tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/brain-training-7463/articlesBrain training – The Conversation2023-07-26T14:11:52Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2103192023-07-26T14:11:52Z2023-07-26T14:11:52ZLong COVID: brain function still affected for some up to two years after infection – new research<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539543/original/file-20230726-19593-9s5n36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C0%2C7337%2C4902&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/high-angle-view-senior-man-collecting-1776503864">LightField Studios/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Difficulties with cognitive functions or skills, such as the ability to recall memories, concentrate on tasks, or find the right words in conversation, are commonly reported following a COVID infection. These symptoms are often referred to as “<a href="https://www.nhsinform.scot/long-term-effects-of-covid-19-long-covid/signs-and-symptoms/long-covid-brain-fog">brain fog</a>”, and are especially common among people who have long-term or persistent symptoms called <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/audio/2018899512/prof-danny-altmann-the-burden-of-long-covid">long COVID</a>. </p>
<p>At the <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/bulletins/prevalenceofongoingsymptomsfollowingcoronaviruscovid19infectionintheuk/30march2023">latest count</a> in March 2023, there were 1 million people in the UK with long COVID who reported difficulty concentrating, and three-quarters of a million who reported memory loss or confusion.</p>
<p>In the short term, brain fog symptoms can affect people’s ability to carry out their normal <a href="https://theconversation.com/long-covid-effects-on-fatigue-and-quality-of-life-can-be-comparable-to-some-cancers-new-research-207257">daily tasks</a>, such as work and childcare, and reduce their quality of life. </p>
<p>In the longer term, mild cognitive impairment can develop into more severe conditions, such as <a href="https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/about-dementia/types-dementia/mild-cognitive-impairment-mci">dementia</a>. COVID infection generally has been linked to an <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(22)00260-7/fulltext">increased risk</a> of being diagnosed with dementia.</p>
<p>So to support people in the short and longer term, it’s important to understand the nature, size and duration of the effects of brain fog and long COVID more generally on cognitive function. </p>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589537023002638/fulltext">new study</a>, my colleagues and I set out to understand whether a COVID infection, and symptom duration, affected performance in cognitive tests, and how test performance changed over time. We found people with persistent symptoms fared worse in these tests up to two years after a COVID infection.</p>
<h2>Brain training</h2>
<p>To test cognitive skills, we invited participants in the <a href="https://cssbiobank.com/">COVID Symptom Study Biobank</a> to complete a series of 12 brain-training-style tasks online in July 2021 and again in April 2022. In the first round, more than 3,300 people completed the test. Another 2,400 completed the second round, of whom 1,700 had also participated in the first round.</p>
<p>The COVID Symptom Study Biobank is a study that began in 2020, recruiting people from the COVID Symptom Study smartphone app (now the <a href="https://health-study.joinzoe.com/">ZOE Health Study</a>) which tracks symptoms and COVID tests. The study includes over 8,000 people both with and without a history of COVID infection and with a range of shorter- and longer-term COVID symptoms.</p>
<p>The tasks aimed to cover a range of elements of brain function, including visual memory, attention, verbal reasoning and motor control. Some tasks involved remembering words and shapes after a short delay of less than a minute, or a longer delay of around 20 minutes. </p>
<p>Other tasks included watching sequences of numbers appear on the screen and then repeating the sequences, clicking on a moving “bullseye” target, and deciding if pairs of words have the same meaning. Similar versions of the test are available for anyone to try <a href="https://www.cognitron.co.uk/">online</a>. </p>
<p>We then recorded how accurately people completed the tasks and their response times. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-covid-can-disturb-your-sleep-and-dreams-and-what-could-help-194798">How COVID can disturb your sleep and dreams – and what could help</a>
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<h2>What we found</h2>
<p>When we compared how accurately people with or without a history of COVID completed the test in the first round, we saw that people with an infection had lower scores on average across the 12 tasks. </p>
<p>Digging deeper, we saw that the effect of COVID on test performance was biggest for people with a longer symptom duration of more than three months. These people meet the <a href="https://cks.nice.org.uk/topics/long-term-effects-of-coronavirus-long-covid/background-information/definition/">criteria</a> for having long COVID.</p>
<p>By also testing how other factors affected test scores, we were able to put into context how big an impact COVID had. For example, we saw that older people and people experiencing psychological distress scored lower in the tests. </p>
<p>The effect for the long COVID group was comparable to a ten-year increase in age, or experiencing mild to moderate distress versus no distress. However, COVID’s effect on test scores was not as large as other factors, such as education level.</p>
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<img alt="A woman sitting on a couch with a hand on her forehead." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539485/original/file-20230726-25-9s5n36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539485/original/file-20230726-25-9s5n36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539485/original/file-20230726-25-9s5n36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539485/original/file-20230726-25-9s5n36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539485/original/file-20230726-25-9s5n36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539485/original/file-20230726-25-9s5n36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539485/original/file-20230726-25-9s5n36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Brain fog is a common symptom of long COVID.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/portrait-tired-business-woman-headache-older-2080533058">Andrii Zastrozhnov/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>When we considered how people felt about their recovery from COVID, we saw that people who weren’t reporting symptoms anymore and felt “back to normal” did no worse on the tests than people who hadn’t had COVID in the first place. This was even true for people who’d had more than three months of symptoms, which is good news. But it’s important to note that only one in six of those who had persistent symptoms felt fully recovered. </p>
<p>People who’d had COVID, including those who’d had more than three months of symptoms, were no slower than people without infection. This was another positive, as slower reaction times <a href="https://cheba.unsw.edu.au/news/reaction-time-test-predicts-risk-dementia">can be a sign</a> of more serious cognitive impairment.</p>
<p>In the second round of testing, we saw no significant changes in test performance. This meant that the group with lower scores in 2021 were still feeling the effects of COVID on their brain function in 2022, up to two years after their initial infection.</p>
<h2>Limitations and where to next</h2>
<p>It’s important to note some limitations in our study. We don’t have test results for people before their COVID infection, which limited our analysis to comparing results across different groups.</p>
<p>Also, our participants were mostly female, and there was a higher proportion of people identifying as being from white backgrounds and living in more affluent areas than in the general UK population.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, our study shows the need to monitor those people whose brain function is most affected by COVID, to see how their cognitive symptoms continue to develop and to provide support towards recovery.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210319/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nathan Cheetham receives funding from The National Institute for Health and Care Research. </span></em></p>We used a series of ‘brain training’ style tasks to assess how a COVID infection and persistent symptoms affected cognitive function.Nathan Cheetham, Senior Postdoctoral Data Scientist, Twin Research & Genetic Epidemiology, King's College LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2029812023-04-13T12:44:01Z2023-04-13T12:44:01ZCognitive flexibility: the science of how to be successful in business and at work<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519860/original/file-20230406-18-nfrnl5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=116%2C23%2C5059%2C3399&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">shutterstock</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/corporate-business-team-manager-meeting-close-562442005">Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The word “<a href="https://theconversation.com/permacrisis-what-it-means-and-why-its-word-of-the-year-for-2022-194306">permacrisis</a>” was selected as the word of the year for 2022, referring to a feeling of being permanently in crisis. The business world has certainly faced continuous and increasingly frequent disruptions over the last few years. These included COVID-19, lots of people leaving the workforce, geopolitical events and now the emergence of sophisticated AI such as ChatGPT.</p>
<p>These changes have unequivocally reminded leaders, human resource practitioners, governments and business schools that the only constant is that organisations need to always adapt. Indeed, the ability to predict and learn from changing environments is increasingly important for businesses. </p>
<p>But how exactly do you do that? Well, you need a flexible workforce to start. But simply telling people to “be flexible” or “adapt” is as effective as asking people to be smart, creative or happy. Similarly, asking people to assess how flexible they are is as unreliable as asking people to assess their own positive and negative qualities. </p>
<p>Luckily, our research has come up with an evidence-based way to train and assess mental flexibility.</p>
<p>Organisational research has repeatedly highlighted terms such as “adaptive leadership”, “adaptive salesforce business agility” or “agile enterprises” <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S000768132100032X">as key determinants</a> of business resilience and performance. Startups and innovative companies need to be even more adaptive and flexible to compensate for lack of resources. Obviously, the same goes for individuals in such organisations.</p>
<p>Indeed, the entire modern workforce needs high levels of career adaptability to survive in an environment in which skills and roles quickly become obsolete – as technology takes over. Overall, the adaptive organisation is no doubt emerging as an important business model. It is probably the only mindset that can deal with the complexities of modern economies. </p>
<p>While most will likely agree on the importance of being adaptive, there is very little understanding of what cognitive capacities underlie adaptive behaviours. It’s unclear how to assess them, and, importantly, how to train this type of thinking. In reality, people do not know what exactly flexibility is, whether they possess it and how to put it into practice.</p>
