SharpBrains

(Note: if you are trying to download the whitepaper featuring the 11 in-depth interviews that debunk those myths, click here) 

Over the last year we have interviewed a number of leading brain health and fitness scientists and practitioners worldwide to learn about their research and thoughts, and have news to report.

What can we say today that we couldn't have said only 10 years ago? That what neuroscience pioneer Santiago Ramon y Cajal claimed in the XX century, "Every man can, if he so desires, become the sculptor his own brain", may well become reality in the XXI. And influence Education, Health, Training, and Gaming in the process.

We have only scratched the surface of what science-based structured cognitive (i.e., mental) exercise can do for brain health and productivity. We are now witnessing the birth of a new industry that crosses traditional sector boundaries and that may help us understand, assess and train our brains, harnessing the growing research about neurogenesis (the creation of new neurons), neuroplasticity (the ability of the brain to rewire itself through experience), cognitive training and emotional regulation.

Let's now debunk 10 myths, still too prevalent, that may prevent us from seeing the full potential of this emerging field:

Myth 1: It’s all in our genes.

Reality: A big component of our lifelong brain health and development depends on what we do with our brains. Our own actions, not only our genes, influence our lives to a large extent. Genes predispose us, not determine our fates.

• “Individuals who lead mentally stimulating lives, through education, occupation and leisure activities, have reduced risk of developing Alzheimer’s. Studies suggest that they have 35-40% less risk of manifesting the disease” - Dr. Yaakov Stern, Division Leader of the Cognitive Neuroscience Division of the Sergievsky Center at Columbia University.

Myth 2: The field of Cognitive/ Brain Fitness is too new to be credible.

Reality: The field rests on solid foundations dating back more decades --- what is new is the number and range of tools that are now starting to be available for healthy individuals.

• “Rigorous and targeted cognitive training has been used in clinical practice for many years. Exercising our brains systematically is as important as exercising our bodies.” - Dr. Elkhonon Goldberg, neuropsychologist, clinical professor of neurology at New York University School of Medicine, and disciple of Alexander Luria.

• "Today, thanks to fMRI and other neuroimaging techniques, we are starting to understand the impact our actions can have on specific parts of the brain." - Dr. Judith Beck, Director of the Beck Institute for Cognitive Therapy and Research.

Myth 3: Medication is and will remain the only evidence-based intervention for a number of brain-related problems.

Reality: Cognitive training programs are starting to Continue Reading »

Unless you have been living in a cave, you have read by now multiple articles about the brain training and brain exercise craze: sudoku, Nintendo BrainAge, multiple online games, software like MindFit and Posit Science...

If you are looking for some fun mental stimulation now, here you have our selection of Brain Teasers.

Now, how do you know which of the new programs can help you more, or whether you need any of them? which ones are simply entertaining Games vs. which ones look like "Games" but are really Training, improving, specific cognitive and emotional skills? Well, that's why we are publishing the SharpBrains Checklist below, to help you navigate through the overwhelming and conflicting media reports and company announcements.

We have spent over 18 months interviewing scientists and reviewing available Brain Fitness and Exercise Programs worldwide, and want to share with you, right now, the research-based criteria we use to evaluate them.

10 Questions to Choose the Right Brain Fitness Program for You (and a brief explanation of why each question is important)

* 1. Are there scientists, ideally neuropsychologists, and a scientific advisory board behind the program?

(Neuropsychologists specialize in measuring and understanding human cognition and brain structure and function.)

* 2. Are there published, peer-reviewed scientific papers in PubMed written by those scientists? How many?

(Pubmed is a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine that includes millions of citations science journals. If a scientist has not published a paper that appears in that database, he or she cannot make scientific claims.)

* 3. What are the specific benefits claimed for using this program? Continue Reading »

A collection of recent announcement in the "brain games" or "brain training games" space:

The Wii sets new generational standards for the videogame industry

• "The ageing of the Japanese population compelled gamemaker Nintendo to widen its audience. Now, the Wii is leading the industry standards. But hardcore gamers are still too important to be neglected."

