Today we have the pleasure to have Dr. Pascale Michelon, one of our new Expert Contributors, write her first article here. Enjoy, and please comment so we hear your thoughts and engage in a nice conversation. 

(Btw, if you notice some similarity between the colors in the fMRI scan below and the look & feel of this site…well, the reason is that those orange-grey fMRI colors were our inspiration! the orange color denotes the most brain activation).

- Alvaro

————————————–

You have probably heard about CAT and MRI scans (produced thanks to machines like the one to the top right). So you know that these are techniques that doctors and scientists use to look inside the brain.

You have probably also heard about brain fitness and how important it is to keep a healthy brain to be protected against age-related and disease-related brain damages.

The question we ask here is the following: Can we use brain scans to evaluate how fit the brain is? Before we try to answer this question let’s start with the basics and try to understand how brain scans work.

Brain imaging, also called neuroimaging, allows one to Read the rest of this entry »

Very fun session today at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, titled Exercising our Brains: new Brain Research and implications for our Lives. As usual, we combined some research background with many fun group activities, such as the ones you will find in our Brain Exercises section (click here).Want to try a brain teaser? Please count the number of times that the letter “f” appears in this sentence:

“Finished files are the result of years of scientific study combined with the experience of years” (The solution appears as first comment for this post).

We reviewed some areas that typically improve as we age, such as Self-regulation, Emotional functioning and Wisdom, defined as Pattern recognition building on the accumulation of experiences.
Read the rest of this entry »