<p>As it turns out, “being smart”, competent, educated – or even having strong social and emotional skills – will not guarantee flexible behaviour. </p>
<h2>The power of cognitive flexibility</h2>
<p>Recent but established research in cognitive neuroscience has drawn attention to a function called cognitive flexibility. This executive function (a type of skill that helps us plan and achieve goals) enables us to switch between different concepts and patterns. It also helps us adapt choices to achieve goals and problem solve in novel or changing environments. </p>
<p>Cognitive flexibility aids learning under uncertainty and to negotiating complex situations. This is not merely about changing your decisions. Higher cognitive flexibility involves rapidly realising when a strategy is failing and changing strategies.</p>
<p>The importance of cognitive flexibility was first discovered <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41386-021-01132-0">in clinical patients</a>. The function <a href="https://theconversation.com/iq-tests-cant-measure-it-but-cognitive-flexibility-is-key-to-learning-and-creativity-163284">engages</a> areas of the brain involved with decision making, including the prefrontal cortex and striatal circuitry. When this circuitry becomes dysfunctional due to neurological diseases or psychiatric disorders, <a href="https://jnnp.bmj.com/content/92/2/143.abstract">it can cause rigidity of thought</a> and a failure to adapt.</p>
<p>Cognitive flexibility is required in many real-world situations. The category of workers that requires the highest level of adaptability is arguably entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs need to show flexibility not only in terms of idea generation, but also for resource allocation and social exchanges. </p>
<p>Indeed, our previous research <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/456168a">has shown</a> that entrepreneurs, compared with high-level managers, have increased cognitive flexibility. This ultimately helps them to solve problems and make risky decisions successfully. We have also demonstrated that this flexibility <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0883902621000707">translates to social decision making</a>. Entrepreneurs are simply more flexible in terms of whether and when to trust other people.</p>
<h2>Boosting your mind</h2>
<p>Cognitive flexibility has often been used as a generic and ill-defined term, measured using subjective self assessment. Yet, cognitive neuroscience <a href="https://www.cambridgecognition.com/cantab/cognitive-tests/executive-function/intra-extra-dimensional-set-shift-ied">now has tests</a> to more precisely <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/9A9FDE9B6FAF88319FBD4A5D57B3BED3/S1355617798455073a.pdf/a-study-of-performance-on-tests-from-the-cantab-battery-sensitive-to-frontal-lobe-dysfunction-in-a-large-sample-of-normal-volunteers-implications-for-theories-of-executive-functioning-and-cognitive-ag.pdf">define and objectively measure it</a>. </p>
<p>Cognitive processes, such as working memory, are strongly linked to intelligence level, or IQ, and therefore are relatively unmodifiable. In contrast, cognitive flexibility isn’t as strongly linked to IQ and therefore <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16466426/">has the potential to be trained</a>. For example, we might be able to modify and strengthen neural circuits in the brain through <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstb.2014.0214">cognitive training</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/iq-tests-cant-measure-it-but-cognitive-flexibility-is-key-to-learning-and-creativity-163284">IQ tests can't measure it, but 'cognitive flexibility' is key to learning and creativity</a>
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<p>In terms of interventions, seminars on “being flexible and adaptive” will probably have very limited success. Yet, there seems to be a surprising possibility to indirectly train cognitive flexibility by computerised, adaptive training using simple games – though this is something we are still researching.</p>
<p>Researchers are <a href="https://www.cares.cam.ac.uk/research/clic/">also exploring</a> more “natural” methods, such as learning new languages or having more diverse social interactions. </p>
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<img alt="Flash cards for learning a new language" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519865/original/file-20230406-28-yshvw7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519865/original/file-20230406-28-yshvw7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519865/original/file-20230406-28-yshvw7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519865/original/file-20230406-28-yshvw7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519865/original/file-20230406-28-yshvw7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519865/original/file-20230406-28-yshvw7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519865/original/file-20230406-28-yshvw7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Language learning may make us more flexible.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/italian-learning-new-language-fruits-name-349689401">Eiko Tsuchiya/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Ultimately to better evaluate and train cognitive flexibility, it is critical to supplement self-reported assessments with more diverse and objective methods – including computerised testing. This should take place alongside monitoring of direct changes in brain responses. We need to know more about how these brain changes relate to real-world outcomes, such as school attainment and career advancement.</p>
<p>Rapid developments in technology and innovation provide serious challenges for workers in many industries, including in financial services, renewable energy, climate change science and global health. This means they will have to learn new skills as opportunities become available in challenging and emerging areas. Education should ultimately also change to reflect that.</p>
<p>There is no doubt that the need to make good decisions under uncertainty is becoming exceedingly important.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202981/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Barbara Jacquelyn Sahakian receives funding from the Wellcome Trust, the Leverhulme Foundation and the Lundbeck Foundation. Her research is conducted within the NIHR MedTech and In vitro diagnostic Co-operative (MIC) and the NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) Mental Health and Neurodegeneration Themes. She consults for Cambridge Cognition. She receives royalties from PopReach. The University of Cambridge and Nanyang Technological University Centre for Lifelong Learning and Individualised Cognition (CLIC) research project is funded by the National Research Foundation, Prime Minister's Office, Singapore under its Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE) programme. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Georgios Christopoulos' research is supported by the University of Cambridge and Nanyang Technological University Centre for Lifelong Learning and Individualised Cognition (CLIC) research project, funded by the National Research Foundation, Prime Minister's Office, Singapore under its Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE) programme. Other sources of funding include the Ministry of National Development, Singapore, AI.SG, Singapore, and Ministry of Education, Singapore. He does not receive any royalties or other forms of income from this public funding.</span></em></p>Entrepreneurs are more flexible than high-level managers.Barbara Jacquelyn Sahakian, Professor of Clinical Neuropsychology, University of CambridgeGeorgios Christopoulos, Associate Professor, Nanyang Technological UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2031942023-04-11T11:24:36Z2023-04-11T11:24:36ZBrain training probably doesn’t help ADHD – new study<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519335/original/file-20230404-28-5bvw4r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C56%2C800%2C452&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/human-brain-anatomical-model-medical-concept-1663645924">r.classen/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Drugs to treat <a href="https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder-adhd/">attention deficit hyperactivity disorder</a> (ADHD) can be very effective, but they can come with a range of undesirable side-effects, such as increased anxiety, trouble sleeping and loss of appetite. It is not surprising that people have sought other treatments.</p>
<p>Brain training – “exercising” your brain with attention and focus – is one such treatment. These computer- or app-based exercises are widely believed to help reduce symptoms of ADHD (such as restlessness and impulsivity) by boosting working memory – the ability to briefly hold and manipulate information in the mind. But does the evidence stand up?</p>
<p>To find out, my colleagues and I conducted a review of all the evidence to date – around two decades’ worth. We selected 36 trials and analysed the combined data (known as a meta-analysis) of more than 2,200 people, of all ages, with ADHD. The results were recently published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-023-02000-7">Molecular Psychiatry</a>. </p>
<h2>Largest review to date</h2>
<p>Our review is the largest on the topic to date. It contains only randomised controlled trials as these are the most reliable form of evidence – the gold standard for figuring out if a new treatment is effective or not. In a randomised controlled trial, participants are randomly allocated to a group in which they received real brain training (the treatment group) or some other intervention (the control group). </p>
<p>The studies we looked at were also “blinded” to further remove bias. In other words, the participants didn’t know which group they had been allocated to: the treatment group or the control group.</p>
<p>The brain training was mostly delivered at home, school or in a clinic, and targeted mainly working memory. ADHD is associated with <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7483636/">poor working memory</a>, which may play a role in the severity of symptoms.</p>
<p>Our analysis showed robust gains in working memory, but not in inhibitory control (the ability to stop an automatic response), processing speed (how fast you take in and make sense of information), attention, and other cognitive functions. We also did not see any changes in academic abilities such as reading or mental arithmetic, which children with ADHD find <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jpepsy/article/32/6/643/1021192">particularly difficult</a>. </p>
<p>The improvement in working memory might be a reason to celebrate, but these were task-based measures, which means the results may not translate to the world outside the laboratory. </p>
<p>What matters more to most children and adults is whether brain training influenced ratings of symptoms. There was an improvement in attention, but this was very small – in my opinion, too small to be meaningful in the real world. And too small to justify going through a programme involving weeks of playing “therapeutic” games after school. </p>
<p>We also found that very few trials checked if the above benefits lasted long after training had finished. Of the evidence available, any benefit was short-lived and dwindled over time (between three and six months).</p>
