Context: The Challenges of the Aging Society

The world is aging. This is occurring in two ways: through shifts in the age structure that will eventually lead to many more people reaching older ages than ever before, and through continued success in extending life. Less than 100 years ago, life expectancy was between 30 to 40 years. Today, close to 800 million citizens are 60 and over.

And aging in healthier ways. Aging has incorrectly been associated with decline and decay, when in fact many people live healthy into older ages. There has been a synchronous extension in life expectancy and quality of life - the average 65-year-old today is much healthier, physically and mentally, than the average 50-year-old of 100-150 years ago - when most existing institutions were envisioned and created.

Healthy life can be further extended with existing knowledge. The fact is the onset and progression of fatal and disabling diseases, disorders, and disability can be postponed using well-researched basic measures of public health, environmental and behavioural changes, and medical technology interventions. The same methods may be used to improve or maintain mental and physical functioning.

Our healthcare and retirement systems are on bankruptcy track - their premises are outdated. Existing institutions, policies and attitudes do not reflect the points outlined above, having been developed for a society that no longer exists. We need to get on the right track: aging populations represent potential resources that are currently untapped or underutilized.

The current disease-based research agenda compounds the problem: emerging biomedical research holds the promise of slowing down the biological processes of aging - thereby contributing to lower prevalence rates of a spectrum of diseases. Yet, given existing funding paradigms, there is not a well-integrated and funded research plan in place to drive the agenda.

Solution: Capturing the Longevity Dividend with a Healthy Aging Agenda

Getting our institutions and policies in the right track -given the growing extension of healthy life- can pay a series of economic, health, and other life course dividends. A course change can have a significant return on investment, and the absence of this course change will have a series of negative consequences globally. We need to capture the longevity dividend to benefit people of all ages, as well as older adults- stop thinking Burden, start thinking Human Capital to be maintained and deployed.

To capture this Longevity Dividend, we need to move the agenda forward in three complimentary areas:

1) Promote Healthy Lifestyles that help Maintain Physical and Cognitive Functional Abilities:

- Partner to Raise the Prevention Agenda: we need adopt a cross-sector life course approach to health promotion, engaging not only the health and insurance system but also the education system and the media sector. In healthcare, we need to integrate medical care and public health approaches to prevent and ameliorate chronic diseases and conditions - geriatric medicine offer a valuable template for health care redesign that would be beneficial for all.

- Invest in Lifelong Learning: investing in education at every point in the life course, encouraging life long learning.

2) Redesign Environments to Foster Health, Engagement and Financial Security:

- Redesign Retirement Policies: redesigning the current retirement paradigm through enhanced flexibility offers a win/ win/ win scenario - for employers, employees, and society at large.

- Provide opportunities for productive engagement: create new generative roles and a host of opportunities for productivity and engagement by elder adults. These would confer huge societal benefits on unmet global needs, and if designed correctly, will promote the health of an aging society. One example is the “experience corps” model.

- Redesign Cities: redesigning cities to support healthy aging and independence and engagement. One of the transitions that will take place is that a significant portion of future cohorts will live in cities. Hence, we need to create necessary environments and transportations that will accommodate this trend.

3) Develop an integrated Healthy Aging Research Agenda: the disease-specific model needs to be supplemented by advancing research design to slow the biological processes of aging. We need to raise and integrate resources to invest in research for innovation in new social experiments, retirement and pension policies that work, continuum of living circumstances that encourage living in place, development of enhancements that encourage physical and cognitive functioning, basic biological research on aging, all built on a strong social compact.

There are 2 promising areas to start moving this agenda forward:

1) Propose a new Millennium Development goal: Include these pressing issues as one of the Millennium Development Goals, optimizing a full healthy life course and harnessing the opportunities of an aging world, including building effective approaches.

2) Propose a Healthy Aging agenda for Global 2000 companies: in partnership with the appropriate Councils, suggest research-based practices and policies: - Health promotion in the work place.
- Flexible retirement policies.
- Defining new roles for older adults and civic engagement.
- Invest in life long learning.
- Develop new technologies, products and services for an underserved, and growing, market.

Now, your turn:  can you help define the challenges and outline the solutions?

Part of what makes Doidge’s writing so accessible is he tells stories, and his stories just happen to incorporate brain science. As a result, his book is easy to digest. The neuroscience behind Doidge’s book involves neuroplasticity, which is the brain’s ability to rewire itself. This means that the brain – our intelligence – is not something fixed in concrete but rather a changing, learning entity. On the face of it, this concept should not sound unusual, for it is what happens to individuals all the time as we go about the learning process, from infancy onwards.

What separates the stories in this book from daily learning is that the brains in question have been damaged in some form or other. Each tale is inspirational in that the individuals are able to overcome substantial, life-altering events, such as severe illness and stroke, in part thanks to the research of visionary scientists and doctors who developed methods and tools to facilitate neuroplasticity.

Neuroplasticity
The catchy phrase behind neuroplasticity is “neurons that fire together wire together”. The idea is that when two events (neurons firing) occur in the brain at the same time, the events (neurons) become associated with one another, and the neuronal connections (wiring) become stronger.

For many years, it was thought that each area of the brain had its own responsibilities; in other words, certain functions were localized or hardwired to certain brain areas. If something is hardwired then it is fixed and not capable of change.

However, while certain areas of the brain do tend to be responsible for specific functions, since the brain is plastic, areas overlap and even can co-opt one another’s functions. Initial maps drawn of our mental system turn out to be not as static as originally thought. If one pathway gets blocked, the brain is very good at finding alternative pathways.

