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Can you see the bus above?

Assum­ing it is mov­ing for­ward, in which direc­tion do you think it’s trav­el­ing, right or left?

Please try answer­ing on your own before check­ing below… Read the rest of this entry »

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Men­tal rota­tion refers to mov­ing things around in your mind. It is one of the main visu­ospa­tial skills we all have…in dif­fer­ent degrees, yes.

Here’s an exam­ple. Please pic­ture in your mind an arrow point­ing to the right. Now, turn this arrow so it points to the left. Done? You have just per­formed a men­tal rota­tion. Read the rest of this entry »

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AARP just released a very inter­est­ing brain health research study based on 1,200 online inter­views con­duct­ed in August 2014. Key find­ings include:

• Main­tain­ing a healthy lifestyle is impor­tant to all con­sumers (99% find it at least some­what impor­tant). Brain health is the sec­ond most impor­tant com­po­nent in main­tain­ing a healthy lifestyle, after heart health (37% find brain health most impor­tant while 51% find heart health most impor­tant). Younger con­sumers Read the rest of this entry »

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Brain teas­er: Please con­sider Lin­da, a 31-year-old woman, sin­gle and bright. When she was a stu­dent, in high school and in col­lege too, she was deeply involved in social jus­tice issues, and also par­tic­i­pated in envi­ron­men­tal protests. Which is more prob­a­ble about Linda’s occu­pa­tion today? Read the rest of this entry »

Time for Sharp­Brains’ May 2014 e‑newsletter. If you’re look­ing for new think­ing, research and tools to enhance life­long brain health and per­for­mance, you’re in the right place…

New think­ing:

• For cog­ni­tive train­ing to work, it must induce neu­ro­plas­tic­i­ty in brain regions that mat­ter
• Which kind of mind­ful­ness med­i­ta­tion to choose? Com­par­ing sit­ting med­i­ta­tion, body scan, and mind­ful yoga
• Neu­ro­feed­back treat­ment for ADHD is gain­ing strong sup­port
• Lar­ry King inter­views Alvaro Fer­nan­dez on Brain Fit­ness!
• What cog­ni­tive skills are for (or, is the Inter­net mak­ing us dumb­er?)
• What “some kind of asset” are we talk­ing about?

New research:

• Final­ly, grow­ing aware­ness of chemother­a­py-induced cog­ni­tive deficits
• Mind­ful­ness can mod­i­fy stress-relat­ed brain behav­ior
• Use and mis­use of ADHD drugs and nootrop­ics among teenagers and tod­dlers
• On brain devel­op­ment, socioe­co­nom­ic sta­tus and par­ent­ing styles
• Sleep­ing less than 5 hours, or more than 9, can lead to cog­ni­tive decline

New tools:

• New online cog­ni­tive self-assess­ment by Cog­nic­i­ti (Bay­crest): a ther­mome­ter for the mind?
• Mind games that can sharp­en the brain
• Mayo Clin­ic Sports Med­i­cine Cen­ter adopts Intel­li­gym cog­ni­tive train­ing
• Reg­is­tra­tion open for 2014 Sharp­Brains Vir­tu­al Sum­mit: Shap­ing the Prac­tice and the Future of Brain Fit­ness

Have a great month of June! To start on the right foot, you may want to tease your mind with this visu­al illu­sion…

Cheers,

The Sharp­Brains Team