Brain Fitness Blog Carnival #1

Wel­come to the inau­gur­al edi­tion of the Brain Fit­ness Blog Car­ni­val. The tim­ing could­n’t be bet­ter  you have prob­a­bly seen the fea­tured CBS News/TIME Series on Brain Neu­ro­plas­tic­i­ty. Thanks to the over 40 peo­ple who sub­mit­ted posts. We have had to select the posts we enjoyed the most to help facil­i­tate an engag­ing and informed…

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How do I know if computer-based brain fitness programs work?

How do I know if com­put­er-based brain fit­ness pro­grams work? Research the prod­uct and the names involved with the prod­uct to see what has been published.Look for arti­cles in high cal­iber, peer-reviewed journals.Ask for referrals.Assessments done before you begin and then after your train­ing allow you to track your performance.Observe your­self.… Just as you cross-train in your phys­i­cal fit­ness rou­tine (mix­ing car­dio with strength train­ing and flex­i­bil­i­ty) to get a bal­anced work­out, you need to cross-train your men­tal fit­ness to exer­cise your brain through motor coor­di­na­tion, emo­tion­al under­stand­ing, mem­o­ry, focus and atten­tion, sen­so­ry process­es, com­mu­ni­ca­tion, lan­guage skills, and men­tal visualization.Furthermore, how can you gauge your improve­ment if you don’t have a way to mea­sure it?

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Why are computer programs better than paper-based ones or simply attending a class in person?

Question:Why are com­put­er pro­grams bet­ter than paper-based ones or sim­ply attend­ing a class in person?Key Points: Any activ­i­ty that requires you to use your brain in new, chal­leng­ing ways helps your brain.Recreational activ­i­ties like bridge, chess, puz­zles, sudoku, var­i­ous class­es, read­ing, and sports are all bet­ter than pas­sive­ly watch­ing television.Add a com­put­er­ized brain fit­ness pro­gram to get a com­plete men­tal work­out on a reg­u­lar basis.Answer:Do some­thing.… There­fore, just a few min­utes of relax­ation on a reg­u­lar basis will go a long way to improv­ing both your brain and over­all fitness.Conclusion:You must use your brain in order to improve it.

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I already do crosswords and sudoku. Do I need anything else?

Do I need any­thing else?Key Points: Recre­ation­al activ­i­ties like cross­word puz­zles, sudoku, bridge, chess, pok­er, etc. are all good for you and bet­ter than doing nothing.BUT, recre­ation­al activ­i­ties are lim­it­ed in their range of men­tal cross-train­ing as well as dif­fi­cult to con­trol for both chal­lenge and novelty.Answer:Do some­thing.… The pro­grams also adapt to your per­for­mance to keep on chal­leng­ing you over time.Physical exer­cise and good nutri­tion will sup­port your com­mit­ment to brain health.

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How do I start a brain fitness program?

Here is the sixth ques­tion of 25 from Brain Fit­ness for Sharp Brains: Your New New Year Res­o­lu­tion. Question:How do I start a brain fit­ness program?Key Points: Any activ­i­ty that requires you to use your brain in new, chal­leng­ing ways helps your brain.Recreational activ­i­ties like bridge, chess, puz­zles, sudoku, var­i­ous class­es, read­ing, and sports are all bet­ter than pas­sive­ly watch­ing television.Add a com­put­er­ized brain fit­ness pro­gram to get a com­plete men­tal work­out on a reg­u­lar basis.Answer:Essentially, doing any­thing is bet­ter than noth­ing. So, if you enjoy play­ing strat­e­gy games like bridge and chess, then great – keep doing it. You’re work­ing your spa­tial, mem­o­ry, and plan­ning skills, among oth­ers. Much like phys­i­cal fit­ness, if you do some­thing you enjoy, you’re more like­ly to stick with it over time. Find activ­i­ties that use your brain and fit into your life.The draw­back to rely­ing on social and recre­ation­al activ­i­ties for your brain exer­cise is that they tend to be incomplete.

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The Hermann Grid Visual Illusion

While there are real­ly only two col­ors in the grid, the high con­trast black and white areas fool the eyes into per­ceiv­ing a gray cir­cle at each inter­sec­tion. The illu­sion results from reti­nal cells adjust­ing the bright­ness of an image by adjust­ing the inten­si­ty of the light sig­nal in many small sec­tions, which allows you to see a wide range of both bright and dark details in the same image, unlike a com­put­er mon­i­tor or TV screen that has one bright­ness set­ting for the entire image.

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