As with any pathway, the more a particular path is used, the more ingrained it becomes, and pathways near one another become associated with each other. If a path is underutilized, over time it will be co-opted by other pathways that are branching out and need more space.

Hence, plasticity can be summed up in a few succinct statements all from chapter three – Redesigning the brain:

- Neurons that fire together wire together.

- Neurons that wire apart fire apart.
This is also stated as Neurons out of sync fail to link.

- Use it or lose it.

The Scientists
Doidge includes stories of the neuroscientists, among them Paul Bach-y-Rita, who pioneered the idea of “polysensory”. Polysensory refers to the sensory areas of the brain, which rather than only processing information from just the senses that normally report to those areas, are actually able to process information from any of the senses.

Michael Merzenich, a developer of the cochlear implant and founder of Posit Science, is another of the scientists noted by Doidge. Merzenich says that “You cannot have plasticity in isolation…it’s an absolute impossibility. (and Doidge continues) His experiments have shown that if one brain system changes, those systems connected to it change as well.”

Following on his heels is Edward Taub, who established constraint induced therapy, an alternative therapy for individuals felled by stroke. Taub’s research supported Merzenich’s findings that “when a brain map is not used, the brain can reorganize itself so that another mental function takes over that processing space.”

Alvaro Pascual-Leone’s experiments began with looking at what happens in the minds of those who read Braille, and transitioned to looking at how “our thoughts can change the material structure of our brains.” His goal was “to test whether mental practice and imagination in fact lead to physical changes.” This is, indeed, what happens when athletes use visualization to help prepare for sports trials.

In the last quarter of Doidge’s book, which is equally interesting for the clarification of theories, he discusses the work of Eric Kandel, Sigmund Freud, Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Jordan Grafman, and several other scientists who are exploring neuroplasticity.

My Take-Aways
I see plasticity and metacognition as closely entwined. This combination of knowing that intelligence is not fixed and thus you can change it, and knowing how you learn, is immensely positive and powerful, and has huge implications for students of any age. I translate this to students who struggle with learning issues, and aging adults who fear their brains will fade. I also think it is important for teachers to understand the concept of brain plasticity, as a means for no longer pigeon holing students.

Of course, we take away from an author’s writing what we want or need to learn. As a provider of professional development to faculty, the final lesson I take from Doidge’s book is the power of multifaceted professional development to foster neuroplasticity in adults, and therefore enhance their creativity. I take the message that most of us have the ability to break out of habits and to learn something new, and each time we do this, it strengthens our ability to do it the next time!
Further Information
For more about Norman Doidge:

• interview on The Brain Science Podcast and Blog with Ginger Campbell

For more about some of the neuroscientists mentioned by Doidge:

• Edward Taub’s Revolutionary Approach to Stroke Rehabilitation – interview on the Brain Science Podcast
• Mixed Feelings – Wired Science’s video article on Paul Bach y Rita’s research
• Scientific American Frontiers: Changing Your Mind – The Sight of Touch story of Alvaro Pascual-Leone’s experiments

For more on brain plasticity and learning:

• Brain Plasticity: How learning changes your brain
• Neuroscience Interview Series: interviews with over 15 brain scientists on how to direct the property of neuroplasticity.

-- Laurie Bartels writes the Neurons Firing blog to create for herself the "the graduate course I’d love to take if it existed as a program". She is the K-8 Computer Coordinator and Technology Training Coordinator at Rye Country Day School in Rye, New York. She is also the organizer of Digital Wave annual summer professional development, and a frequent attendee of Learning & The Brain conferences.

Well, as a teacher of such kids when they reach college, I am not impressed. College students these days have short attention spans and have trouble concentrating. They got this way in secondary school. I see this in the middle-school outreach program I help run. At this age kids are really wrapped up in multi-tasking―at the expense of focus.

According to a Kaiser Family Foundation study last year, school kids in all grades beyond the second grade committed, on average, more than six hours per day to TV or videos, music, video games, and computers. Almost one-third reported that "most of the time" they did their homework while chatting on the phone, surfing the Web, sending instant messages, watching TV, or listening to music.

Kids think that this entertainment while studying helps their learning. It probably does make learning less tedious, but it clearly makes learning less efficient and less effective. Multi-tasking violates everything we know about how memory works. Now we have objective scientific evidence that multi-tasking impairs learning. A recent National Academy of Sciences study with college-age students (Reference #1 below) did an experiment where the subjects were to learn a task under two conditions, one with no distractions and the other while listening to high- and low-tone beeps, attending to the high ones. The total amount of learning was the superficially the same in both conditions, but with distractions, the learning was stereotyped and learners had difficulty in applying what they learned to other contexts and situations. The study also used functional MRI (fMRI) to assess brain activity under test conditions. The imaging data indicated that the memory task and the distraction stimuli engage different parts of the brain and that these regions probably compete with each other.

The study did not address the issue of passive distraction, such as listening to music while studying. I think that music can also be a major distraction, except for certain kinds of music played under muted conditions (see my book Thank You, Brain, For All You Remember. What You Forgot Was My Fault, pages 47, 165, and 197, Reference #2 below) .

One reason that multi-tasking interferes with memory is that the brain really does not multi-task. It just fools you into thinking so, and the way the brain does handle multiple tasks makes it hard to remember anything.