<p>Putting this all together, despite two decades of broadly positive research and the promise of a training benefit in ADHD, we found little to no evidence that brain training is effective at reducing symptoms of ADHD. </p>
<p>To be clear, we do not show evidence that brain training does not work. We also do not argue that training is not useful to those with working memory deficits, or shouldn’t be part of a multi-therapy approach to treatment. </p>
<p>What is clear, however, is that as a standalone treatment, there is limited evidence that training can reduce symptoms of ADHD. Any claim that brain training has a reliable and significant effect on symptoms is, at best, premature. </p>
<h2>A more pessimistic picture</h2>
<p>As a final note, some of the trials included in our analyses were relatively small and of questionable quality, indicating there may still be an absence of good evidence. We encourage further research that is of higher quality and aimed at alternative forms of training that may be more likely to work. But although we cannot rule out a golden age of research showing reliable positive evidence of brain training from well-executed studies, I’m personally not holding my breath. </p>
<p>Our review confirms much of what we found in our previous review, published in <a href="https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0890-8567(14)00889-2">2015</a>. If anything, our update offers a more pessimistic picture. </p>
<p>Since 2015, there have been a considerable number of high-quality trials published, which were included in our recent review. Despite these additions, any improvements we saw in 2015 either diminished substantially or disappeared altogether.</p>
<p>Put another way, as the quality of trials improves over time, the accumulated evidence shows a waxing and waning of training effects. The trend is not in favour of brain training as it is currently practised.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203194/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Samuel James Westwood does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The largest review of evidence on brain training for ADHD suggests it might be time to try a different approach.Samuel James Westwood, Lecturer in Psychology Education, King's College LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1484312020-11-04T23:23:47Z2020-11-04T23:23:47ZHow a simple brain training program could help you stay away from alcohol<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367152/original/file-20201103-19-dmmq9a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C11%2C7360%2C4891&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Around <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5129606/">one in five</a> Australians will develop an alcohol use disorder, such as dependence, during their lifetime.</p>
<p>Reports suggest <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/aug/09/one-in-12-australians-drinking-alcohol-every-day-during-coronavirus-outbreak-survey-finds">some people</a> have been drinking more during the COVID pandemic, potentially putting themselves at greater risk of becoming dependent.</p>
<p>While some people will seek treatment for problem drinking, more than half of patients who go through inpatient withdrawal treatment, or detox, relapse <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27488392/">within two weeks</a> of discharge.</p>
<p>My team and I have found a new form of brain training can have <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/2772631">positive results</a> for people going through detox.</p>
<h2>The conscious brain versus the subconscious brain</h2>
<p>When we want to change a behaviour like alcohol use, we might use our conscious brain to think about the benefits quitting will bring, such as improved sleep and being sharper in the mornings. We might reflect on the downsides if we continue to drink, like the unwanted calories, the cost, and the risk of harm to our physical or mental health. </p>
<p>But despite these conscious thought processes, we still may find ourselves reaching into the fridge for a beer, or pouring a glass of wine, as though on “autopilot”. This is because our subconscious brain is in action, driving the desire to drink alcohol. </p>
<p>Over time, when we drink frequently, alcohol cues such as places, sights, smells and social situations that remind us of drinking subconsciously capture our attention and drive impulses to drink. This tendency is called <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/2167702612466547">cognitive bias</a>.</p>
<p>In Australia, we’re continually bombarded with alcohol cues, whether from bottle shops, pubs, or advertising. Recent research found we’re targeted by an alcohol advertisement as often as <a href="https://fare.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020-05-08-CCWA-FARE-An-alcohol-ad-every-35-seconds-A-snapshot-final.pdf">every 35 seconds</a> on social media. </p>
<p>But by reducing cognitive bias towards alcohol cues, we can increase the likelihood our behaviour will be driven by our conscious rather than our subconscious brain.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/does-brain-training-work-that-depends-on-your-purpose-36947">Does brain training work? That depends on your purpose</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<h2>Training our subconscious brain</h2>
<p>A relatively new form of brain training that directly targets cognitive biases <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31998146/">is showing promising results</a> in treating alcohol use disorders. </p>
<p>Cognitive bias modification is a computerised brain-training program that trains people to repeatedly “avoid” alcohol-related cues, and to “approach” neutral or positive ones.</p>
<p>Using a joystick, the user repeatedly pushes away pictures of alcohol, and pulls healthier alternatives, such as bottled water, towards them. By practising this over and over again, the avoidance of alcohol cues becomes automatic, thereby disabling the autopilot response to these cues.</p>
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<p>European researchers <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2018-61344-005">have shown</a> that when added to a residential rehabilitation program, cognitive bias modification <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0956797611400615">reduced rates</a> of relapse to drinking <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00871/full#B27">by 8-13%</a> 12 months after treatment.</p>
<p>Cognitive bias modification is delivered in several residential rehabilitation facilities in Germany, where <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28178695/">it’s recommended</a> in treatment guidelines.</p>
<p>It’s not yet available in Australia.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/women-are-drinking-more-during-the-pandemic-and-its-probably-got-a-lot-to-do-with-their-mental-health-139295">Women are drinking more during the pandemic, and it's probably got a lot to do with their mental health</a>
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</em>
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<h2>What we did</h2>
<p>Our study, published today in <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/2772631">JAMA Psychiatry</a>, was a randomised control trial with 300 patients from four alcohol withdrawal units in Melbourne.</p>
<p>Roughly half were allocated to the intervention group, to receive one 15-minute session of cognitive bias modification a day for four consecutive days during their week-long detox treatment. The other half were allocated to a control group and received a pretend version of the training.</p>
<p>Before the treatment, participants generally had an automatic tendency to approach alcohol cues with the joystick. But we found the cognitive bias modification generally shifted this to an automatic tendency to avoid them.</p>
<p>Most importantly, cognitive bias modification increased rates of abstinence by 17% at two weeks after discharge. Some 63.8% of the brain-training group reported no alcohol use, compared with 46.8% of the control group. </p>
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<img alt="A woman looks at a bottle of wine in a store." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367153/original/file-20201103-23-1ma6uni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367153/original/file-20201103-23-1ma6uni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367153/original/file-20201103-23-1ma6uni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367153/original/file-20201103-23-1ma6uni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367153/original/file-20201103-23-1ma6uni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367153/original/file-20201103-23-1ma6uni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367153/original/file-20201103-23-1ma6uni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A bottle of wine for tonight? Often our subconscious brain will win the battle.</span>
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<p>The main limitation of our study was that alcohol use after treatment was self-reported. The vast geographical catchment of the withdrawal units meant we had to do follow-up interviews over the phone, so we couldn’t use tools like breathalysers or blood tests to verify abstinence.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, we feel confident cognitive bias modification can optimise outcomes for patients receiving treatment for alcohol addiction. The training is simple, safe, easy to implement and cost-effective, and we believe it should be routinely offered as part of inpatient withdrawal treatment in Australia.</p>
<h2>Now we’re trialling an app version</h2>
<p>Inpatient treatment services are geared towards people with moderate to severe alcohol use disorders. But these people represent only a fraction of those who want to reduce or stop drinking. </p>
<p>Recognising this, we’ve developed a smartphone version of cognitive bias modification called SWiPE. It enables users to personalise their training by selecting the alcohol beverages or brands they wish to avoid. </p>
<p>At the same time, the app aims to strengthen motivation for quitting or reducing alcohol use by training users to repeatedly swipe towards meaningful, goal-related images they select from their photo libraries (for example, of family, friends, hobbies, travel, and so on). </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/thinking-about-taking-a-break-from-alcohol-heres-how-to-cut-back-or-quit-130952">Thinking about taking a break from alcohol? Here's how to cut back or quit</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<p>We’re currently running a <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32795989/">trial</a> to test whether SWiPE effectively reduces alcohol consumption and craving. Early results, not yet peer-reviewed or published, are encouraging.</p>
<p>In today’s culture where we make instantaneous decisions with the swipe of a finger, if it proves to be effective, this app could be adapted to weaken the subconscious drivers of other unhealthy habits we wish to break, such as smoking and the overconsumption of unhealthy foods.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/148431/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Victoria Manning receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council, National Centre for Clinical Research on Emerging Drugs, VicHealth, Victorian Department of Health and Human Services and the Australian Rechabite Foundation. She is affiliated with Turning Point, Eastern Health and a board member of the Victorian Alcohol and Drug Association.
