Here you are have the twice-a-month newsletter with our 10 most popular blog posts. Please 
remember that you can subscribe to receive this Newsletter by email, simply by submitting your email at the top of this page.
Our first Brain Training/ Fitness Webinar Series was a success with several hundred participants and great feedback. If you could not participate, you can still review the presentation slides by clicking Here. A key message from the series: it is exciting that our brains remain more flexible, at all ages, than was once thought possible. The implications? Every single owner of a brain can benefit from learning more about how to maintain the "It" in "Use It or Lose It." And which tools, if any, can be helpful. But, remember, there are no magic pills for cognitive health and performance.
Market News
National Neurotechnology Initiative: Neurotech leaders ask for help to support a pending bill on funding for applications of brain research.
Lumos Labs raises $3 m in venture capital: This website provides a stimulating Continue Reading »
As noted in our Market Report, we expect the field of cognitive training (or "brain fitness") software to grow in a variety of education and health-related areas over the next years. One of the most promising areas in our view: helping children and adults with attention deficits improve brain function to reduce ADHD symptoms.
I am glad to present this in-depth discussion on the results of two recent high-quality scientific studies. Let me start with Dr. Rabiner's conclusion:
"Results from these two cognitive training studies highlight that cognitive training interventions may provide an important complement to traditional medication treatment and behavior therapy. Both studies included appropriate control groups, employed random assignment, and had outcome measures provided by individuals who were "blind" to which condition children were assigned to. They are thus well-designed studies from which scientifically sound conclusions can be drawn. They add to the growing research base that intensive practice and training focused of key cognitive skills can have positive effects that extend beyond the training situation itself."
Without futher ado...enjoy the article!
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Two New Cognitive Training Studies for ADHD Yield Promising Findings
-- By Dr. David Rabiner
Although medication treatment is effective for many children with ADHD, there remains an important need to explore and develop interventions that can complement or even substitute for medication. This is true for a variety of reasons including:
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Here you are have the twice-a-month newsletter with our 10 most popular blog posts. Please remember that you can subscribe to receive this Newsletter by email, simply by submitting your email at the top of this page.
A crucial topic we cover is, "How can we use emerging technologies to keep our brains healthy and productive as long as possible?" The American Society on Aging asked Alvaro to exercise his brain...and here are his thoughts on the current state and future of the brain fitness market: Brain Health Business Grows With Research and Demand
Announcements
Brain Training Presentation and Seminars: We had an informative webinar this Tuesday. Click here to view the presentation and learn about upcoming events.
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Cognitive training is showing a tremendous potential to expand working memory, a 
capacity once thought limited and untrainable.
If you have enough working memory to both be processing this information and developing your own thoughts, you may be thinking now, a) what exactly is Working Memory?, and b) why do we even care?. Well, Dr. Bill Klemm answers those questions, and more, below. Please enjoy one of the most insightful articles on the subject we have seen in a long while, which we are proud to bring to SharpBrains readers.
How Well People Think Depends On Working Memory
- By Dr. Bill Klemm
Imagine dialing a phone number by having to look up each digit one at a time in the phone book. Normally, you look up the number and remember all seven digits long enough to get it dialed. Even with one digit at a time, you would have to remember each digit long enough to get it dialed. What if your brain could not even do that! We call this kind of remembering, “working memory,” because that is what the brain works with. Working memory is critical to everyday living.
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We have talked about the value of meditation before (see Mindfulness and Meditation in 
Schools), as a form of well-directed mental exercise than can help train attention and emotional self-regulation. Which other studies have shown how it strengthens specific parts of the brain, mainly in the frontal lobe.
Dr. Rabiner shares with us, below, an excellent review of a new study that analyzes the benefits of mindfulness for adolescents and adults with attention deficits. He writes that "although this is clearly a preliminary study, the results are both interesting and encouraging."
Does Mindfulness Meditation Help Adults & Teens with ADHD
-- By Dr. David Rabiner
Although medication treatment is effective for many individuals with ADHD, including adolescents adults, there remains an understandable need to explore and develop interventions that can complement or even substitute for medication. This is true for a variety of reasons including:
1) Not all adults with ADHD benefit from medication.
2) Among those who benefit, many have residual difficulties that need to be addressed via other means.
3) Some adults with ADHD experience adverse effects that prevent them from remaining on medication.
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A very promising cognitive training study was presented last week by Helena Westerberg at the annual meeting of the CNS: Cognitive Neuroscience Society held in San Francisco, and Dr. David Rabiner brings us the highlights.
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The study was conducted with a general adult population, rather than adults diagnosed with ADHD, as was the case in previous published working memory training studies,
The study was a randomized, controlled trial of working memory training conducted with 55 younger (20-30 years old) and 45 older (60-70 years old) adults. Participants were randomly assigned to receive 5 weeks of active Cogmed Working Memory Training or a placebo training intervention. In the active training group, the difficulty of the working memory training tasks continually adjusted to match the individual's performance. As a result, individuals were consistently challenged to perform at their highest possible level. In the placebo training group, the difficulty level remained constant across the training period such that improvements in working memory were not expected to occur.
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Interesting recent news:
For more on these news, and commentary: Continue Reading »
The next Learning & the Brain conference edition is April 26-29, 2008, in Cambridge, MA. We recommend it highly for educators interested in learning more about latest brain research findings and implications for teaching. See Detailed program.
Description: Cognitive neuroscience has discovered that the brain is not ‘hardwired’ from birth, but holds a remarkable lifelong power to change—a phenomenon called ‘plasticity.’ Positive or negative environments, exercise, nurturance, learning, and other experiences continue to change the brain throughout life.
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A few very interesting New York Times articles over the last couple of days, plus a great opportunity for clinicians and researchers in Latin America.
- Well: When a Brain Scientist Suffers a Stroke
"Dr. Taylor recounts the details of her stroke and the amazing insights she gained from it in a riveting 18-minute video of her speech at the Technology, Entertainment, Design Conference in Monterey, Calif., last month."
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After many months of work (and we hope many new neurons and stronger synapses in our brains), we have just released our inaugural report on the emerging Brain Fitness Software Market, 
the first to define the brain fitness software market and analyze the size and trends of its four customer segments. We estimate the size of the US brain fitness software market at $225M in2007, up from $100m in 2005 (50% CAGR). The two segments that fueled the market growth: consumers (grew from $5m to $80m, 300% CAGR) and healthcare & insurance providers (grew from $36m to $65m, 35% CAGR).
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 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.
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