Brains and Bodies work together!

By Amy Price PhD

Your brain care how your body lives. Maybe it is time to redecorate from the inside out!

New research on cognition that shows transfer of training and increase in quality of life  can be very successful when individual differences are professionally assessed and programs targeted to individuals.  This is why one size fits all ‘brain training’ shows limited success. The brain requires novelty and positively graded accomplishment to reach full potential. [1-4].  

Brain age related deficits are noticed primarily in the prefrontal and parietal cortical regions  which tend to shrink as individuals age with men exhibiting more extensive shrinkage than women [5]. These areas are crucial for planning and for connecting input from other brain areas. The areas of shrinkage initially demonstrate increased regional activation. This may be a time sensitive window where neuroplasticity growth factors can be leveraged to best advantage. Combining several strands of behavioral and neuro-imaging evidence, the argument can be made that functional plasticity has the capacity to alter the course of cognitive aging. Losses in regional brain integrity may drive functional reorganization through changes in processing strategies and domain specific cognitive training.

These same deficits can be present in brain injured persons but the route to successful training would take a different though just as effective path.

Factors such as cognitive training, regular exercise, nutrition enrichment and  positive relationships can increase Cortical thickness . These findings were first published on animal studies but are also noted in human studies [5-10].  A combination targeted personalized brain and physical training produces specific volume changes in white and grey matter [9]

Physical exercise boosts the brain’s rate of neurogenesis throughout life, while mental exercise increases the rate at which those new brain cells survive and make functional connections into existing neural networks.[7-10] Both physical exercise and the challenge from mental exercise increase the secretion of nerve growth factor, which helps neurons grow and stay healthy.[8-10] This makes sense if we think of how exercise helps to clean out the sludge and provide oxygen so the body can make more effective use of tissues needed for regeneration and repair.  In fact scientists are now finding compounds that can increase our stem cells within the body and even then are finding that targeted solutions are needed for optimum stem cell growth health and production [14]

Nyberg found that although older brains exhibit less plasticity than do young brains overall, the benefits of training—particularly domain-specific training—can be substantial and durable [13]. Studies are showing these gains to be of 5 years + More- over, the training benefits were found to be similar to the amount of decline anticipated over 7–14 years [3, 12, and 13].

References

1.            Posner, M., & Rothbart M. Educating the human brain. Washington, DC US: American Psychological Association.; 2007:189-208. doi:10.1037/11519-009

2.            Jaeggi SM, Buschkuehl M, Jonides J, Perrig WJ. Improving fluid intelligence with training on working memory. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2008;105(19):6829-33. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18443283

3.            Willis SL, Tennstedt SL, Marsiske M, et al. Long-term effects of cognitive training on everyday functional outcomes in older adults. JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association. 2006;296(23):2805-14. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17179457

4.            Gordon E, Arns M, Paul RH. Research Report THE INTEGRATE MODEL OF EMOTION, THINKING AND SELF REGULATION: AN APPLICATION TO THE “PARADOX OF AGING”. Thinking. 2008;7(3):367-404.

5.         Greenwood PM. Functional plasticity in cognitive aging: review and hypothesis. Neuropsychology. 2007;21(6):657-73. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17983277

6.            Joseph J, Cole G, Head E, Ingram D. Mark P. Mattson, Sic L. Chan and Wenzhen Duan. Physiological Reviews. 2009:637-672.

7.            Kramer AF, Bherer L, Colcombe SJ, Dong W, Greenough WT. Environmental influences on cognitive and brain plasticity during aging. The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences. 2004;59(9):M940-57.: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15472160.

8.            Kramer, AF; Erickson KI, Colcombe SJ (2006). “Exercise, cognition, and the aging brain”. J Appl Physiol 101 (4): 1237–42. doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.00500.2006.

9.             Valenzuela MJ, Sachdev P, Wen W, Chen X, Brodaty H. Lifespan mental activity predicts diminished rate of hippocampal atrophy. PloS one. 2008;3(7):e2598. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18612379.

