(Alvaro Fernandez) Dear Michael, thank you very much for agreeing to participate in the inaugural SharpBrains Summit in January, and for your time today. In order to contextualize the Summit’s main themes, I would like to focus this interview on the likely big-picture implications during the next 5 years of your work and that of other neuroplasticity research and industry pioneers.

Thank you for inviting me. I believe the SharpBrains Summit will be very useful and stimulating, you are gathering an impressive group together. I am looking forward to January.

Neuroplasticity-based Tools: The New Health & Wellness Frontier

There are many different technology-free approaches to harnessing -enabling, driving- neuroplasticity. What is the unique value that technology brings to the cognitive health table?

It’s all about efficiency, scalability, personalization, and assured effectiveness. Technology supports the implementation of near-optimally-efficient brain-training strategies. Through the Internet, it enables the low-cost distribution of these new tools, anywhere out in the world. Technology also enables the personalization of brain health training, by providing simple ways to measure and address individual needs in each person’s brain-health training experience. It enables assessments of your abilities that can affirm that your own brain health issues have been effectively addressed.

Of course substantial gains could also be achieved by organizing your everyday activities that grow your neurological abilities and sustain your brain health. Still, if the ordinary citizen is to have any real chance of maintaining their brain fitness, they’re going to have to spend considerable time at the brain gym!

One especially important contribution of technology is the scalability that it provides for delivering brain fitness help out into the world. Think about how efficient the drug delivery system is today. Doctors prescribe drugs, insurance covers them, and there is a drug store in every neighborhood in almost every city in the world so that every patient has access to them. Once neuroplasticity-based tools and outcomes and standardized, we can envision a similar scenario. And we don’t need all those drug strores, because we have the Internet!

Having said this, there are obvious obstacles. One main one, in my mind, is the lack of understanding of what these new tools can do. Cognitive training programs, for example, seem counterintuitive to consumers and many professionals – why would one try to improve speed-of-processing if all one cares about is “memory”? A second obvious problem is to get individuals to buy into the effort required to really change their brains for the better. That buy-in has been achieved for many individuals as it applies to their physical health, but we haven’t gotten that far yet in educating the average older person that brain fitness training is an equally effortful business!

Tools for Safer Driving: Teens and Adults

Safe driving seems to be one area where the benefits are more intuitive, which may explain the significant traction.

Yes, we see great potential and interest among insurers for improving driving safety, both for seniors and teens. Appropriate cognitive training can lower at-fault accident rates. You can measure clear benefits in relatively short time frames, so it won’t take long for insurers to see an economic rationale to not only offer programs at low cost or for free but to incentivize drivers to complete them. Allstate, AAA, State Farm and other insurers are beginning to realize this potential. It is important to note that typical accidents among teens and seniors are different, so that training methodologies will need to be different for different high-risk populations.

Yet, most driving safety initiatives today still focus on educating drivers, rather that training them neurologically. We measure vision, for example, but completely ignore attentional control abilities, or a driver’s useful field of view. I expect this to change significantly over the next few years.

Long-term care and health insurance companies will ultimately see similar benefits, and we believe that they will follow a similar course of action to reduce general medical and neurodegenerative disease- (Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer’s- and Parkinsons-) related costs. In fact, many senior living communities are among the pioneers in this field.

Boomers & Beyond: Maintaining Cognitive Vitality

Mainstream media is covering this emerging category with thousands of stories. But most coverage seems still focused on “does it work?” more than “how do we define It”, “what does work mean?” or “work for whom, and for what?” Can you summarize what recent research suggests?

We have seen clear patterns in the application of our training programs, some published (like IMPACT), some unpublished, some with healthy adults, and some with people with mild cognitive impairment or early Alzheimers Disease (AD). What we see in every case: 1) despite one’s age, brain functioning can be improved, often with pretty impressive improvement in a short-time frame and limited time invested (10 or 20 or 30 or 40 hours over a period of a few weeks up to 2 or 3 months). 2) Basic neurological abilities in 60-90 year olds that are directly subject to training (for example, processing accuracy or processing speed) can be improved to the performance level of the average 20 or 30 or 40 year old through 3-10 hours of training at that specific ability. 3) Improvements generalize to broader cognitive measures, and to indices of quality of life. 4) Improvements are sustained over time (in different controlled studies, documented at all post-training benchmarks set between 3 to 72 months after training completion).

In normal older individuals, training effects endure – but that does not mean that they could not benefit from booster or refresher training — or from ongoing training designed to improve other skills and abilities that limit their older lives. Importantly, a limited controlled study in mildly cognitively impaired individuals showed that in contrast to normal individuals, their abilities declined in the post-training epoch. These folks had improved substantially with training. Even while there abilities slowly deteriorated after training, they sustained their advantages over patients who were not trained. We believe that in these higher-risk individual, continued training will probably be absolutely necessary to sustain their brain health, and, if it can be achieved (and that is completely unproven), to protect them from a progression to AD. Moreover, for both these higher-risk and normal individuals, interventions should not be thought of as one-time cure-alls. Ongoing brain fitness training shall be the way to go.

A major obstacle is that there is not enough research funding for appropriate trials to address all of these issues, especially as they apply for the mildly cognitively impaired (pre-AD) or the AD populations. We’d welcome not only more research dollars but also more FDA involvement, to help clarify the claims being made.

Next Generation Assessments

A key element for the maturity of the field will be the widespread use of objective assessments. What do you see in that area?

Unfortunately, most researchers and policy initiatives are still wedded to relatively rudimentary assessments. For example, I recently participated in meetings designed to help define a very-well-supported EU initiative on how cognitive science can contribute to drug development, in which most applied assessments and most assessments development were still paper-based. This is a major missed opportunity, given the rapidly growing development and availability of automated assessments.

I believe we will see more independent assessments but also embedded assessments. For instance, in Scientific Learning we routinely use ongoing embedded assessments and cross-referenced state test achievement scores to develop models and profiles designed to determine the regimes of neuroplasticity-based training programs that must be applied so that individual students, school sites and school districts may achieve their academic performance goals.

Implications for Medicine and Mental Health

It seems clear that neuroplasticity-related assessment and training tools will impact medicine and mental health. Where and how do you think that may happen first?

This may surprise people who haven’t been following the area closely, but I believe cognitive training may well become a crucial part of the standard of care in schizophrenia over the next 3 or 4 years. With academic partners at UCSF, Yale and Konstanz University, and through the development of programs that effectively address cognitive deficits that limit this patient population, we have already designed a training program that is appropriate for evaluation in a medical-device-directed FDA trial. There is already agreement about the application of the MATRICS neurocognitive assessment battery for an FDA outcomes trial in this population, and NovaVision’s FDA approval of their stroke & TBI rehab strategies provide any important FDA precedent.

The NIH has been a key enabler of the NIH Toolbox, and the MATRICS process, both to standardize assessments. What impact may these have in schizophrenia and beyond?

