Brain fitness & training heads towards its tipping point

By Dr. Gerard Finnemore | January 19, 2009 |

How do you know when some­thing is fast mov­ing towards a Glad­wellian tip­ping point? When health insur­ance com­pa­nies and pub­lic pol­i­cy mak­ers launch sig­nif­i­cant ini­tia­tives. For exam­ple, the gov­ern­ment of Ontario recent­ly announced a $10 mil­lion invest­ment with Bay­crest Research Cen­tre who will part­ner with MaRS Ven­ture Group to devel­op and com­mer­cialise brain fit­ness technologies.…

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Cognitive screenings and Alzheimer’s Disease

By Alvaro Fernandez | December 10, 2008 |

The Alzheimer’s Foun­da­tion of Amer­i­ca just released a thought­ful report advo­cat­ing for wide­spread cog­ni­tive screen­ings after the age of 65 (55 giv­en the right con­di­tions). Accord­ing to the press release, — “The report shat­ters unsub­stan­ti­at­ed crit­i­cism and instead empha­sizes the safe­ty and cost-effec­­tive­­ness of these tools and calls on Con­gress to devel­op a nation­al dementia…

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Top 10 Cognitive Fitness Events of 2008 (Webinar)

By Alvaro Fernandez | December 2, 2008

We have just announced an upcom­ing webi­nar to pro­vide a mar­ket update:  Top 10 Cog­ni­tive Fit­ness Events of 2008 — A Mar­ket Update. When: Thurs­day Decem­ber 11th, from 12:00 to 1:00 pm Pacif­ic Time. The same webi­nar will be repeat­ed on Thurs­day Decem­ber 18th, from 9:00 to 10:00 pm Pacif­ic Time. The Top 10 Cog­ni­tive Fitness…

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The Cognitive Health and Fitness Market On The Move

By Alvaro Fernandez | October 10, 2008 |

As you have prob­a­bly seen, the Cog­ni­tive Health and Brain Fit­ness field is rapid­ly evolv­ing, so let me high­light some of the main recent devel­op­ments affect­ing the field: 1) Pub­lic pol­i­cy ini­tia­tives:  — The Gov­ern­ment of Ontario, Cana­da, announced a $10m invest­ment in Bay­crest Research Cen­ter to help devel­op and com­mer­cial­ize brain fit­ness tech­nolo­gies. This $10m…

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Computerized Cognitive Assessments: opportunities and concerns

By Alvaro Fernandez | July 14, 2008 |

You know your weight. And your phys­i­cal fit­ness. And a vari­ety of health-relat­ed met­rics. What about your brain fit­ness? Two recent announce­ments bring out how the assess­ment of cog­ni­tive abil­i­ties, or brain func­tions, is increas­ing­ly being done thanks to new com­put­er­ized options: 1) Last week, OptumHealth announced an exclu­sive 3‑year agree­ment (esti­mat­ed at $18m) with…

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Cognitive Fitness as a New Frontier of Fitness

By Alvaro Fernandez | October 15, 2007 |

Very good arti­cle in the LA Times today. Like a Stair­Mas­ter for the brain: Can men­tal work­outs improve the mind’s agili­ty? Baby boomer con­cerns stim­u­late an indus­try expan­sion. The reporter, Melis­sa Healy, reviews the healthy aging seg­ment in the Brain Fit­ness field. A few select­ed quotes: — “There is plau­si­bil­i­ty, both bio­log­i­cal and behav­ioral, to…

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