xtech

Time for a new edi­tion of Sharp­Brains’ eNewslet­ter, full of fas­ci­nat­ing brain stud­ies and emerg­ing think­ing and tools for life­long men­tal health and per­for­mance. Hap­py reading!

New research:

• Demen­tia rates in the UK sig­nif­i­cant­ly low­er than forecasted–especially for men–highlighting the pro­tec­tive role of lifestyle and education
• Sys­tem­at­ic evi­dence review finds cog­ni­tive behav­ioral ther­a­py as effec­tive as anti­de­pres­sant med­i­cines in treat­ing depression
• To boost cre­ativ­i­ty, com­bine sys­tem­at­ic dai­ly effort with diverse emo­tion­al states
• Mind­ful­ness-based Stress Reduc­tion (MBSR) and Cog­ni­tive Behav­ioral Ther­a­py (CBT) beat usu­al care for chron­ic back pain
• Land­mark study on neur­al cir­cuits shows that “cells that fire togeth­er wire togeth­er,” refin­ing the pop­u­lar “Use it or lose it”

New thinking:

• On “eth­i­cal place­bos,” Med­i­cine, and Mind/ Body inter­ac­tions: A book review
• New Neva­da reg­u­la­tion requires pro­fes­sion­al fight­ers to under­go reg­u­lar com­put­er­ized cog­ni­tive testing
• Brain Train­ing – Can We Real­ly Enhance Our Cog­ni­tive Skills?
• Since more than 50% of peo­ple world­wide can’t access appro­pri­ate men­tal health treat­ments, let’s wel­come (and test) mobile health apps

New tools:

• Foot­ballers (also known as soc­cer play­ers) add nov­el­ty, vari­ety and chal­lenge to sharp­en cog­ni­tive and per­cep­tu­al skills
• Brain hack­ing emerges as lat­est trend in wear­able tech, but is it ready for prime time?
• Mak­er of “neu­ro” func­tion­al drinks set­tles false adver­tis­ing complaint
• French neu­rotech start-up Rythm rais­es $11m to help improve sleep quality
• May 17–18th @ San Fran­cis­co: Expe­ri­en­tial Tech­nol­o­gy and Neu­roGam­ing Conference

Final­ly, thank you very much to the 191 reg­is­tered par­tic­i­pants in our very stim­u­lat­ing April 21st vir­tu­al lec­ture. You should already have received access to the full record­ing and oth­er mate­ri­als, but please con­tact us if you have any problem.

Have a great month of May!

The Sharp­Brains Team