The FDA’s adoption of MATRICS as a standard is a crucial step, because it provides a clear set of benchmarks that apply for any drug or non-drug approach to treatment. We would like to see the FDA establish similar benchmarks for all major clinical indications in neurological and psychiatric medicine. I haven’t followed the ToolBox so closely, and can’t really comment about its possible utility.

If we talk about wider clinical practice, we must recognize that many psychologists are attached to older forms of therapy that don’t incorporate contemporary cognitive neuroscience findings, and that neurologists and psychiatrists are strongly pharmaceutically oriented, and in any event are greatly pressed for time. Perhaps clinical practice will only change once we have developed the tools necessary to help professionals monitor the brain function and training (treatment) status of the very large number of patients that might typically be under their care.

Integrating Cognition with Home Health and Medical Home Models

That’s a very interesting point. How may remote monitoring and interventions happen? Is this similar to the model Cogmed uses today to deliver its working memory training via a network of clinicians?

We will probably see hybrid models emerge first. The clinician will, as usual, establish a diagnosis and initiate treatment in their office or clinic, probably with the assistance of a trained therapist. At some point, the therapy will continue at home. The therapist and the supervising clinician would be able to remotely monitor the patient’s performance by the use of our Internet tools. This model, originally developed and widely applied by Scientific Learning, has also been employed by Cogmed.

Only later may full telemedicine models emerge, where perhaps a neurologist monitors the brain function of several patients using appropriate tools, and identifies potential personalized preventive interventions with red flags that call for an office (or virtual) visit.

What’s Next?

This has been a fascinating conversation, and a great context to the themes we will cover in depth in the summit. What else do you think will happen over the next few years?

First, I believe we’ll need to focus on public education, for people to understand the value of tools with limited “face value”. One important aspect of this is the need to find balance between what is “fun” and what has value as a cognitive enhancer – which requires the activities to be very targeted, repetitive and slowly progressive. Not always the most fun – people need to think “fitness” as much or more than “games.”

Second, I believe the role of providing supervision, coaching, support, will emerge to be a critical one. Think about the need for having a piano teacher, if you want to learn how to play the piano and improve over  time. Technology may help fill this role, or empower and richly support real “coaches” who do so.

Which existing professional group is more likely to become the “personal brain trainers” of the future? or will we see a new profession emerge?

Frankly, I don’t know. To give you some context, at Scientific Learning we experimented with offering free access to therapists for a 2-month training. At Posit Science we first experimented with virtual ‘coaches’ that many people seemed to hate, and later encouraged people who had completed the program to volunteer and coach new participants. Results were mixed. We’re now exploring other possibilities.

Let me mention a few other aspects. I believe we will also see a growing number of applications in languages other than English, which will be key given growing interest in South Korea, Japan and China on aging workforce issues (until now they have been mostly focused on childhood development, using English-based programs). We will also see the programs widely available to people who may not have computers at home. For example, Posit Science recently donated software equivalent in value to $1m to the Massachusetts public library system, as a model of how wider access (in this case, to help older drivers) might be provided.

My dream in all of this is to have standardized and credible tools to train the 5-6 main neurocognitive domains for cognitive health and performance through life, coupled with the right assessments to identify one’s individual needs and measure progress. For example, I’d like to know what the 10 things are that I need to fix, and where to start. Assessments could either measure the physical status of the brain, such as the degree of myelination, or measure functions over time via automated neuropsych assessments, which is probably going to be more efficient and scalable and potentially be self-administered in a home health model.

Mike, thank you very much once more for your time and insights.

My pleasure. I am looking forward to the very innovative Summit that SharpBrains is putting together to convene our little growing community.

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For more information on the SharpBrains Summit (January 18-20th, 2010): click Here.

For many neuropsychologists, like myself, science is a labor of love, but seeing patients is bread and butter. Traditionally, the clinical contribution of neuropsychology has been mostly diagnostic, with precious little to offer patients by way of treatment. Neuropsychology is not the only clinical discipline for years consigned to helpless voyeurism. Every discipline concerned with cognition shares this humbling predicament. A psychiatrist treating a schizophrenic patient or a depressed patient finds him- or herself in a similar position. There are ample pharmacological tools to treat the patient’s psychosis or mood, but very few to treat the patient’s cognition. Even though psychiatrists increasingly recognize that cognitive impairment is often more debilitating in their patients than psychosis or mood disorder, traditionally, very little direct effort has been aimed at improving cognition.

A neurologist treating a patient recovering from the effects of head injury does not fare much better. There are adequate means to control the patient’s seizures but not his or her cognitive changes, despite the fact that cognitive impairment is usually far more debilitating than an occasional seizure. Society has been so preoccupied with saving lives, treating hallucinations, controlling seizures, and lifting depression that cognition (memory, attention, planning, problem solving) has been largely ignored. Granted, various neuroleptics, anticonvulsants, antidepressants, sedatives, and stimulants do have an effect on cognition, but it is an ancillary effect of a drug designed to treat something else.

Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias have been society’s wake-up call. Here, in the most affluent country in the most affluent of times, human minds were succumbing to decay before human bodies, a sharp challenge to the tacit popular belief that the “body is frail but soul is forever.” This provided an impetus for the development of an entirely new class of drugs, which can be termed familially as “cognotropic.” Their primary and explicit purpose is to improve cognition.

Since medical and public preoccupation with dementia focuses on memory, most of the pharmacological efforts have been directed at improving memory. At the time of this writing, a handful of drugs known as “Alzheimer’s drugs” or “memory enhancers” have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In reality, both designations are somewhat misleading. The drugs in question are anticholinesterases. They are designed to inhibit an enzyme necessary for the breakdown of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine in the synapse, and thus to prolong its action after its release into the synapse. Acetylcholine is a neurotransmitter that plays an important role in memory as well as in other cognitive functions. Biochemical processes involving acetylcholine (“cholinergic transmission”) are impaired in Alzheimer’s dementia, but they are also impaired in many other disorders.

My first encounter with this class of drugs took place in the late 1970s and involved physostigmine (Antilirium), a first-generation anticholinesterase, now out of use as a cognitive enhancer. We gave it to a patient recovering from severe head injury. The problem with physostigmine was that its length of action (halflife) was so miserably short that no sustained therapeutic effect could be reasonably expected. At best, a very fleeting, short-term improvement could be hoped for. To capture this improvement, my colleagues and I designed a brief battery of neuropsychological tests, which my research assistants Bob Bilder and Carl Sirio rushed to administer with clockwork timing during carefully calculated, and very narrow, windows of opportunity. Fleeting though it was (and at times overshadowed by vicious diarrhea), subtle memory improvement was reproducibly present. This was a cause for hope that with some improvements this class of medications could someday have real clinical value.

A number of years later, tacrine (Cognex) appeared on the market, followed by donepezil (Aricept). These drugs are also anticholinesterases, but with a much longer action and a more meaningful therapeutic effect. They should not be thought of as exclusively “Alzheimer’s drugs” since their utility is not limited to Alzheimer’s disease. I have observed a significant, albeit transient, therapeutic effect of these drugs on cognition in patients with Parkinson’s disease and brain damage due to hypoxia.

