Brain Fitness Program and Neuroplasticity @ PBS
Update (11/10/10): Have you seen PBS great specials on Brain Fitness and Neuroplasticity ?
The Brain Fitness Program DVD ($24.95)
“The Brain Fitness Program is based on the brain’s ability to change and adapt, even rewire itself. In the past two years, a team of scientists has developed computer-based stimulus sets that drive beneficial chemical, physical and functional changes in the brain. Dr. Michael Merzenich of the University of California and his colleagues share their scientifically based set of brain exercises in this life-altering program. Peter Coyote (pictured) narrates. ”
PBS aired in December 2007 a special program on neuroplasticity, brain fitness, aging and the brain titled “Brain Fitness Program”. To watch the 3‑minute trailer: click here.
In 2008, PBS released a second DVD:
Brain Fitness 2: Sight and Sound DVD ($24.95)
“This program, specifically designed to help people get the most from their vision and hearing as they age, considers how these senses change throughout life and what people can do to keep them healthy and fully functional.”
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If you do not have time to watch these great documentaries, here are a few points one needs to understand about neuroplasticity:
1. The human brain is now considered to be a highly dynamic and constantly reorganizing system capable of being shaped and reshaped across an entire lifespan. It is believed that every experience alters the brain’s organization at some level. The key words in this new approach to the brain are neuroplasticity and neurogenesis. Neuroplasticity refers to the lifelong capacity of the brain to change and rewire itself in response to the stimulation of learning and experience. Neurogenesis is the ability to create new neurons and connections between neurons throughout a lifetime. The latter process is also referred to as synaptogenesis. This new paradigm contrasts with traditional ideas of the human brain being a fixed and essentially limited system that only degrades with age.
2. As we age, the rate of change in the brain, or neuroplasticity, declines but does not come to a halt. In addition, we now know that new neurons can appear in certain parts of the brain up until the day we die.
3. Brain plasticity is crucial following head injury. It is the one brain’s ability that allows recovery. Brain plasticity is also the ability that brain training takes advantages of to try to slow down the aging process.
To read about evidence of neuroplasticity in the human brain take a look at Brain plasticity: How learning changes you brain
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Note: How can anyone take care of his or her brain when every week brings a new barrage of articles and studies which seem to contradict each other?
Do supplements improve memory? Do you need both physical and mental exercise –or is one of them enough? Why is managing stress so important to attention and memory? Which brain training approach, if any, is worth one’s time and money?
If you have these questions, check out this new book, The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness:
—Gloria Cavanaugh, former President & CEO of the American Society on Aging and founding Board member of the National Alliance for Caregiving
—Elizabeth Edgerly, Ph.D., Chief Program Officer, Alzheimer’s Association
“A masterful guide to the brain training revolution. Promises to stimulate a much needed conversation that will nudge society to build a new brain fitness culture on solid, research-based, foundations.”
—P. Murali Doraiswamy MD, Professor of Psychiatry, Duke University and Co-author of The Alzheimer’s Action Plan
The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness |
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Hereto order at Amazon.com. |
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Hereto order at Amazon.com, |
Why is the CD-ROM called the “Brain Fitness Program for Families” when only one family member can make use of it?
BTW, the DVD of the PBS program is now available
Thank you Mickster! I updated this post to take visitors there.
$365 I’m sorry but this is a huge scam. $29.95 = reasonable price for the program. $365 = a bunch of hucksters trying to get rich off of gullible people.
I am the producer of The Brain Fitness Program. We selected the Posit Science program as a Thank you gift because of solid science behind it and the studies pubished in peer reviewed journals.
The program that is offered on PBS is NOT limited use, it is the full program that can be used time and time again. Additionally, this program can be used by up to 2 users. Please see the attached link to the product specifications. This is the program offered at the $365 pledge level. I hope this clears up any questions.
Thank you for watching!
Lennlee Keep
Producer
Lennlee: thank you for the clarification.
I have emailed Pat (above) to correct the information I gave him, and updated my response. Regards
Is this offer by PBS still good? Can I still call with the $365.00 pledge?
never mind. i found it.
To Lenny:
Yes, $365 seems like a lot of money compared to your average software. I have helped kids with a VERY similar program from another company Micheal Merzinich is associated with. It is targeted to kids with auditory processing and related learning/reading problems. It was all based on plenty of hard science. In my experience it was very effective for these kids.
