SharpBrains

I have just read the best blog post I have read in a loooong while, so let me share it here now. Brett Steenbarger is a Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences and a Trading Psychology expert who I had the pleasure to interview a while back. He is a master at trading, learning, teaching and coaching. 

And has written this superb post: When Traders Lose Confidence - Part Three: Structuring Your Experience. We talk in this blog a lot about neuroplasticity and cognitive and emotional training, but what Brett outlines is, in summary, a very healthy attitude to life, lifelong brain plasticity, brain health, and success. Not bad!

See below a few of his quotes-but please read the full article here:

• What we call the "self"--how we experience ourselves--is the result of all that we internalize from people and events.
• Because we are always having new experiences--and can internalize these--we are always, to some degree, remaking who we are.
• Every activity we engage in provides us with feedback about ourselves: our abilities, how we're perceived by others, our character. In selecting what we do, who we do it with, and how we do it, we can structure our experience to create mirrors of success and mastery.
• Experience is our psychological food; it's vital that we feed ourselves well. But what does it mean to structure our experience and feed ourselves well psychologically?
• The reason I'm effective as a psychologist, I believe, is not because I'm all that more educated than others or utilize such better techniques. Rather, I have an uncanny ability to see the best in people; to push aside the problems of the moment and see through to qualities of greatness that are present within most of us, however fleetingly. It's because I see the best in people that I can be a good mirror--and help others see in themselves what they otherwise cannot appreciate on their own Confidence comes from the right kind of mirroring--and we can choose our mirrors.

Please enjoy When Traders Lose Confidence - Part Three: Structuring Your Experience.

Dr. Michael Merzenich has written a great post titled A “cognitive reserve” is a good thing to work on!. Recommended reading if you are interested in another scientific perspective for cognitive training.

I agree we should know more (as usual), especially for policy decisions, but there is enough research, from Marian Diamond et al (see beautiful essays below) work on enriched environments to cognitive reserve and training, that is shouting at all of us: Exercise Your Brain! Enjoy Learning! Statistics such as that the average American-including kids- watch 5 hours of TV daily... don't mean "we need more research" but "how can we change this"?.

See a couple of quotes from my recent interview with Yaakov Stern on the Cognitive Reserve.

• "well...I was pretty surprised when, years ago, a reporter from Seventeen magazine requested an interview. I was really curious to learn why Continue Reading »

Shelley launched a good discussion on The Neuroscience of ADHD in her blog, discussing the situation and providing a technical overview of drug-based interventions. Something I hadn't heard is that "For example, babies born prematurely face a significantly greater risk of developing ADHD than full-term babies (socioeconomic status was controlled for)."

Which helps me better understand the need to think about pre-schoolers, as discussed in the article Diagnosing ADD/ ADHD in Preschoolers, at ADDitude Magazine. I quote: 

• "The Preschool ADHD Treatment Study, or PATS, conducted by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), is the first long-term study designed to evaluate the effectiveness of treating preschoolers with ADHD with behavioral therapy, and then, in some cases, methylphenidate. In the first stage, the children (303 preschoolers with severe ADHD, between the ages of three and five) and their parents participated in a 10-week behavioral therapy course. For one third of the children, ADHD symptoms improved so dramatically with behavior therapy alone that they did not progress to the ADHD medication phase of the study."

As Shelley's post and the article explain, drugs do help when used appropriately. Now, they are not the only answer. I am happy to see that behavioral therapy can be as useful when appropriate. Which is not a surprise, given the growing literature on different methods of cognitive training, including therapy and working memory training like the one discussed with Notre Dame's Bradley Gibson and in our post Cognitive Neuroscience and ADD/ADHD Today.

Given the stock market performance these days, Brett Steenbarger offers timely tips and resources for traders on managing stress and self-confidence: Updated Psychology of Trading Resources, including a list of relevant blogs such as Afraid to Trade blog, Trader Psychology blog, the Head Coach blog, his Stock Market Psychology blog and Smart Trader blog.

He also offers very good advice to build self-confidence, which can be useful to us all, no matter our profession: When Traders Lose Confidence - Part Two: Changing Your Self-Talk .

• "The key to changing the self-talk is to become aware of when you're doing it. Most often, the negative talk is automatic. Journals are effective because they force us to reflect on our thinking and interrupt those automatic patterns. Similarly, I've had great results working with traders who talk their thoughts out loud into a tape recorder and then play them back. It's an excellent way to become aware of your thinking, stand apart from it, and break the flow."
• "Yet another strategy is to go through guided visualizations of challenging market scenarios while you're calm and focused (before trading starts) and then mentally rehearse the self-talk you'd like to engage in during those situations. This helps to build new, positive patterns of self-talk.
• "The key to all these strategies is repetition: you're training yourself to process information in new ways, and such training requires practice."

You may enjoy our interview with Brett N. Steenbarger on Enhancing Trader Performance. And learn more on other techniques at Best practice for top trading performance: biofeedback and solutions for Traders.

Very good article in MarketWatch titled Beating forgetfulness and boosting the brain. Probably the best we have seen so far providing an overall industry perspective on a nascent field. I recommend reading the whole article, but here you have some teasers:

• "As boomers age, the drive to correct such discomfort has implications for health and wellness, employment and corporate training --- even sports. It's giving rise to a burgeoning business of brain-boosting products and services, as well as exploration into "cognitive enhancing" prescription drugs."
• "The market for brain-fitness software targeting U.S. adults is estimated to be $80 million to $100 million this year, up from $60 million last year and $2 million in 2005, according to SharpBrains, a San Francisco-based portal that helps individuals and companies navigate brain-training information, products and services."
• "It's also easy to confuse age-related memory problems with the effects of undiagnosed depression or anxiety, which are reversible, said Dr. Gene Cohen, director of the Center on Aging, Health & Humanities at George Washington University Medical Center"
• "The business of brain training started taking off after Continue Reading »

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  Tags: age related memory problems, baby boomer health, brain fitness market, Brain Fitness Software, brain training information, brain training products, cognitive enhancing, depression or anxiety, emerging technology, healthy aging Gene Cohen, neuroscience, Nintendo Brain Age, Posit Science, professionals manage stress

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