Although their effect is still transient and inconsistent, the advent of these second- and third-generation anticholinesterase drugs opened a new chapter in pharmacology, ushering in cognotropic medications.

More recently, a new drug, Namenda (memantine), was approved by the FDA. It targets several receptors in the brain: glutaminergic, serotonergic, and cholinergic. Its most pronounced effect is presumed to be one of a glutamate antagonist. Targeting glutamate, a ubiquitous neurotransmitter mediating mostly excitatory processes in the neocortex and elsewhere in the brain, has opened a “second front” in the pharmacological assault on dementia. Interestingly, stimulating GABA, a mostly inhibitory neurotransmitter working in tandem with glutamate, was shown to slow the progression of a dementia-like condition in the monkey.

In the next few years we will undoubtedly witness a boom in the cognotropic pharmacology acting on various biochemical systems. Much further research is needed for it to become established and some controversy is inevitable, but the concept of cognotropic drugs is provocative and timely.

Interesting work on cognotropic pharmacology is being done in Europe as well. An audacious program to investigate neuroanatomically precise effects of various drugs has been under way in Russia for some time. Scientists at the Bourdenko Institute of Neurosurgery in Moscow, where I trained in Luria’s lab 40 years ago, have reported an array of specific drug effects. According to them, levodopa (L-dopa), a precursor of the neurotransmitter dopamine, improves the functions we typically associate with the posterior aspect of left frontal lobe: motor sequencing, speech initiation, and expressive language. To put it in technical terms, the Russians claim that L-dopa reduces the symptoms of dynamic aphasia, transcortical motor aphasia, and Broca’s aphasia. By the same token, L-dopa seems to retard the functions commonly associated with the parietal lobes (spatial orientation and spatial construction). According to the Russians, L-glutamic acid, an analogue of the neurotransmitter glutamate, improves other functions associated with the frontal lobes. It improves insight into one’s condition (reduces symptoms of anosognosia) and improves the sense of humor, time estimation, and time sequencing. L-Glutamic acid also improves the functions commonly associated with the parietal lobes. L-Tryptophan, a precursor of the neurotransmitter serotonin, improves the functions of the parietal lobe but retards the functions of the frontal lobes. At the same time, L-tryptophan interferes with the functions of the frontal lobes, particularly the left frontal lobe. Ameridin, an anticholinesterase not commonly known in the United States, seems to improve the functions of the parietal lobes, particularly the left parietal lobe. It improves comprehension of grammar and reduces the symptoms of “semantic aphasia.” These claims made by the Russian scientists associating various neuroactive drugs with particular cortical functions are more specific and in a way more ambitious than most Western claims to this effect. They require careful review and replication, but they are extremely provocative.

But where do the prefrontal cortex and the executive functions fit in? Executive deficit is easily as common and debilitating as memory impairment, and so there should be as much societal pressure for the development of cognotropic frontallobe pharmacology. Here, too, developments are at an embryonic stage, but some forward movement is evident. We have discussed the role of dopamine in frontal lobe function, so it should come as no surprise that dopamine-enhancing pharmacology has shown some promise.

The dopamine system is complex, with a number of different receptors. To be truly effective, dopamine pharmacology must be receptor-specific. As we learn more about the variety of dopamine receptors, we are learning about the receptor-specific action of dopamine-enhancing drugs. Bromocriptine (Ergoset or Parlodel), a dopamine D2 receptor agonist, has been shown to improve working memory, a function closely linked to the frontal lobes, in normal adults. The efficacy of two more recently developed D2 receptor agonists, ropinirole (Requip) and pramipexole (Mirapex), has yet to be established.

Currently, a great deal of interest exists in identifying specific dopamine receptors and developing receptor-specific pharmacology. But the thrust of this research is driven by the treatment of schizophrenia, which requires dopamine receptor–specific antagonists. To boost the function of the frontal lobes, dopamine agonists may be required with an affinity to various dopamine receptors, including D1 and D4. This poses a new challenge to pharmaceutical industry and research.

Cognotropic pharmacology of the frontal lobes holds out particular promise in those disorders where frontal lobe dysfunction is present without massive structural damage to the frontal lobes. In such conditions neurotransmitter receptor sites are largely intact, which makes pharmacological intervention more promising. Mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) is such a condition. This is a particularly poignant disease, since it afflicts young people, often in good physical shape and with undiminished life expectancy. Following traumatic brain injury, problems with working memory, decision making, attention, motivation, and impulse control are common. Bromocriptine tends to improve these functions in patients with head injury. So does amantadine (Symmetrel), a drug presumed to facilitate dopamine release and delay dopamine reuptake following its release into the synapse. Mirtazapine (Remeron), typically used to treat depression, has been shown to enhance dopaminergic transmission in the frontal lobes.

The advent of these drugs signals the beginning of frontal-lobe cognotropic pharmacology. Here, too, a second front was recently opened. A new “schizophrenia” drug is in clinical trials at the time of this writing. Developed at Lilly by pharmacologist Darryle Schoepp, this as of yet unnamed agent is supposed to impact in particular the frontal lobes, but by acting on the glutamate system instead of the dopaminergic one. As is the case with the anticholinesterases, even though the motivation behind the development of the drug was triggered by a particular disorder, its biochemical target may have an impact on a wide range of other disorders; these patients may also benefit from the drug.

I hope there is much more to follow. But the true excitement will come when the cutting-edge pharmacology is combined with cutting-edge neuropsychology, when fine cognitive measures are used to guide cognotropic pharmacology in precise, individualized ways. The actor-centered cognitive tasks shown to be so exquisitely sensitive to distinct variants of frontal lobe dysfunction may prove to be particularly useful in guiding custom-tailored cognotropic pharmacology of the frontal lobes.

– Reprinted with permission from The New Executive Brain: Frontal Lobes In A Complex World by Elkhonon Goldberg, published by Oxford University Press, Inc. © 2009, Oxford University Press. Available via Amazon.com Here.

Our previous interview with Dr. Goldberg:

- On Cognitive Training and Brain Fitness Computer Programs

Augmenting Cognition

Preparing Society for the Cognitive Age

- By Alvaro Fernandez

Groundbreaking cognitive neuroscience research has occurred over the last 20 years – without parallel growth of consumer awareness and appropriate professional dissemination. “Cognition” remains an elusive concept with unclear implications outside the research community.

Earlier this year, I presented a talk to health care professionals at the New York Academy of Medicine, titled “Brain Fitness Software: Helping Consumers Separate Hope from Hype”. I explained what computerized cognitive assessment and training tools can do (assess/enhance specific cognitive functions), what they cannot do (reduce one’s “brain age”) and the current uncertainties about what they can do (i.e., delay Alzheimer’s symptoms). At the same symposium, Dr. Gary Kennedy, Director of Geriatric Psychiatry at Montefiore Medical Center, provided guidance on why and how to screen for executive function deficits in the context of dementia.