Brains Can’t Reall Multi-task

Our brain works hard to fool us into thinking it can do more than one thing at a time. It can't. Recent MRI studies at Vanderbilt (#3) prove that the brain is not built for good multi-tasking. When trying to do two things at once, the brain temporarily shuts down one task while trying to do the other. In the study, even doing something as simple as pressing a button when an image is flashed caused a delay in brain operation. MRI images showed that a central bottleneck occurred when subjects were trying to do two things at once, such as pressing the appropriate computer key in response to hearing one of eight possible sounds and uttering an appropriate verbal response when seeing images. Activity in the brain that was associated with each task was prioritized, showing up first in one brain area and then in the other ― not in both areas simultaneously. In other words, the brain only worked on one task at a time, postponing the second task and deceiving the subjects into thinking they were working on both tasks simultaneously. The delay between switching functions was as long as a second. It is highly likely, though not yet studied, that the delays and confusion magnify with increases in the number of different things one tries to do simultaneously.

So what has this got to do with memory? Well, if you try to memorize the first task and the brain immediately switches to the second task, performance of the second task interferes with consolidation of the memory of the first task. In my earlier article on memory consolidation, I explained how early memory is vulnerable to interference and must be protected from distractions and new information in order for the memory to be made permanent. Likewise, there are proactive effects wherein what you learn on the first task can interfere with learning on the second. All these problems are compounded if there are three or more tasks in a “multi-tasking” experience.

Multi-tasking and School Performance

A study of 517 California high-school students found that grades were lower in those who socially interacted via MySpace, instant messaging (IM) accounts, or who used cell phones. In the study (4), students answered a questionnaire on what social networking devices they used and when they used them. The answers were paired with the grades (from the previous year and the most recent report card).

In this study, 72% of the students had a My Space account, 76% had a cell phone, and 68% had an IM address. Those who had a MySpace account had significantly lower grades than those without an account. The same was true for those that used IM, compared with those who did not. Cell phone use was also associated with lower grades and the effect was magnified if text messaging was used on cell phones. Not surprisingly, if these devices were used during homework, the grades were even lower than for students who used these technologies outside of homework. Almost half reported text messaging during class time, and their grades were lower than the students who only used IM outside of class.

These are correlational data and do not prove that using these devices causes lower grades. But it is a good bet. Multi-tasking, as when using the communication devices while trying to do homework or learn in class, can be expected to interfere with memory. Poor memory yields lower grades.

--- W. R. (Bill) Klemm, D.V.M., Ph.D. Scientist, professor, author, speaker As a professor of Neuroscience at Texas A&M University, Bill has taught about the brain and behavior at all levels, from freshmen, to seniors, to graduate students to post-docs. His recent books include Thank You, Brain, For All You Remember. What You Forgot Was My Fault and Core Ideas in Neuroscience.

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Refererences

- #1 Foerde, K., Knowlton, Barbara J., and Poldrack, Russell A. 2006. Modulation of competing memory systems by distraction. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 103: 11778-11783.
- #2 Klemm, W. R. 2004. Thank You Brain for All You Remember. What You Forgot Was My Fault. Benecton Press. 312 pages.
- #3 Dux, P. E., Ivanoff, J., Asplund, C. LO., and Marois, R. 2007. Isolation of a Central Bottleneck of Information Processing with Time-Resolved fMRI. Neuron. 52 (6): 1109-1120
- #4 Pierce, Tamyra, and Vaca, Roberto. 2007. Distracted: academic performance differences between teen users of MySpace and other communication technologies. Proceedings EISTA. Orlando, FL. July. http://www.cyber-inf.org/imsci2007/Program/html/program-5.htm

- "There is a growing number of studies that show the importance of interaction between our genes and each of our environments. Epigenetics is going to help us understand that question better, but let me share a very interesting piece of research from my lab where we found an unusual interaction between genetics and parenting."

- "Good parenting, as measured by different research-based scales, has been shown to build good effortful control which, as we saw earlier, is so important. Now, what we found is that some specific genes reduced, even eliminated, the influence of the quality of parenting. In other words, some children's development really depends on how their parents bring them up, whereas others do not - or do to a much smaller extent."

Now check out this fascinating article in the Economist:Domestication and intelligence in dogs and wolves | Not so dumb animals

- "Monique Udell of the University of Florida ... wondered whether learning rather than evolution explained his observations. Her team therefore worked with a mixture of pet dogs, dogs from animal shelters that had had minimal interaction with people, and wolves raised by humans."

- "As they report in Animal Behaviour, the wolves outperformed both shelter dogs and pets. Indeed, six of the eight wolves followed human gestures perfectly in more than eight out of ten trials. Only three of eight pets were as successful as that and, as with Dr Hare’s wolves, none of the shelter dogs performed better than chance. Far from being dumb, then, wolves are smarter than dogs. You just have to bring 'em up proper."

Which raises the obvious questions:

- isn't "intelligence" more about "adaptability to new environments" more than about IQ (IQ can be an important factor in adapting to specific environments, say, engineering)?

- why do we keep talking about nature vs. nurture, when they are obviously complimentary processes? time to focus on how to "bring 'em up proper"...and even how to "bring ourselves up proper"

As mentioned in the post Richard Dawkins and Alfred Nobel: beyond nature and nurture, Dawkins says in his great book "The Selfish Gene" that:

- "We have at least the mental equipment to foster our long-term selfish interests rather than merely our short-term ones...We have the power to defy the selfish genes of our birth and, if necessary, the selfish memes of our indoctrination. We can even discuss ways of deliberately cultivating and nurturing pure, disinterested altruism-something that has no place in nature, something that has never existed before in the whole history of the world."

