Cognitive development across the lifespan (young minds’ edition)

— Cog­ni­tive devel­op­ment (great arti­cle at Fron­tiers for Young Minds; a new pub­li­ca­tion “edit­ed for kids, by kids”): “…The dis­tinc­tion between flu­id and crys­tal­lized intel­li­gence is impor­tant because the two are influ­enced by dif­fer­ent fac­tors. While the for­mer is more bio­log­i­cal­ly deter­mined and genet­i­cal­ly pre­dis­posed, the lat­ter is shaped more by expe­ri­ence. This is a lit­tle bit similar…

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Challenge: Helping consumers separate brain training wheat from brain games chaff

— Brain-Train­ing Com­pa­nies Get Advice From Some Aca­d­e­mics, Crit­i­cism From Oth­ers (The Chron­i­cle of High­er Edu­ca­tion): “…brain-game com­pa­nies entice peo­ple to buy sub­scrip­tions to their online train­ing pro­grams, many of which promise to increase cus­tomers’ “neu­ro­plas­tic­i­ty,” “flu­id intel­li­gence,” and work­ing mem­o­ry capac­i­ty. They even claim to help stave off the effects of aging. Lead­ing sci­en­tists have criticized…

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Study finds n‑back cognitive training can increase fluid intelligence (especially outside the USA)

Improv­ing flu­id intel­li­gence with train­ing on work­ing mem­o­ry: a meta-ana­ly­­sis (Psy­cho­nom­ic Bul­letin & Review): “…due to the broad inter­est in cog­ni­tive train­ing, lab­o­ra­to­ries around the world are inves­ti­gat­ing the effects of train­ing and trans­fer. In fact, the first study of n‑back train­ing on Gf (flu­id intel­li­gence) was con­duct­ed in Switzerland…and from our own expe­ri­ences conducting…

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Can You Make Yourself Smarter? Yes. Real question is, How?

A new arti­cle in The New York Times, Can You Make Your­self Smarter, pro­vides a great overview of work­ing mem­o­ry and cog­ni­tive train­ing: — “We see atten­tion and work­ing mem­o­ry as the car­dio­vas­cu­lar func­tion of the brain,” Jaeg­gi says.“If you train your atten­tion and work­ing mem­o­ry, you increase your basic cog­ni­tive skills that help you for…

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Transcript: Dr. Gary Small on Enhancing Memory and the Brain

Below you can find the full tran­script of our engag­ing Q&A ses­sion today on mem­ory, mem­ory tech­niques and brain-healthy lifestyles with Dr. Gary  Small, Direc­tor of UCLA’s Mem­ory Clin­ic and Cen­ter on Aging, and author of The Mem­ory Bible. You can learn more about his book  Here, and learn more about upcom­ing Brain Fit­ness Q&A Ses­sions Here. Perhaps…

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