I could perceive two emerging trends at the event: 1) “Augmenting Cognition” research is most commonly framed as a healthcare, often pharmacological topic, with the traditional cognitive bias in medicine of focusing on detection and treatment of disease, 2) In addition, there is a growing interest in non-invasive enhancement options and overall lifestyle issues. Research findings in Augmenting Cognition are only just beginning to reach the mainstream marketplace, mostly through healthcare channels. The opportunity is immense, but we will need to ensure the marketplace matures in a rational and sustainable manner, both through healthcare and non-healthcare channels.

In January 2009, we polled the 21,000 subscribers of SharpBrains’ market research eNewsletter to identify attitudes and behaviors towards the “brain fitness” field (a term we chose in 2006 based on a number of consumer surveys and focus groups to connect with a wider audience). Over 2,000 decision-makers and early adopters responded to the survey.

One of the key questions we asked was, “What is the most important problem you see in the brain fitness field and how do you think it can be solved?”. Some examples of the survey free text answers are quoted here, together with my suggestions.

Most important problems in the brain fitness field

• Public awareness (39%): “To get people to understand that heredity alone does not decide brain functioning”. We need to ramp up efforts to build public awareness and enthusiasm about brain research, including establishing clear links to daily living. We can collaborate with initiatives such as the Dana Foundation’s Brain Awareness Week and use the recent “Neuroscience Core Concepts” materials developed by the Society for Neuroscience to give talks at schools, libraries and workplaces.

• Claims (21%): “The lack of standards and clear definitions is very confusing, and makes a lot of people sceptical”. We need an easy-to understand taxonomy to help consumers and professionals evaluate claims focusing on cognitive functions, not on mental health diagnoses. The classifications should be grounded on a standardized research taxonomy. However, over time we may have to develop a “labeling system” based on the targeted cognitive domain and level of validation. Press releases often only add more confusion. We should blog study results in depth, become trusted resources to trusted reporters and differentiate new findings from previous ones.

• Research (15%): “Determining what activities are most beneficial to the user with the minimum level of effort or most overlap of already existing effort”. A high priority would be to ensure widely-accepted output standards (either commercial or following consensus processes such as the schizophrenia MATRICS Cognitive Battery) with a transparent architecture of outcomes and relationships covering the impact (brain-based, cognitive, behavioral performance) by age groups and by healthy vs. specific disorders.

• Culture (14%): “Integration within existing healthcare infrastructure will require research, education and cultural change. If brain fitness remains a niche alternative approach for the well-healed, we will have failed”. We need to improve the partnership with clinicians and their professional associations.

• Assessment (6%): “Development of standardized and easily accessible assessments of cognitive status that could be used by individuals and organizations to test the efficacy of cognitive improvement methods”. Perhaps the single most effective way to bring cognitive research into the mainstream conversation would be if people took an “annual brain check-up” serving as a cognitive baseline (as objective, functional information to track changes and to inform about interventions and diagnoses). Computerized assessments are already being used in a variety of contexts, from sports neuropsychology to military Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) detection. A recent report by the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America advocating for widespread cognitive screenings after the age of 75 or even 65 may open up a very interesting public policy debate.

• Exposure (5%): “Get information and products out to all the people, perhaps a drive to get them into public libraries”. We have a major opportunity now to help prepare society to thrive in this cognitive age. We need to improve research and focus on public awareness and standards for this opportunity to come to fruition.

Dr. Bill Reichman, CEO of Baycrest, puts it this way, “We have an opportunity to make major progress in Brain Health in the 21st century, similar to what happened with Cardiovascular Health in the 20th, and technology will play a crucial role”. For that prediction to come true, research on augmenting cognition will need to become mainstream. Neuroscientist Torkel Klingberg is optimistic, “In the future we may be as aware of cognitive function as we now are obsessed with calories, diets, glycemic index and cardiovascular training”.

The process in under way.

– Alvaro Fernandez is the Chief Executive Officer of SharpBrains (www.sharpbrains.com), a market research and educational firm that covers applications of cognitive neuroscience. Alvaro is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Council on The Future of the Aging Society, and teaches at UC-Berkeley Lifelong Learning Institute. He has an M.B.A. and an M.A. in Education from Stanford University.

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SharpBrains offers two publications to better understand emerging cognitive health research, technology and trends, and prepare for them:

- Book: The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness ($24.95 book, $9.99 Kindle version)

- Industry report: The State of the Brain Fitness Software Market 2009 ($1,295, includes executive webinar and access to Network for Brain Fitness Innovation)

]]> http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2009/08/07/preparing-society-for-the-cognitive-age-frontiers-in-neuroscience-article/feed/ 0 http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2009/05/25/cognitive-health-track-at-games-for-health-conference-full-schedule-announced/ http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2009/05/25/cognitive-health-track-at-games-for-health-conference-full-schedule-announced/#comments Mon, 25 May 2009 20:17:12 +0000 Alvaro Fernandez http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2009/05/25/cognitive-health-track-at-games-for-health-conference-full-schedule-announced/ Games for Health and SharpBrains have partnered to bring you the first Cognitive Health Track in a Games for Health Conference, June 11-12th in Boston. If you are interested, in attending the conference, you can learn more and register Here.

To get a 15% off registration fees ($379), you can use discount code: sharp09, when you register Here.

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Cognitive Health Track, Powered by SharpBrains

Thursday, June 11th

10.20 (50m) Bird’s Eye View of Cognitive Health Innovation
Speaker(s): Alvaro Fernandez, SharpBrains

Scientific, technological and demographic trends have converged to create a new $265m market in the US alone: serious games, software and online applications that can help people of all ages assess and train cognitive abilities. Alvaro Fernandez will provide a Bird’s Eye View of the science, market segments and trends, competitive landscape, and main challenges ahead, based on The State of the Brain Fitness Software Market 2009 report released in May, which included Research Executive Briefs prepared by 12 leading scientists and a survey of 2,000+ decision-makers and early adopters.

61% of respondents to the survey Strongly Agreed with the statement “Addressing cognitive and brain health should be a healthcare priority.” But, 65% Agreed/Strongly Agreed with “I don’t really know what to expect from products making brain claims.” In this session, Alvaro will publicly unveil the new book The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness: 18 Interviews with Scientists, Practical Advice, and Product Reviews, To Keep Your Brain Sharp, co-authored by neuropsychologist Dr. Elkhonon Goldberg and himself, aimed at helping consumers and professionals understand and navigate this growing field.

11.20 (30m) The Allstate-Posit Science Partnership: Cognitive Training for Safer Driving
Speaker(s): Tom Warden, Allstate; Henry Mahncke, Posit Science

Evidence-based cognitive training programs have been available in retirement communities for several years. Now, they are reaching a younger population including Boomers through innovative partnerships, like insurers.