Victoria Manning would like to acknowledge the contribution of her co-authors.</span></em></p>If you’re struggling to cut back on the booze, your subconscious brain may be over-riding your conscious brain. A new form of brain training targets our subconscious tendencies towards alcohol.Victoria Manning, Associate Professor, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1387852020-06-10T12:16:13Z2020-06-10T12:16:13ZWant to stop the COVID-19 stress meltdown? Train your brain<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340362/original/file-20200608-176538-ptzkxq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C12%2C2008%2C1241&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Today's high-stress environment is an opportunity to reset how our brains deal with stressful situations.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/stressed-young-woman-screaming-and-looking-at-camera-against-green-background-stock-gm1202604922-345333827">CasarsaGuru/iStock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Let’s face it: We’re all under stress right now. The uncertainty and constant health threats surrounding the coronavirus pandemic have upended our lives.</p>
<p>We may need two vaccines: one to protect us from the coronavirus and another from the toxic effects of too much stress. Could we train our brains to prevent this stress from becoming lodged in our brains, so we can bounce back faster from stress – and even collect a kernel of wisdom from the experience? </p>
<p>Perhaps. <a href="https://www.ebtconnect.net/ebt_hypothesis.pdf">Neuroscience research</a> points to the stress-reactive circuits in the emotional brain as a trigger of toxic stress. These circuits are made of neurons that can guide us to respond ineffectively to stress. Once triggered, they unleash a cascade of stress chemicals. Instead of the brain orchestrating a symphony of effective self-regulatory processes and moderation, we have a garage band of dysregulation and extremes, which can cause chronic stress and rising rates of emotional, behavioral, social and physical <a href="http://doi.org/10.1177/1745691613506907">health problems</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=JmgNEGsAAAAJ&hl=en">As a health psychology professor</a>, I work on <a href="https://www.ebtconnect.net/science">emotional brain training</a> to help people deactivate and rewire the circuits that cause this <a href="http://doi.org/10.1177/1745691613506907">stress overload</a>. </p>
<h2>A new crisis in emotional health</h2>
<p>Scientists have been exploring these issues for over a century. Some 100 years ago, the psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud speculated that <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00071">pathways in the brain</a> caused emotional and behavioral problems. Tom Insel, as director of the National Institutes for Mental Health from 2002 to 2015, called for revolutionizing psychiatry with neuroscience to focus on <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/faulty-circuits/">faulty circuits</a>. The <a href="https://braininitiative.nih.gov/">White House BRAIN initiative</a>, launched in 2013, has been busily mapping the brain’s billions of neurons and their connections to improve understanding of and treatments for a number of disorders.</p>
<p>Then came COVID-19, and suddenly 70% of the U.S. population was identified as moderately to severely distressed in a <a href="http://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/wc8ud">nationally representative study</a> in April. That was up from 22% just two years earlier.</p>
<p>With a <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-study-shows-staggering-effect-of-coronavirus-pandemic-on-americas-mental-health-137944">crisis in emotional health</a> upon us, people can benefit from learning to take charge of these stress-reactive circuits and switch off the toxic stress chemical cascade they activate. </p>
<h2>Understanding the emotional brain</h2>
<p>Most of us aren’t aware that the neural circuits in our emotional brain – the <a href="https://qbi.uq.edu.au/brain/brain-anatomy/limbic-system">limbic system</a> and subconscious memory systems in what’s sometimes referred to as the “<a href="http://doi.org/10.19080/PBSIJ.2018.08.555738">reptilian brain”</a> – are the major controllers of our emotional responses in daily life. </p>
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<p>When a stimulus arrives in the brain, it activates either stress-resilient circuits, the internal calmers and healers, or stress-reactive circuits, the rabble-rousers that spiral us down into toxic stress. </p>
<p>The brain activates the strongest circuit, which then controls our responses. If it triggers a reactive circuit, that unleashes strong emotions that are challenging to process, especially since stress compromises the functioning of the part of our brains responsible for higher-level thinking and planning. The brain struggles to untangle those stuck emotions, and we become stressed out.</p>
<p>It gets worse. The longer these stress-reactive wires are activated, the more likely they are to activate other stress-reactive wires. One circuit can trigger another and another, which can cause an emotional meltdown of anxiety, numbness, depression and hostility which can overwhelm us for hours or days.</p>
<p>These problematic stress-reactive circuits are encoded during <a href="http://doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2011.08.019">adverse childhood experiences</a>, and later experiences of stress overload. The social isolation from sheltering in place and financial and health uncertainty has strengthened these faulty wires, turning the pandemic crisis into a virtual incubator for making our brains even more reactive and setting us up for a crisis in emotional health.</p>
<h2>How to retrain the stressed brain</h2>
<p>The stress wires in the emotional brain change through <a href="http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcomdis.2011.04.011">experience-dependent neuroplasticity</a> – the brain learns to be resilient by being resilient. It takes becoming stressed, then using <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Whats-number-Question-Unlocks-Happiness/dp/1893265013/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2JIUYUH01IX20&dchild=1&keywords=laurel+mellin+whats+my+number&qid=1591263479&sprefix=laurel+mellin%2Caps%2C215&sr=8-1">emotional techniques</a> to discover and change the unreasonable expectations and unwanted drives stored in that circuit.</p>
<p>Here’s one technique: First, briefly complain about what’s bothering you. For example: “I can’t stop beating myself up for all the things I have done wrong.” This activates the reactive wire that has encoded a faulty response and makes rewiring possible. </p>
<p>Then, rapidly express emotions. Start with a burst of anger, which decreases stress and keeps the stressed “thinking brain” from becoming stuck in ruminating, zoning out or overanalyzing. Notice that you can then stay present to your strong, stress-fueled negative emotions, which will then flow rapidly. You can talk yourself through them by finishing phrases like “I feel sad that …”; “I feel afraid that …”; or “I feel guilty that …” </p>
<p>That simple emotional release can ease your stress, and the previously unconscious unreasonable expectation encoded in the circuit will appear in your conscious mind. With the wire unlocked, you can then change the expectation into a reasonable one. For example, change “I get my safety from being hard on myself” to “I get my safety from being kind to myself.” The unwanted drive that amplifies your stress fades. </p>
<p>In small but important steps to release stress day by day, you train your brain for resilience.</p>
<h2>Stress resilience as a social responsibility</h2>
<p>Research has shown that emotions transmitted during social dialogue can eventually become <a href="http://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-50770-4">large-scale group emotions</a>. We can spread stress to others, and much like secondhand smoke, secondhand stress is becoming a concern. </p>
<p>I’ve been surprised in my clinical practice at how quickly individuals link stress with social responsibility. One technology company executive said, “Switching off my stress is good for me, keeps me from triggering stress in my family, and it’s something I do for our country. We are a stressed nation, and I want to be part of the solution.”</p>
<h2>Stress resilience as a foundation for health</h2>
<p>Even though stress overload is a root cause of many <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Robert-Paul_Juster/publication/26887860_Juster_RP_McEwen_BS_Lupien_SJ_Allostatic_load_biomarkers_of_chronic_stress_and_impact_on_health_and_cognition_Neurosci_Biobehav_Rev_35_2-16/links/5a5cb9290f7e9b4f78395e83/Juster-RP-McEwen-BS-Lupien-SJ-Allostatic-load-biomarkers-of-chronic-stress-and-impact-on-health-and-cognition-Neurosci-Biobehav-Rev-35-2-16.pdf">health problems</a>, the current model of treating the symptoms of stress rather than <a href="http://doi.org/10.1177/2470547017692328">rewiring the brain’s stress response</a> is not sustainable. </p>
<p>At some point, <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/Reforming-Americas-Healthcare-System-Through-Choice-and-Competition.pdf">health care’s addiction</a> to using medications and procedures to treat the health problems caused by stress will require detox. A new emphasis on training the emotional brain for resiliency may emerge. </p>
<p>If we could reboot our brains for the high-stress times in which we live, just about every aspect of life would improve. Resiliency could provide a needed <a href="http://doi.org/10.1177/1559827609335152">internal health safety net</a>. </p>
<p>[<em>Insight, in your inbox each day.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=insight">You can get it with The Conversation’s email newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/138785/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laurel Mellin, Ph.D. is the founder of EBT, Inc. an educational organization that provides certification and training in Emotional Brain Training to health professionals and the public and owns shares in the organization.</span></em></p>With the county facing a crisis in emotional health, we may need two vaccines: one for COVID-19 and another for toxic stress. Here’s a technique for dealing with all that stress.Laurel Mellin, PhD, Associate Professor Emeritus of Family & Community Medicine and Pediatrics, University of California, San FranciscoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1216032019-08-12T11:12:40Z2019-08-12T11:12:40ZA neuroscience-based action plan to deal with stress after El Paso and Dayton shootings<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287238/original/file-20190807-144862-97mm61.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The tragedies in El Paso and Dayton bring sadness, grief and stress to many people. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/closeup-portrait-stressed-young-business-man-195948383?src=vP7PeG7dZ9Xsfflpdit92w-3-5">Ash T Productions/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>After the mass murders in El Paso and Dayton, discussions about improving mental health and strengthening gun control laws may be comforting.</p>
<p>Neither affords a plan, however, to address the stress that comes with these events to the ordinary person. We live in a violent society, with the U.S. <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2019/08/05/743579605/how-the-u-s-compares-to-other-countries-in-deaths-from-gun-violence">rate of deaths from gun violence</a> four times higher than the rates in war-torn countries like Syria and Yemen. The violence in our society can be <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4006087/">exacerbated by stress,</a> and these incidents can cause a new wave of fear to spread across the country. </p>
<h2>Updating how we see stress</h2>
<p>From a neuroscience perspective, our response to daily stress is a function of brain circuits. Throughout life, episodes of severe stress in childhood or later in life can cause the <a href="https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2015/08/traumatic-memories-hide-retrieve-them">encoding of faulty circuits</a> in the brain that amplify and prolong stress, activating the fight-or-flight response when there are no actual threats. </p>
<p>Once encoded, these circuits can be replayed for a lifetime. When they are activated, the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2913577/">neocortex</a>, or the part of the brain that gives us conscious control over our responses to life essentially goes “offline.” This diminishes our capacity for personal self-control, as a part of the brain called the <a href="http://brainmadesimple.com/amygdala.html">amygdala</a> takes charge. The more primitive part of the brain, or what some call the reptilian brain, becomes dominant, with its reflexive responses, and extremes of emotions, thoughts and behaviors.</p>
