Report calls for wide classroom-based adoption of ten brain fitness programs designed to improve foundational executive functions

__________ Nation­al Non­prof­it Releas­es Report Call­ing for Brain Fit­ness Inter­ven­tions in All U.S. Schools (press release): “Brain­Fu­tures released a report today that makes a clear case for inte­grat­ing proven brain fit­ness pro­grams into all U.S. class­rooms. Over a decade of research has shown that evi­­dence-based pro­grams can improve stu­dents’ exec­u­tive func­tion skills and proso­cial behaviors,…

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Pearson acquires Cogmed working memory training

Karolin­s­ka Devel­op­ment to divest port­fo­lio com­pa­ny (press release) “Today, Karolin­s­ka Devel­op­ment has divest­ed Cogmed, one of Karolin­s­ka Devel­op­men­t’s port­fo­lio com­pa­nies, to Pear­son where it will become part of Pear­son­’s Clin­i­cal Assess­ment busi­ness.” Why does it make all the sense in the world for a large pub­lish­er with heavy edu­ca­tion­al and clin­i­cal oper­a­tions to acquire a…

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Brain Quiz: Do You Have a Brain?

Have you already read The Sharp­Brains Guide to Brain Fit­ness? Let’s see… 1. Pick the only part of your body that does not con­tain fat: a. Arm b. Thigh c. Brain d. None Answer: d) Fats are also present in the brain: in neu­rons’ mem­branes to keep them flex­i­ble. These fats are the omega 3 and omega 6 fatty…

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Comparing Working Memory Training & Medication Treatment for ADHD

Work­ing mem­o­ry (WM) is the cog­ni­tive sys­tem respon­si­ble for the tem­po­rary stor­age and manip­u­la­tion of infor­ma­tion and plays an impor­tant role in both learn­ing and focus­ing atten­tion. Con­sid­er­able research has doc­u­ment­ed that many chil­dren and adults with ADHD have WM deficits and that this con­tributes to dif­fi­cul­ties asso­ci­at­ed with the dis­or­der. For an excel­lent introduction…

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Working Memory Training can Influence Brain Biochemistry

I want­ed to alert you to a very inter­est­ing find­ing pub­lished in a recent issue of Sci­ence, one of the world’s lead­ing sci­en­tif­ic jour­nals. The study was led by Dr. Torkel Kling­berg and his col­leagues from the Karolin­s­ka Insti­tute in Swe­den. The goal was to learn whether Work­ing Mem­o­ry Train­ing is asso­ci­at­ed with changes in…

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Cognitive Training (Cogmed) Changes the Brain More Than We Thought

Cog­ni­tive Train­ing Can Alter Bio­chem­istry Of The Brain (Sci­ence Dai­ly) — “Researchers at the Swedish med­ical uni­ver­si­ty Karolin­s­ka Insti­tute have shown for the first time that the active train­ing of the work­ing mem­o­ry brings about vis­i­ble changes in the num­ber of dopamine recep­tors in the human brain.” — ““Brain bio­chem­istry does­n’t just under­pin our men­tal activ­i­ty; our…

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