memory-test

Status quo is not enough: Common tests for Mild Cognitive Impairment lack both sensitivity and specificity

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misdiagnosisCur­rent screen­ing meth­ods miss wor­ri­some num­ber of per­sons with mild cog­ni­tive impair­ment (Sci­enceDai­ly):

“Mild cog­ni­tive impair­ment (MCI) is a slight but notice­able and mea­sur­able decline in cog­ni­tive abil­i­ties, such as remem­ber­ing names or a list of items. While changes may not be severe enough to dis­rupt dai­ly life, a clin­i­cal diag­no­sis [Read more…] about Sta­tus quo is not enough: Com­mon tests for Mild Cog­ni­tive Impair­ment lack both sen­si­tiv­i­ty and specificity

Study: Why Super Mario 3D World may train your brain better than Angry Birds

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Stark_151124_01_1500_szPlay­ing 3‑D video games can boost mem­o­ry for­ma­tion, UCI study finds (UCI News):

“…Craig Stark and Dane Clemen­son of UCI’s Cen­ter for the Neu­ro­bi­ol­o­gy of Learn­ing & Mem­o­ry recruit­ed non-gamer col­lege stu­dents to play either a video game with a pas­sive, two-dimen­sion­al envi­ron­ment (“Angry Birds”) or one with an intri­cate, 3‑D set­ting (“Super Mario 3D World”) for 30 min­utes per day over two weeks. [Read more…] about Study: Why Super Mario 3D World may train your brain bet­ter than Angry Birds

Update: 25 Key References to Navigate the Brain Health and Neurotechnology Revolution

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holdingbrain
Time for Sharp­Brains’ Novem­ber e‑newsletter, fea­tur­ing 25 of the key ref­er­ence mate­ri­als that par­tic­i­pants at the 2015 Sharp­Brains Vir­tu­al Sum­mit found most intrigu­ing, in order of dis­cus­sion dur­ing the Sum­mit. Our deep­est grat­i­tude goes to Sum­mit Speak­ers, Spon­sors, and every­one who par­tic­i­pat­ed in our best con­fer­ence to date!

If you reg­is­tered to par­tic­i­pate at the 2015 Sharp­Brains Vir­tu­al Sum­mit, you can access all ses­sion record­ings Here. If you did­n’t reg­is­ter, you can pur­chase access here.
2015SummitSpeakers_2

Growing evidence that vitamin, folic acid supplements do not improve cognitive performance or prevent Alzheimer’s Disease

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brain_supplements—

Demen­tia study ques­tions advice on tak­ing sup­ple­ments (BBC News):

“Tak­ing vit­a­min B12 and folic acid sup­ple­ments does not seem to cut the risk of devel­op­ing demen­tia in healthy peo­ple, say Dutch researchers. In one of the largest stud­ies to date, there was no dif­fer­ence in mem­o­ry test scores between those who had tak­en the sup­ple­ments for two years and those who were giv­en a place­bo [Read more…] about Grow­ing evi­dence that vit­a­min, folic acid sup­ple­ments do not improve cog­ni­tive per­for­mance or pre­vent Alzheimer’s Disease

MMSE®/MMSE®-2™ Cognitive Impairment Screener, Now a Mobile App

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The MMSE®/MMSE®-2™ Cog­ni­tive Impair­ment Screen­er Goes Mobile in New App (press release):

“One of the world’s most pop­u­lar and trust­ed assess­ments of cog­ni­tive impair­ment is now avail­able as a con­ve­nient app for smart­phones and tablets. Like the paper-and-pen­cil ver­sion, the app can be used to screen for cog­ni­tive impair­ment, to select patients for clin­i­cal tri­als research in demen­tia treat­ment, or to track patients’ progress over time.”

To Learn More:

Education for Mental Fitness: “A Sharper Mind, Middle Age and Beyond”

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Kudos to Patri­cia Cohen for one of the best arti­cles I have read in The New York Times in a long time: A Sharp­er Mind, Mid­dle Age and Beyond, by Patri­cia Cohen. These are a few quotes — please do read the arti­cle in full, it is worth it.