Dr. Posner, many thanks for your time today. I really enjoyed the James Arthur Lecture monograph on Evolution and Development of Self-Regulation that you delivered last year. Could you provide a summary of the research you presented?

I would emphasize that we human beings can regulate our thoughts, emotions, and actions to a greater degree than other primates. For example, we can choose to pass up an immediate reward for a larger, delayed reward.

We can plan ahead, resist distractions, be goal-oriented. These human characteristics appear to depend upon what we often call "self-regulation." What is exciting these days is that progress in neuroimaging and in genetics make it possible to think about self-regulation in terms of specific brain-based networks.

Can you explain what self-regulation is?

All parents have seen this in their kids. Parents can see the remarkable transformation as their children develop the ability to regulate emotions and to persist with goals in the face of distractions. That ability is usually labeled ‘‘self-regulation.’’

The other main area of your research is attention. Can you explain the brain-basis for what we usually call "attention"?

I have been interested in how the attention system develops in infancy and early childhood.

One of our major findings, thanks to neuroimaging, is that there is not one single "attention", but three separate functions of attention with three separate underlying brain networks: alerting, orienting, and executive attention.
1) Alerting: helps us maintain an Alert State.

2) Orienting: focuses our senses on the information we want. For example, you are now listening to my voice.

3) Executive Attention: regulates a variety of networks, such as emotional responses and sensory information. This is critical for most other skills, and clearly correlated with academic performance. It is distributed in frontal lobes and the cingulate gyrus.

The development of executive attention can be easily observed both by questionnaire and cognitive tasks after about age 3–4, when parents can identify the ability of their children to regulate their emotions and control their behavior in accord with social demands.

"Executive attention" sounds similar to executive functions.

Executive functions are goal-oriented. Executive attention is just the ability to manage attention towards those goals, towards planning.

Both are clearly correlated. Executive attention is important for decision-making (how to accomplish an external goal) and with working memory (the temporary storage of information). For example, given that you said earlier that you liked my monograph,  I have been thinking of the subheadings and sections there as I provide you my answers, using my working memory capacity.

You said that each of the three functions of attention are supported by separate neural networks.

Neuroimaging allows us to identify sets of distributed areas that operate together. Different techniques allow us to see different things. For example, fMRI lets us see the activation of areas of grey matter. A more recent technique, diffusion tensor, is focused instead on the white matter. It detects connectivity among neurons, it helps us see a map of networks.

How many networks have been identified so far?

So far, a number of networks have been identified. For an illustration, you can see the wonderful interactive Brain Map by the University of Texas, San Antonio (Note: http://www.brainmap.org/).

Let me mention another fascinating area of research. There is a type of neuron, named the Von Economo neuron, which is found only in the anterior cingulate and a related area of the anterior insula, very common in humans, less in other primates, and completely absent in most non-primates.  These neurons have long axons, connecting to the anterior cingulate and anterior insula, which we think is part of the reason why we have Executive Attention. Diffusion tensor allows us to identify this white matter, these connections across separate brain structures, in the live brain. From a practical point of view, we can think that neural networks like this are what enable specific human traits such as effortful control.

What is effortful control?

It is a higher-order temperament factor consisting of attention, focus shifting, and inhibitory control - both for children and adults. A common example is how often you may make plans that you do not follow through with. A test often used to measure executive attention is the Stroop Test (you can try it here). Effortful control has been shown to correlate with the scores on executive attention at several ages during childhood, and imaging studies have linked it to brain areas involved in self-regulation.

Good parenting has been shown to build good effortful control, so there are clear implications from this research.

Tell us now about your recent research on attention training

Several training programs have been successful in improving attention in normal adults and in patients suffering from different pathologies. With normal adults, training with video games produced better performance on a range of visual attention tasks. Training has also led to specific improvements in executive attention in patients with specific brain injury. Working-memory training can improve attention with ADHD children.

In one recent study we developed and tested a 5-day training intervention using computerized exercises. We tested the effect of training during the period of major development of executive attention, which takes place between 4 and 7 years of age.

We found that executive attention was trainable, and also a significantly greater improvement in intelligence in the trained group compared to the control children. This finding suggested that training effects had generalized to a measure of cognitive processing that is far removed from the training exercises.

A collaborator of our lab, Dr. Yiyuan Tang, studied the impact of mindfulness meditation with undergrads to improve exec attention, finding significant improvements as well. We hope that training method like this will be further evaluated, along with other methods, both as possible means of improving attention prior to school and for children and adults with specific needs.

Can you explain the potential implications of this emerging research on Education and Health?

It is clear that executive attention and effortful control are critical for success in school. Will they one day be trained in pre-schools? It sounds reasonable to believe so, to make sure all kids are ready to learn. Of course, additional studies are needed to determine exactly how and when attention training can best be accomplished and its lasting importance.

In terms of health, many deficits and clinical problems have a component of serious deficits in executive attention network. For example, when we talk about attention deficits, we can expect that in the future there will be remediation methods, such as working memory training, to help alleviate those deficits.

Let me add that we have found no ceiling for abilities such as attention, including among adults. The more training, even with normal people, the higher the results.

Let me ask your take on that eternal question, the roles of nature and nurture.

There is a growing number of studies that show the importance of interaction between our genes and each of our environments. Epigenetics is going to help us understand that question better, but let me share a very interesting piece of research from my lab where we found an unusual interaction between genetics and parenting.