A similar $50 program simply didnt give nearly the same outcomes.
In the future if quality brain training programs catch on and are mass produced I’m sure the costs will come down.
The PBS adult brain fitness program is focused on auditory, language, and short term memory skills, as is its the counterpart for children. (A visual processing program is in the works.) I will be interested to the results of this program with typical adults.
I was satisfied enough with the kids program that I have donated the money to PBS needed to recieve the program to try it myself.
The MindFit software sounds good also according to the Wall ST Journal. It looks like its approach is a much more visual/attention/memory one.
Hello Mary: thanks for sharing your experience! I guess you refer to Scientific Learning’s Fast Forword.
Do you remember the name of the program you refer to with “A similar $50 program simply didn’t give nearly the same outcomes.” And, what kind of kids did you use it with?
Thank you
Alvaro,
Yes, I am refering to Fast Forword. Kids with auditory processing problems are bound to have speech and/or language delays. Poor auditory discrimination slows language development. Learning to read relies on “phonemic awareness” an ability to make connections with sounds and letters. Since reading relies on a sound based code, you can imagine how difficult it is for these kids to learn to read. In addition comprehension is affected due to delayed lang skills. Often these kids are labeled “slow.“Frequently they have had a history of chronic ear infections so they have heard muffled speech during a critical period of brain development. The brain has not had as much training needed to learn auditory discrimination.
The $50.00 program is Earrobics–also for kids which have had auditory processing problems. It immitates some of Fast Forword’s exercises. There is a HUGE difference though. Fast Forword was designed with the understanding of the need to discriminate between sounds in connected speech. That depends on discrimination of frequency changes within approx. 40 msec. for typical speech. Fast Forword methodically trains that discrimination starting with slower changes in pitch variations until the listener can process at faster speeds. It does that syllable, word and sentence exercises. Memory and attention skills are exercised as well.
Earrobics does discrination exercises without addressing the precise msec speed of processing.
While I think Earobics has some value for some children there is absolutely no comparison whatsoever. I know of no other program that comes close to the efficacy of Fast Forword to address auditory processing/language difficulties and co-occuring reading problems.
Fast Forword’s success relies in part on intensive training in a 4–8 week period. 90 minutes 5 times per week is the protocol. Regular consultation with a professional is required throughout.
Apparently the company has extended the fundamentals of the program to an adult version. I suppose we lose some of our ability to process quickly, to recall and attend over time. Therefore the same program has been found to be helpful for typical adults as well. I have always felt I have relatively poor auditory memory/comprehenion/attention so I am hopeful.
I would suggest that those who undertake the program really commit to it for a month or so for an hour a day if possible. I think haphazard practice would have limited success.
Mary Lu
Speech-Language Pathologist
Hello Mary,
Thank you for your great response. A great point you raise is that all these cognitive interventions aimed at addressing an underlying deficit are hard work. They require practice.
A question: in your practice, how do you identify whether a kid’s main cognitive bottleneck is auditory processing vs. others, such as working memory, for example, where different programs may help more? (or no program has enough evidence behind). We have many cognitive abilities to take care of, so the same tool is not necessarily the best for everyone.
Btw, please check the Neuroscience Interview Series in our Resources section-you’ll enjoy it. And please read the interview with Elizabeth Zelinski on her initial research results (not published yet) of using Posit Science with adults over 60.
Thank you again
HI Mary Lu and Alvaro
I have used Fast ForWord from Scientific Learning for more than 10 years and continue to get some incredible results (improvements) in kids with various language and processing issues. I am assuming you were referring to Earobics, Mary Lu, when you mentioned another $50 program? I have also used that program to strengthen the phonemic awareness skills–but I find it is more beneficial if I have already put the child through the Fast ForWord Language program first. As you said, Mary Lu, Earobics is VERY different than the Fast ForWord products.
As an aside, there are now a number of diffferent time protocols for Fast ForWord-from 30 minutes/day to 100 minutes/day–still doing it 5 days out of every 7.
I am enjoying this blog of yours Alvaro.