10.          Ernst C, Olson AK, Pinel JP, Lam RW, Christie BR. Antidepressant effects of exercise: evidence for an adult-neurogenesis hypothesis? Journal of psychiatry & neuroscience : JPN. 2006;31(2):84-92. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16575423

11.          Ball K, Edwards JD, Ross La. The impact of speed of processing training on cognitive and everyday functions. The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences. 2007;62 Spec No(I):19-31.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17565162.

12.          Willis, SL; SL Tennstedt, M Marsiske, et al. (2006). “Long-term effects of cognitive training on everyday functional outcomes in older adults”. JAMA 296: 2805–14. doi:10.1001/jama.296.23.2805.

13.          Nyberg, L. (2005). Cognitive training in healthy aging: A cognitive neuroscience perspective. In R. Cabeza, L. Nyberg, & D. Park (Eds.), Cognitive neuroscience of aging: Linking cognitive and cerebral aging. New York: Oxford University Press.

 14.         New Scientist http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16383-drugs-unlock-the-bodys-own-stem-cell-cabinet.html}

Brain and Success Development

By Amy Price PhD
Somewhere in the world there is a child’s brain waiting to be salvaged. You have the power in your hands to change a destiny. With a few simple strategies and a little funding there can be answers. We can build it…You can help! You are invited to attend an art and media exhibit dedicated to brain development

Friday October 9: 6:30 opening, 7:30 – presentation by Dr. Gordon on The Brain Revolution, Creativity and Why Brain Development should be a Human Right.

Saturday October 10: Open Exhibition all day (10 am – 8 pm)

Sunday October 11: Open Exhibition all day (10 am – 8 pm)

Dr. Evian Gordon on his Brain Art: ‘Whilst there is a great deal about the brain that we do not yet know, the essence of what we do already know can be used to understand our behavior, as well as our sense of authentic Self and ultimately even influence the direction of human cultural evolution…… throughout my academic life and the past years in the corporate sector, I have always had an art life – painting metaphors of the Brain and Self (with symbols that reflect core brain dynamics). Where the testability of brain science ends, I have immersed myself in nonconscious speculations within my BrainArt, as part of a Brain Science – Brain Art Continuum.’

80% of profits from Dr. Gordon’s Exhibition on ‘Brain Art and Self’ will go towards funding The Brain Revolution Project (the other 20% will go to support the Nour Foundation’s initiatives). The Brain Revolution project serves to empower children around the world with ideas and ways to train their brain for Self Mastery. The overall goal of the project is to contribute to Brain Development being a Human Right. Click here for more information on how to participate and directions

Other material by Dr Price can be seen at Traumatic Brain Injury Centers Remember “A mind is a terrible thing to lose” You can be an answer!

By Amy Price PhD            An alternate title is “What you see on the inside produces consequences on the outside”. Scriptures state this a couple of other ways “As an individual thinks in his/her heart so is their destiny” The prophets explained the Israelites initial inability to enter the land of promise by saying “They were like grasshoppers in their own sight and so they were the same in the eyes of others”.

Science bears this out. According to integrative neuroscientist Evian Gordon (2001, 2008) minimizing danger and maximizing reward is a significant principle in how the brain organizes and in so doing impacts our lives. If a situation leads to a reward response such as positive emotions, words, or activities the brain engages and approaches or engages. When a situation brings up negative emotions or punishment the brain sends out an avoid response and detaches.

Can you see where this principle would lead in marriages, the work place or learning? In one research study participants completed a paper maze that featured a mouse in the middle trying to reach a picture on the outside. Half of the group saw a piece of the cheese as the picture to reach while others saw a predator.

The effect on learning the maze was astounding those that had the cheese picture solved more problems more creatively than those with the predator picture. (Friedman and Foster, 2001). Other studies relate how people who specifically visualize and mentally practice winning have significant advantages over people who did not practice and in fact what they ‘thought” gave them a similar advantage to actually practicing (Logie and Denis ,1991)

Transferring this concept to the real we can ask these questions. How likely is someone who senses their credibility is undermined to be able to produce answers to complex problems or initiate creative solutions?

Performance reviews, constructive criticism, even unasked for advice can threaten status and cloud thinking. You can even threaten your own status by seeing yourself as hanging by your fingernails over a cliff or rehearsing failure. There are a series of steps you can take to change your mind and get it working for you from the inside out.

