Salon.com published yesterday a thought-provoking article focused on Posit Science’s Brain Fitness Program, titled Buff Up Your Brain, that combined a) some pretty good analysis and great points about that specific program and justifiable (to a point) criticism of the commercial tone of a recent PBS Special, with b) the error of confusing a tree with the forest, that led the author to make several unwarranted claims regarding the field.

Computerized cognitive training has been around since way before Posit Science, and will be here way beyond Posit Science (and SharpBrains, and Salon.com), and their auditory processing product-featured in the PBS Special- is not, in our view, the most particularly impressive example. Well-directed cognitive exercise can enhance mental skills and transfer to real-life outcomes, acting as a good complementary tool, when used properly, to other lifestyle options and tools.

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If you are interested in neuroscience and psychology, you will enjoy the superb posts at the latest edition of Encephalon blog carnival, hosted by Neurophilosopher in his beautiful new home at ScienceBlogs. Congrats, Mo!

(Note: the following is inspired by real events but not quite. Caroline is a colleague, not my grandma!)

Over the weekend, I dropped by to say Hi to my grandma Carolina, the Wise Neuroscientist every family should have. She always helps me out. Imagine, then, my relief when she happily spent a few hours with me going over the printed submissions for Encephalon #15. The conversation went so well, that we are adding it to our Neuroscience Interview Series on learning and “brain gyms”.

Alvaro: Thanks again! I have heard organisms have something called a biological clock — what is that?

Carolina: According to Bora of A Blog Around The Clock, a biological clock is a structure that times regular re-occurrence of biochemical, physiological and behavioral events in an organism in constant environmental conditions. The word “clock” is a metaphor, and the concept tries to exclude direct responses to the environment. Make sure to understand this properly, otherwise Bora suggests explaining it to you this way: “If I give you an electroshock every two hours, you will exhibit a 2-hour cycle of convulsions…but that’s not a biological clock”.

Alvaro: Crystal clear. Hmmm, I am thinking of nothing in particular right now, my mind wanders, like a river stream…what may be happening in my brain?

Carolina: Nothing special, as The Neurocritic seems to argue in his series Default Mode or Detritus?, Daydreaming and Thought-Sampling, and Resisting a resting state. Don’t be easily seduced by sexy neuroimaging into believing that “default” constitutes some kind of baseline.

Alvaro: I wouldn’t dare do so, by no means. Read the rest of this entry »