<p>Most of our circuits that regulate our responses to life are highly effective and self-correcting, or homeostatic. When the circuits are activated, we can shut them off by going for a walk or taking a hot bath. In contrast, the more extreme and ineffective circuits, called allostatic, have no shut-off valves. They <a href="https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/a671/dab660848937c40a437e97b1abe32fa923fc.pdf">trigger us</a> to be in stress overload and be extremely stressed, often to the point we develop health issues or cannot function well for hours or even days. When you feel overwhelmed, lost, numb, depressed or in a panic, that is usually caused by the activation of one of these toxic stress circuits. </p>
<h2>New approaches to stress overload</h2>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&authuser=1&user=JmgNEGsAAAAJ">As a researcher</a> who has studied stress for almost 40 years, I believe there are a number of techniques based on <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3625946/">neuroscience</a> that can provide needed relief as we heal from the horror of these mass shootings. </p>
<p>A brain-based action plan to deal with our stress includes more than the typical advice of restful sleep, daily exercise, and eating healthy. When faulty circuits are activated, the neocortex functions poorly, so we cannot think our way to engaging in healthy habits. NYU researchers have shown that our traditional <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/110/37/15139.short">cognitive skills fail the stress test</a>. They are effective when stress is low, but cannot stop the activation of faulty circuits in the brain that block unhealthy behaviors when we really need them, in moments of toxic stress. </p>
<p>I suggest these steps to recover from highly stressful experiences based on my work:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Stop pretending you are not stressed. Understand that because of how the brain works, you may not be functioning optimally. The El Paso and Dayton mass shootings may have triggered more stress overload than you might perceive.</p></li>
<li><p>Accept responsibility for your stress. You did not encode this stress into your brain, but you are the only one who can choose to release it.</p></li>
<li><p>Expand your repertoire of <a href="https://newsinhealth.nih.gov/2014/12/feeling-stressed">emotional skills</a>. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Looking-Spinoza-Sorrow-Feeling-Brain/dp/0156028719">Emotional expression</a> is faster in reducing toxic stress than cognitive methods, thus keeping the neocortex online, available for good decision-making. Also, by using emotional tools when we are stressed, we can begin to rewire circuits that cause stress overload into effective circuits that promote resilience and well-being. Researchers at NYU have shown that only in stressful times are these faulty circuits <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature08637">unlocked and open to rewiring and improvement</a>. </p></li>
<li><p>Share your feelings with others who will not interrupt you or give you unasked-for advice. In other words, vent to a loving relative, friend or therapist. All the while, stay present to your own feelings. </p></li>
<li><p>Explore whether a deep emotional connection within, time for <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24395196/">contemplation or meditation </a> can ease your stress. Distracting yourself, even by doing something healthy like exercising, may not have the same beneficial impact on the circuits that cause over-reactions as emotional connection. </p></li>
<li><p>Use brain-based stress tools. I believe, based on my research and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0578512815/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0">treatment</a> of people who have experienced trauma, that the next generation of coping techniques, or <a href="https://www.ebtconnect.net/ebt_hypothesis.pdf">emotional brain training</a>, can combat toxic stress. By using the tools to switch off the faulty circuits, the brain learns to be more resilient, so we can be wiser and more effective at taking additional needed steps to make our nation safer and better.</p></li>
</ol><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/121603/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laurel Mellin, Ph.D. is the founder of EBT, Inc. an educational organization that provides certification and training in Emotional Brain Training to health professionals and the public and owns shares in the organization.</span></em></p>Many feel grief, despair and fear after the news of horrible mass shootings. A neuroscientist offers 6 tips on how to process these feelings.Laurel Mellin, PhD, Associate Clinical Professor of Family & Community Medicine and Pediatrics, University of California, San FranciscoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1138812019-06-07T13:00:41Z2019-06-07T13:00:41ZAre brain games mostly BS?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278190/original/file-20190605-40754-idwobz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C1879%2C3948%2C3043&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">You might just be getting better at the game you're practicing.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/Plii16U9bOU">Malcolm Lightbody/Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>You’ve probably seen ads for apps promising to make you smarter in just a few minutes a day. Hundreds of so-called “brain training” programs can be purchased for download. These simple games are designed to challenge mental abilities, with the ultimate goal of improving the performance of important everyday tasks.</p>
<p>But can just clicking away at animations of swimming fish or flashed streets signs on your phone really help you improve the way your brain functions?</p>
<p>Two large groups of scientists and mental health practitioners published consensus statements, months apart in 2014, on the effectiveness of these kinds of brain games. Both included people with years of research experience and expertise in cognition, learning, skill acquisition, neuroscience and dementia. Both groups carefully considered the same body of evidence available at the time.</p>
<p>Yet, they issued exactly opposite statements.</p>
<p><a href="http://longevity.stanford.edu/a-consensus-on-the-brain-training-industry-from-the-scientific-community-2/">One concluded</a> that “there is little evidence that playing brain games improves underlying broad cognitive abilities, or that it enables one to better navigate a complex realm of everyday life.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.cognitivetrainingdata.org/the-controversy-does-brain-training-work/response-letter/">The other</a> argued that “a substantial and growing body of evidence shows that certain cognitive training regimens can significantly improve cognitive function, including in ways that generalize to everyday life.” </p>
<p>These two competing contradictory statements highlight a deep disagreement among experts, and a fundamental dispute over what counts as convincing evidence for something to be true. </p>
<p>Then, in 2016, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission entered into the fray with a series of rulings, including a US$50 million judgment (later reduced to $2 million) <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2016/01/lumosity-pay-2-million-settle-ftc-deceptive-advertising-charges">against one of the most heavily advertised brain training packages</a> on the market. The FTC concluded that Lumos Labs’ advertisements – touting the ability of its Lumosity brain training program to improve consumers’ cognition, boost their performance at school and work, protect them against Alzheimer’s disease and help treat symptoms of ADHD – were not grounded in evidence.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278193/original/file-20190605-40710-15m7ppb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278193/original/file-20190605-40710-15m7ppb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278193/original/file-20190605-40710-15m7ppb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278193/original/file-20190605-40710-15m7ppb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278193/original/file-20190605-40710-15m7ppb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278193/original/file-20190605-40710-15m7ppb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278193/original/file-20190605-40710-15m7ppb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278193/original/file-20190605-40710-15m7ppb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">What does clicking away on a laptop really improve?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/old-asian-woman-learning-use-laptop-1219427392">Akkalak Aiempradit/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In light of conflicting claims and scientific statements, advertisements and government rulings, what are consumers supposed to believe? Is it worth your time and money to invest in brain training? What types of benefits, if any, can you expect? Or would your time be better spent doing something else?</p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=W9Ow0H8AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">I’m a cognitive scientist</a> and member of Florida State University’s <a href="https://isl.fsu.edu/">Institute for Successful Longevity</a>. I have studied cognition, human performance and the effects of different types of training for nearly two decades. I’ve conducted laboratory studies that have directly put to the test the ideas that are the foundation of the claims made by brain training companies.</p>
<p>Based on these experiences, my optimistic answer to the question of whether brain training is worth it would be “we just don’t know.” But the actual answer may very well be “no.”</p>
<h2>How well does research measure improvements?</h2>
<p>My colleagues and I have argued that most of the pertinent studies <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1529100616661983">fall far short of being able to provide definitive evidence</a> either way.</p>
<p>Some of these problems are statistical in nature.</p>
<p>Brain training studies often look at its effect on multiple cognitive tests – of attention, memory, reasoning ability and so on – over time. This strategy makes sense in order to uncover the breadth of potential gains.</p>
<p>But, for every test administered, there’s a chance that scores will improve just by chance alone. The more tests administered, the greater the chance that researchers <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797611417632">will see at least one false alarm</a>.</p>
<p>Brain training studies that include many tests and then report only one or two significant results cannot be trusted unless they control for the number of tests being administered. Unfortunately, many studies do not, calling their findings into question.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278194/original/file-20190605-40715-2bxfx5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278194/original/file-20190605-40715-2bxfx5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278194/original/file-20190605-40715-2bxfx5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278194/original/file-20190605-40715-2bxfx5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278194/original/file-20190605-40715-2bxfx5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278194/original/file-20190605-40715-2bxfx5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278194/original/file-20190605-40715-2bxfx5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278194/original/file-20190605-40715-2bxfx5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Picking the one task that she improved on out of many casts doubt on the study’s validity.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/elderly-woman-typing-on-smartphone-338814812">De Visu/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Another design problem has to do with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691613491271">inadequate control groups</a>. To claim that a treatment had an effect, the group receiving the treatment needs to be compared to a group that does not. It’s possible, for example, that people receiving brain training improve on an assessment test just because they’ve already taken it – before and then again after training. Since the control group also takes the test twice, cognitive improvements based on practice effects can be ruled out. </p>