As an employer, parent, friend or marriage partner are you unknowingly causing threats to an individual’s status or is someone threatening yours? Watch this space for ways of enhancing status and changing your place in the workspace! For more articles on the brain Dr Price also reaches out to those in chronic pain

For ways to put these principles in action see this article http://empower2go.wordpress.com

There was an interesting study by Michael Marsiske, Ph.D, a professor of clinical health and psychology at the University of Florida, which tested whether mental stimulation could improve cognitive functioning in adults age 65 – 94. (Link here.)

This study included training in 4 techniques to improve memory: meaningfulness, organization, visualization and association. You can use these techniques to boost your memory now.

Meaningfulness

We tend to remember things that have some importance to us. It doesn’t have to be very important, like remembering the code to a secret document which will save our lives, but if there is some significance, we tend to remember. I ordinarily forget phone numbers, but 2 days after my mother moved to an assisted living, I memorized her new phone number. Interestingly, after two years I still don’t remember the number of the nursing station, but I do remember where I wrote it down.

Another example is if I asked you where you were during 9-11 or when Kennedy was shot or even when they bombed Pearl Harbor, you probably can remember.
Interestingly a certain amount of emotional involvement helps remembering. That’s why we remember 9-11. But too much can have the opposite effect. Ask someone in an office building nearby, and they may have memory lapses associated with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

So the trick is to create meaning. For example, if you are going to the grocery store and you want to remember to buy spaghetti sauce, you might think about a trip to Italy or to your favorite Italian restaurant or even about a Clint Eastwood spaghetti western that you enjoyed watching. If it’s not just a forgettable can of sauce, it’s more likely to make its way into your shopping cart.

Organization

You are more likely to remember things when you put them in a category. For example, you are off to get your hair cut and you need to get gas and stop off at the store to pick up some fish for dinner. Before you leave the house, think about getting food for yourself and food for your car. That way you are more likely to have remembered these things when you get home.

Often memory training includes remembering lists of objects, and the more that you do it, the more neuronal connections you can build up in your brain. Let’s say your list is: fish, chair, potatoes, hammer, sofa, screw driver, pliers, bed and apples. As an experiment I invite you to close your eyes and to try to remember this list. I think it’s a pretty overwhelming task.
Now think about furniture, food, and tools. Think about the fish, apples, and potatoes as food, the bed, sofa and chair as furniture and the screw driver, hammer and pliers as tools. Now close your eyes and see if you can remember more of the list. If you did better, it may be because of organization.

Organization is actually a way of chunking information. Instead of remembering nine distinct objects, you are remembering 3 categories with 3 pieces of information in each one.
This can work with numbers too. Instead of 358902, think of three hundred and fifty eight and nine hundred and two. I often use this when I am giving out my phone number. It makes it much easier for the listener to write down the correct digits.

Visualization

Visualization is really a way of making information more meaningful to you. For example, if you wanted that spaghetti sauce, you could do more than just remembering your favorite Italian restaurant. Visualize yourself inside the restaurant, see Luigi the star waiter bringing you a steaming plate of spaghetti covered with your favorite marinara sauce, smell the garlic and tomatoes, imagine the taste of the pasta. The more different senses you can use, the more effective the visualization will be, and the more likely you are to remember to pick up spaghetti sauce.

Let’s say you have a doctor’s appointment on Thursday morning at 10 am. Imagine yourself getting up and having breakfast. See yourself looking at the calendar and seeing that it is Thursday. Imagine getting into your car and traveling on the route that you normally take. Hear yourself listening to your favorite song on the radio. Feel yourself sitting in your car seat. See yourself pulling into the parking lot and going into your doctor’s office. As you enter the door, see the clock saying 10 am.

Association

When something is associated with something else, we are more likely to remember it. This is why random facts like proper names or telephone numbers are so hard to remember, because they are not connected to anything else. If you can make the connection, you are more likely to remember.

For example, if you want to remember Henry’s name, think of Henry the VIII, O’Henry candy bars, Henry Fonda or any other Henry that you know. I just met a Lori the other day, and she was so excited because she had another friend named Ninah. Lori happens to be my middle name, so it was very easy to remember her name.

