Study finds that playing videogames may be more cognitively beneficial for children than other forms of screentime (social media, watching videos/ TV)

Many par­ents feel guilty when their chil­dren play video games for hours on end. Some even wor­ry it could make their chil­dren less clever. And, indeed, that’s a top­ic sci­en­tists have clashed over for years. In our new study, we inves­ti­gat­ed how video games affect the minds of chil­dren, inter­view­ing and test­ing more than 5,000 children…

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Study shows promising results of EEG-based brain training in helping adults with ADHD

Man­ag­ing atten­tion deficit dis­or­der by train­ing the brain (Sci­enceDai­ly): Atten­tion Deficit Hyper­ac­tiv­i­ty Dis­or­der (ADHD) affects about 7% of chil­dren, with a two out of three chance of per­sist­ing into adult­hood. This neu­rode­vel­op­men­tal dis­or­der is char­ac­terised by con­cen­tra­tion dif­fi­cul­ties, increased dis­tractibil­i­ty, impul­siv­i­ty and hyper­ac­tiv­i­ty. Today, ADHD is treat­ed with phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal drugs that may have unwant­ed side…

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BrainCheck raises $8 million to digitize cognitive/ neuropsychological assessments and better serve the aging population

_______________ This start­up just raised $8 mil­lion to help busy doc­tors assess the cog­ni­tive health of 50 mil­lion seniors (TechCrunch): “…star­tups increas­ing­ly rec­og­nize oppor­tu­ni­ties to cater to this aging pop­u­la­tion. Some are devel­op­ing prod­ucts to sell to indi­vid­u­als and their fam­i­ly mem­bers direct­ly; oth­ers are com­ing up with ways to empow­er those who work directly…

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Playing American football before age 12 is linked to long-term neuropsychiatric and cognitive problems

__________ Tack­le foot­ball before age 12 may boost risks of cog­ni­tive, mood dis­or­ders (Ars Tech­ni­ca): “Tak­ing hard knocks ear­ly in life could shove foot­ball play­ers toward neu­ro­log­i­cal prob­lems lat­er, a new study sug­gests. Among 214 for­mer ama­teur and pro­fes­sion­al male foot­ball play­ers, those who start­ed play­ing early—particularly before the age of 12—had greater risks of…

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Study: Computerized cognitive training may help patients with mild cognitive impairment (less so once diagnosed with dementia)

Brain Gain: Com­put­er­ized Train­ing May Boost Cog­ni­tion in MCI (Med­scape): “Com­put­er­ized cog­ni­tive train­ing (CCT) for patients with mild cog­ni­tive impair­ment (MCI) appears to have a ben­e­fi­cial effect on glob­al cog­ni­tion, mem­o­ry, and atten­tion and improves psy­choso­cial func­tion­ing, includ­ing depres­sive symptoms, 

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