<p>Many studies that have been used to support the effectiveness of brain training have compared the effect of brain training to a control group that did nothing. The problem is any difference observed between the training group and the control group in these cases could easily be explained by a placebo effect.</p>
<p>Placebo effects are improvements that are not the direct result of a treatment, but due to participants <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.1994.03510440069036">expecting to feel or perform better</a> as a result of having received a treatment. This is an important concern in any intervention study, whether aimed at understanding the effect of a new drug or a new brain training product.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s41465-018-0115-y">Researchers now realize</a> that doing something generates a greater expectation of improvement than doing nothing. Recognition of the likelihood for a placebo effect is shifting standards for testing the effectiveness of brain games. Now studies are much more likely to use an active control group made up of participants who perform some alternative non-brain training activity, rather than doing nothing.</p>
<p>Still, these active controls don’t go far enough to control for expectations. For instance, it’s unlikely that a participant in a control condition that features computerized crossword puzzles or educational videos will expect improvement as much as a participant assigned to try fast-paced and adaptive commercial brain training products – products specifically touted as being able to improve cognition. Yet, studies with these inadequate designs <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0134467">continue to claim to provide evidence</a> that commercial brain training works. It remains rare for studies to measure expectations in order to help understand and counteract potential placebo effects.</p>
<p>Participants in our studies do develop expectations based on their training condition, and are especially <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s41465-017-0050-3">optimistic regarding the effects of brain training</a>. Unmatched expectations between groups are a serious concern, because there is growing evidence suggesting cognitive tests are susceptible to placebo effects, including tests of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2011.592500">memory</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1601243113">intelligence</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s41465-019-00130-x">attention</a>.</p>
<h2>Is there a likely mechanism for improvement?</h2>
<p>There’s another important question that needs to be addressed: Should brain training work? That is, given what scientists know about how people learn and acquire new skills, should we expect training on one task to improve the performance of another, untrained task? This is the fundamental claim being made by brain training companies – that engaging in games on a computer or mobile device will improve your performance on all sorts of tasks that are not the game you’re playing. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278184/original/file-20190605-40738-18t0qj5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278184/original/file-20190605-40738-18t0qj5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278184/original/file-20190605-40738-18t0qj5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=690&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278184/original/file-20190605-40738-18t0qj5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=690&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278184/original/file-20190605-40738-18t0qj5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=690&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278184/original/file-20190605-40738-18t0qj5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=867&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278184/original/file-20190605-40738-18t0qj5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=867&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278184/original/file-20190605-40738-18t0qj5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=867&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Brain training programs ‘gamify’ the process to keep people practicing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/guspim/1789247323">Gustavo da Cunha Pimenta/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As one example, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/62.special_issue_1.19">speed of processing training</a>” has been incorporated into commercial brain training products. The goal here is to improve the detection of objects in the periphery, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1097/01.opx.0000175009.08626.65">which can be useful in avoiding an automobile crash</a>. A brain game may take the form of nature scenes with birds presented in the periphery; players must locate specific birds, even though the image is presented only briefly. But can finding birds on a screen help you detect and avoid, for example, a pedestrian stepping off the curb while you’re driving?</p>
<p>This is a crucial question. Few people care much about improving their score on an abstract computerized brain training exercise. What is important is improving their ability to perform everyday tasks that relate to their safety, well-being, independence and success in life. But <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1529100616661983">over a century of research</a> suggests that learning and training gains tend to be extremely specific. Transferring gains from one task to another can be a challenge.</p>
<p>Consider the individual known as SF, who was able, with extended practice, to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.7375930">improve his memory for numbers</a> from seven to 79 digits. After training, he was able to hear a list of 79 randomly generated digits and immediately repeat this list of numbers back, perfectly, without delay. But he could still remember and repeat back only about six letters of the alphabet.</p>
<p>This is just one of many examples in which individuals can vastly improve their performance on a task, but demonstrate no training gains at all when presented with an even slightly different challenge. If the benefits of training on remembering digits do not transfer to remembering letters, why would training on virtual bird-spotting transfer to driving, academic performance or everyday memory?</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278192/original/file-20190605-40747-1a4bl3u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278192/original/file-20190605-40747-1a4bl3u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278192/original/file-20190605-40747-1a4bl3u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278192/original/file-20190605-40747-1a4bl3u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278192/original/file-20190605-40747-1a4bl3u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278192/original/file-20190605-40747-1a4bl3u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278192/original/file-20190605-40747-1a4bl3u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278192/original/file-20190605-40747-1a4bl3u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">There are other proven ingredients for healthy aging.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/P0F_zH39qhs">Val Vesa/Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Staying mentally spry</h2>
<p>Brain training programs are an appealing shortcut, a “get smart quick” scheme. But improving or maintaining cognition is likely not going to be quick and easy. Instead, it may require a lifetime – or at least an extended period – of cognitive challenge and learning.</p>
<p>If you’re worried about your cognition, what should you do?</p>
<p>First, if you do engage in brain games, and you enjoy them, please continue to play. But keep your expectations realistic. If you’re playing solely to obtain cognitive benefits, instead consider other activities that might be as cognitively stimulating, or at least more fulfilling – like learning a new language, for instance, or learning to play an instrument. </p>
<p>Some evidence suggests that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691617707316">physical exercise can potentially help maintain cognition</a>. Even if exercise had no effect on cognition at all, it has <a href="https://order.nia.nih.gov/sites/default/files/2018-04/nia-exercise-guide.pdf">clear benefits to physical health</a> – so why not move your body a bit?</p>
<p>The most important lesson from the literature on training is this: If you want to improve your performance on a task that’s important to you, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1553-2712.2008.00227.x">practice that task</a>. Playing brain games may only make you better at playing brain games.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/113881/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Walter Boot receives funding from the National Institutes of Health.</span></em></p>There are reasons to be skeptical, of both the quality of the evidence presented so far and the questionable assumptions that underlie claims of improved cognitive function after brain training.Walter Boot, Professor of Cognitive Psychology, Florida State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1087092018-12-20T11:21:48Z2018-12-20T11:21:48ZChristmas Day: to be a winning host, prep like a sports pro<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/251525/original/file-20181219-45419-1mteaa5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Game time.
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/smart-watch-sports-jogging-training-marathon-513000181?src=snkXTwy3PFSAmoqWPxRsaQ-1-13">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Hosting a Christmas gathering can sometimes prove challenging, much like a critical sports game can for an athlete. And while they have prize money, world rankings and pride on the line, your festive spoils – happy guests, a tasty lunch – can feel just as important. </p>
<p>So borrowing some mental skills and strategies from the world of sport could be just the thing to help you succeed with your Christmas get together. </p>
<p>To begin with, ahead of a big competition, athletes make sure they train diligently. It’s not just about clocking up the hours – it’s the quality of those hours. So maximise the quality of your preparation time for cooking, wrapping and decorating, so that any remaining tasks on the day itself go as smoothly as possible. </p>
<p>One key strategy that athletes use to keep them focused and motivated on the route to competition is <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/292703142_The_fundamental_goal_concept_The_path_to_process_and_performance_success">goal-setting</a> using “SMART goals” – targets which are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-bound. </p>
<p>Following the SMART system helps you to keep on track to get those small wins. Many athletes will tell you that accomplishing small goals increases the likelihood of accomplishing big goals – for them, winning a game; for you, achieving a special, memorable and stress-free Christmas. </p>
<p>Before a big competition, athletes will also work on “game day” strategies. Start by reflecting on what was successful at past holiday gatherings as well as what didn’t go so well. That way, you can incorporate the more successful elements and be well prepared for the ones that didn’t work. </p>
<p>Sport psychologists sometimes use <a href="https://www.socmot.uni-konstanz.de/sites/default/files/09_Bayer_Achtziger_etal_subliminal_implementation_intent.pdf">“if–then” scenarios</a> to help athletes strategise for the big day. The idea is that you think about possible scenarios and how you would respond to them. You are then “action-ready” for potentially tough situations.</p>
<p>Developing your self awareness to play to your strengths and work on your weaknesses is another key strategy in preparing for sporting competition. In festive terms, this means that you might be a great entertainer but not such a great cook. </p>
<p>In this case, research and practice recipes beforehand so you’ll feel more confident about pulling them off on the day. According to <a href="http://t012.camel.ntupes.edu.tw/ezcatfiles/t012/img/img/171/Feltz1988_423-457_16_ESSR.pdf">research</a>, past successes can be a big boost to self-confidence so you’ll be feeling good about your food and you’ll be more relaxed about entertaining your guests. </p>
<p>After putting plenty of work in, game day is a chance for athletes to shine. It usually involves a heady mix of excitement and nerves, but some athletes deliberately interpret their nervousness and anxiety as signs of excitement to sink their teeth into the big day. </p>
<h2>Harness those nerves</h2>