The hardest names are the kind that you have never heard of before, the ones where you don’t have direct associations or even name recognition. In these instances you have to be more imaginative. For example, let’s say that you meet Sharika. You may remember the Shari by thinking about Shari Lewis or by associating it with sharing. Think of the “ka” as being the ending of Topeka or Eureka.

If you have that list of words with hammer, potato and couch, make a story about these objects. For example, think about putting the potato on the sofa and smashing it with the hammer. I guess I though of this aggressive image because I’m tired of senior moments and wish they would go away without me having to work on them. But I wish I had the same metabolism that I had at 20, and neither of these things are going to happen.

How Computer Programs Can Help

We have reviewed some easy things that you can do at home involving meaningfulness, categorization, visualization and association which will boost your memory IQ. But there are also specific computer “games” which will improve these abilities, particularly categorization and association, and they also help with things like processing speed, auditory processing and visual processing as well. For example, you may have to click on the object which is not an animal or click on the computer mouse when the object is not the same color at the outline. These games can get more challenging when there are distracters on the screen, time limits or even games where you have to figure out the rules. There are also computer games that that help with attention and with stress reduction. These are just some of the games that we use at the Sparks of Genius Brain Fitness Center, and in addition to games that are personalized for you, you have a coach for support and encouragement.

So whether you want to use these tips to help improve your memory at home or whether you want to check things out the Sparks of Genius Brain Fitness Center, the important thing to know is that there is a lot that you can do to strengthen your memory and your memories and to enhance your mental fitness.

I’ll leave you with a final quote from Dr. Marsiske:

If you have any concerns that you cannot learn new things later in life, put those away. If people put effort into learning new and challenging things after age 65, they can grow in performance. And they can maintain those gains.

By Ninah Kessler
Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Life Coach

By Amy Price PhD

Professor Kawashima followed his dream. When he was a boy he saw himself putting his brain on a computer system. He believed that if he could represent mental functioning on a computer, he would be able to understand how people’s brains worked. On his journey he created the Nintendo DS brain training games. These games are inter-generational tools that are entertaining to people of all ages. Dr. Kawashima studied brain response with pet scans. He found when people simply watch television, brain zones that handle sound and sight respond. When playing a video game, zones that deal with motion and color respond. The part of the brain that really helps us think is called the prefrontal cortex. It is not stimulated with either of these activities.

Difficult math does not light up this part of the brain either, but simple math done under speed conditions makes a big difference. Reading silently does not use this part of the brain as much as when we read out loud. Dr. Kawashimi developed games that stimulate the prefrontal cortex. So the principle is to work out with your brain and have fun!

He came under fire because a British newspaper quoted him as saying videogames harm the brain. This is not actually true. He said videogames de-activate the prefrontal cortex. Professor Kawashima has four children. He let them all play video games but only for one hour every day. His reasoning was that sometimes the brain just needs to rest and video games were not harmful. He has done tests on elderly Japanese people. What he found was that solving mental puzzles can often arrest cognitive decline. Dr. Kawashimi says ‘I cannot comment on whether the illness of dementia is cured or not, but with these methods symptoms of dementia certainly improve”.

Other virtual activities that were once exclusively the domain of the young are being used with increasing success to rehabilitate older adults and bring them quality of life. In some senior centers card games and crossword puzzles are being replaced with virtual reality bowling or tennis. Crossword puzzles and sudoku are played in groups with computers and a mouse. These are much easier to navigate than small pieces of wood and studies have shown that simulated activities are almost as useful for practice as the real thing.

Some other scientists are jealous and treat his work with disparaging remarks such as there has not been enough time to test this or there is little empirical evidence. Other scientists like Dr. Posner are finding exciting results after only a few sessions with brain fitness tools. Scientists are testing brain games and finding increased brain fitness from the very old to the very young. Some say Professor Kawashimi is in it for the money. This is sad as all the royalties from the games and the books he wrote about the mind go entirely to the University. Dr. Kawashimi feels as a scientist it is his obligation and the obligation of others to return the results of our research to society.

This story is adapted from an article by Richard Lloyd Parry of the Times newspaper, London UK

Here are Other articles By Dr. Amy Price, she also reaches out to those in chronic pain

There are many reasons to adopt an attitude of gratitude. Some have a philosophical basis, others spiritual, health, moral or even scientific.