Good parenting, as measured by different research-based scales, has been shown to build good effortful control which, as we saw earlier, is so important. Now, what we found is that some specific genes reduced, even eliminated, the influence of the quality of parenting. In other words, some children's development really depends on how their parents bring them up, whereas others do not - or do to a much smaller extent.

Too bad that we do not have time now to explore all the potential ethical implications from emerging research like that...let me ask a few final questions. First, given that we have been talking both about formal training programs (computer-based, meditation) and also informal ones (parenting), do we know how formal and informal learning interact? what type can be most effective when, and for whom?

Great question. We don't know at this point. A research institute in Seattle, funded by the National Science Foundation, is trying to address that question. One practical issue they address is the influence of bilingual education on cognition.

How can SharpBrains readers access the computer-based attention training program you talked about earlier?

Researchers and parents can download the program, which is aimed at kids aged 4 to 6. The computerized exercises are available on www.teach-the-brain.org. Click on learning tools and follow attention.
Finally, what can we expect from your lab in the next years?

We will hear soon if we obtain the NIH proposal to train children at age 5 and then follow-up over the years, compared to a control group. The program I mentioned earlier showed good short-term results, but we would like to track those kids over time and see what happens. For example, we will examine whether or not an early intervention might translate into a "snowball effect" of higher levels of cognitive and school performance.

References:

- Tang, Y., Ma, Y., Wang, J., Fan, Y., Feng, S., Lu, Q., et al. (2007). Short-term meditation training improves attention and self-regulation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 104(43), 17152-17156.

-Rueda, M.R., Rothbart, M.K.. & Saccamanno, L. & Posner, M.I. (2005) Training,maturation and genetic influences on the development of executive attention. Proc.U.S Nat'l Acad of Sciences 102, 14931-14936.

- Rueda, M.R., Posner, M.I., & Rothbart,M.K. (2005) The development of executive attention: contributions to the emergence of self regulation. Developmental Neuropsychology 28, 573-594.

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Philosophy as the Missing Link – An Eye-Opening Audit of Our School’s Curriculum
By: Kimberly Wickham

The question might be asked, “Why would anyone want to teach philosophy to pre-adolescent children?” but there are very good reasons why one might want to take on such a lofty task. I am not suggesting that the history of philosophy would be particularly pertinent for a young child to learn, but there is substantial evidence to support the development of an already natural tendency towards philosophical thought. Some may think that the pre-adolescents haven’t got the cognitive developmental ability to wrap their minds around such an elusive and subjective study as philosophy. However, developing this skill has shown long term positive effects. These effects range from developing critical thinking skills and cognitive ability to raising emotional maturity and encouraging the child’s sense of security within his or her world.

For years there has been an emphasis on cognitive and physical aspects of children’s development, but recently more attention is being placed on both the social and emotional aspects of a child’s development. It is becoming recognized that a child’s emotional maturity has a big impact on their ability to learn and process information. While that, at first blush, may seem an obvious conclusion there is a little more to the story. A child’s emotional maturity and self esteem has a significant impact on his or her behavior as well. An increasing number of children are being identified as needing additional learning strategies and showing challenging behaviors. Education systems are struggling to find creative methods to address these needs before the problems arise.

It is recognized that a child’s ability to learn depends on how advanced they are at managing personal and social tasks. Their work suffers when they are incapable of coping effectively with important skills such as the ability to be aware of other’s feelings, manage relationships and be part of a social community. Encouraging philosophical thought and developing critical thinking skills in pre-adolescent children provides a foundation for cognitive, social and emotional skills to flourish.

Children continually ask philosophical questions without prompting, such as: “If I squeeze my eyes shut really tightly and I can’t see where I am, does that make where I am become somewhere else?” As adults used to navigating the world in our current understanding of reality we answer these types of questions following the strict rules of our present view, but it might be far more useful to the child to encourage examination of the question. For example an appropriate response might be, “What do you think about that?” Further discussion can take place when the child has had a chance to explore their own opinions and ideas about their physical reality, for example.

A pre-adolescent child may not move as fast and furiously through this type of metaphysical analysis as a college student but they certainly do have the cognitive ability to use this type of critical thinking to expand their thinking processes. So what is meant by ‘critical thinking’ exactly? The American Philosophical Association’s Committee on Pre-College Philosophy describes it as “…purposeful, self-regulatory judgment which results in interpretation, analysis, evaluation, and inference, as well as explanation of the evidential, conceptual, methodological, criteriological, or contextual considerations upon which that judgment is based…” (Facione 1989)

But for those of us looking for a simpler explanation it is essentially the ability to use reasonably reflective, focused thinking to decide what to believe and do. Children need to be encouraged to reflect carefully on their own beliefs and be encouraged to explore other points of view. Philosophy encourages children to learn to think independently as well as think and discuss with others. In order to gain the most advantage children need to be able to engage in open classroom discussions on an ongoing basis. By mastering this type of thinking the child develops deeper emotional literacy and learns to create a more thoughtful and purposeful life.