<p>If you wake up on Christmas morning feeling a bit nervous, try employing this tactic, which is known as “arousal reappraisal”. <a href="https://researchportal.bath.ac.uk/en/publications/the-effects-of-arousal-reappraisal-on-stress-responses-performanc">Research has shown</a> that reevaluating your nerves as positive rather than negative can lead to more positive outcomes like self confidence. It’s all about your interpretation, so try to see things in a good light. </p>
<p>Another option is the pre-performance routine – just like in rugby, penalty kickers engage in a very specific process of physical preparation before every single kick. Some <a href="http://journals.humankinetics.com/doi/abs/10.1123/jsep.24.4.359">sport psychologists suggest</a> that these routines may result in an optimal emotional state prior to performance. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/251533/original/file-20181219-45408-1jbsgwe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/251533/original/file-20181219-45408-1jbsgwe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251533/original/file-20181219-45408-1jbsgwe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251533/original/file-20181219-45408-1jbsgwe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251533/original/file-20181219-45408-1jbsgwe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=547&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251533/original/file-20181219-45408-1jbsgwe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=547&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251533/original/file-20181219-45408-1jbsgwe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=547&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The spoils of Christmas victory.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/roast-chicken-turkey-christmas-new-year-523895071?src=DWWry1c0bdfJqxxMaKjZ2g-1-69">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Christmas morning can be one of the most stressful parts of the day. So what would your routine look like? Something as simple as taking a few deep breaths or doing a few invigorating yoga poses can really help set the tone of the day, and is something you can go back to later if you feel overwhelmed. </p>
<h2>Merry mindfulness</h2>
<p>If you don’t respond to the pre-performance routine then try positive “self-talk” – or use both. Many athletes employ several mental strategies to help them on game day, before and during their performance, and self-talk can be especially useful during play. Self-talk is your inner dialogue with yourself, and is used by athletes to <a href="http://www.academia.edu/345238/Hatzigeorgiadis_A._Zourbanos_N._Mpoumpaki_S._and_Theodorakis_Y._2009_._Mechanisms_underlying_the_self-talk_performance_relationship_The_effects_of_self-talk_on_self-confidence_and_anxiety._Psychology_of_Sport_and_Exercise_10_186-192.IF_2.15">achieve a number of positive outcomes</a> like reducing cognitive anxiety. </p>
<p>We are all constantly engaged in a neverending stream of internal dialogue and it can be on maximum volume and speed when we’re facing a game situation. Whether it’s your uncle bringing up Brexit or a distant cousin sulking, your thought stream can become incredibly overcrowded. </p>
<p>Simple cue words and phrases like “breathe” or “keep going” can give athletes a boost when they need it most. Start thinking about what cue words and phrases you can use and try them out to see what sticks.</p>
<p>Finally, successful athletes are usually a part of a larger team which offers support when needed. Even individual athletes have support staff, including coaches and physiotherapists, so think about who you can ask for a helping hand. </p>
<p>The social support provided by teammates may improve <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10413209708415388">physical and emotional well-being</a> so think about how best to use the support around you. Simple tasks like making the music playlist, peeling sprouts, or sorting the dessert can be handled by one of your support team, freeing you up to focus on achieving your personal best.</p>
<p>So this Christmas season, take a page from the training books of successful athletes all around the world. Be sure to engage in meaningful training and use mental strategies before and during December 25 – and you’ll be well on your way to victory.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/108709/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nadine Sammy received funding from the Commonwealth Scholarships Commission for her doctoral research.</span></em></p>Preparation. Focus. Positivity. Think like an athlete to win a Christmas medal.Nadine Sammy, Lecturer in Sports Psychology, University of ExeterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1039452018-09-28T12:38:51Z2018-09-28T12:38:51ZGolf: the neuroscience of the perfect putt<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238302/original/file-20180927-48650-11rpblt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Listen to your brain.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/male-golf-player-putting-green-beautiful-276857315?src=KwvzSByAxfd7YeCNXEbILA-1-38">OtmarW/shutterstock</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Sports fans across the world watched the American golfer Tiger Woods roll in a putt to win the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PGA_Tour">PGA tour’s</a> season ending Tour Championship on September 23. His victory caps a remarkable comeback from personal struggles and injuries that caused him to plummet to 1,199 in the world rankings less than a year ago, and restores him as one of the world’s best. </p>
<p>With the PGA Tour finale now complete, the eyes of the golfing world are on Paris for the <a href="https://www.rydercup.com/">Ryder Cup</a> – golf’s biannual team contest pitching the best players from the USA against the cream of Europe. But what makes a successful golfer? My research explores the neuroscience of golf putting – and ways that the brain can be trained to increase putting success. </p>
<p>Golfers carry 14 clubs, but the putter is by far the most used, <a href="https://www.pgatour.com/stats.html">accounting for around 41% of shots</a>. Successfully striking the 1.68-inch diameter golf ball into the 4.25-inch golf hole requires precision programming of force and direction. You have to take into account factors such as slope, direction of the blades of grass and weather effects including temperature, wind and rain.</p>
<p>My research has identified <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/psyp.12182">a type of “brainwave”</a>, produced by electrical pulses resulting from brain cells communicating with each other, that can predict golfing success. They can easily be recorded by simply putting sensors on the scalp. In a brain imaging study where 20 expert and novice golfers each hit 120 putts, I found that the intensity of activity of a brainwave at the frequency of 10-12 Hz, recorded before the backswing, could clearly distinguish putts that went in the hole from those that missed. </p>
<p>More specifically, intense activity at sensors placed on frontal parts of the scalp, over the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK10796/">premotor cortex</a>, was key for putting success. This finding has since been <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/2015-56326-001.pdf">supported by other research</a>, which also found that reduced activity at sensors placed on the <a href="https://sciencing.com/the-functions-of-the-left-temporal-lobe-12214661.html">left-temporal</a> parts of the scalp (close to the left ear) can further contribute to the recipe for proficient putting. </p>
<p>This makes sense, as the premotor cortex is implicated in movement planning, and the left-temporal region is associated with verbal-analytic processing. So it looks as if the brain intently focuses on accurately planning force and direction, while blocking out verbal intrusions, immediately before successful putts.</p>
<h2>Training the brain to drain putts</h2>
<p>Having identified neural signatures associated with putting success, scientists are now exploring whether you can train golfers to produce this pattern of brain activity and recognise what it feels like. The trick is to only hit putts when the appropriate activation-level is produced (when they are “in the zone”).</p>
<p>Such brain training can be achieved using a technique called “neurofeedback”, which involves measuring brain activity and displaying it back in real time (in the form of auditory tones, or graphs on a computer screen) so that recipients can develop ways of consciously controlling their brain activity levels. It may seem far fetched, but the technology and equipment are readily available, portable and relatively cheap – starting at less than £300 for a wireless electroencephalographic (EEG) neurofeedback headset.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238425/original/file-20180928-48662-xyqnhg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238425/original/file-20180928-48662-xyqnhg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238425/original/file-20180928-48662-xyqnhg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238425/original/file-20180928-48662-xyqnhg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238425/original/file-20180928-48662-xyqnhg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238425/original/file-20180928-48662-xyqnhg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238425/original/file-20180928-48662-xyqnhg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jason Day: brain trained.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Keith Allison/wikipedia</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In a 2015 study, I used wireless neurofeedback technology to train 12 amateur golfers <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1469029214001125">to produce the pattern</a> of brainwaves that I’d previously associated with success before they hit putts. This took place during three separate one-hour training sessions. On their return to the laboratory a few days later, the golfers were able to reliably produce the pattern of 10-12 Hz brain activity that I had prescribed. </p>
<p>What’s more, their putting had improved (on average, 8ft putts finished 21% closer to the hole after the training). Admittedly though, this was not to a sufficient extent to exclude the possibility of a placebo effect. Notwithstanding, the results are encouraging, and have been <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10874200802149656%20and">bolstered by similar findings</a> from researchers in other parts of the world. </p>
<h2>From the lab to the golf course</h2>
<p>While the scientists are still experimenting before making firm and unequivocal statements about neurofeedback’s effectiveness, there are some members of the golfing elite who are already convinced of the benefits of brain training. Australian Jason Day, the current world number 11, has used neurofeedback for a number of years and said that it has yielded “<a href="https://www.news.com.au/sport/golf/jason-day-turns-to-brain-training-to-improve-mental-strength/news-story/7e609fb8a67fb1ef5e1973cae7ab2bcf">a 110% improvement” in his mental game</a>. So it may be no coincidence that he was <a href="https://www.pgatour.com/stats/stat.02564.html">ranked as the best putter</a> on the 2018 PGA Tour.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, a more recent convert who’ll be on show in Paris is American Bryson DeChambeau. The current <a href="https://www.pgatour.com/stats/stat.02428.html">world number seven</a> revealed details of his brain training regime in August 2018, before winning two out of the four season-ending <a href="https://www.pgatour.com/fedexcup.html">FedEx Cup</a> playoff events. With 21 professional victories between them, Day and DeChambeau are certainly doing something right. </p>
<p>Much is made about the Ryder Cup being a team event, a stark diversion from the individual contests that characterise regular tournaments on the PGA and European Tours. While this undoubtedly adds new dynamics that capture the attention of the sporting world, it will still, in all likelihood, boil down to an individual putt by an individual player to determine which continent lifts golfs’ premier prize. </p>
