I have recently found out from the website and publication Life-Enhancement about this really powerful supplement product called Galantamine and the articles and information about it is enormous. In my most recent post in Mind Hack XI I showed that IGF-2 dosage can increase memory ability but it seems that the pathway of IGF-2 is actually controlled by Galantamine. I had posted an article from the Nov. 2012 edition of LIfe-Enhancement. If you actually go through the entire LIfe-Enhancement website you will find that there are a lot of articles written about the power of Galantamine. 

Seriously, the entire Life-Enhancement website is FILLED with Galantamine articles and how it improves some form of mental/cognitive ability. From the research on the internet on the effectiveness and ability of galantine supplements, it seems that one of the effects of Galantamine is that gives you more vivid and even lucid dreams. It seems that quite a few studies have been tested on the ability of Galantamine to treat and reduce the effects of Alzheimer’s Disease.

Me: I had stated before in a previous Mind Hack post that we can use creatine to improve intelligence by upwards of even 15 IQ points. Now from my research on IGF-2 I have found a few articles an studies down in 2011 that showed that mice which had IGF-2 injected into their hippocampus had increased levels of memory.

Further Analysis: It is really amazing since IGF-2 is one of the few molecules that can actually cross the blood brain barrier. It is suggested that a clinical way of getting humans to take it is through intra-nosal approach. To get the IGF-2 to actually work, it must “coincides with a stage in the learning process called “memory consolidation.” That’s a poorly understood transition period when a memory is still malleable but becoming more established and robust.” It is

From Live Science, Nature, ISSNAF, Science Illustrated, Science Mag, Life-Enhancement…

The article post below is from the LIfe-Enhancement link…

Better for your neurons in 3 ways …Galantamine protects, stimulates,and improves memory… through elevation of insulin-like growth factor 2 By Will Block

Intelligence is the wife, imagination is the mistress, memory is the servant.— Victor Hugo, Post-scriptum de ma vie (1901)

Insulin-like growth factor 2 (IGF2) significantly enhances memory retention and prevents forgetting. That’s what researchers reporting in Nature found last year.¹IGF2 is known to be important in body growth and development, but its role in the adult brain has not been established. While highly expressed in the hippocampus, Alberini and colleagues (the authors of the Nature paper) showed that in this region IGF2 has a crucial role in memory consolidation and can make memories last longer.

Using what is known as inhibitory avoidance learning training—a hippocampus-depend­ent learning task that measures fear memory—the researchers placed rats in an environment where upon entering dark areas the rats received a shock to the feet. Their fear memory was enhanced as they learned to avoid the dark areas (into which they are naturally inclined to enter), and this in turn led to an increase in the hippocampal expression of IGF2.

The creation of this IGF2 requires the transcription factor CCAAT enhancer binding protein β,* which is also essential for memory consolidation. Furthermore, injections of recombinant IGF2 into the hippocampus, after either training or memory retrieval, significantly enhanced memory retention and prevented forgetting.

* CCAAT-enhancer-binding proteins are a family of transcription factors, composed of six members that promote the expression of certain genes through interaction with their promoter. Once bound to DNA, these transcription facts can recruit so-called co-activators that, in turn, can open up chromatin structure or recruit basal transcription factors. They are involved in different cellular responses, such as in the control of cellular proliferation, growth, and differentiation, metabolism, immunity, and memory enhancement.

The time factor for efficacy

To be effective, IGF2 needs to be administered within a sensitive period for memory consolidation. IGF2-dependent memory enhancement requires IGF2 receptors, new protein synthesis, the function of activity-regulated cytoskeletal-associated protein, andglycogen-synthase kinase 3 (GSK3). This is intriguing because GSK3 is a regulatory kinase that is implicated in a number of diseases, including type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, inflammation, cancer, and bipolar disorder. In hippocampal slices, IGF2 promotes IGF2 receptor-dependent, persistent long-term potentiation after weak synaptic stimulation. Thus, IGF2 may represent a novel target for cognitive enhancement therapies.

Galantamine significantly increases IGF2

In a new study conducted in Japan, researchers examined the effects of acutegalantamine treatment on the mRNA levels of neurotrophic growth factors in the mouse hippocampus and prefrontal cortex.²

The systemic administration of galantamine at doses of 0.3–3 mg/kg (for 3/mg/kg, the human equivalent is 21 mg for a 187 lb person) caused a significant increase in IGF2 mRNA levels in the hippocampus, but not in the prefrontal cortex. The effect of galantamine was also observed at the protein level. IGF2 promotes cell growth, survival, migration, and differentiation and plays an important role in normal fetal development.

IGF2 significantly enhances memory retention and prevents forgetting.