In October 2008 auto insurance company Allstate and brain fitness software developer Posit Science announced a research collaboration that could lead to “potentially the next big breakthrough in automobile safety”. The purpose of this session is to review novel ways of getting the science of cognitive training into the real world where it can help people. Representatives from Allstate and Posit Science will discuss why these partnerships work for insurers, developers, and end users. They will also provide a thorough review of the evaluation process a major partner goes through when selecting a cognitive training company.

12.00 (30m) What Consumers Buy and Why
Speaker(s): Lindsay Gaskins, Marbles: The Brain Store

Launched in October 2008, Marbles: The Brain Store is a retail store that focuses on products designed to stimulate and strengthen the brain. Marbles currently has one store located in downtown Chicago, and is planning to open two more stores in Chicago during the summer. The Marbles collection of over 250 products includes software, games, books, and puzzles that fall into the five categories of critical thinking, memory, word skills, visual perception and coordination. Every day, the Marbles team is learning first-hand what customers are looking for and identifying the best assortment of products to meet their needs.

Lindsay Gaskins, CEO of Marbles: The Brain Store, will share some of the consumer insights her team has identified while serving nearly 10,000 customers as well as tips on effective strategies for developers of software products and videogames to connect with customers.

2pm (70m) The Road Ahead: 5 Challenges And Potential Solutions for the Game-Based Cognitive Health field
Speaker(s): Tom Warden, Allstate; Henry Mahncke, Posit Science; Peter Christianson, Young Drivers of Canada; Evian Gordon, Brain Resource; Theresa Cerulli, Cerulli & Associates

In a recent SharpBrains survey, decision-makers and early adopters were asked, “What is the most important problem you see in the brain fitness field and how do you think it can be solved?” Respondents identified the following priorities in rank order: Public awareness of the importance of maintaining cognitive health (39%), Navigating Claims to separate reality from hope from hype (21%), Research to understand what works for whom, and how different interventions may complement each other (15%), Healthcare Culture needs to better integrate cognitive health issues (14%), Need for Objective Assessments (6%), other (5%).

In this session, five leading decision-makers and innovators with backgrounds in research, clinical practice, insurance, driving schools, cognitive training and assessments, will identify the main challenges as they see them and will propose specific solutions to help build a sustainable field that can significantly contribute to the cognitive health of people across the lifespan.

3.20 (50m) Emerging Research and Interventions for Attention Deficits and Schizophrenia
Speaker(s): Theresa Cerulli, Cerulli & Associates; Ann Maloney, University of Vermont

Growing research emphasizes the role that cognitive deficits play in a variety of clinical conditions and suggests ways how to ameliorate those deficits. This opens the door to the use of evidence-based nonpharmacologic strategies to improve neurocognition by clinical care providers, as seen through the lenses of attention deficits and schizophrenia.

Dr. Theresa Cerulli, Harvard-trained psychiatrist, has been offering Cogmed working memory training in her practice in Andover, MA, for two years now. She is a nationally recognized expert on ADHD and a frequent speaker on the topic of attention deficits and co-existing behavioral health conditions. Her vision is in combining traditional medicine with healthy living to promote cognitive and emotional well being.

Dr. Ann Maloney will discuss an ongoing pilot study funded by NIH to examine whether an intensive computerized intervention provided by Posit Science and targeted on improving central auditory and visual processing and executive functioning can be implemented in youth with schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Neurocognition (primary outcome measure), global functioning, psychiatric symptoms and Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) will be assessed prior to beginning the interventions, at completion of the intervention (20 weeks) and 8 and 12 months following baseline.

4.30 (30m) Cognitive Rehab Means Getting Health Professionals to Get Gamey
Speaker(s): Laura Fay, Happy Neuron

While cognitive remediation and rehabilitation therapies, in the form of interactive online games, are being used to treat conditions such as Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), Stroke, Depression and Schizophrenia there are many issues involved with what’s needed to get practitioners to integrate them into their practice. This sessions covers lessons learned about the necessary characteristics these games and programs must have to be effective and to win over practitioners to use them as an integral part of their treatment practice. We’ll discuss issues of data confidentiality, distance therapy approaches, learning adaptations, and more.

5.20 (30m) An Innovative Partnership to Help Patients with Multiple Sclerosis with a Side Scrolling Videogame
Speaker(s): Robert Hone, Red Hill Studios

Multiple sclerosis is an unpredictable neurological disease that affects an estimated 400,000 people in the United States, with a new case diagnosed each hour. Recent studies have pointed out that in addition to physical impairments, the disease can also produce significant cognitive challenges. Creative Director Robert Hone of Red Hill Studios will report on their development of cognitive therapy game specifically designed to address crucial cognitive functions relevant to MS patients such as processing speed, working memory, attention, and executive function.The game will feature a common consumer game genre – the side scroller – to present a challenging and engaging game experience. The project is sponsored by Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals on behalf of the MS Technology Collaborative, a joint effort between Bayer, Microsoft, and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Friday, June 12th

10.20 (40m) Neuroplasticity-based Implications, Opportunities, and Challenges, to Improve Cognitive Health across the Lifespan
Speaker(s): Daphne Bavelier, University of Rochester; Joshua Steinerman, Einstein-Montefiore, Murali Doraiswamy, Duke University

Interactive media in the form of software and videogames can be seen as a vehicle to harness neuroplasticity and benefit cognitive health across the lifespan. This field is still in its infancy, but emerging evidence suggests that specific populations may benefit from specific interventions.

Three leading researchers, from Duke University, University of Rochester, and Albert Einstein-Montefiore, will discuss the opportunities and challenges they see to benefit younger and older minds in both healthy and clinical environments.

11.10 (30m) A Venture Capitalist’s View of the Healthy Games Opportunity
Speaker(s): Tim Chang, Norwest Venture Partners

The Healthy Games opportunity, as a product, destination, network and community, is growing. This opens the door to professional venture investors to partner with entrepreneurs to explore business models that can ensure the sustainability and long-term impact of healthy game developers.

Venture firms Norwest Venture Partners and FirstMark Capital invested $3m in Lumos Labs in June 2008, making it their first investment in the healthy games category. Tim will outline their business rationale and evaluation process, addressing why Norwest decided to play in the space, why they selected Lumos Labs, and the opportunities and challenges to build a sustainable healthy games company.

11.50 (40) Reaching Users with a Multi-Platform Strategy
Speaker(s): Vinay Gidwaney, MIT Media Lab & Energy Inside; Kunal Sarkar, Lumos Labs

Keeping a healthy game user engaged through various channels (destination web site, mobile, widgets and social media) can drive new customer acquisition, deeper engagement and a sustained relationship with the user. The key to establishing a successful multi-channel strategy lies in customizing the experience for each channel, while retaining a cohesive user experience across these channels. Two pioneers in cognitive and emotional health will share challenges and lessons learned in launching multi-channel content strategies.

