The MIT Technology Review September/ October edition brings an article by Daniel Dennett titled Higher Games: It’s been 10 years since IBM’s Deep Blue beat Garry Kasparov in chess. A prominent philosopher asks what the match meant (subscription required), which is creating a lot of buzz on the science blogosphere on whether humans or machines are “smarter”.  

• Chess computers beat humans: Does this mean computers are “creative”? (Cognitive Daily)
• Is Deep Blue Human? (The Frontal Cortex)
• The Intelligence of Game-Playing Software (Aardvarchaeology)
• Chess and Artificial Intelligence (The Questionable Authority)

All this begs the question, what does “being smart” means? “Is it possible to improve intelligence and become “smarter” and what does it really mean to be “smarter?” (question asked by Patricia, one of our readers).

Today we bring you an answer to those questions provided by David Gamon, author of Building Mental Muscle: Conditioning Exercises for the Six Intelligence Zones:

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As we age, our brains accumulate an ever larger collection of patterns. This gives us a kind of mental quickness that compensates for the slowing of processing speed. Instead of having to piece together the pattern bit by bit from scratch by associating individual pieces of data, you need only a few pieces of data to make you realize that they fit a pattern you already know, much the way a few bars of melody are all you need to recognize an entire song.

The more experience we accumulate, the more of these patterns we hold in our brains, and the less effort we have to make to piece together new pieces of data in new ways. With that comes a danger. We get lazy. It’s a lot easier to Read the rest of this entry »

Today we have a number of industry announcements:

1) New editions of these Blog Carnivals (collections of blog posts around specific topics)

• Encephalon (neuroscience)
• Grand Rounds (medicine)
• Education (guess!)
• Happiness

2) The Neurotechnology Industry Organization has launched a Neurotech Job Board dedicated to commercial neuroscience (mostly focused on clinical applications, like drugs and devices, not so much on prevention, health & wellness). And the Kaiser Foundation Rehabilitation Center is looking for a Research Project Manager.

3) The American Association for the Advancement of Science has finally released a report of the human enhancement workshop that took place in June 2006. Read more about it at Zack’s blog.

4) Stephanie West Allen and Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz announce the Schedule of Events for their Brains On Purpose™ Seminars (”looking at conflict and the process of conflict resolution through the lens of neuroscience”): Colorado in October and Portland in November.

5) Registration is now open for my class on The Science of Brain Health and Brain Fitness (more here), October 9–30, at UC Berkeley Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI).

6) A couple of great Read the rest of this entry »

Let’s quickly review 4 recent articles in both “Times” newspapers: the New York Times and the UK-based Times, on brain fitness and a couple of programs. 

1) Calisthenics for the Older Mind, on the Home Computer: good overview of one of the growing areas for cognitive training, “healthy aging”.

• Quotes:
• - “In the past year, some half-dozen programs, with names like Brain Fitness Program 2.0, MindFit and Brain Age2, have aimed at aging consumers eager to keep their mental edge. Read the rest of this entry »

To all new readers-Welcome!. The Digg Tsunami has brought over 40,000 visitors so far…and it continues. We need to thank Andrey for his excellent technical work in helping us ride such a beautiful wave.

Let me give you an overview of what you can find in our blog, bridging neuroscience research and brain health/ “brain exercise” practice. First, here you have a few of my favorite quotes from the 10 interviews we have done with neuroscience and psychology experts in cognitive and emotional training in our Neuroscience Interview Series. You can read the in-depth interview notes for each if you want to stimulate those neurons…

• “Learning is physical. Learning means the modification, growth, and pruning of our neurons, connections–called synapses– and neuronal networks, through experience…we are cultivating our own neuronal networks.”- Dr. James Zull, Professor of Biology and Biochemistry at Case Western University: Read Interview Notes
• “Exercising our brains systematically ways is as important as exercising our bodies. In my experience, “Use it or lose it” should really be “Use it and get more of it”.- Dr. Elkhonon Goldberg, neuropsychologist, clinical professor of neurology at New York University School of Medicine, and disciple of the great neuropsychologist Alexander Luria: Read Interview Notes
• “Individuals who lead mentally stimulating lives, through education, occupation and leisure activities, have reduced risk of developing Alzheimer’s symptoms. Studies suggest that they have 35-40% less risk of manifesting the disease”- Dr. Yaakov Stern, Division Leader of the Cognitive Neuroscience Division of the Sergievsky Center at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, New York: Read Interview Notes

“What research has shown is that Read the rest of this entry »

The LA Times just completed a wonderful 4-part series on how learning and memory work. The  NYT re-emphasized the importance of physical exercise for neurogenesis (the creation of new neurons). To put this news in better perspective, let’s review some good lifestyle options we can follow to maintain, and improve, our vibrant brains. 

