A finding that researchers do seem to agree on is that aging is accompanied by brain and cognitive decline. These reductions seem to be modifiable through cognitive and physical exercise. In this vein, our lab recently demonstrated that older adults involved in an 8-week memory training program show less brain atrophy. This gives some hope for older adults wondering whether their training efforts are really worthwhile.

A major research interest in our lab is how brain structure and memory change across the human life-span. We have recently been able to measure regional changes in the brain within the same older adults over time. In a recent study, my supervisor, Anders Fjell and colleagues found that normal aging Americans (about 60 years old) show regional brain atrophy (shrinkage) of about — 0.5 – 1.0 % after only one year.

The reason why the brain atrophies (shrinks in size) with age is not completely understood. An old myth about aging is that we lose neurons as we age. This does not seem to hold true for healthy older adults. Instead, researchers currently believe that the atrophy is more likely to be driven by 1) nerve cells shrinking and 2) loss of connections between nerve cells

Not only brain size, but also cognitive performance declines as we age. Abilities like processing speed and long-term memory declines steadily. However, the pace of aging varies greatly among older individuals. Thus, a central pursuit in contemporary neuroscience is to undercover modifiers of the aging process.

Various factors are found to be associated with age-related differences in brain structure and cognition. Your genetic makeup seems to be important. Also what socioeconomic background and educational level you have plays a role.

Lately and thoroughly reviewed in the Sharpbrains blog earlier, lifestyle and behavior seem to have a significant impact. One example is nutrition. In fact, David Smith and colleagues in Oxford showed earlier this fall that older adults with mild cognitive impairment have less brain atrophy if they take a vitamin-B supplement regularly.

Other lifestyle factors contributing to individual age-differences in both brain and cognitive function are physical and mental exercise or brain training. The basis for how these influence the aging process is based on the concept of brain plasticity. Brain plasticity is a multifaceted concept, but can be described as your brain’s ability to change structurally and functionally at any age.

In our lab we were fascinated by this ability and asked the following question: Could memory training impact the brain atrophy that takes place in the aging brain? With this in mind, my research group set out to investigate the effects of a memory training program for healthy middle-aged and older adults (mean age = 60 years).

Through a newspaper add, we recruited more than 40 participants and divided them randomly into a memory training and control group. The memory trainers participated in an 8-week program where they learned a visual mnemonic technique known as the Method of loci. Using this technique the participants had to learn and recall new verbal information almost everyday, like the names of American presidents, Roman emperors, members of parliament, and the order of countries in South-America.

After 8-weeks of training, we found that:

a) the memory trainers improved significantly in their ability to remember verbal information in a particular sequence (for instance the name of the 1st or 10^th American president). However, they did not improve more on other domains of memory function than the control group, which is in-line with other studies.

b) the thickness of the cerebral cortex increased in several regions of the brain among those who had trained their memory function. Also, participants who had improved the most on the specific memory test where the ones with the most increase in cortical (brain) thickness.

The four regions of the brains in which memory training increased cortical thickness are illustrated below. Two effects were located in the frontal lobes (lateral orbitofrontal cortex), and one in the fusiform region of the right temporal lobe.

Figure 1. The figure show the strength of the effects mapped on a template brain. Top row is the right hemisphere in lateral (from outside), ventral (from under) and medial (from inside) views.

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The changes in cortical thickness in the control and training groups are shown in the second figure below. You can see that the control group decreased slightly, whereas the memory trainers increased. Also note that the changes are small (less than 0.05 mm in most areas).

Figure 2. Bar plots of the group-changes in cortical thickness. The green bars are the control group, the blue colors are the training group. Lighter colors are the average thickness at follow-up.

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What do these findings tell us? It seems as middle-aged and older adults who train their memory vigorously in a 2-month period have different, more positive changes in brain structure, compared with those who do not. The ones who had better memory improvements also had more positive changes in the brain. The effects on memory performance were positive, but the transfer effect was seen on brain structure only. We did not look at the effects beyond the 2-months, and we are waiting to see whether cognitive exercise indeed alters the way our brains age in the long-term. Since our study was published, other very recent studies have shown that cognitive exercise in the elderly can also modify the blood flow to, and the underlying nerve fibers (white matter) of the frontal lobes.

Memory training improves specific memory functions, but also seems to make positive changes in the aging brain such as less atrophy and even increased cortical thickness. These results strengthen the conclusions about the value of mental exercise for older adults.

— Andreas Engvig was an intern at Sharpbrains a couple of years ago. He is now a MD-PhD candidate in the Center for the Study of Human Cognition at the University of Oslo, Norway. He is currently pursuing his PhD investigating the effects of memory training on aging brain structures. His first publication recently achieved 8th place in Neuroimage’s “Top 25 Hottest Articles” list.