In the last 24 months, Lumos Labs has launched a destination website (lumosity.com) in several languages, created custom applications for social media networks (such as Facebook, Yahoo Apps, iGoogle), and released several applications on multiple mobile platforms (iPhone, Blackberry, etc.). Along the way, they have made mistakes and learned from them. Kunal will share lessons learned around technology implementation and discuss some of the unique product opportunities offered by each channel. He will also discuss potential pitfalls and some of the challenges that they faced.

Energy Inside is in the early stages of inventing a novel mental health delivery system to help people cope more effectively, be more resilient and achieve greater emotional well-being. Through interactive social media, commonsense reasoning psychology and a learning recommendation engine, Energy Inside will deliver micro-interventions (pep) that are intended to shift mindset when a person needs it most. The goal is to leverage existing networks to spread, living where people experience their connected life as opposed to being a destination web property. Energy Inside uses a social interaction model to interface with the user and operates within multiple communication mediums (web and mobile, SMS, email, instant messaging).

1.30 (30) An Analysis of Game Design Issues in Brain Games
Speaker(s): Brian Winn, Michigan State University

Games to exercise the brain have emerged as a specialized serious games market segment, in the form of individual games and companies specializing a coordinated suite of good-for-you cognitive workouts. Neuroscience research addresses the question of whether playing games can improve cognitive functioning. Michigan State University’s brain game design research looks at whether today’s brain games are good games. MSU faculty and students have analyzed a random sample of individual and brain fitness company brain games. The research characterizing brain game design along the lines of graphics and sound, premise, rules, conflict, challenge, character, feedback, navigation, and story as well as which forms of fun and specific cognitive functions are targeted.

2.10 (30) Innovative Approaches to Scientific Validation
Speaker(s): Michael Scanlon, Lumos Labs

Validation is a critical component of bringing a cognitive training product to market. However, it can also be a challenge to execute given the complexities of running clinical trials. Lumos Labs developed its online cognitive training application, Lumosity.com, to be a research-friendly platform for scientific exploration. The goal was to facilitate collaborative work by academic and medical researchers, and enable rapid innovation of cognitive training tools by making testing and scientific investigation more efficient. Third-party research is inherently more convincing than internally conducted studies because it removes any perceived conflict of interest. It is also impractical to conduct a large number of studies with limited financial and human resources. In less than two years from the commercial launch of Lumosity, more than 10 academic researchers are now conducting experiments to evaluate outcomes of training with the online program. What aspects of the platform make it appealing to researchers? How can one position a healthy game product to be utilized by independent investigators? How can this platform be leveraged for your own research? This session will discuss both the commercial and research perspectives with lessons learned in the implementation of the Lumosity platform for research. Challenges and limitations of this approach will also be discussed.

2.50 (30) Wrapping Up: What We Have Learned, What is Next
Speaker(s): Alvaro Fernandez, SharpBrains

As evidenced during the whole track, there is already a very active cognitive health videogames industry and field of research. Games for Health and SharpBrains partnered to create a 2-day conversation with researchers, thought-leaders and industry pioneers and help ensure the sustainability of using “serious games” to measure and improve cognitive health.

What have we learned during this 2-day conversation? What are some of the priorities and challenges for the next 12 months for the field at large, and for everyone involved? How can we have a better track next year? What can we do to stay in touch and collaborate? This interactive session will help us summarize the key highlights from the whole track, identify emerging assumptions, themes, and priorities, and discuss collaborative next steps.

To get a 15% off registration fees ($379), you can use discount code: sharp09, when you register Here

Note that below you can find 5 out of the 12 sessions – we will announce the full track tomorrow. To get a 15% off registration fees, you can use discount code: sharp09, when you register.

—
The Games for Health Project, organizers of the 5th Annual Games for Health Conference, today announced its first Cognitive Health Track powered by SharpBrains, a leading market research company focused on the brain fitness and the cognitive health market.

The Cognitive Health track builds upon previous year’s sampling of sessions looking at cognitive health and fitness, expanding to a full two-day track at The Games for Health Conference, June 11-12, Boston, MA. The Conference features the largest gathering of organizations interested in the intersection between videogames, health and healthcare.

“There is already a very active cognitive health videogames industry and field of research,” said Ben Sawyer, co-founder of the Games for Health Conference. “We partnered with SharpBrains to bring their expertise in this field our conference planning. Together we have for the first time created a powerful set of sessions and a much needed conversation with researchers, thought-leaders and industry pioneers who will attend the event in June.”

The track features a dozen sessions covering research findings and partnerships, implementation in insurance, consumer and clinical settings, and special sessions looking at innovative areas such as driver safety, healthy aging, attention deficits, stroke/traumatic brain injury, schizophrenia and multiple sclerosis.

“The convergence of interactive media such as videogames with cognitive science opens the door to innovative and scalable approaches to cognitive health that may complement traditional interventions. We see much opportunity — and much confusion. Our partnership with Games for Health enables a much needed conversation to look far and wide and to ensure the sustainability of using “serious games” to measure and improve cognitive health,” said Alvaro Fernandez, CEO & co-founder of SharpBrains, who will host the track.

Session and key speakers for the cognitive health track include:

• - Bird’s Eye View of Cognitive Health Innovation, including public release of the book The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness, with Alvaro Fernandez
• - The Allstate-Posit Science Partnership: Cognitive Training for Safer Driving, Tom Warden, Assistant Vice President and Leader of Allstate Insurance’s Research and Planning Center, and Henry Mahncke, Vice President, Research & Outcomes at Posit Science
• - The Road Ahead: 5 Bottlenecks And Potential Solutions, with above speakers and Evian Gordon, CEO of Brain Resource, and Peter Christianson, President of Young Drivers of Canada
• - Frontiers in Cognitive Neuroscience Research, with Dr. Daphne Bavelier, Assistant Professor at University of Rochester’s Department of Brain and Cognitive Science, and Dr. Joshua Steinerman, Assistant Professor of Neurology at New York’s Albert Einstein College of Medicine
• - A Venture Capitalist’s View of the Opportunity and Challenges Ahead, with Tim Chang, Principal at Norwest Venture Partners, investor in Lumos Labs

Complete details for Games for Health 2009 can be found online at http://www.gamesforhealth.org. Registration is open through June 11, 2009.

About Games For Health

Games for Health, the leading professional community in the field of health games, unites the best minds in health care and game development to advance game technologies that improve people’s health and the delivery of health care. Through their national and regional events, as well as extensive online resources, Games for Health brings together researchers, medical professionals and game developers to share best practices and forge new, game-based solutions to pressing health and health care challenges. Games for Health is funded primarily by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Pioneer Portfolio, which supports innovative ideas that may lead to significant breakthroughs in the future of health and health care. It was founded in 2004 by the Serious Games Initiative, a project of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars dedicated to applying innovative games and game technologies to a range of public and private policy, leadership and management issues. For more information, visit www.gamesforhealth.org.

