Update: Time to become mental capitalists and invest in our brains?

Time for the Novem­ber edi­tion of the month­ly Sharp­Brains eNewslet­ter, fea­tur­ing a wealth of resources and insights on how to invest in our brains, includ­ing top­ics such as brain health, med­i­ta­tion, neu­ropsy­chol­o­gy, brain train­ing games, chemo brain, dyslex­ia, neu­ro­plas­tic­i­ty, cog­ni­tive bias­es, stress, and more. Not to for­get a cou­ple of fun teasers. Enjoy! Brain Fit­ness Q&A…

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Research on ‘Chemo Brain’: MRI Shows Brain Changes After Chemotherapy

Chemo Brain’: MRI Shows Brain Changes After Chemother­a­py (Med­scape): — “Breast can­cer sur­vivors who have been treat­ed with chemother­a­py show sig­nif­i­cant changes in brain activ­i­ty, mea­sured by func­tion­al mag­net­ic res­o­nance imag­ing (fMRI), accord­ing to a study pub­lished in the Novem­ber issue of the Archives of Neu­rol­o­gy.” — “The find­ing val­i­dates patients’ claims of reduced cog­ni­tive func­tion after…

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Chemo Brain and Brain Training

Chemo brain or chemo fog refers to the cog­ni­tive changes that can occur dur­ing and after chemother­a­py. These changes may trans­late into mem­o­ry laps­es, motor prob­lems, dif­fi­cul­ty find­ing words and prob­lems man­ag­ing mul­ti­ple tasks and learn­ing new things. Although the caus­es of the phe­nom­e­non are still under debate, it is nonethe­less a real prob­lem, affecting…

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Why computerized neuropsychological tests will become routine — chemo brain example

Good arti­cle today in the NYT on “chemo brain” — some typ­i­cal short-term and long-term cog­ni­tive con­se­quences of chemother­a­py. The Fog That Fol­lows Chemother­a­py (New York Times) This quote is crit­i­cal — for chemo brain and also for a vari­ety of clin­i­cal con­di­tions that present asso­ci­at­ed cog­ni­tive impair­ments: “Con­trol­ling for brain func­tion before can­cer treat­ment begins…

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Chemo Brain: cognitive effects of chemotherapy

Good NYT arti­cle today on how Chemother­a­py Fog Is No Longer Ignored as Illu­sion. Quotes: “Vir­tu­al­ly all can­cer sur­vivors who have had tox­ic treat­ments like chemother­a­py expe­ri­ence short-term mem­o­ry loss and dif­fi­cul­ty con­cen­trat­ing dur­ing and short­ly after­ward, experts say. But a vast major­i­ty improve. About 15 per­cent, or rough­ly 360,000 of the nation’s 2.4 million…

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