References

• Engvig, A., Fjell, A.M., Westlye, L.T., Moberget, T., Sundseth, O., Larsen, V.A., Walhovd, K.B., 2010. Effects of memory training on cortical thickness in the elderly. NeuroImage 52, 1667–1676.
• Engvig, A., Fjell, A.M., Westlye, L.T., Moberget, T., Sundseth, O., Larsen, V.A., Walhovd, K.B., submitted manuscript. Memory training impacts short-term changes in aging white matter.
• Esiri, M.M., 2007. Ageing and the brain. J Pathol 211, 181–187.
• Fjell, A.M., Walhovd, K.B., Fennema-Notestine, C., McEvoy, L.K., Hagler, D.J., Holland, D., Brewer, J.B., Dale, A.M., 2009. One-year brain atrophy evident in healthy aging. J Neurosci 29, 15223–15231.
• Kramer, A.F., Erickson, K.I., 2007. Effects of physical activity on cognition, well-being, and brain: human interventions. Alzheimers Dement 3, S45-51.
• Lamprecht, R., LeDoux, J., 2004. Structural plasticity and memory. Nat Rev Neurosci 5, 45–54.
• Lovden, M., Bodammer, N.C., Kuhn, S., Kaufmann, J., Schutze, H., Tempelmann, C., Heinze, H.J., Duzel, E., Schmiedek, F., Lindenberger, U., 2010. Experience-dependent plasticity of white-matter microstructure extends into old age. Neuropsychologia 48, 3878–3883.
• Mozolic, J.L., Hayasaka, S., Laurienti, P.J., 2010. A cognitive training intervention increases resting cerebral blood flow in healthy older adults. Front Hum Neurosci 4, 16.
• Park, D.C., Reuter-Lorenz, P., 2009. The adaptive brain: aging and neurocognitive scaffolding. Annu Rev Psychol 60, 173–196.
• Reid, L., MacLullich, A., 2006. Subjective Memory Complaints and Cognitive Impairment in Older People. Dement Geriatr Cogn Disord 22, 471–485.
• Smith, A.D., Smith, S.M., de Jager, C.A., Whitbread, P., Johnston, C., Agacinski, G., Oulhaj, A., Bradley, K.M., Jacoby, R., Refsum, H., 2010. Homocysteine-lowering by B vitamins slows the rate of accelerated brain atrophy in mild cognitive impairment: a randomized controlled trial. PLoS ONE 5, e12244.
• Valenzuela, M., Sachdev, P., 2009. Can cognitive exercise prevent the onset of dementia? Systematic review of randomized clinical trials with longitudinal follow-up. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry 17, 179–187.

Today I felt it was time to reflect upon my 3 month stay in San Francisco earlier this year. It all started when in April when the Norwegian school of entrepreneurship said: You’ve got a ticket to San Francisco, now you got to find the perfect start-up company to work for.

Being interested in brain training, I googled Brain fitness San Francisco and guess what I found? I got in touch with Alvaro Fernandez, the co-founder of SharpBrains.com and two months later I started working with him and his team.

As a scientist, being placed in an exciting start-up company in a novel market like brain fitness was a huge learning experience that gave me hands-on knowledge of business and entrepreneurial culture. Being a neuroscience student, I know that learning physically changes my brain, strengthening it.

Here’s a list of some of the key things I’ve learned:

1) First of all, one of key rules for brain fitness is learning. In SharpBrains I immediately got to experience what a great learning culture can be all about  from key insights in entrepreneurship to how to make creative videos and writing for the web. The urge for constant learning is both fun and stimulating  and I appreciate Alvaro’s suggestion to write this post.

2) Science and business can learn from each other. Coming from an analytic field of science I really enjoyed working at the commercial counter-part for a while. Actually I used the first weeks understanding who business people think differently from scientists. In the commercial world you have less time, often working for shorter deadlines, meaning you have to work more efficiently in a goal-oriented manner. I have applied much of what the world of business taught me to be a more efficient scientist.

3) The 80–20 rule as a rule to live by. The rule states that 80% of effects are usually explained by 20% of causes. Did you know it’s an invaluable concept in time management? Here is twenty unique ways to apply it to your life also.

4) “Don’t boil the ocean. In general, when doing research for a project, try to find the key experts and reports that have evaluated your area of interest. You don’t need to find out every aspect of a case to evaluate or use it for your research. As my boss said it: - 100% perfection is the enemy of results and action.

5) “Intention means nothing” says motivation guru Anthony Robbins. What matters is the action. If you don’t try to implement ideas, you will learn little.

6) A valuable lesson in project management: Always approach every project in a goal-oriented, hypothesis driven way. Find and use an initial hypothesis to start with and constantly try to seek information that either supports or falsifies it.

7) Find your “unfair advantage” (as one of our Professors put it). A company can outmanoeuvre its competition by having a certain sustainable competitive advantage compared to its competitors. It can apply to all levels of a company and its services from branding to strategic partnerships.

Spreading the message that our brains have a life long potential for change and that you can train your mental muscles systematically in numerous ways. We experimented different Internet media: from Youtube videos to writing the world’s greatest brain fitness blog.

9) Building the bridge between science and the people is important for helping thousands benefit from the recent findings about the brain’s life long potential for change  called neuroplasticity. In my opinion, Alvaro and the Sharpbrains team are doing a great job for that cause.

10) Starting up a company is hard work. It demands persistence, discipline and commitment over long periods of time. But if you’re really pursuing something you are really passionate about it’s all worth it.

Thank you, Alvaro and the SharpBrains team. It has been a great summer!

Happy Holidays to everyone,

Andreas