About SharpBrains

SharpBrains is a market research & advisory firm devoted to helping companies, health providers, investors, policy makers and individuals navigate the brain fitness and cognitive health field. The company was co-founded by executive Alvaro Fernandez, member of the Global Agenda Councils initiative run by the World Economic Forum, and neuroscientist Dr. Elkhonon Goldberg, internationally renowned for his clinical work, research, and writing. SharpBrains recently released the report The State of the Brain Fitness Software Market 2009, and will publicly unveil the consumer guide The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness during the conference. For more information, visit www.sharpbrains.com.

About Games for Health Conference Sponsors

The Games for Health Conference is held in partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Pioneer Portfolio, which has served as the leading sponsor of the Games for Health Project since 2004. The Pioneer Portfolio supports innovative ideas that may lead to significant breakthroughs in the future of health and health care; having recognized the transformative potential of games, its support has helped Games for Health to become the leading professional community in the growing health games arena.

Humana Inc., one of the nation’s largest health benefits companies, will also return as a premiere health care sponsor this year, providing support for several conference activities. Humana will present new initiatives from the Humana Games for Health (HG4H) program, which officially launched at the Games for Health conference in 2008.

Additional Sponsors include: International Game Developers Association, Virtual Heroes, Mass Technology Leadership Council, Muzzy Lane, H.I.L. Forum, Business Resource Team, Entertainment Consumers Association, Massachusetts Office of Travel & Tourism, Mary-Margaret Network, Breakaway Ltd and MODSIM World Conference & Expo.

Website: http://www.gamesforhealth.org
Website: http://www.sharpbrains.com

Let me introduce and quote some of the top Brain Health Studies, Articles and Resources published in March:

1) Cognitive Decline Begins In Late 20s, Study Suggests (Science Daily)

- “These patterns suggest that some types of mental flexibility decrease relatively early in adulthood, but that how much knowledge one has, and the effectiveness of integrating it with one’s abilities, may increase throughout all of adulthood if there are no pathological diseases,” Salthouse said.

- However, Salthouse points out that there is a great deal of variance from person to person

2) Cerebrum 2009: Emerging Ideas in Brain Science – new book by the Dana Foundation that “explores the cutting edge of brain research and its implications in our everyday lives, in language understandable to the general reader.”

A couple of excellent chapters of direct relevance to everyone’s brain health are:
- Chapter 4: A Road Paved by Reason, by Elizabeth Norton Lasley

- Chapter 10: Neural Health: Is It Facilitated by Work Force Participation?, by Denise Park, Ph.D

3) Staying Sharp DVD Program: “Dr. Jordan Grafman, chief of the Cognitive Neuroscience Section at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke outside of Washington, DC, and a member of the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives, is your guide as we cover what to expect from the aging brain and what we can do to ’stay sharp.’

For a free DVD of this program you can contact stayingsharp@dana.org. (they say free in their website, I don’t know if that includes shipping & handling)

4) Drivers to be tested on cognitive ability starting at age 75 (Japan Times)

The outline of a cognitive test that drivers aged 75 or over will be required to take from June when renewing their licenses was released Thursday…The test is intended to reduce the number of traffic accidents involving elderly drivers by measuring their cognitive level.

5) Physical Fitness Improves Spatial Memory, Increases Size Of Brain Structure (Science Daily)

- “Now researchers have found that elderly adults who are more physically fit tend to have bigger hippocampi and better spatial memory than those who are less fit.”

6) Brain Trainers: A Workout for the Mind (Scientific American Mind)

“I recently tried out eight of the latest brain fitness programs, training with each for a week. The programs ranged widely in focus, quality and how fun they were to use. “Like physical exercise equipment, a brain exercise program doesn’t do you any good if you don’t use it,” says Andrew J. Carle, director of the Program in Assisted Living/Senior Housing Administration at George Mason University. And people tend not to use boring equipment. “I remember when NordicTrack was the biggest thing out there. Everyone ran out and bought one, and 90 percent of them ended up as a clothes rack in the back of your bedroom.”

The reporter used: Posit Science’s Brain Fitness Program Classic, HappyNeuron, Nintendo BrainAge, CogniFit’s MindFit/ CogniFit Personal Coach, Lumosity, MyBrainTrainer, BrainTwister, Cogmed Working Memory Training.

7) The Latest in Mental Health: Working Out at the ‘Brain Gym’ (Wall Street Journal)

- “Marshall Kahn, an 82-year-old family doctor in Fullerton, Calif., says he got such a boost from brain exercises he started doing at a “Nifty after Fifty” club that he decided to start seeing patients again part-time. “Doing all the mental exercise,” he says, “I realized I’ve still got it.”

Debate Over Drugs For ADHD Reignites (Washington Post)

- “New data from a large federal study have reignited a debate over the effectiveness of long-term drug treatment of children with hyperactivity or attention-deficit disorder, and have drawn accusations that some members of the research team have sought to play down evidence that medications do little good beyond 24 months.”

- “The study also indicated that long-term use of the drugs can stunt children’s growth.”

Adaptive training leads to sustained enhancement of poor working memory in children (Developmental Science)

Abstract: Working memory plays a crucial role in supporting learning, with poor progress in reading and mathematics characterizing children with low memory skills. This study investigated whether these problems can be overcome by a training program designed to boost working memory. Children with low working memory skills were assessed on measures of working memory, IQ and academic attainment before and after training on either adaptive or non-adaptive versions of the program. Adaptive training that taxed working memory to its limits was associated with substantial and sustained gains in working memory, with age-appropriate levels achieved by the majority of children. Mathematical ability also improved significantly 6 months following adaptive training. These findings indicate that common impairments in working memory and associated learning difficulties may be overcome with this behavioral treatment.

9) Brain cortex thinning linked to inherited depression (Los Angeles Times)

- “On average, people with a family history of depression appear to have brains that are 28% thinner in the right cortex — the outermost layer of the brain — than those with no known family history of the disease. That cortical thinning, said the researchers, is on a scale similar to that seen in patients with Alzheimer’s disease or schizophrenia.”

Enjoy these contributions:

Science & Technology

Mind Hacks reports that Facebook ate my psychiatrist. We can learn about the benefits of social networking sites like Facebook, bringing great perspective to recent and misguided media speculation (fuelled by a recent talk at the Royal College of Psychiatrists). Vaughan, will you please report on the benefits of participating (and, better, hosting) Encephalon?.

Dungeons And Dragons – Or Mazes And Monsters?: PodBlack Cat offers a thought-provoking review of the therapy (including self-therapy) applications of role-playing games such as the classic Dungeons And Dragons and the more recent massively multiplayer online games.

Cognitive Daily covers another type of game. In One more way video games might be good for you, Dave reviews a paper by C.S. Green and D. Bavelier that showed how  “spatial resolution of vision can also be improved by playing video games”, and that “gaming might be used as therapy for older adults whose vision often fades in precisely this domain.” As a bonus, you can conduct a fun experiment.

Uses of Deep Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS): Brain Stimulant explores emerging and potential future applications of this non-invasive intervention. Weight loss? Alzheimer´s? Schizophrenia? Depression?. Check it out to read respective developments. 

