Given the whole distracting “controversy” of whether Nintendo Brain Age “works” or not, I have started to use the following “brain teasers” in my talks in order to help the audience gain a more useful perspective of what is going on. They worked great both in the Medicare Readmissions Summit in DC a few weeks ago, and at the Games for Heath Conference last week.

Q: How many soldiers in the US Army have gone through computerized cognitive testing before being deployed, and why?
A: Over 150,000, in order to establish an objective starting baseline and identify potential Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) problems upon their return.

Q: How big is the ongoing investment by OptumHealth, a division of UnitedHealth Group (UNH), in developing computerized cognitive assessments to inform clinical decision-making?
A: over $6m.

Q: How many Allstate policy-holders over the age of 50 have received a computerized cognitive training program to improve their driving safety?
A: Over 8,000, in the state of Pennsylvania.

Q: How many residential communities are offering computerized cognitive training programs to their residents?
A: Over 700, in the US alone, covering independent and assisted living.

Q: How much money has the Government of Ontario invested in setting up a new Centre for Brain Fitness as part of Baycrest research center in order to develop and commercialize technologies to assess and enhance cognitive functions?
A: $10m, matched with another 10m from local investors.

For more on our Cognitive Health Track at Games for Health Conference last week, see this USA Today article:

More doctor’s prescriptions may include brain games to improve mental acuity

(pretty good overall, but please note that SharpBrains didn’t organize the whole conference, “only” the cognitive health track, which was a lot of stimulating fun. Ben Sawyer and team did overall conference).

Crisp CNN article:

Boom times for brain training games

Including my final quote “[Brain fitness] is not just some fad. The market is much deeper than Nintendo.”

The “brain fitness center” financed by Ontario is Baycrest. Companies mentioned: Mindfit, Posit Science, Nintendo, Allstate, BrainBuilder, MyBrainTrainer.

The reporter and I also discussed in depth the need for better consumer education and professional development, so people can make informed decisions, and for cognitive assessments to serve as independent baseline, help identify priorities and measure results. Please note that our market estimates do include revenues of computerized cognitive assessments, today mostly used in clinical trials, and wthin the military and sports teams.

Have you ever wondered how we can maintain SharpBrains website, blog and newsletter without selling any product and with only limited advertising? People often ask us that question, especially once we explain that we don’t sell products (selling products would present a conflict of interest given our mission to “provide individuals, companies and institutions with high-quality, research-based, information and guidance to navigate the growing cognitive and brain fitness market”.)

The answer is, we offer proprietary market research and advisory services to organizations such as these. They want to fully understand emerging Brain Fitness and Cognitive Health trends, opportunities and challenges, in order to make better-informed decisions. Examples:

- leading healthcare providers evaluating cognitive assessment and training options.
- universities and research centers trying to bridge brain research and practice.
- developers of technologies that help assess and/ or train cognitive functions who want a better view of market size, trends and the competitive landscape.
- consulting and training companies interested in understanding market trends to scope their own potential offerings.
- venture capital firms looking for investment ideas and due diligence on existing/ potential deals.

We chose to focus our efforts on providing quality market research and advisory services given the growing confusion in the marketplace and the need for an independent and qualified source of information, market data and best practices. The brain fitness software field (defined as software applications that help assess or train cognitive functions) is projected to exceed $2B by 2015, fueled by an increasing amount of applied research on neuroplasticity and cognition; a rapidly evolving marketplace of products making cognitive claims; and growing consumer and institutional demand. Large and small organizations are already taking the first steps to leverage those technologies.

We are now launching a new Premium Research Sponsors program to partner with pioneering organizations who want to collaborate with us to shape the future of Read the rest of this entry »

You know your weight. And your physical fitness. And a variety of health-related metrics.

What about your brain fitness?

Two recent announcements bring out how the assessment of cognitive abilities, or brain functions, is increasingly being done thanks to new computerized options:

1) Last week, OptumHealth announced an exclusive 3-year agreement (estimated at $18m) with the Australian company Brain Resource. OptumHealth will be embedding the Brain Resource platform into their overall Behavioral Solutions program.

- OptumHealth Behavioral Solutions will work with Brain Resource to provide clinicians with a Web-based assessment that measures general cognition (how people process information) and social cognition (how people manage their emotions). This 40-minute assessment is based on well-known and validated tests of memory, attention, executive function, and response speed, and mood, social skills and emotional resilience.

