In the post Top 10 Brain Training Future Trends I asked for suggestions to refine our predictions for the 2007-2015 period. A good number of people contributed, and the winner is...
Scott Spears, retired public schools superintendent.
His prediction:
"Prediction 11: The notion of schooling will be structurally dramatically 
altered through the use of diagnostics related to the acquisition and improvement of basic cognitive skills (such as brain processing speed, attention, memory, and sequencing), along with prescriptions employing emerging brain fitness software exercises, beginning in the earliest grades and progressing through high school.
Schools will be structured around the acquisition of foundational cognitive skills, Continue Reading »
As promised in my previous post (10 Brain Training Tips To Teach and Learn), here are some of the resources that inform my understanding of the brain: books, conferences, and websites.
BOOKS
There are a multitude of books about the brain. For educators, the best of these are books that demystify the language of neuroscience while providing information applicable to the teaching/learning process.
Among the more prolific or well-known authors of this type include Jeb Schenck, Robert Sylwester, Barbara Givens, Robert Marzano, Marilee Sprenger, and Eric Jensen.
I have found books Continue Reading »
You know your weight. And your physical fitness. And a variety of health-related metrics.
What about your brain fitness?
Two recent announcements bring out how the assessment of cognitive abilities, or brain functions, is increasingly being done thanks to new computerized options:
1) Last week, OptumHealth announced an exclusive 3-year agreement (estimated at $18m) with the Australian company Brain Resource. OptumHealth will be embedding the Brain Resource platform into their overall Behavioral Solutions program.
- OptumHealth Behavioral Solutions will work with Brain Resource to provide clinicians with a Web-based assessment that measures general cognition (how people process information) and social cognition (how people manage their emotions). This 40-minute assessment is based on well-known and validated tests of memory, attention, executive function, and response speed, and mood, social skills and emotional resilience.
Continue Reading »
Have you heard of or read John Ratey's book “Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and The Brain
”? According to Harvard Psychiatry Professor John Ratey nothing beats exercise for promoting brain heath.
I am sure you have also heard that exercising your mind promotes brain health.
What is the connection between physical and mental exercises? Do they have additive effects on brain health? Are they redundant?
Continue Reading »
A few colleagues referred me over the weekend to a very nice article at business publication Portfolio.
While the article does an excellent job at introducing the reader to the concept and promise of computerized cognitive assessments, it also contributes to the mythology of "Brain Age". 
Let's first take a look at the article How Smart Are You: The business of assessing cognition and memory is moving from testing brain-impaired patients to assessing healthy peoples' brains online.
A couple of quotes:
- "Cognitive Drug Research is one a handful of businesses, most of them outside of the U.S., that work with pharmaceutical companies to test how new drugs for everything from nicotine addiction to Alzheimer’s disease affect the mind’s ability to remember things, make decisions, and analyze information."
- "Cognitive tests have been around for a century as examinations taken with paper and pencil. In the 1970s and '80s the tests shifted to computers, Cognitive Drug Research founder Keith Wesnes says.
So far, so good. In fact, one of the key highlights from the market report we released in March was that "Large-scale, fully-automated cognitive assessments are being used in a growing number of clinical trials. This opens the way for the development of inexpensive consumer-facing, baseline cognitive assessments." And we profiled a few leading companies in the space: Brain Resource Company, Cognitive Drug Research, CNS Vital Signs and CogState.
Now, the article is accompanied by a 5-7 minute quick test that promises to give us our "Brain Age". And this doesn't come from Nintendo, but from Cognitive Drug Research, a respected science-based company.
You can check it out Continue Reading »
Our fellow blogger Jeremy over at PsyBlog has written a thoughtful post comparing the value of a number of cognitive enhancing tools. His overall verdict?
"The evidence for exercise boosting cognitive function is head-and-shoulders above that for brain training, drugs, nutritional supplements and meditation. Scientifically, on the current evidence, exercise is the best way to enhance your cognitive function. And as for its side-effects: yes there is the chance of an injury but exercise can also reduce weight, lower the chance of dementia, improve mood and lead to a longer life-span. Damn those side-effects!"
Article: Which Cognitive Enhancers Really Work: Brain Training, Drugs, Vitamins, Meditation or Exercise?
Jeremy, I started writing this as a comment to your post in your blog, but then it got too long. Let me write my reaction to your post here.
While I appreciate your analysis and share most of your points, I think the "ranking" effort (this type of intervention is better than that one) is ultimately misleading. It is 
based on a faulty search for a general solution/ magic pill for everyone and everything.
If only things were so simple. Perhaps one day there will be research to support that view, but certainly not today. A number of interventions have shown their value. In different populations, and contexts. For "exercise is the best way to enhance your cognitive function" to be true, one needs to have a pretty specific understanding of "best", "your" and "cognitive function".
Continue Reading »
We had the fortune to interview Dr. Brett Steenbarger on Enhancing Trader Performance and The Psychology of Trading as we launched our Neuroscience Interview Series.
Below, Expert Contributor Dr. Janice Dorn provides an in-depth brain-based discussion of the topic, concluding that "The brain is the most powerful structure in the known universe and the only trading tool that the trader needs to become an expert."
No matter whether you are a Pro or Amateur Trader...this will certainly exercise your brain! (Dr. Dorn is preparing more articles on trading performance and the brain...so stay tuned).
This is Your Brain On Trading
-- By Dr. Janice Dorn
The opening bell sounds, and sixty million traders enter the greatest arena in the world to do battle with each other. They put their money, beliefs and skills on the line as they make decisions to buy and sell. Welcome to the financial markets where billions of dollars are won and lost every day. Volatility compels all to engage their brains in the continuous process of decision making. What separates the winning from losing traders is the way they use their most powerful trading tool—the human brain.
Continue Reading »
Over the last year we have gladly seen an avalanche of news on adult neurogenesis (the creation of new neurons in adult brains), following recent research reports. Further, we have seen how the news that physical exercise can enhance neurogenesis is becoming common knowledge among many health systems we work with.
Now, the obvious question that doesn't always get asked is, "What good are new neurons if they don't survive?". And that's where learning, enrichment, mental exercise, are critical.
We are glad to introduce a new Expert Contributor, Dr. Bill Klemm, a professor of Neuroscience at Texas A&M University, who summarizes much research on how new neurons are born-and what they need to live long happy lives.
- Alvaro
New Neurons: Good News, Bad News
-- By Dr. Bill Klemm
In the last few years, researchers have discovered that new nerve cells (neurons) are born, presumably from residual stem cells that exist even in adults. That should be good news for all of us as we get older and fear mental decline. The bad news is that these new neurons die, unless our minds are active enough.
Continue Reading »
Interesting recent news:
For more on these news, and commentary: Continue Reading »
We human beings are social animals. It seems intuitive (even for introverts!) that social contact has benefits. Obviously we need other people to fulfill basic needs such making sure that our genes outlive. Maybe less obviously we seem to need other people to maintain 
adequate levels of mental well being and motivation.
Even less obviously, social contact may help us improve our brain functions…
Mental fitness seems to depend on a large part on being connected with other people. For instance people with low social support seem to be more prone to mental illness (McGuire & Raleigh, 1986). In 2007, Gladstone and colleagues studied 218 patients with major depression and found out that low social support, especially coming from the family, was associated with chronic depression.
Merely imagining loneliness can negatively affect our behavior…
Continue Reading »
