Our January Newsletter received a good deal of feedback from many readers. Based on it, our new approach is to select the top 10 most important articles every other week. Please take a look at this first experiment, and let us know you feedback.

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News and Events

Stress Management is Key Factor For Cognitive Fitness: a great cover story in US News & World Report, and an excellent article in Prevention Magazine that was highlighted on the Today Show this week, both feature the importance of Read the rest of this entry »

We often hear (gladly!) how teachers use our blog articles and brain teasers in their classes. We also hear how many psychology and biology teachers are getting their students excited about brain research, and, to contribute to their efforts, we like to recognize some great initiatives.

Last year, Jeffrey Gonce, a Psychology teacher at Red Land High School (West Shore School District, PA) asked his students to “complete a project describing a recent brain (or genetic) study that affects behavior.” The students could opt to post their articles online, and Jeffrey was kind enough to send us a link to read the results. We enjoyed reading them all, and published in our blog this beautiful essay, titled “Tis better to give than receive”, written by Alexandra, which was subsequently included in a number of neuroscience an psychology blogs.

This year, Jeffrey also sent us his students’ essays, and we are going to recognize and publish this great essay by high school student Megan. Enjoy!
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It has long been the source of scientific debate as to whether music can improve the cognitive processes in children. Referred to by some as “The Mozart Effect,” a strong Read the rest of this entry »

Did you read about the recent experiment where young chimps displayed amazing visual working memory capability, beating humans?

- You can watch a short video here.

- Lumos Labs has released a very fun game to test your own skills: try out this Chimp Game!

 

Also, some very good recent news articles:

1) Is it worth going to the mind gym? (New Scientist). This is one of the best articles we have read in a while (unfortunately requires subscription).

- “Birdwatching is the brainchild of San Francisco-based Lumos Labs, just one of the dozens of companies that have sprung up in recent months to cash in on the “brain-training” craze. Like most of its competitors, the theory behind …”

Comments: the article introduces readers to much of the research and scientists we discuss in our blog, such as Torkel Klingberg’s work and recent results from the IMPACT study. The article would have been even better had Daniel Gopher been interviewed on his work improving cognitive performance of military pilots and basketball players.

2) Innovation: Your Brain Needs Just as Much Exercise as Your Body (Fox Business Network)

- “The market, however, is still small. According to Alvaro Fernandez , who co-founded market research and consulting firm SharpBrains, which is focused solely on the field of brain fitness, in 2007 the market was valued at $225 million, which is up from $150 million in 2005. Fernandez thinks there’s potential for it to surge, reaching more than $2 billion by 2016.”

Comments:  Very good article. Those estimates refer to the whole brain fitness software market to assess and train cognitive skills, including Read the rest of this entry »

Here is question 20 from Brain Fitness 101: Answers to Your Top 25 Questions.

Question:
Can a brain fitness program help me become more creative?

Key Points:

• Creativity can be trained, like other mental muscles.
• Set up structured time, places, or routines that provide a framework for creativity to happen.
• Reducing your stress helps to keep your brain more flexible.
• Using many parts of the brain as well as trying new things will stimulate the areas of your brain involved in creativity.

Answer: Read the rest of this entry »