Cognitive-Training

Initial study finds promise and limitations in using virtual reality (VR) to treat ADHD

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Giv­en the lim­i­ta­tions of exist­ing evi­dence-based ADHD treat­ments, i.e., stim­u­lant med­ica­tion and behav­ior ther­a­py — research on nov­el inter­ven­tion approach­es con­tin­ues to be important.

Cog­ni­tive train­ing is one such approach that has been sug­gest­ed as a poten­tial adjunct or even replace­ment for med­ica­tion treat­ment. While cog­ni­tive train­ing takes dif­fer­ent forms, e.g., com­put­er­ized atten­tion train­ing, work­ing mem­o­ry train­ing, the basic idea is that by repeat­ed­ly prac­tic­ing cog­ni­tive tasks relat­ed to atten­tion, one’s abil­i­ty to focus and attend will improve. In oth­er words, [Read more…] about Ini­tial study finds promise and lim­i­ta­tions in using vir­tu­al real­i­ty (VR) to treat ADHD

Cognitive training, diet, exercise, and vascular management seen to improve cognition even in people with genetic predisposition for dementia (APOE e4)

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How do genet­ics impact ear­ly inter­ven­tion for demen­tia? (Med­ical News Bulletin):

“Car­dio­vas­cu­lar and neu­ro­log­i­cal dis­eases, such as demen­tia, have been linked to dys­func­tion of a vari­a­tion of the apolipopro­tein E, or APOE, gene, called the APOE e4 allele…The Finnish Geri­atric Inter­ven­tion Study to Pre­vent Cog­ni­tive Impair­ment and Dis­abil­i­ty (FINGER) eval­u­at­ed whether the effec­tive­ness of lifestyle mod­i­fi­ca­tions for those at risk of Alzheimer’s dis­ease would be dif­fer­ent for those with or with­out the APOE e4 gene. [Read more…] about Cog­ni­tive train­ing, diet, exer­cise, and vas­cu­lar man­age­ment seen to improve cog­ni­tion even in peo­ple with genet­ic pre­dis­po­si­tion for demen­tia (APOE e4)

Update: Study finds continued birth of new neurons (neurogenesis) well into our 70s

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Time for Sharp­Brains eNewslet­ter, bring­ing you the lat­est in in brain health and men­tal health research, tools and thinking.

Also, a quick heads-up for those based in the UK: the Impe­r­i­al Col­lege Cen­tre for Neu­rotech­nol­o­gy will host a keynote by Alvaro Fer­nan­dez in Lon­don on Wednes­day, May 30th, titled Why the Future of Brain Enhance­ment & Men­tal Health is Dig­i­tal & Per­va­sive (free; requires reg­is­tra­tion). Oth­er upcom­ing events here.

New research:

New tools:

New thinking:

 

Final­ly, please Save the Date for the sec­ond edi­tion of the Brain­no­va­tions Pitch Con­test on Decem­ber 5th, 2018. Giv­en the suc­cess of the inau­gur­al event last year (details here), the 2018 Sharp­Brains Vir­tu­al Sum­mit will host a sec­ond con­test for 12 star­tups to pitch their inno­v­a­tive solu­tions to all Sum­mit par­tic­i­pants and to dis­tin­guished Judges –our very own “Sharp Tank.”

Have a great month of May,

The Sharp­Brains Team

–- Mem­bers of the Brain­no­va­tions Judg­ing Panel

Evidence review finds that computer-based cognitive training can significantly improve memory in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS)

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Com­put­er-Based Cog­ni­tive Train­ing Improves Mem­o­ry Domains in Mul­ti­ple Scle­ro­sis (Neu­rol­o­gy Advisor):

“Com­put­er-based cog­ni­tive train­ing may assist in improv­ing mem­o­ry in patients with mul­ti­ple scle­ro­sis (MS), accord­ing to a sys­tem­at­ic review pub­lished in Mul­ti­ple Scle­ro­sis and Relat­ed Disorders.

A total of 9 stud­ies report­ing the use of com­put­er-based cog­ni­tive train­ing in patients with MS were includ­ed in [Read more…] about Evi­dence review finds that com­put­er-based cog­ni­tive train­ing can sig­nif­i­cant­ly improve mem­o­ry in patients with mul­ti­ple scle­ro­sis (MS)

Research trend: Combining brain stimulation with cognitive training to enhance attention and memory

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In 47 CE, Scri­bo­nius Largus, court physi­cian to the Roman emper­or Claudius, described in his Com­po­si­tiones a method for treat­ing chron­ic migraines: place tor­pe­do fish on the scalps of patients to ease their pain with elec­tric shocks. Largus was on the right path; our brains are com­prised of elec­tri­cal sig­nals that influ­ence how brain cells com­mu­ni­cate with each oth­er and in turn affect cog­ni­tive process­es such as mem­o­ry, emo­tion and attention.

The sci­ence of brain stim­u­la­tion – alter­ing elec­tri­cal sig­nals in the brain – has, need­less to say, changed in the past 2,000 years. Today we have a hand­ful of [Read more…] about Research trend: Com­bin­ing brain stim­u­la­tion with cog­ni­tive train­ing to enhance atten­tion and memory

The ultimate in transfer from brain training to real-world outcomes: Reducing the risk of at-fault accidents by almost 50%

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Can you train your brain to dri­ve longer into your gold­en years? (CTV News):

“For the elder­ly, the loss of a driver’s licence could mean the end of inde­pen­dence and the begin­ning of a decline in health, with far-reach­ing con­se­quences in their dai­ly lives…New assis­tive dri­ving tech­nolo­gies seem like an obvi­ous solu­tion in the years to come, but buy­ing new vehi­cles can be too expen­sive; while options like going for adult dri­ving lessons can be too great a blow to some seniors’ pride. Now, sci­en­tists claim that there’s anoth­er option avail­able to help old­er dri­vers main­tain their abil­i­ties on the road. [Read more…] about The ulti­mate in trans­fer from brain train­ing to real-world out­comes: Reduc­ing the risk of at-fault acci­dents by almost 50%