Gratitude is a key component of popular movie “The Secret,” which demonstrated how gratitude can jump-start the “law of attraction” to bring more health, happiness and wealth into your life.

Gratitude is one of the key components of reducing stress with the emWavePC stress relief system.

Gratitude is also a key component to the healthful and beautiful “Journey to the Wild Divine”

Gratitude is a key component of health. In “Boost Your Health with a Dose of Gratitude” we learn that “Grateful people — those who perceive gratitude as a permanent trait rather than a temporary state of mind — have an edge on the not-so-grateful when it comes to health, according to Emmons’ research on gratitude. Grateful people take better care of themselves and engage in more protective health behaviors like regular exercise, a healthy diet, regular physical examinations,” care of themselves and engage in more protective health behaviors like regular exercise, a healthy diet, regular physical examinations.”

Gratitude is also a stress buster and an immune booster.

For an uplifting experience of gratitude see “A Good Day” at http://youtube.com/watch?v=3Zl9puhwiyw.

–Dr. Rohn Kessler

Why should I even want to take care of my brain? Don’t I have enough to do? Most people are busy enough with their spouse, their parents, their children, their grandchildren, their jobs, their homes, the laundry, paying the bills, their friends and the list goes on.

The simple answer to this question is that the brain is like a muscle, an extremely complicated muscle. You have a choice about this muscle – you use it or you lose it. So if you want to take care of your brain, one of the things that you need to do to is use it, preferably in new and novel situations.

For some people, keeping your brain healthy is very natural and you don’t even have to think about it. An example is Bob Woodruff, former anchor for ABC news. When he was young he learned Mandarin Chinese and got a law degree. He wanted to be on top of his game, so he learned about any area that he was reporting on. He liked tennis and other athletic activities so there was lots of rich red blood bringing oxygen to his brain. Oxygen is one of a brain’s favorite things, and it takes most of the body’s oxygen. So Bob Woodruff was blessed with a very healthy brain, which was a good thing because he had a head injury with brain damage in Iraq. He might not have a good recovery if his brain not so healthy to begin with. This is one reason why you might want to take care of your brain. A healthy brain is like shutters in Florida. They may not prevent a hurricane, but they’re more likely to keep your home safe.

This probably wouldn’t be my first reason to keep my brain healthy. I would just as soon avoid Iraq. I want my brain to be healthy it can support me in interacting optimally in the world. If my brain wasn’t working, I would forget the beginning of this article by the time I got to the middle. If I were a stock broker, I wouldn’t be able to pick the right stocks. If I were a politician, I wouldn’t be able to make decisions that would be good for the country. If I were an orthopedic surgeon, I wouldn’t be able to successfully complete the operation. As the world we live in gets more and more complete, it is more and more important to have a well functioning brain.

Now some people have a history of satisfaction with their brain. They managed their jobs and their personal relationships, they got from place to place, they ran their houses and they booked their cruises. Then they noticed that their memory was failing. They began to forget names, birthdays, anniversaries. Once they finally found their keys they forget how to get to the restaurant. They started to call everyone “honey” because it was easier than remembering their name. Sometimes they wouldn’t even realize that their memory had changed, but a spouse or a child would notice mental decline. Those who want to prevent, stabilize or possibly reverse memory loss now have options if they start taking care of their brain.

Keeping the Brain Healthy

There are many things that we want our brain to do. We want it to focus and pay attention. We want it to be able to do things in a reasonable time. We want it to have mental flexibility and we want it to be able to remember things.

There are many different levels of keeping the brain functioning optimally, just as there are many different levels of athletic ability, and there is an optimal level for every person. If I want to play tennis, I need to practice my strokes but I’ll never be a Chris Evert. Likewise, if you are a high powered professional who wants to stay on top of your game, working out your brain could help you to keep your edge. But if you’re a senior who is concerned about memory loss, you may never be an Einstein but you can make small changes that could have a significant impact on the way that you live.

Slowing mental decline is very important, and even if you can prevent further decline for a few years, you are ahead of the game. It could make the difference between living independently and living in a nursing home or in an assisted living.