Ann
Alvaro,
Good question regarding differential diagnosis of auditory processing vs working memory difficulties. Non verbal memory assessment can be used to get some comparison to other verbal assessments. Also phonemic awareness testing is used. Is the child able to rhyme words? Can the child point to words with only one sound which is different? EG: “Call/Tall.” If the child had delayed speech, or language,having trouble learning phonics in Kindergarten/1st grade it is certainly suggestive of possible auditory processing problems.
I had one child whose parents had the 4 year old child use the Fast Forword program because he was being teased about his speech. Although he had been going to speech twice a week he was making slow progress. After the program he made rapid improvements without speech therapy articulation therapy. For some kids they havnt heard the difference in the sounds so they arnt correctly saying the sounds either.
I believe the program likely prevented future reading problems.
I am not currently practicing, but I was a school Speech-Language Pathologist who did private work on the side. It was frustrating to see kids struggling when I knew Fast Forword could have made such a difference. Unfortunately most schools won’t get near the program because of the expense involved. Some school systems are beginning to use it, but they are few and far between.
Unfortunately I only put about 10 kids through the program since most parents balked at the expense and even good insurance didnt cover it. ($365 is fraction of what these parents were paying.) Even so, I don’t blame Scientific Learning because of the years and money it took to develop Fast Forword.
Regarding cognitive issues which are not auditorily based I am not familiar with comparable computer programs. Recently I have heard about some which address attention/memory programs but I know nothing of research and efficacy. Perhaps the MindFit program can at least partially fit the bill. I’ll look forward to when Scientific Learning comes out with their visual processing program.
Mary Lu
Ann: welcome! Thank you for your comment and kind words. Does FastForword have a 30-minute protocol? I was aware of their new 60-minute one, not the 30-minute. Have you seen any research paper they have published based on that protocol?
Mary Lu: thank you for the additional information. The issue is that we need better cognitive assessments, right now they require a trained neuropsychologist which means the bill for parents may even be higher.
A very interesting new cognitive intervention is Cogmed working memory training, mostly focused on kids with attention deficits. You can see multiple papers in PubMed by Torkel Klingberg.
MindFit is not so much a very intensive (and expensive) program aimed at solving an underlying deficit as a “preventive” workout to slow-down typical age-related cognitive decline. It may theoretically also be used with kids, but it doesn’t seem the company, CogniFit, is focusing there. They have a separate program, DriveFit, to train driving-related cognitive skills, with significant presence in Canada and Europe, not in the US so far.
Alvero,
Your Neuroscience Interview series is facinating! Thanks
Mary Lu
I was wondering something about this program, I visted the website and it seems to use sounds as some of the exercises for people. What if your hard of hearing? Does it have something different to offer for thos that have some hearing loss?
Glad you enjoy it, Mary Lu!
Ron, yes, that program is devoted to auditory processing training, so it is sound-focused. As far as I know, they have nothing specific for people who have hearing difficulties.
This is nothing but a money-making scheme. It is a shame that you’ve got PBS backing it just so they can make money off it too! I would like to know how did they ever derive a price of $350 to 595 for a single CD ROM program? This is a rip off!!! It is just disguised as helping people. In the past, God always stopped us from giving to PBS. Now I realize why: selfish greed.
Dear MK,
On the one hand, I agree that I would like to see that software tool ‑and many more health products- at more affordable rates.
On the other hand, they are a private company and are entitled to make the pricing decisions they choose to.
In any case, I am not sure God really intervenes in these things.
Yes, He does intervene. And He always intervenes for us because we have a heart to hear from Him.
I would like to see the company selling the product an affordable price, $40. The company would then be able to sell tens of millions of copies as the word gets out what it accomplishes. This is because people will then be able to afford to purchase a copy for themselves and also buy copies for relatives/friends who would benefit from the program.
When you help others you will be helped. Do not try to get all your money from just a few people by overpricing the software! Remember, it is drop by drop the ocean is filled. Just imagine how dangerous it would be if, instead of raindrops, the ocean were filled with raingallons! My good wishes go with you!
Thank you!
I am glad to hear that this can be used by 2 people, but can it be used by two people in 2 different locations, Kansas and Colorado. I’d like to get this, and share it with my mom who lives in Kansas????? Thanks
Hello Kanonklin: the product developer’s website says both people must be in the “same household”, so I guess you can’t share it that way, since you’ll need to instal the software CD in one computer (which then may be used by 2 people).