Advice not to overthink things has been given scientific credulity by research published on Thursday which suggests thinking hard adversely affects the brain.
While machines can compute continuously, the brain can’t, and researchers from France wanted to find out why.
Their study showed that when intense cognitive work is prolonged for several hours, it causes potentially toxic by-products to build up in the part of the brain known as the prefrontal cortex. This in turn alters control over decisions, shifting the mindset towards low-cost actions requiring no effort or waiting as cognitive fatigue sets in.
To look for evidence, the researchers used magnetic resonance spectroscopy to monitor brain chemistry over the course of a workday. They looked at two groups of people: those who needed to think hard and those who had relatively easier cognitive tasks.
They saw signs of fatigue, including reduced pupil dilation, only in the group doing hard cognitive work. Those in that group also showed in their choices a shift towards options proposing rewards at short delay with little effort. Critically, they also had higher levels of glutamate in synapses of the brain’s prefrontal cortex.
Together with earlier evidence, the authors said it supports the notion that glutamate accumulation makes further activation of the prefrontal cortex more costly, with cognitive control more difficult after a mentally tough workday.
“Influential theories suggested that fatigue is a sort of illusion cooked up by the brain to make us stop whatever we are doing and turn to a more gratifying activity,” said Mathias Pessiglione of Pitie-Salpetriere University in Paris, France.
“But our findings show that cognitive work results in … an accumulation of noxious substance so fatigue would indeed be a signal that makes us stop working but for a different purpose: to preserve the integrity of brain functioning.”
No substitute for sleep
Mr Pessiglione said there is no way round this effect but that it can be mitigated.
“I would employ good old recipes: rest and sleep! There is good evidence that glutamate is eliminated from synapses during sleep.”
There may be other practical implications of the findings, for example the research suggested monitoring of prefrontal metabolites could help to detect severe mental fatigue, militating against burnout.
In future studies, the researchers hope to learn why the prefrontal cortex seems especially susceptible to glutamate accumulation and fatigue. They’re also curious to learn whether the same markers of fatigue in the brain may predict recovery from health conditions, such as depression or cancer.
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Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi
From: Dara
To: Team@
Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT
Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East
Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.
Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.
I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.
This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.
It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.
Uber on,
Dara
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