On another level philosophical discussion can be used to develop a deeper understanding of ethics. Dr. Stephen Law, a senior lecturer in Philosophy at Heathrop College, University of London explains the skills that are cultivated in such discussions as the following:

* reveal and question underlying assumptions
* figure out the perhaps unforeseen consequences of a moral decision or point of view
* spot and diagnose faulty reasoning
* weigh up evidence fairly and impartially
* make a point clearly and concisely
* take turns in a debate, and listen attentively without interrupting
* argue without personalizing a dispute
* look at issues from the point of view of others
* question the appropriateness, or the appropriateness of acting on, one’s own feelings

He goes on to say, “Acquiring these skills involves developing, not just a level of intellectual maturity, but a fair degree of emotional maturity too. For example, turn-taking requires patience and self-control. Judging impartially involves identifying and taking account of your own emotional biases. By thinking critically and carefully about your own beliefs and attitudes, you may develop insights into your own character. By stepping outside of your own viewpoint and looking at issues from the standpoint of another, you can develop a greater empathy with and understanding of others. So by engaging in this kind of philosophical, critical activity, you are likely to develop, not only the ability to reason cogently, but also what now tends to be called “emotional intelligence.” (Law 2007)

In order to gain the most advantage, children need to be able to engage in open classroom discussions on an ongoing basis. As a teacher of pre-adolescent children I have had the opportunity to witness these discussions taking place spontaneously. In most instances I have been able to set aside the particular lesson that might have been planned for the time and let the free-wheeling philosophical discussion go on with minimal but well-timed guidance. Although it would have been ideal to have had time set aside on a daily basis for such discussion there is a fair amount of pressure from the already demanding curriculum, thereby restricting the frequency of these critically important discussions.

As a writer of philosophy for children, I give examples within my stories of my characters exploring deep philosophical questions in an alternate school setting as well as in every day events. It is my hope that when children read my stories they will have a sparked interest in exploring the deeper questions of life with their families and perhaps even instigate such discussions within their classrooms. I also have great hope that the educational systems currently in place will take a closer look at the benefit of adding philosophical discussions to their curriculums. This would provide an opportunity to advance the world’s development by populating it with emotionally intelligent and critically inquisitive minds.

-- Kimberly Wickham is the author of Angels and Horses and Summer of Magic Horses.

Executive Summary

A spate of recent global news coverage on brain fitness and brain training reflects a growing interest in natural, non drug-based interventions to keep our brains sharp as we age. This interest is very timely, given an aging population, increasing prevalence of Alzheimer’s rates, and soaring health care costs in the US that place more emphasis than ever on prevention and lifestyle changes.

US brain fitness market: significant and growing

We estimate the size of the US brain fitness market was $225m in 2007 – more than double what it was in 2005. Whereas K12 school systems were the largest buyers in 2005, consumers were responsible for most of the growth from 2005 to 2007. We estimate that the consumer segment grew from a few million in 2005 to $80m in 2007, and foresee significant market growth driven not only by consumers but also by healthcare and insurance providers.

Market dynamics

As we speak to diverse audiences about this emerging field around the country we are frequently asked the following questions:

- Why are we talking about the brain fitness field at all?

Over the past decade, teams backed by neuroscientists around the world from the U.S. to Japan, Israel, and Sweden have been developing brain fitness software products with commercial applications. Since 2005, the market for brain fitness software products has grown significantly. One of the companies that has perhaps done the most to spark the commercial adoption of brain fitness products is Nintendo with its Brain Age and Brain Training games. Nintendo has shipped millions of copies globally since its launch in 2005. Less visible is the growing number of developers that are bringing to market brain fitness products with more solid clinical validation.

- Who is buying these brain fitness software products?

We see four key customer segments purchasing commercialized brain fitness software products in the US: consumers (mostly adults over 50 looking for ways to protect their memory and prevent or delay dementia, as well as some younger adults); healthcare and insurance providers (ranging from hospitals to nursing homes and retirement communities seeking the latest treatments for their patients and members); K12 administrators (interested in applications that can help students with dyslexia and related learning difficulties); and Fortune 1000 companies, the military and sports teams (looking for advancements in productivity).

- Is there science behind the claims made by brain fitness software products? Do these products work?

It depends how “working” is defined. If “working” is defined as quantifiable short-term improvements after a number of weeks of systematic brain training to improve specific cognitive skills, then yes, a number of the brain fitness software programs do seem to work. If, on the other hand, “working” means measurable long-term benefits, such as better overall brain health as we age, or lower incidence of Alzheimer’s symptoms, then the answer is that circumstantial evidence suggests they may work. But, it is still too early to tell.

- What are the public policy implications?

Given the enormous benefits of widespread initiatives to help delay the onset of dementia in the aging US population, both in terms of quality of life for citizens and healthcare cost savings, the US government and healthcare community are watching these trends carefully. For example, the Center for Disease Control recently partnered with the Alzheimer’s Association to develop a comprehensive Cognitive Health roadmap to better guide research efforts and improve public education on the lifestyle habits that every proud owner of a brain could benefit from following.

Open questions

Since this is a new, rapidly growing field, we have many open questions about the industry, which will only be clarified with time:

- Will consumer behavior change to adopt preventive brain exercises that take more time and effort than swallowing a pill? If so, what is the profile of consumers who are most likely to change their lifestyle? Even if brain fitness has no side effects, will users show the commitment required to see results?

- How can consumers and executives assess which cognitive priorities require most attention and track progress due to brain training? Where can they turn for quality information and education to navigate through the emerging research and the overwhelming number of new programs – to separate the hype from the reality? In the absence of clear biomarkers, will cognitive assessments become commonplace as objective baselines?

- What business model and offering will succeed? Software product sales? Online subscriptions? Fun games with unproven brain benefits? Programs that improve the mental skills involved in specific activities, such as driving? Applications that help slow down the progression from Mild Cognitive Impairment to full-blown Alzheimer’s symptoms? Is this content-driven “edutainment”?

- Will therapeutic applications be regulated by the FDA?

- Will large-scale peer-reviewed research support a wider set of consumer applications?