Strain your brain the smart way

• "George Harrison, Nintendo's senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications, has said that more than half of the company's marketing for Wii is aimed at adults. And the system has been presented at conventions for the aging "gray gamer" population." and talks about sudoku, Brain Age, Big Brain Academy, and more.

SBT Announces the Acquisition of Quixit

• "Scientific Brain Training ("SBT"), based in Lyon, France, today has announced that Continue Reading »

My first full-time job was as a strategic consultant at McKinsey & Company. A very intense 2-year learning experience.

Their Alumni News Service recently interviewed me and published this great article on SharpBrains. The writer does a superb job of providing an overview of what we do, so I recommend you read it. I'd like to emphasize the following quotes for anyone looking for jobs these days, so that "brain exercise" is part of the equation:

• "Alvaro has some very high praise for the mental gymnastics that the McKinsey experience provides.  Given that the frontal lobes in our brain (behind the forehead) only mature in our late 20s, he says, the jobs we take in our early and mid-20s are very important not only for our career prospects, but also for our brain development fitness. This is the stage in our life where, consciously or not, we can improve our decision-making, initiative and self-regulation abilities, all of which literally affect the physical growth of our frontal lobes in a significant way."
• “Joining McKinsey as a BA is literally like joining a brain gym,” Alvaro says. “The demands of the ‘McKinsey model’ Continue Reading »

Today we are traveling to Japan. Go Hirano is a serial Japanese entrepreneur who has been exploring neuroscience-based opportunities in Japan, having recently created the company NeuWell (neuroscience for wellness). NeuWell and SharpBrains are exploring opportunities together to bring world-class programs to Japan, and we thought that SharpBrains' blog readers may be interested in learning about trends in Japan.

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Key take-aways:

- People in Japan devour any product with brain-related claims

- But there has been a recent backlash against children videogames, so game developers have started to focus on older audiences with (mostly unproven) brain-health-improving games

- The market is ripe for programs with proven research and tangible benefits

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AF: Hirano-san, tell us a bit about yourself and how you became interested in applied neuroscience.

GH: after helping launch one of the first DSL providers in Japan, I started to wonder what the next bigger value for society would be. I have always been fascinated by brain research, so I started to explore opportunities to help bring to market neuroscience-based programs to help students do better in exams, and adults age in brain-friendly ways.

AF: what is the state of Brain Fitness and Brain Training in Japan? what are the most popular applications so far?

GH: I think people understand the concepts of Brain Fitness and Brain Training. If one method or product/service sounds a bit scientific there are people who would try it for fun and curiosity. However, Continue Reading »

Good WebMD 4-page article on Brain Fitness programs for seniors. Check Keeping Your Brain Fit for Life:Software companies are offering new programs that promise to keep your brain sharp as you get older.

Some quotes:

- "The notion of brain fitness has even invaded popular culture. In April, Nintendo released Brain Age, a Japanese-inspired, handheld video game to help users' minds stay active. While the game is marketed for all ages, the buyers --- now numbering more than 655,000 in the U.S. --- have mainly been older people, Nintendo of America spokeswoman Amber McCollom writes in an email."

- "Players take a nonscientific test that calculates a "brain age" for the purposes of the game. Continue Reading »

Thanks to MindHacks for the link to a good Washington Post article, "Pumping Neurons".

A couple of quotes:

Recent research shows that the brain remains plastic, or basically trainable, throughout life. In a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2002, significant percentages of the 2,802 participants age 65 and older who trained for five weeks for about 2 1/2 hours per week improved their memory, reasoning and information-processing speed.

When we learn, we create physical changes inside our heads. By practicing a skill, we repeatedly stimulate the same area of the brain, which strengthens existing neural connections and creates new ones. Over time, we can become more cognitively efficient, using fewer neurons to do the same job. And the more often we fire up certain mental circuits, the easier it is to get them going again.

Continue Reading »