If you’re concerned about your brain, you can go to our Sparks of Genius website and take the 39 point learning assessment, which will give you some ideas about what you can do for memory optimization. There are some other excellent web sites, like Cognitive Labs from Stamford University (www.cognitivelabs.com) which even has brain tests and brain games which can optimize cognitive functioning. If you do these two things, you can greatly enhance how your brain is working. But if this is all that you do, you had better be very motivated. You will need to keep playing these games at least a few times a week to see any progress.

I had a good friend who started working with some of the games that we use in our cognitive playground at Sparks of Genius. She came to the office a few times a month and she was making progress. She leased a cognitive training program and was working out at home. But she and her husband decided that he would coach her at home. So they left our program, stopped training at home and her memory continued to decline. My friend was only 65 when this happened and both her parents lived to be in their nineties. So she has maybe 35 years of impaired quality of life because she didn’t properly care for her brain.

How Coaching Works

We have all know the physical fitness model of taking care of ourselves. You eat right and exercise and to improve your health will be better. Your brain health will be better too, because there are nutrients in food that enhances mental functioning. Physical activity is essential because it boost the amount of oxygen in your brain.

So let’s take the physical fitness model and apply it to brain fitness. Now some people work out from their homes. They run on their treadmill, use weights, bands and a stability ball. They are able to do this on a regular basis and maintain their motivation. I am not one of these people. The main exercise I get at home is walking to and from the refrigerator. My physical health would be a disaster if this was the only way that I took care myself.

The mental equivalent of this would be someone who uses Berlitz tapes to learn French, does crossword puzzles and brain teasers, read books about Einstein’s equations, has lots of interactions with other people and travels extensively. In other words, they are able to structure their lives so that their brain experiences new and novel situations. It could also be someone who has a stimulating but not overly stressful career. While some stress actually helps to keep you on your toes, too much stress is pretty much bad for everything, including your brain. For example, puzzle master Will Shortz, the crossword editor of the NY Times probably has a very healthy brain. This approach works for a select few but not for most people.

Then there are people who go to a gym. Some people sign up for a gym every January 1 and maybe they go for a few months. Others are more motivated. They use the machines, the weight training stations, maybe take a class. They stay in pretty decent shape, nothing exceptional, but it’s better than nothing. This is the equivalent of playing games in Cognitive Labs. These games keep your brain functioning if you continue to do them on a regular basis. But it’s easy to get sidetracked one day, and then the next, until you are not doing them anymore.

Most gyms have personal trainers or coaches and I love to watch them. They help their clients reach their training objectives – whether they want to be “cut” or strengthen their rotator cuffs or be in shape for a triathlon. They teach proper form so that their clients make good use of their time. They have safety tips so their clients are less likely to be injured. They know many different ways of working any particular muscle group and they mix things up so their trainees don’t get bored. Trainers provide information about diet and life style changes. They make appointments for next time so it is more likely to that their clients will return to the gym. In short, those who really want to improve their physical health are much better off with trainers.

The mental equivalent of this would be to come to our Sparks of Genius playground and work out with your own personal trainer. There you get a program that is customized to meet your brain’s needs.

Just like bodies, every brain is a little different and there is an optimal blend of brain exercises that will be best for your brain. Just like you can strengthen different muscles in your body, there are different competencies that you can train for your brain – endurance, flexibility, speed, executive functioning, auditory memory, auditory discrimination, visual memory and visual discrimination, to name just a few. Your personal trainer will program different brain exercises for different times and mix it up so that you don’t get bored. Your coach knows what’s good for your brain and can give you other tips about diet and lifestyle changes that can help improve cognitive functioning. Your coach will review the training that you’ve done between sessions as well as assessing how you’re doing at the sessions to make sure that you’re making the best use of your time.

Remember I told you that the brain was like a very complicated muscle. Why would you want to entrust it to someone who wasn’t an expert?

For several years we have been working with people for 6 months or a year leasing brain training software, but we are currently developing a new memory tune up program with a shorter time commitment. We look forward to developing a program designed for you. Remember, if your brain isn’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.

-Ninah Kessler,
Life Coach

The New York Times noted that with companies making millions of dollars on brain-building digital toys like Baby Einstein, it was inevitable that “Grandpa Einstein” software was next.