Top three trends to watch: 2007-2015

What are some of the trends that anyone trying to understand this growing market should follow?

Here are some of our predictions that are expanded in Chapter 7:

- Brain fitness goes mainstream. An increased emphasis on brain fitness and maintenance will spread to retirement communities, gyms and health clubs. Will health clubs one day offer brain fitness programs, and perhaps “brain coaches” alongside rowing machines and step-masters? We think so.

- Leveraging better tools. Better and more widely available assessments of cognitive function will enable all of us to establish an objective baseline of how our minds are evolving, identify priorities for “workouts” and lifestyle interventions, and help us measure progress. Just as we find a variety of machines in health clubs today, in the future we can expect different programs tailored to train specific cognitive skills. New and improved computer-based brain fitness tools will come to market, and low tech options will also provide great value. There is more and more research on how meditation and cognitive therapy, to mention two examples, can be effective in literally rewiring parts of the brain.

- A growing ecosystem around those tools, including widespread incentives to use brain fitness products. For example, insurance companies will introduce incentives for members who want to follow brain fitness programs and companies will offer brain fitness training programs to attract and retain mature workers who want access to the best and the latest innovations to keep their minds sharp.

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The State of the Brain Fitness Software Market 2008

-- Published March 11th, 2008 (click Here to learn more and acquire your copy) 

This 87-page report is the first to define the brain fitness software market, summarize the science behind brain plasticity and cognitive training, and analyze the size and trends of its four customer segments: consumers, healthcare & insurance providers, K12 school systems, and fortune 1000 companies, military, and sports teams.

The report tracks developments at over 20 public and private companies offering tools to assess and train brain functions and provides important industry data, insights and analysis to help investors, executives, entrepreneurs, and policy makers navigate the opportunities and risks of this rapidly growing market. The report discusses the implications of cognitive science on healthy aging and a number of disorders such as attention deficits, dyslexia, stroke and traumatic brain injury, schizophrenia, autism, mild cognitive impairment, and Alzheimer’s disease. The report also provides information and frameworks to help institutional buyers make informed purchase decisions about brain fitness programs.

Report Highlights
Table of Contents
List of Figures
Companies Included
End Notes
Endorsements

The companies included in the report are:

Advanced Brain Technologies

Applied Cognitive Engineering

Brain Resource Company

BrainTrain

CNS Vital Signs

Cogmed

CogniFit

Cognitive Drug Research

Cogstate

Dakim

Gemstone

Houghton Mifflin

Lexia Learning

Lumos Labs

MyBrainTrainer

Nintendo

NovaVision

Posit Science

Scientific Brain Training

Scientific Learning

TeachTown

You can click Here to learn more and acquire your copy. 

This is a book for both teachers and parents (because parents are also teachers!) Written with the earnestness of first-person experience and reflection, and a lifetime of expertise in biology, Zull makes a well-rounded case for his ideas. He offers those ideas for your perusal, providing much supporting evidence, but he doesn’t try to ram them into your psyche. Rather, he practices what he preaches by engaging you with stories, informing you with fact, and encouraging your thinking by the way he posits his ideas.

I have read a number of books that translate current brain research into practice while providing practical suggestions for teachers to implement. This is the first book I have read that provides a biological, and clearly rational, overview of learning and the brain. Zull provokes you into thinking about his ideas, about your own teaching practice, and ultimately, what it means to learn.

Zull doesn’t lecture here; rather, he discusses his ideas so you can follow their progression. The impetus for his ideas stem from David Kolb’s 1984 book, Experiential Learning. Kolb's model contains four portions:

• - engaging in a concrete experience
• - following it with reflective observation
• - developing an abstract conceptualization based upon the reflection
• - actively experimenting based upon the abstract

Kolb's model, like Zull's, is a cycle, and therefore it is possible to jump in at any point in the process. Zull takes Kolb's model and provides the biology.

Zull's conclusion is that:

Teaching is the art of changing the brain.

Zull spends the bulk of the 250 pages exploring the biology and practice behind “creating conditions that lead to change in a learner’s brain.” He provides a list of ten strategies (page 129), based upon the biology of the brain, which can help in making those changes. These strategies apply to parents who are trying to parent, as well as to our own learning process, for ideally we are all life-long learners.

1. Watch for inherent networks (natural talents) and encourage their practice.
2. Repeat, repeat, repeat!
3. Arrange for “firing together.” Associated things should happen together.
4. Focus on sensory input that is “errorless.”
5. Don’t stress mistakes. Don’t reinforce neuronal networks that aren’t useful.
6. Try to understand existing networks and build on them. Nothing is new.
7. Misconnected networks are most often just incomplete. Try to add to them.
8. Be careful about resurrecting old networks; error dies hard.
9. Construct metaphors and insist that your students build their own metaphors.
10. Use analogies and similes, too.

From my own teaching experience, I know these strategies are well worth utilizing. However, implementing them may not always be so easy due to constraints of typical class schedules (insufficient time) or class sizes (too many students), or ingrained habits (for example, viewing mistakes through a negative lens). However, I believe these strategies can aid students in learning about how they learn and engaging in metacognition. In the final analysis, if students understand how they learn, they can take responsibility for their own learning, thus changing their brains through their own efforts.

This is a book that can be read comfortably, and you will progress through the four stages of the learning cycle as you take in the words and ideas (gathering data), reflect on how they can impact yours and your student’s teaching and learning process (reflection), consider how you might alter something about what you do (create an hypotheses), and try out that idea (active testing). Of course, trying out your idea will lead to a new experience, which you will take in and reflect on, perhaps causing you to make a change … And the cycle continues.

