– Illustrative image from U.S. Patent No. 7,773,097

Today we highlight a 2010 patent assigned to Posit Science Corporation, the developer of BrainHQ brain training system. (As mentioned, we are featuring foundational Pervasive Neurotech patents, from older to newer by issue date, to get a better glimpse into emerging trends)

U.S. Patent No. 7,773,097: Visual emphasis for cognitive training exercises

• Assignee(s): Posit Science Corporation
• Inventor(s): Michael M. Merzenich, Peter B. Delahunt, Joseph L. Hardy, Henry W. Mahncke, Donald Richard
• Technology Category: Neurocognitive training
• Issue Date: August 10, 2010

SharpBrains’ Take:

In a similar yet unique approach to the ‘961 patent (another noteworthy non-invasive neurotechnology patent assigned to Posit Science), the ‘097 patent discloses methods for iteratively testing and training a user’s ability to discern between presented stimuli. Read the rest of this entry »

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If the media is your main source of information about brain training and cognitive enhancement, you will probably believe the following:

1) All brain training is the same…

2) …and it simply doesn’t work.

3) Commercial brain training programs, especially, don’t work.

4) How could they work? Genetics is destiny, aging is a predetermined process…so by age 60 or 70 or 80, “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.”

If you tracked and analyzed the scientific literature around cognitive training, cognitive therapies, biofeedback, meditation, brain reserve and neuroplasticity in general, you’d know those 4 beliefs are wrong. They are myths that prevent a more nuanced conversation about brain-enhancing lifestyles and about the emerging brain training and neurotechnology toolkit.

Good news is, a just-published study should help debunk those myths–especially with regards to computerized cognitive training–and provide a better Read the rest of this entry »

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Last week I shared some key scientific, technological and investment trends revolutionizing Brain Health, based on my participation at the 2016 SharpBrains Virtual Summit, and promised a second article more focused on the technology side of things.

Here it is 🙂

Just a few weeks after the SharpBrains Summit I also attended CES 2017. While I enjoyed the myriad emerging technologies –autonomous vehicles, robotics, drones, augmented and virtual reality headsets, voice activated everything– I was mostly struck by a firm named Halo Neuroscience. They have a fascinating wearable product, Halo Sport, claiming to accelerate gains in strength, explosiveness, endurance, and muscle memory, improving the brain’s response to athletic training. It uses tDCS (transcranial direct current stimulation), essentially priming movement-related circuits of the brain to become more receptive to stimuli, helping the brain wire in the practice for improved future response.

The cutting edge of applied neuroplasticity

Both conferences allowed me to see the cutting edge of Read the rest of this entry »

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We are proud to share that Dr. Michael Merzenich, Professor Emeritus at UCSF, co-developer of the first cochlear implants, pioneer of neuroplasticity research, co-founder of Scientific Learning and Posit Science, and winner of the 2016 Kavli Prize in Neuroscience, will speak at the 2016 SharpBrains Virtual Summit: Reinventing Brain Health in the Digital Age (December 6-8th). You can check out the Preliminary Agenda here.

(Editor’s Note: In order to help readers familiarize themselves with the work and thinking of Dr. Michael Merzenich, one of the winners of the 2016 Kavli Prize in Neuroscience for groundbreaking work on neuroplasticity, we are condensing and republishing the comprehensive conversation that Dr. Merzenich and Alvaro Fernandez had in 2009, in preparation for the inaugural SharpBrains Virtual Summit.)

Dr. Michael Merzenich, Emeritus Professor at UCSF, is a leading pioneer in brain plasticity research. In the late 1980s, Dr. Merzenich was on the team that invented the cochlear implant. In 1996, he was the founding CEO of Scientific Learning Corporation, and in 2004 became co-founder and Read the rest of this entry »