IGF2 increases memory consolidation in rats

In the study cited above,¹ it was shown that inhibitory avoidance learning led to an increase in hippocampal expression of IGF2, closely linking to memory consolidation in rats. The researchers showed that injection of recombinant IGF2 into the hippocampus after either training or memory retrieval enhanced memory retention and prevented forgetting. They also showed that IGF2 promoted IGF2 receptor-dependent persistent long-term potentiation after weak synaptic stimulation in the rat hippocampal slices.

Three-way neuronal help

Thus, IGF2 has been implicated in cognitive function associated with the hippocampus. In addition, another study recently demonstrated that IGF2 is an important regulator of adult hippocampal neurogenesis.³ As the authors of the Japanese galantamine/IGF2 study² observed in a separate experiment, acute galantamine treatment (3 mg/kg) increased newly divided cell proliferation in the hippocampal dentate gyrus of mice 24 hours after the injection (unpublished).

IGF2 has a crucial role in memory consolidation and can make memories last longer.

When taken together, the present finding implies that galantamine: 1) protects neurons, 2) stimulates neurogenesis, and 3) improves cognitive dysfunction in Alzheimer’s disease via its action on IGF2 expression.

The researchers also observed that the higher dose of galantamine (3 mg/kg) caused a transient increase in fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) mRNA level and a decrease inbrain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) mRNA level in the hippocampus of mice. The exact reason for these effects is not known, but previous studies show that nicotine ornicotine acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) agonists increase the expression of FGF2 and decrease the expression of BDNF in the hippocampus.

What is suggested, however, is that the galantamine-induced changes in FGF2 and BDNF mRNA levels may be due to its action on nAChR, although galantamine even at low doses binds allosterically to nAChR and potentiates its function which is to make acetylcholine perform better.With regard to the effect of galantamine on BDNF levels, the Japanese researchers reported that galantamine increases phosphorylation of BDNF’s trkB receptor and transcription factor CREB^† in the mouse hippocampus. Thus, it is thought unlikely that galantamine-induced reduction in the BDNF mRNA levels per se is involved in the facilitation of hippocampal neurotrophin signaling.

† CREB (cAMP response element-binding protein) is a cellular transcription factor. It binds to certain DNA sequences called cAMP response elements (CRE), thereby increasing or decreasing the transcription of the downstream genes. cAMP (cyclic adenosine monophosphate) is a second messenger important in many biological processes.

Other signals that are not involved

Among the neurotrophic/growth factors examined in the study, galantamine did not affect NGF, VEGF, or IGF1 mRNA levels in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. Thus, these factors may not act as the downstream signals of galantamine in either brain region.

Galantamine 1) protects neurons, 2) stimulates neurogenesis, and 3) improves cognitive dysfunction in Alzheimer’s disease via its action on IGF2 expression.

Previous in vitro studies have shown that galantamine is an allosterically potentiating ligand of nAChR. In fact, the nAChR-modulating properties play a key role in the effects of galantamine, while muscarinic acetylcholine receptor (mAChR) activation contributes at least partly to the antipsychotic effect and improvement of cognitive dysfunction by galantamine in rodents.

Antagonists and agonists

The present study² found that both a nonselective nAChR antagonist and a selective α7 nAChR antagonist block the galantamine-induced increase in hippocampal IGF2 mRNA levels. But, it is not blocked by a preferential M1 mAChR antagonist.

These findings suggest that α7 nAChR is involved in the increasing effect of galantamine on IGF2 expression.

Moreover, the injection of a selective α7 nAChR agonist, at doses of 0.3 and 1 mg/kg increased IGF2 mRNA levels in the hippocampus. These findings suggest that α7 nAChR is involved in the increasing effect of galantamine on IGF2 expression.

In contrast to galantamine, donepezil did not affect IGF2 mRNA levels in the hippocampus.

Getting the dose right

Concerning the effect of the selective α7 nAChR agonist, others have reported that its injection at doses of 1 mg/kg, but not 0.3 mg/kg, improved the performance of rats in the novel object recognition test and much higher doses (0.3 and 1 mg/kg, intravenously) reversed amphetamine-induced auditory gating deficits in rats. The apparent difference in the effect of this agonist at 0.3 mg/kg between the behavioral and biochemical studies may be due to the difference in pharmacokinetics of the drug between rats and mice. Rats have twice the surface area of mice, and this difference determines the right dose.

Donepezil, another inhibitor of acetylcholinesterase, fails

In another study,⁴ the effect of donepezil was also examined to study the role of galantamine as an allosterically potentiating ligand of nAChR. Donepezil, an inhibitor of acetylcholinesterase, increases extracellular levels of acetylcholine (ACh), which interacts with the α7 nAChR as well, but is not an allosterically potentiating ligand of nAChR.

