Dr. Pascale Michelon has a Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology and has worked as a Research Scientist at Washington University in Saint Louis, in the Psychology Department. She conducted several research projects to understand how the brain makes use of visual information and memorizes facts. She is now an Adjunct Faculty at Washington University, and teaches Memory Workshops in numerous retirement communities in the St Louis area.
Given the growing media coverage mentioning the terms Cognitive Reserve and Brain Reserve, you may be asking yourself, "What exactly is my Cognitive (or Brain) Reserve?"
The cognitive reserve hypothesis, tested in multiple studies, states that individuals with more cognitive reserve can experience more Alzheimer’s disease pathology in the brain (more plaques and tangles) without developing Alzheimer’s disease symptoms.
How does that ...
In other words, may some foods be specifically good for brain function?
For a great in-depth review of the effects of food on the brain you can check out Fernando Gomez-Pinilla’s recent article in Nature Reviews Neuroscience (reference below). Here is an overview of the state off the research.
Several components of diet seem to have a positive effect on brain function.
Omega-3 ...
What is mental self rotation? It is the ability to imagine yourself in different locations in space and imagine your body moving in space. This is an ability that is used in different everyday activities such as navigating in an environment or reading a map.
- Ability involved: egocentric spatial transformations (yes, that is the scientific expression) or mental self rotation.
- ...
We have all heard about children who have Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD). Indeed, this condition seems to affect 5 to 8% of school age children. Have you ever wondered what happen to these children? As many as 60% of them become adults presenting AD/HD symptoms! Ron de Graaf and colleagues recently published a study in which they found that an ...
Have you heard of or read John Ratey's book “Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and The Brain
”? According to Harvard Psychiatry Professor John Ratey nothing beats exercise for promoting brain heath.
I am sure you ...
How many differences can you spot?
You have seen and maybe tried that exercise or game in the Sunday paper many times: find 5 differences between the two images.
You may like it or not. You may think it is only for kids. But it is a GREAT brain exercise!
Let’s see what cognitive processes and which brain areas are involved in this ...
A recent scientific study is being welcomed as a landmark that shows how fluid intelligence can be improved through training. I interviewed one of the researchers recently (Can Intelligence Be Trained? Martin Buschkuehl shows how), and contributor Dr. Pascale Michelon adds her own take with the ...
Language in the brain is processed in the temporal lobes. These are on the sides of your brain, next to you temples.
Different areas in the temporal lobe (mostly on the left side of your brain) deal with different aspects of language. For instance, the Wernicke area is the one that allows you to understand words. The Broca area, on the ...
We human beings are social animals. It seems intuitive (even for introverts!) that social contact has benefits. Obviously we need other people to fulfill basic needs such making sure that our genes outlive. Maybe less obviously we seem to need other people to maintain 
adequate levels of ...
Boost your visuospatial skills and learn about your brain
-- By Dr. Pascale Michelon
Visuospatial skills are used everyday in many ways, ranging from going from one room to another in your house to solving a jigsaw puzzle and navigating in a new city. 
One specific visuospatial skill has to do ...
