Dr. Michael Merzenich: To harness Neuroplasticity for cognitive enhancement, we need to think “Fitness” more than “Games”

(Edi­tor’s Note: In order to help read­ers famil­iar­ize them­selves with the work and think­ing of Dr. Michael Merzenich, one of the win­ners of the 2016 Kavli Prize in Neu­ro­science for ground­break­ing work on neu­ro­plas­tic­i­ty, we are con­dens­ing and repub­lish­ing the com­pre­hen­sive con­ver­sa­tion that Dr. Merzenich and Alvaro Fer­nan­dez had in 2009, in prepa­ra­tion for the inaugural…

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New Report Finds A Brain Health Revolution in the Making, Driven by Digital Technology and Neuroplasticity Research

In spite of the recent eco­nom­ic down­turn, rev­enues for dig­i­tal tech­nolo­gies to assess, enhance and treat cog­ni­tion, or dig­i­tal brain health and fit­ness tools, grew 35% in 2009. “The con­ver­gence of demo­graph­ic and pol­i­cy trends with cog­ni­tive neu­ro­science dis­cov­er­ies and tech­no­log­i­cal inno­va­tion is giv­ing birth to a nascent mar­ket­place that can fun­da­men­tal­ly trans­form what brain…

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What impressed the Judging Panel re. Innovation Awards Winners and Finalists

Let me now share what the Judg­ing Pan­el and the Sharp­Brains team found most impres­sive from each Win­ner and Final­ist of the 2010 Brain Fit­ness Inno­va­tion Awards, accom­pa­nied by some addi­tion­al infor­ma­tion on each of these 10 note­wor­thy ini­tia­tives and case stud­ies. Grand Prize Win­ner USA Hock­ey, Inc., is the Nation­al Gov­ern­ing Body of the…

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Announcement: USA Hockey takes gold at Brain Fitness Innovation Awards, Allstate & Nationwide Mutual Insurance runners-up

Please join us in con­grat­u­lat­ing USA Hock­ey, All­state, and Nation­wide, for reach­ing the podi­um of the 2010 Brain Fit­ness Inno­va­tion Awards, unveiled today. The podi­um’s top posi­tion went to USA Hock­ey Nation­al Team Devel­op­ment Pro­gram (NTDP), a full-time devel­op­ment pro­gram aimed at prepar­ing stu­­dent-ath­letes for par­tic­i­pa­tion on the US Nation­al Under-18 and Under-17 Teams, for…

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5 Quotes on Neuroplasticity-Based Healthcare and Innovation for an Aging Society

Mar­i­an Dia­mond, UC-Berke­­ley: “Peo­ple fre­quent­ly do the same lev­el of cross­word puz­zles to stim­u­late their brains year after year. They do not chal­lenge their brains with more dif­fi­cult lev­els of puz­zles. In our research, we showed that if we chal­lenged the rats to reach their food cups by hav­ing to climb over many obstruc­tions, their…

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Update: Expo Day; Top 15 Articles of 2009

In this Jan­u­ary issue of our eNewslet­ter, we will first brief you on the enlight­en­ing demos that will take place on Wednes­day, Jan­u­ary 20th, as part of the Sharp­Brains Sum­mit, and then present the 15 most stim­u­lat­ing Sharp­Brains arti­cles of 2009. Expo Day If you want to see and dis­cuss the lat­est pro­grams and tech­nolo­gies for…

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