Mind Games? Gyms For The Brain Available Online (Investor’s Business Daily):
We just selected and categorized the Top 50 Brain Teasers and Games that SharpBrains readers have been enjoying the most.
Here are a few samples…
1. You think you know the colors? Try the Stroop Test
3. Take the Senses Challenge (Interactive)
7. Count the Fs in this sentence
9. Proud of your visual memory? Give a try at “Picasso” (Interactive)
10. Is your attention better than a chimp’s? (Interactive)
–> For more, visit these Top 50 Brain Teasers and Games and test your perceptual and cognitive abilities…
Are you familiar with mental rotation? It refers to moving things around in your head. It is one of the numerous visuospatial skills that we all have.
Let’s take an example. Can you picture in your head an arrow pointing to the right? Now, turn this arrow so it points to the left. Done? You have just performed a mental rotation. Although it is rare to consciously imagine objects moving, people automatically use this ability when they read maps, use tools, play chess, arrange furniture, drive in traffic, etc.
Mental rotation relies mostly on the parietal areas of your brain (yellow section in the brain image above).
Here is a brain exercise to stimulate your mental rotation skills.
First set
Second set
Third Set
To see the correct answers click here: [Read more…] about Brain Teaser: Test your mental rotation skills
Quick note: Yahoo! has created an expanded section with optical illusions and brain teasers, and we were glad to contribute to it. You can enjoy it Here.
Once you are done, you can find many more brain teasers here.
Here you have the July edition of our monthly newsletter covering cognitive health and brain fitness topics. Please remember that you can subscribe to receive this Newsletter by email, using the box at the top of this page.
Public libraries have long offered the public more than books. And now, recent demographic and scientific trends are converging to fundamentally transform the role of libraries in our culture. You may enjoy reading this recent article I wrote for the May-June 2009 Issue of Aging Today, the bimonthly publication of the American Society on Aging: Public Libraries: Community-Based Health Clubs for the Brain.
The Big Picture
Can You Outsmart Your Genes? An Interview with Author Richard Nisbett: David DiSalvo interviews Richard Nisbett, the author of Intelligence and How to Get It: Why Schools and Cultures Count, who has emerged as a persuasive voice marshalling evidence to disprove the heredity-is-destiny argument.
Yes, You Can Build Willpower: Daniel Goleman discusses how the brain makes about 10,000 new cells every day, how they migrate to where they are needed, and how each cell can make around 10,000 connections to other brain cells. Implication? Meditate, mindfully, and build positive habits.
Bird’s Eye View of Cognitive Health Innovation: Alvaro Fernandez opened the Cognitive Health Track during the Games for Health Conference (June 11–12th, Boston) with an overview of the serious games, software and online applications that can help assess and train cognitive abilities. The presentation is available Here.
Brain Tests and Myths
The Best Memory Tests, from the Alzheimer’s Action Plan: Dr. Murali Doraiswamy discusses the Pros and Cons of the most common assessments to identify cognitive problems, including what the Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE) does and doesn´t, and innovative computerized neuropsychological tests.
Debunking 10 Brain Health Myths: Does your brain have a “Brain Age”? Is a Magic Pill to “prevent memory problems” right around the corner? Does “aging” equal “decline”? Check out the facts to debunk 10 common myths on brain health.
Resources
Free Webinar: On July 21st, 10am Pacific Time/ 1pm Eastern Time, Dr. Elkhonon Goldberg and Alvaro Fernandez, co-authors of The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness, will cover the main highlights from this new book and address the questions submitted by readers. You can learn more and register HERE.
Research References: This is a partial list of the scientific studies reviewed during the research phase of SharpBrains’s new book, organized by relevant chapter, for those of you who like to explore topics in depth by reading original research (perhaps PubMed should promote itself as a never ending source of mental stimulation?).
Brain Teasers
Brain Teasers on Brain Fitness: Are you ready to test your knowledge of several key brain fitness metrics? For example: How many soldiers in the US Army have gone through computerized cognitive testing before being deployed, and why?
Finally, a request: if you have already read The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness, and could write a brief customer review at Amazon.com, we would surely appreciate! The Amazon.com book page is Here
Best regards, and enjoy the month
What is mental self rotation? It is the ability to imagine yourself in different locations in space and imagine your body moving in space. This is an ability that is used in different everyday activities such as navigating in an environment or reading a map.
- Ability involved: egocentric spatial transformations (yes, that is the scientific expression) or mental self rotation.
- Brain areas involved: mostly parietal lobes.
Let’s take an example. Imagine that you plan to go to a new Walgreens location. You wonder whether going North on Big Bend Avenue you would have to make a right or a left turn onto Forsyth Blvd to get to Walgreens. You then look at the map that your spouse has laid out on the table. It turns out that the map is upside down so your perspective is not aligned with the one shown on the map (see Figure 1 just below, Box A). How do you get the answer to your question? [Read more…] about Can you use mental self rotation to read a map?
