Round-up of recent news on cognitive health and brain fitness:

1) Impressive coup by Posit Science: Walter Mossberg reviews DriveSharp:

A Review of DriveSharp (Wall Street Journal)

- “My verdict is that it was easy to use, and it did indeed work on my ability to rapidly recall the color and position of multiple moving objects and of objects on the periphery of my vision. It intelligently adjusted to my performance, and gradually presented me with tougher tasks.”

- “However, two major caveats are in order. First, I am neither a scientist nor a doctor, so I can’t vouch for the company’s claims about DriveSharp’s benefits or even the underlying problem it aims to alleviate. Secondly, I wasn’t able to test DriveSharp long enough to know if it actually made me a better driver.”

2) Now, is the potential limited to older drivers? not really, as noted in this Seattle Times article:

Brain-fitness companies applying neuroscience to make safer drivers (Seattle Times)

- “CogniFit President Shlomo Breznitz says previous versions of this software have been in use by the largest driving schools in the U.K. and Canada.”

- “The brains of new drivers have to acquire new skills that take time to develop,” he said. “Typically, they take about two years of driving, as witnessed by accident records all over the world. By actively training these skills the time needed for the brain to achieve the same level of expertise is shortened. This shortens the extremely high risk period of new drivers.”

3) Challenge – do people understand what we are talking about? not always, as reported in this great special issue of The Gerontologist:

GSA – Population Segments Differ on Perceptions of Cognitive Health

- “All demographic groups studied believed that cognitive health is influenced by physical, mental, and social activity; however, they differed in opinions of the benefits of specific activities, nutrition, and genetics. The respondents also indicated that that media messages about cognitive health are limited and confusing. Furthermore, many agreed that health messages that incorporate specific community values and are delivered within pre-existing social groups by community leaders may be particularly effective.”
- “Funding for the special issue, titled “Promoting Cognitive Health in Diverse Populations of Older Adults: Attitudes, Perceptions, Behaviors, and their Implications for Community-Based Interventions,” was provided by the CDC’s Healthy Aging Program.”

All in all, very relevant data points that suggest the field is quickly approaching mainstream.

This is a partial list of the literature we reviewed during the research phase of our new book, The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness.  We know many friends of SharpBrains are researchers, healthcare professionals, graduate/ Ph.D. students, who want have direct access to the references (perhaps PubMed should promote itself as a never ending source of mental stimulation?), so here you have this list, organized by relevant chapter. Please note that the list below appears in the book – whose manuscript we had to close in January 2009.

Introduction

• Basak, C. et al. (2008). Can training in a real-time strategy video game attenuate cognitive decline in older adults? Psychology and Aging.
• Begley, S. (2007). Train your mind, change your brain: How a new science reveals our extraordinary potential to transform ourselves. Ballantine Books.
• DeKosky, S. T., et al. (2008). Ginkgo biloba for prevention of dementia: a randomized controlled trial. Journal of the American Medical Association, 300, 2253-2262.
• Doidge, N. (2007). The Brain that changes itself: Stories of personal triumph from the frontiers of brain science. Viking Adult.

Chapter 1. The Brain and Brain Fitness 101

• Bunge, S. A., & Wright, S. B. (2007). Neurodevelopmental changes in working memory and cognitive control. Current Opinion In Neurobiology, 17(2), 243-50.
• Damasio, A. (1995). Descartes’ error: Emotion, reason, and the human brain. Penguin Press.
• David Kolb, D. (1983). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development. FT Press.
• Draganski, B., Gaser, C., Kempermann, G., Kuhn, H. G., Winkler, J., Buchel, C., & May A. (2006). Temporal and spatial dynamics of brain structure changes during extensive learning. The Journal of Neuroscience, 261231, 6314-6317.
• Gage, F. H., Kempermann, G., & Song, H. (2007). Adult Neurogenesis. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, NY.
• Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of Mind: The theory of multiple intelligences. New York: Basic Books.
• Gaser, C. & Schlaug, G. (2003). Brain structures differ between musicians and non-musicians. The Journal of Neuroscience, 23, 9240-9245. Read the rest of this entry »

From the website of the investing venture capital firm, Milk Capital:

Milk Capital invests USD 5 million in CogniFit

-July 31st, 2008. “Milk Capital invest USD 5M in Cognifit, a company specialized in cognitive and brain software The solutions developed by CogniFit are designed to be applied to a large number of fields, such as healthcare, driving, education, sport and many others. The field of applications is almost unlimited as it is only restricted by the capacities of the brain.”