1. 1. Learn what is the “It” in “Use It or Lose It”. A basic understanding will serve you well to appreciate your brain’s beauty as a living and constantly-developing dense forest with billions of neurons and synapses. 
2. 2. Take care of your nutrition. Did you know that the brain only weighs 2% of body mass but consumes over 20% of the oxygen and nutrients we intake? As a general rule, you don’t need expensive ultra-sophisticated nutritional supplements, just make sure you don’t stuff yourself with the “bad stuff”.
3. 3. Remember that the brain is part of the body. Things that exercise your body can also help sharpen your brain: physical exercise enhances neurogenesis.
4. 4. Practice positive, future-oriented thoughts until they become your default mindset and you look forward to every new day in a constructive way. Stress and anxiety, no matter whether induced by external events or by your own thoughts, actually kills neurons and prevent the creation of new ones. You can think of chronic stress as the opposite of exercise: it prevents the creation of new neurons.
5. 5. Thrive on Learning and Mental Challenges. The point of having a brain is precisely to learn and to adapt to challenging new environments. Once new neurons appear in your brain, where they stay in your brain and how long they survive depends on how you use them. “Use It or Lose It” does not mean “do crossword puzzle number 1,234,567″. It means, “challenge your brain often with fundamentally new activities”. 
6. We are (as far as we know) the only self-directed organisms in this planet. Aim high. Once you graduate from college, keep learning. The brain keeps developing, no matter your age, and it reflects what you do with it.
7. Explore, travel. Adapting to new locations forces you to pay more attention to your environment. Make new decisions, use your brain.
8. Don’t Outsource Your Brain. Not to media personalities, not to politicians, not to your smart neighbour… Make your own decisions, and mistakes. And learn from them. That way, you are training your brain, not your neighbour’s.
9. Develop and maintain stimulating friendships. We are “social animals”, and need social interaction. Which, by the way, is why ‘Baby Einstein’ has been shown not to be the panacea for children development.
10. Laugh. Often. Especially to cognitively complex humor, full of twists and surprises. Better, try to become the next Jon Stewart (Note: I just corrected his name from “John”…which may call for a #11: Spellcheck!)

Now, remember that what counts is not reading this article-or any other-, but practicing a bit every day until small steps snowball into unstoppable, internalized habits…so, pick your next battle and try to start improving at least one of these 10 habits today! For more in-depth information on these topics, check our Brain Fitness Topics section.

…that understanding how our brains and minds work may contribute to all of them.

Here you have some of the best blog carnivals (collections of blog posts on specific topics) we have contributed to this week:

• Grand Rounds: “brain exercise” is as important as nutrition, physical exercise and stress management.
• Green Living: let’s start the conversation about “sustainable brains”.
• Human Resources: isn’t it obvious, yet often neglected, that “human capital” rests on brain development and learning how to learn?.
• Brain Fitness Carnival: fully devoted to our topic.
• Video Game Bloggers: “games” can be good vehicles for cognitive and emotional training, if properly developed and used.
• Gene Genie: our genes are not destiny.

You can also check the Medicine 2.0 carnival that we hosted.

Over the months we have received many requests for good articles that could be reused in a variety of places, from a hospital newsletter to a corporate wellness e-newsletter and a number of websites. We want to reach as many people as possible, so tomorrow we are launching a free Content “Brain Feed”, and also custom content services.

In short, we are going to offer a weekly article in the new SharpBrains free content feed. This feed is designed to help website and newsletter publishers disseminate good information on brain exercise and fitness. 20 articles are available immediately (check them in our Articles section), building on the content we have written in this blog.

And, if an organization wants good content on brain health/ training/ fitness to distribute internally or externally, we can help.

On a related note, we just joined the BlogBurst network to offer our blog content to a variety of newspapers. Let’s see how these initiatives work!

Welcome to the August 19, 2007 edition of medicine 2.0.

Medicine 2.0? Yes, some pioneers are already making good use of Web 2.0 tools to improve Medicine in a new, collaborative way. This blog carnival seems to me to be, in itself, living proof.

Let’s see.

You may wonder, what exactly is “Medicine 2.0″? well, Constructive Medicine takes a stab at it, showing how it may be much older than we thought.

You want an example? see a blogger (Bertalan) chronicle an amazing medical simulation in Second Life.  

Some bloggers provide great overview posts:

• A Beginner’s Guide to Reading Medical Blogs (Vitum Medicinus) provides a fantastic resource covering everything you need to know about medical blogs and blogs in general, including why to subscribe to RSS feeds (for How, keep reading).
• Nursing and Web 2.0 (Universal Health) is a thoughtful post on the gap between nursing research and practice…and how blogging and 2.0 can help.
• Essay on the effect of Web 2.0 on the future of medical practice and education (Medical Journal of Australia), that provides a great overview of medicine 2.0, defining and listing blogs, wikis, podcasts and more.
• Social science as infectious disease (Mining Drug Space) is an essay on how blogs are contributing to knowledge creation and exchange, and includes the writer’s reflections on blogging.

…while others are already addressing some of the important points raised:

• There is a need for Read the rest of this entry »

Unless you have been living in a cave, you have read by now multiple articles about the brain training and brain exercise craze: sudoku, Nintendo BrainAge, multiple online games, software like MindFit and Posit Science…

If you are looking for some fun mental stimulation now, here you have our selection of Brain Teasers.

Now, how do you know which of the new programs can help you more, or whether you need any of them? which ones are simply entertaining Games vs. which ones look like “Games” but are really Training, improving, specific cognitive and emotional skills? Well, that’s why we are publishing the SharpBrains Checklist below, to help you navigate through the overwhelming and conflicting media reports and company announcements.

We have spent over 18 months interviewing scientists and reviewing available Brain Fitness and Exercise Programs worldwide, and want to share with you, right now, the research-based criteria we use to evaluate them.

10 Questions to Choose the Right Brain Fitness Program for You (and a brief explanation of why each question is important)

* 1. Are there scientists, ideally neuropsychologists, and a scientific advisory board behind the program?

(Neuropsychologists specialize in measuring and understanding human cognition and brain structure and function.)

* 2. Are there published, peer-reviewed scientific papers in PubMed written by those scientists? How many?

(Pubmed is a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine that includes millions of citations science journals. If a scientist has not published a paper that appears in that database, he or she cannot make scientific claims.)

* 3. What are the specific benefits claimed for using this program? Read the rest of this entry »

I’d love to know what was going in your mind just a few seconds ago, when you started reading the title of this post. That will help us understand your mindset, priorities, questions, concerns, interests, and keep improving our blog!

Thank you