For more about James Zull:

- James Zull in his own words – New Horizons for Learning article: What is “The Art of Changing the Brain?”, May 2003
- SharpBrains interview with James Zull: An ape can do this. Can we not?, October 2006

For more about David Kolb:

- Kolb’s faculty page at Case Western

Laurie Bartels writes the Neurons Firing blog to create for herself the "the graduate course I’d love to take if it existed as a program". She is the K-8 Computer Coordinator and Technology Training Coordinator at Rye Country Day School in Rye, New York. She is also the organizer of Digital Wave annual summer professional development, and a frequent attendee of Learning & The Brain conferences.

abstract conceptualization, active testing, analogies, Biology, brain function, brain research, Case Western Reserve University, David Kolb, Education, experience, Experiential Learning, hypotheses, innovation, James Zull, learn, learning cycle, metacognition, metaphors, networks, neuronal networks, observation, parents, practice, reflection, strategies, teachers, teaching]]> http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/10/06/teaching-is-the-art-of-changing-the-brain/feed/ http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/09/30/newsletter-navigating-games-for-health-and-education/ http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/09/30/newsletter-navigating-games-for-health-and-education/#comments Tue, 30 Sep 2008 23:56:29 +0000 Alvaro Fernandez Uncategorized Education Health & Wellness Brain Fitness NewsletterAlzheimers Australiabaseline testingbrain coachesbrain fitness gymbrain fitness programbrain fitness programsBrain gamesbrain researchBrain teasersBrain Trainingcognitive benefitsgames for educationGames for Healthgerontologygerontology and brainLeadershipLearning and Teaching ScotlandLogic Puzzleslong term careneuropsychological testingnintendo brain trainingPosit Sciencepublic healthSerious GamesSocial Intelligencevideogameswellness coaches http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/09/30/newsletter-navigating-games-for-health-and-education/ Here you have the twice-a-month newsletter with our most popular blog posts. Please remember that you can subscribe to receive this Newsletter by email, simply by submitting your email at the top of this page.

Quick, Are videogames good or bad?

That's an impossible question. Good or bad for what? What  specific games are we talking about? More importantly, what are they substituting for, given time is a limited resource?  Contributor Jeremy Adam Smith, managing director of Greater Good magazine, offers an in-depth review on the trade-offs videogames present in: Playing the Blame Game.

News Round-Up

Math Innovation in UK Schools: a recent (and unpublished) study seems to support the potential role for "Serious Games" in education. Learning and Teaching Scotland reports significant improvements in pupils' concentration and behavior, on top of math skills, after using Nintendo Brain Training game.

Alzheimer's Australia endorses Posit Science programs: this announcement brings to surface a genuine public health dilemma - do you, as an association, promote programs before they have been shown to have long-term effects on Alzheimer's progression and prevalence, or do you wait until you have "perfect" research, and then perhaps lose 10-20-30 years or useful contribution to thousands/ millions of brain's Cognitive Reserves? In our judgment, it may well be worth offering options today, as long as they are accompanied by independent measurement of the cognitive benefits.

More September News: September has brought a wealth of additional worldwide media coverage on cognitive health and brain fitness topics, including the role of schools in nurturing student's executive functions, the importance of baseline neuropsychological testing in sports, the need for gerontology as a discipline to incorporate brain research, how walking can enhance brain function, and the value of brain fitness programs for long-term care operators.

Resources for Brain Fitness Navigation

Wellness Coaching for Brain Health and Fitness: will Wellness Coaches expand their role and become "Brain coaches"? We have partnered with Sutter Health Partners, the pioneering coaching group of a major health system, to train their wellness coaches on the implications of emerging brain research for their work: focus on the 4 pillars of brain health -balanced nutrition, physical exercise, stress management and mental exercise.


Evaluation Checklist for Organizations: many healthcare and education organizations are already making purchase decisions which involve evaluating different programs that make "brain training" or "cognitive health" claims. Here we present our 10-Question SharpBrains Checklist to help organizations make informed decisions.

Evaluation Checklist for Consumers: if you are an individual interested in programs for yourself and/ or a loved one, you can use this checklist. The starting point is to recognize that no program is a "magic pill" or "general solution", but a tool to be used in the appropriate context.

Learning to Lead, and To Think

Roundtable on Human Resources and Leadership: several bloggers discuss latest news around leadership, social intelligence, applications of brain research, and more.

Helping Young and Old Fish Learn How To Think: David Foster Wallace gave a masterful commencement speech on Life and Work to the 2005 graduating  class at Kenyon College.  Worth reading, with full attention.

Brain Teasers

Seven Brain teasers for Job Interviews: A recent CNN article explains why a growing number of technnology and consulting companies use brain teasers and logic puzzles of a type called “guesstimations” during job interviews. What are they looking for? Good executive functions. Here you have a few typical questions.

Enjoy!

Alzheimers Australia, baseline testing, brain coaches, brain fitness gym, brain fitness program, brain fitness programs, Brain games, brain research, Brain teasers, Brain Training, cognitive benefits, games for education, Games for Health, gerontology, gerontology and brain, Leadership, Learning and Teaching Scotland, Logic Puzzles, long term care, neuropsychological testing, nintendo brain training, Posit Science, public health, Serious Games, Social Intelligence, videogames, wellness coaches]]> http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/09/30/newsletter-navigating-games-for-health-and-education/feed/