-”Since its establishment in 1999, as a start-up in the Ofer Group’s Incubator, Naiot, CogniFit attracted 4.2M$. The company has grown significantly and today, its software is distributed in a large number of countries, from the United States through France to New Zealand, and has been translated into ten languages. This 5M$ investment of MILK CAPITAL should drive the development of CogniFit all the more than the company intends to conquer new markets by means of new products and applications all over the world.”

Previous post on one of CogniFit’s products, DriveFit: DriveFit; Brain Fitness Program for Driving. 

Other recent venture rounds in the brain fitness software space:

- February 2008: Dakim raises $10,6 million
- June 2008: Lumos Labs (Lumosity) raises $3 millions

I spoke at the MIT Club of Northern California in February to provide an overview of the fascinating landscape. The write-up: Brain Training Games: Context, Trends, Questions. 

For in-depth information on the whole category -size, customer segments, player landscape, clinical validation, trends- you may enjoy our Market Report.

Dear Mr or Mrs Next US President,

We are glad to welcome you to our blog carnival. After a short hiatus, Encephalon is back and gathering steam. We have prepared this “revival” edition just for you, so you can be well informed and impress us all during the upcoming Sciencedebate 2008.

Without further ado, let’s proceed to the questions posed by 24 bloggers on neuroscience and psychology issues. We hope they provide, at the very least, good mental stimulation for you and your advisors.

Big Questions

Do I deserve to vote even if I don’t have Free Will? (Marc at Neuroscientifically Challenged).

If culture sculpts our brains, what can our brains do to refine our culture first? (Stephanie at Brains On Purpose).

Is God more than a flying brain? (Jessica at bioephemera).

Is Your brain really reading This? (Pete at Brain Hammer).

A Few Intrusive Questions

Do you play any musical instrument? (Megan at SharpBrains).

Read the rest of this entry »

Some good links today:

1) Keep Your Brain Nimble as You Age
MSNBC – May 13, 2007
“If using your computer as a mental gym sounds good to you, SharpBrains.com’s Fernandez suggests asking a few questions first to determine a product’s…”

2) Great blog by Stanford Business School’s Jackson library, including an announcement of an upcoming lecture there by our very own Dr. Elkhonon Goldberg and Alvaro Fernandez Pumping I.Q., not Iron

3) Some blog carnivals (collections of blog posts around specific topics)

• Careers in Middle Age and Baby Boomers
• Work At Home Moms and Dads
• Education
  Read the rest of this entry »

A couple of quick links

• DISCOVER Magazine, May 2007 issue, brings a great article titled “The Elastic Brain: Michael Merzenich believes you can tone your mind and stave off memory loss. All it takes is time in his mental gym“. The article (which is not available online) provides a great overview of the amazing work of Prof. Merzenich (a UCSF neuroscientist) with Scientific Learning and Posit Science, pioneers in the field. The writer’s tone is positive overall but adds a note of skepticism, saying that “Yet despite the enthusiastic testimony I heard from senior citizens who have tried the program, there are no formal studies published in peer-reviewed journals that demonstrate the program’s effects” and gathering criticisms outlined by other researchers. Having said so, in our opinion, Posit Science offers the best program we have seen focused on improving auditory processing, and we expect to see more clear studies soon-the field is relatively new.
• Slate Magazine presents a special issue on the brain. We will review and comment on it soon, including a neurobic club/ brain gym.

You can see here an interview with interview with Dr. Michael Merzenich