Galantamine increases hippocampal IGF2 mRNA levels in a dose-dependent manner.

In contrast to galantamine, donepezil did not affect IGF2 mRNA levels in the hippocampus. This difference may be explained by the evidence that ACh has a lower affinity for the α7 nAChR compared to the α7 nAChR agonist references above, and that galantamine is an allosterically potentiating ligand of nAChR.

The present finding suggests that the effect of galantamine on hippocampal IGF2 levels may contribute to the mechanism for its neuroprotective and neurogenesis effects.

Recalling the music of memory

In conclusion, the Japanese researchers found that acute administration of galantamine increases hippocampal IGF2 mRNA levels in a dose-dependent manner. Their study suggests that the galantamine-induced increase in the hippocampal IGF2 mRNA and protein levels is mediated by the α7 nAChR. Recall that IGF2 has been implicated in cell growth and survival, and hippocampus-associated function. Consequently, the present finding suggests that the effect of galantamine on hippocampal IGF2 levels may contribute to the mechanism for its neuro­rotection or neurogenesis. This may be why people taking galantamine like they way that they feel, and that one musician who was forgetting certain music chords that he had known by heart for years, brought back those chords, instrumental to his music, with galantamine.

References

1. Chen DY, Stern SA, Garcia-Osta A, Saunier-Rebori B, Pollonini G, Bambah-Mukku D, Blitzer RD, Alberini CM. A critical role for IGF-II in memory consolidation and enhancement. Nature 2011 Jan 27;469(7331):491-7.
2. Kita Y, Ago Y, Takano E, Fukada A, Takuma K, Matsuda T. Galantamine increases hippocampal insulin-like growth factor 2 expression via α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in mice. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2012 Aug 30. [Epub ahead of print]
3. Bracko O, Singer T, Aigner S, Knobloch M, Winner B, Ray J, Clemenson GD Jr, Suh H, Couillard-Despres S, Aigner L, Gage FH, Jessberger S. Gene expression profiling of neural stem cells and their neuronal progeny reveals IGF2 as a regulator of adult hippocampal neurogenesis. J Neurosci 2012 Mar 7;32(10):3376-87.
4. Koda K, Ago Y, Kawasaki T, Hashimoto H, Baba A, Matsuda T. Galantamine and donepezil differently affect isolation rearing-induced deficits of prepulse inhibition in mice. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2008;196:293–301.

Will Block is the publisher and editorial director of Life Enhancement magazine.

The interview below is taken from the ISSNAF link.

Me: This is the first article I have posted that showed that using IGF-2 will also lead to longitudinal growth. The authors Zhang and Yokota are the same guys who have been doing the mice hind limb loading tests. This study showed that if you make a localized injection of IGF-2 in the distal epiphysis femur region you would get about an increase of 1.6-1.7% in length. The dosage of IGF-2 was 100 μg/kg/day for 5 consecutive days. Bone samples were taken after 14 days for analysis. The cause is the upregulated phosphorylation of an extracellular signal-regulated kinase in the treated femur.

Further Analysis: It is important to note that the purpose of the study was to see whether there was a way to correct for limb length discrepancies. Two things to note is the life expectancy and age at which mice will stop growing. Mice usually live 1-3 years, but the records have them at 5 years. Assume that mice live usually 2-3 years. The time they stop growing I’ve researched and the numbers seem to suggest that they can stop growing around 4-5 months or as early as 2-3 months. I would assume that the mice tested in the study at 8 weeks still had some growing to do. What is interesting is that the hormone was injected into the bone, specifically the epiphysis, but NOT the growth plate. I would guess that an IGF-2 Injection into the epiphysis while a patient goes through limb lengthening surgery will lead to a faster distraction rate. What I really wonder is whether the mice’s limb grew by themselves or was the lengthening a part of the greater speed of the growth plates which would still be there.

Overall the IGf-2 has been shown to be a really good supplement for muscle mass building, increased energy, and sexual enhancement and drive.

Places to get IGF-2: Bodybuilding.Com, MassNutrition.com, NutraPlanet.com, PredatorNutrition.com, StrongNutrition.com.  These places are only for the oral intake supplement variety of IGF-2 which would not work if you are already physically mature. The cost ranges from usually $40-$60 . However I don’t see any issues with grinding up the pill, mixing it with a saline compound and injecting it into the localized epiphysis area. I personally would try to get some mice from my local pet store, grow them to 1 years age, and repeat this experiment to see what would happen to their limbs with the IGF-2 injections. I know of many bodybuilders who inject themselves intravenously or Intramuscular with liquid IGF-2 and I would wonder where they got the liquid version. For our purposes we would have to get into the very bone to the center.

From PubMed study link HERE…

Lengthening of mouse hind limbs with local administration of insulin-like growth factor 2.