Read the rest of this entry »

A few colleagues referred me over the weekend to a very nice article at business publication Portfolio.

While the article does an excellent job at introducing the reader to the concept and promise of computerized cognitive assessments, it also contributes to the mythology of “Brain Age”.

Let’s first take a look at the article How Smart Are You: The business of assessing cognition and memory is moving from testing brain-impaired patients to assessing healthy peoples’ brains online.

A couple of quotes:

- “Cognitive Drug Research is one a handful of businesses, most of them outside of the U.S., that work with pharmaceutical companies to test how new drugs for everything from nicotine addiction to Alzheimer’s disease affect the mind’s ability to remember things, make decisions, and analyze information.”

- “Cognitive tests have been around for a century as examinations taken with paper and pencil. In the 1970s and ’80s the tests shifted to computers, Cognitive Drug Research founder Keith Wesnes says.

So far, so good. In fact, one of the key highlights from the market report we released in March was that “Large-scale, fully-automated cognitive assessments are being used in a growing number of clinical trials. This opens the way for the development of inexpensive consumer-facing, baseline cognitive assessments.” And we profiled a few leading companies in the space: Brain Resource Company, Cognitive Drug Research, CNS Vital Signs and CogState.

Now, the article is accompanied by a 5-7 minute quick test that promises to give us our “Brain Age”. And this doesn’t come from Nintendo, but from Cognitive Drug Research, a respected science-based company.

You can check it out Read the rest of this entry »

Growing media attention on the brain fitness field. At least on the “Healthy Aging” segment (I predict the media with catch up soon with developments in other areas, from cognitive training for kids and adults with ADD/ ADHD to stroke and TBI rehabilitation, to peak performance for corporate training).

First, a superb article by Leslie Walker at the Washington Post: Cross-Training Your Brain to Maintain Its Strength

Quotes: ”A growing body of research suggests that mental activity in middle age and earlier can help later in life. As a result, Web sites such as HappyNeuron.com are springing up to offer online games to people of all ages, while blogs like SharpBrains.com provide commentary on the fledgling industry.” (Note: we can also provide commentary on the commentary!)

“People who engage in very challenging tasks — not just in work but during leisure activities such as reading, crossword puzzles, bridge, chess and travel — tend to slow down their mental aging process very significantly,” says Breznitz, who is also a member of Israel’s legislature and has developed a brain-training program called MindFit.”

“Also contributing to the brain workout boom are state-of-the-art imaging techniques that have allowed scientists to validate a theory developed decades ago. By taking detailed pictures of brain neurons, scientists watch parts of the brain that had seemed dormant light up and assume new responsibilities in response to stimuli. Theoretically, this means brain decay can be halted or even reversed.”

“The brain is constantly rewiring and recalibrating itself in response to what you do,” says Henry Mahncke, who holds a PhD in neuroscience and is vice president of Posit Science, the San Francisco developer of the Brain Fitness software. “It remakes itself into a more efficient operation to do the things you ask it to do.”

Comments: the article touches many key points. I especially enjoy the quote “To be effective, scientists say mental activity must become progressively more challenging. Otherwise, the brain adjusts and learns to perform repetitive tasks with less effort”, a key message I make often in my lectures to explain why well-designed programs can be more effective than doing crossword puzzle number 512,789. The article also relates how many retirement communities and senior centers and individuals are trying out the new brain fitness programs coming to market, and shows some healthy skepticism on the state of the research. Now, this is an invitation to the reporter to interview neuropsychologist Dr. Elkhonon Goldberg to get the full picture of the science behind the field, since these programs haven’t appeared in a vacuum. Our 10-Question Evaluation Checklist can provide useful guidance to anyone considering a program.

Boomers use online brain games to stave off dementia (AccountingWeb)

Quotes: “The Internet offers a plethora of brain games for those who don’t subscribe to a daily newspaper or don’t want to purchase games. AARP, for example, offers plenty of free games on its site. More games appear at SharpBrains.com, including a page that contains the Top Ten Neuroscience Brainteasers, and you can sign up to have the College Board e-mail you the SAT question of the day.”

“The generation that refuses to age is not going to sit back and wait for Alzheimer’s Disease and other signs of dementia to take hold. Instead, savvy Baby Boomers are expanding their minds (no, not the way they did in the 60s) with the aid of the computer, puzzles, and games. A brain health movement is sweeping Read the rest of this entry »