“Calisthenics for the Older Mind, on the Home Computer” goes on to explain several new brain fitness programs aimed at aging consumers.

Article here.

How effective are these programs? The Times quotes Timothy Salthouse, a psychology professor at the University of Virginia: “The scientific evidence for those commercial products is still very weak. Manufacturers and companies have jumped into this without doing the research to prove that their products enhance cognitive function or delay mental decline.”

I agree that many companies are jumping on the brain training bandwagon before thoroughly researching the success of their programs, but there is scientific research on the effectiveness of computerized cognitive training (click here).

Even Dr. Salthouse agrees that you can teach an old brain new tricks and that “recent research in neuroplasticity — the brain’s ability to change in response to information and new activities — shows that brain cells and neural pathways continue to develop throughout life.”

At Sparks of Genius (www.sparksofgenius.com) adults work with a Personal Trainer and a combination of software programs to improve memory, processing speed, listening and executive function skills. In addition, we identify, ignite and nurture the many ways they are smart – their sparks of genius.

Research shows that mentally stimulating activities – novel and complex stimuli- are health-promoting for the brain.
Unfortunately, translating this research into specific mental workouts to postpone cognitive decline may be far from easy.”

The article notes that Dr. Marc Agronin, a geriatric psychiatrist has started to use one of the new programs at the new “brain gym” at the Miami Jewish Home and Hospital for the Aged.
He is offering the software “as an option to people like a couple who came to him last month, frustrated by memory problems that the wife had suffered since having surgery the previous year. A few months ago, Dr. Agronin said, he would have had nothing to offer them.

“But now I could say to the husband, ‘Take this home, put it on the computer and get your wife started,’ ” he said. “Part of having hope is having tangible therapies you can bring to people…I do want to see more data, but I’m not waiting for that.”

At Sparks of Genius we are using this new technology to help people now. It is not easy to optimize and individualize these computerized cognitive training programs, and it’s more challenging if you just buy the software and adopt a one size fits all approach. As the article states, “translating this research into specific mental workouts to postpone cognitive decline may be far from easy.”

What makes Sparks of Genius special is that we customize a brain fitness progress for each client using a combination of software products rather than one particular product. And we don’t just send people out with software. Our personal trainers monitor and fine tune their program. They motivate them and devise strategies that work.

We don’t just work on deficits. At Sparks of Genius we celebrate who our clients are, helping them to access and maximize their creative potential using the multiple intelligences.

Optimistically, the new software will keep on improving and scientific research will show us under what conditions and with what populations it is effective. In the meantime, we are using the latest in technological advances to help people now.

–Rohn Kessler, Ed. D.

We hear a lot about brain damage being the “signature wound” of the Iraq war. In An Instant, the story of ABC new anchor Bob Woodruff, we get a good idea of the importance of keeping mentally fit. It also illustrates the resilience of the brain and neuroplasticity in action.

The scene is Bethesda Naval Hospital, January 31, 2006. Lee, Bob Woodruff’s wife, is speaking to the doctor in charge of her husband’s care. Only two days earlier Bob Woodruff was severely injured in Iraq by an IED (improvised explosive device).

The doctor is explaining why it is so important to use your brain to its maximum potential.
“If you are a person who sharpens pencils for a living and you have a brain injury, you will probably not have as many neurons from your former life to help rehabilitate yourself.

But if you are a person like Bob Woodruff, who is forty-four and has made great use of his brain in his life, speaks multiple languages, has an intellectual curiosity and abundant life experiences, you have a better shot as how well those neurons are going to reconnect.

Think of those neurons as a road – I-95 for example. If the only way your brain knows how to get from New York to Washington is along I-95, and a giant jackknifed truck closes all lanes of the highway, you are in trouble.

But if you are Bob Woodruff and you know alternate routes, you can take back roads or board Amtrak or hop on the shuttle flight at Reagan National. If you are a person who can come up with other solutions, who has really used your brainpower, (italics, mine) you have more chance to develop alternate pathways for cognitive function and reasoning and putting all those neurons back together again.”

There you have it. Don’t wait for head injury, stroke, or dementia; develop your brainpower to the maximum.