The appropriate use of all these technologies, and others, will benefit from more widely available cognitive assessments. I analyze the Opportunities and Concerns of Computerized Cognitive Assessments, highlighting that health companies and the military are starting to use new tools to assess brain functions in contexts that neither neuroimaging nor traditional neuropsychological testing can reach.

Research

Compulsive Collecting of Toy Bullets and Televisions: Neurocritic brings up two unusual case studies from the neurological literature describe the emergence of compulsive collecting behavior following frontal lobe damage.

Jake at Pure Pedantry explains both The function of a Fearful Expression and its very evolved physiological effects, and why he couldn´t wait to read this Encephalon edition: I Want It Now-Temporal Discounting in the Primate Brain, commenting on a recent experiment.  

Attention Deficits At Work: Pascale here at SharpBrains reports, based on a recent large study by Ron de Graaf and colleagues, that workers with AD/HD spent more than 22 fewer “role performance” days per year (including 8.7 days absent) working compared with non-AD/HD workers.

Going with the flow: Calcium ion homeostasis and Alzheimer’s disease: Ouroboros highlights promising areas of Alzheimer´s research, specifically how “controlling intracellular calcium homeostasis appears to play a major role in controlling levels of the Aß protein, a major component of the senile plaques that characterize Alzheimer´s Disease”.

Neuroanthropology lives up to its premise and analyzes The Cultural Brain in Five Flavors, presenting five different ways to think about the intersection of culture and neuroscience. Not only that, but they provide a brain-based understanding of “cultural learning” by exploring the role of mirror neurons.

Dr. Spurt comments on two recent papers: Reward prediction based on stimulus categorization in primate lateral prefrontal cortex and Neural Ensembles in CA3 Transiently Encode Paths Forward of the Animal at a Decision Point  (check out the animation if you have some time to read the context).

News You Can Use

Sandra at Channel N profiles a video on positive psychology and Laughter Yoga to enhance mental health: Oh Happiness.

 

Improve Memory with Sleep, Practice, and Testing: Bill Klemm here at SharpBrains explains the process of memory consolidation, or why, “a short-term memory is very vulnerable, as all of us have experienced from looking up a phone number only to have some distraction cause us to lose the number before we can get it dialed.” 

That´s all for this edition. The Mouse Trap will host next Encephalon, on August 4th. Enjoy the week!

 

 

Highlights from The State of the Brain Fitness Software Market 2008 report include:

1) 2007 was a seminal year for the US Brain Fitness software market, which reached $225 million in revenues – up from an estimated $100 million in 2005.

2) Over 20 companies are offering tools to assess and train cognitive skills to four customer segments: consumers; healthcare and insurance providers; K12 school systems; and Fortune 1000 companies, the military, and sports teams.

3) The Nintendo Brain Age/ Brain Training phenomenon has driven much of the growth. The consumer segment grew from a few million in 2005 to an estimated $80 million in 2007.

4) There is major confusion in the market, so education will be key. Users and buyers need help to navigate the maze of products and claims.

5) Over 400 residential facilities for older adults have launched computerized “brain fitness centers.” Sales to the healthcare and insurance provider segment grew from $35 million in 2005 to an estimated $65 million in 2007.

6) More than five programs have shown results in randomized controlled trials. Cognitive functions that can be trained include: visual and auditory processing, working memory, attention, and decision-making.

7) A product has obtained 510(k) FDA clearance for rehabilitation of stroke and Traumatic Brain Injury patients. Another product is being used by a growing network of ADHD specialists.

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.

9) The potential for K12 Education remains largely untapped due to limited research linking cognitive training to academic performance.

10) Companies, sports teams and the military are finding opportunities to improve productivity. The aging workforce will make this a must.

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.

Table of Contents
List of Figures
Companies Included
End Notes

A few accolades for the report:

“Finally, an insightful and complete overview of the science, companies and trends in the brain fitness field. A must-read for everyone offering products and services to boomers and elders.”
- Gloria Cavanaugh, former President & CEO of the American Society on Aging and founding Board member of the National Alliance for Caregiving.

“This groundbreaking report provides a definitive overview of the emerging brain training market — an important category to watch for every gaming and healthcare executive and investor. SharpBrains’ comprehensive report defines a clear scope for the market and also charts its evolution, path and key trends.”
- Tim Chang, Principal at Norwest Venture Partners.

“Brain health and function is becoming a top priority in our society. This is as true for school children as it is for corporate executives or aging baby-boomers. It is a typical misconception about the brain that there is only one general intelligence to care about. It has been shown that there are many different cognitive abilities each of which may be trained systematically. While physical exercise increases the rate of formation of new nerve cells, mental exercise promotes their survival. It is in this context that an explosion of new “brain-training” software modalities have been developed.
The 2008 State of the Brain Fitness Software Market report is a timely analysis of the status of this new and emerging market. Preliminary results from scientific investigations evaluating several of the programs suggest not only short-term improvement in the trained skills, but a more long lasting and extended response spanning related mental functions. The review clearly states that the impact of mental training on brain aging and dementing disorders remains unknown, but it profiles each approach regarding degree of scientific scrutiny, market segment, modality, and specific parameter being trained. Healthcare and psychology professionals will benefit immensely from this state of the art, comprehensive overview and insightful analysis.”
- Larry McCleary, M. D., former acting Chief of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Denver Children’s Hospital.

The report is available either in electronic format or hardcopy, both priced at $495. To learn more, and purchase, click Here. We are offering a 10% discount to our blog readers in honor of Brain Awareness Week (Discount Code “BAW2008″), valid until March 20th.

Related information:

- We first announced this report in this MIT/ ASA/ SmartSilvers Panel

- The video of the entire 1.5 hour panel is available in Google Video.

- This post featured the main highlights of the event.

• “In order to maintain and improve the cognitive performance of all adults, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Alzheimer’s Association today released the first-ever National Public Health Road Map to Maintaining Cognitive Health (Road Map) at the 2nd Alzheimer’s Association International Conference on Prevention of Dementia in Washington, DC.”
• “The Road Map highlights the importance of maintaining and improving cognitive health to the overall health of the nation. The Road Map is both a call to action and a guide for implementing a coordinated approach to raising the public’s awareness about cognitive health and increasing the nation’s commitment to understanding both the risks for cognitive decline and ways of maintaining brain health.”
• “Efforts to maintain and improve public health have focused mostly
  ‘below the neck,’ addressing diseases and conditions affecting the heart
  and other bodily organs,” said Harry Johns, Alzheimer’s Association
  President and CEO. “The National Public Health Road Map to Maintaining
  Cognitive Health shifts the focus ‘above the neck’ to draw attention to
  maintaining the health of our brains, which arguably is the most important
  organ in our bodies.”

We hope the message gets well-heard!

Related posts:

• The Dana Guide to Brain Health book review
• Easy Steps to Improve Your Brain Health Now