<p>As a proud European, I hope that player is wearing European blue, and can optimally shape his 10-12Hz brainpower during those crucial moments.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/103945/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Michael Cooke has received funding from the Economic and Social Research Council grants PTA-02627-2696 and RES-000-22-4523. </span></em></p>How to win at golf …with a little help from neuroscience.Andrew Michael Cooke, Lecturer in Performance Psychology, Bangor UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/977972018-07-09T10:37:08Z2018-07-09T10:37:08ZHuntington’s disease: how brain training games could help<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224814/original/file-20180626-19382-1pt5ykw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/profile-bearded-man-symbol-neurons-brain-622200797?src=D238hMs8fqT1L-d5BBVpmw-1-7">Lia Koltyrina/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the search for new treatments, science often focuses on medication first. But drugs aren’t the only way to fight illness, particularly when looking at brain diseases. <a href="https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/people/view/225350-yhnell-emma">My research</a> looks into how playing specially designed computer games might help people who are living with Huntington’s disease. </p>
<p>Huntington’s is a brain disorder that gets progressively worse over time, leading to problems with <a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/huntingtons-disease/symptoms-causes/syc-20356117">movement and thinking</a>. We know that the disease is caused by a single faulty gene, which in itself is very unique. Often if you have particular genes, your risk of developing certain diseases might increase or decrease, but it is very rare for a disease to be caused completely by a single gene. Although research is currently ongoing, unfortunately at present there are no treatments for the underlying cause of Huntington’s, or to prevent the disease getting worse.</p>
<p>You might be wondering how brain training games can possibly help those with Huntington’s disease if there aren’t yet any effective treatments for the disease. But, as my mum always used to say to me, “practice makes perfect” – if you practice something repeatedly you will generally get better at it. </p>
<p>This principle applies to brain training, too. If you practice tasks or games that are designed to help with thinking, you will probably get better at thinking. This is sometimes referred to as the “use it or lose it” approach. If you use your thinking skills and keep them active, you will probably be able to maintain them. But if you don’t practice something regularly you may forget it and not be as good at it as you once were. This is particularly relevant if you know that your thinking ability is going to get worse.</p>
<p>Using computer games to train the brain has been studied <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1001756#s4">in the healthy ageing population</a>, and also with other diseases which affect the brain such as <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14583963">Alzheimer’s</a> and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24322063">Parkinson’s</a>. These studies have generally found that brain training is beneficial for improving thinking – although there is <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09602011.2016.1186101">much debate</a> about whether brain training could improve movement problems or improve quality of life for people living with these brain diseases. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224815/original/file-20180626-19396-52pdkm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224815/original/file-20180626-19396-52pdkm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224815/original/file-20180626-19396-52pdkm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224815/original/file-20180626-19396-52pdkm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224815/original/file-20180626-19396-52pdkm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224815/original/file-20180626-19396-52pdkm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224815/original/file-20180626-19396-52pdkm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Training in progress.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/vector-illustration-girl-smartphone-using-brain-499802083?src=cIIfrxve7CRj1ucBZpcz-Q-1-0">mayrum/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At present, there is very little evidence about computer game training and how it might impact people with Huntington’s disease. But we are now conducting a feasability study to work out whether the research can actually be done before progressing to a bigger study. Full scale studies require lots of participants and funding, so it is important to demonstrate that the research can actually work with a small number of people first.</p>
<p>Using this initial study, we want to demonstrate that computer game brain training is acceptable for people who are impacted by Huntington’s disease. We know that lack of motivation and apathy can be characteristic symptoms of Huntington’s disease. So we are asking people who have the disease to play brain training computer games to see how they get on.</p>
<p>Half of the participants will be asked to play the brain training computer games and half will continue as normal, in a control group. This is important as it will allow us to compare the results of the people who played the brain training games to those who did not. We are asking the participants playing the brain training computer games to play them for three 30-minute sessions a week, for 12 weeks. We will then be asking them how they got on with playing the games and what they liked and disliked so that we can improve the study in the future. </p>
<p>Not all games marketed as brain training are equal – most are designed to specifically test or train your thinking skills but some are designed purely for entertainment and pleasure. So we have carefully chosen the games our participants will play to make sure that the games specifically train thinking skills. The brain training games that we are using are focused on training thinking skills of executive function – the higher thinking skills of the brain. These include number puzzles, word games and tasks that measure attention.</p>
<p>Although our study is focused on Huntington’s disease, it will help us learn about brain training more generally, too. We already know that the more often you play a game, the better you get at it. If you play the card game Snap!, for example, you might get much quicker at pairing the cards and beating your opponent, but how does this translate to the rest of your life? </p>
<p>Brain training will not be able to change the faulty gene that causes Huntington’s, but it might just help improve day to day life for people who are impacted by the disease.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>For further information about Huntington’s disease and support, visit <a href="https://www.hda.org.uk/">The Huntington’s disease association</a>, or <a href="https://en.hdbuzz.net/">HDBuzz</a>, which provides excellent summaries of current Huntington’s research.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/97797/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emma Yhnell receives research funding from The Welsh Government, through Health and Care Research Wales and the Jacque and Gloria Gossweiler Foundation. She has previously received funding from the Medical Research Council (MRC).
Emma will be giving the Charles Darwin Award Lecture at the British Science Festival in Hull, UK, on September 12, 2018. Free tickets for the event are available via: <a href="https://www.britishsciencefestival.org/event/hunting-for-a-huntingtons-treatment/">https://www.britishsciencefestival.org/event/hunting-for-a-huntingtons-treatment/</a></span></em></p>Specially designed computer games might improve the lives of people with Huntington’s disease.Emma Yhnell, Health and Care Research Wales Fellow, Cardiff UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/865542017-11-20T15:19:37Z2017-11-20T15:19:37ZIs it possible to boost your intelligence by training? We reviewed three decades of research<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/195306/original/file-20171119-11454-9u3qnk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">It will certainly make you better at doing sudoku.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nicola Keegan/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Scientists achieved astonishing results when training a student with a memory training programme in a landmark experiment in 1982. After 44 weeks of practice, the student, dubbed SF, <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0079742108605460">expanded his ability to remember digits</a> from seven numbers to 82. However, this remarkable ability did not extend beyond digits – they also tried with consonants.</p>
<p>The study can be considered the beginning of cognitive training research, investigating how practice in areas ranging from music to chess and puzzles impacts our intelligence. So what’s the state of this research 35 years later – have scientists discovered any foolproof ways to make us smarter? We reviewed the evidence to find out. </p>
<p>The topic of cognitive training is still very controversial, with scientists expressing <a href="http://longevity3.stanford.edu/blog/2014/10/15/the-consensus-on-the-brain-training-industry-from-the-scientific-community-2/">opposing views</a> about its effectiveness. Enthusiastic claims about the effects of cognitive training programmes usually follow the publication of a single experiment reporting positive findings. </p>
<p>Much less attention is paid when a study reports negative results. This phenomenon is quite common in many areas of social and life sciences and <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0003081">often provides a biased view</a> of a particular research field. That is why systematic reviews such as ours are essential to rule out the risk of such bias.</p>
<h2>Making sense of conflicting evidence</h2>
<p>In a new paper, <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0963721417712760">published in Current Directions in Psychological Science</a>, we synthesise what the reviews say about several cognitive training programmes. Our main method was meta-analysis – that is, a set of statistical techniques for estimating the true overall effect of a treatment.</p>
<p>To begin with, music expertise has been associated with superior memory for music material (notes on a stave). Remarkably, music experts exhibit a superior memory even when the musical material is <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/s13421-016-0663-2">meaningless</a> (random notes). In the same vein, musical aptitude predicts music skills such as pitch and chord discrimination.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/195304/original/file-20171119-11482-1xh8aoj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/195304/original/file-20171119-11482-1xh8aoj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/195304/original/file-20171119-11482-1xh8aoj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/195304/original/file-20171119-11482-1xh8aoj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/195304/original/file-20171119-11482-1xh8aoj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/195304/original/file-20171119-11482-1xh8aoj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/195304/original/file-20171119-11482-1xh8aoj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Did playing the violin make Einstein smarter?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://rg.ru/2016/08/30/kakie-professii-budut-samymi-vostrebovannymi.html">wikipedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>However, music instruction does not seem to exert any true effect on skills outside of music. Indeed, our <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1747938X16300641">meta-analysis</a> shows that engaging in music has no impact on general measures of intelligence, when placebo effects are controlled for with active control groups. Music training does not affect either cognitive skills – fluid intelligence, memory, phonological processing, spatial ability and cognitive control – or academic achievement. These outcomes <a href="http://www.utm.utoronto.ca/%7Ew3psygs/FILES/SwaminathanEtAl2017.pdf">have been recently confirmed</a> by other independent labs.</p>
<p>The field of chess presents an analogous pattern of findings. Chess masters’ exceptional memory for chess positions is <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1207/s15516709cog2404_4/pdf">renowned</a>. However, to date, chess training appears to exert <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1747938X16300112">only a small effect</a> on cognitive and academic skills. What’s more, almost none of the studies reporting such effects actually used a control group – suggesting that the results were mainly due to placebos (such as being excited about a new activity).</p>
<p>Similar results have been observed in the field of <a href="https://theconversation.com/can-training-your-working-memory-make-you-smarter-we-reviewed-the-evidence-74322">working memory training</a>. Working memory is a cognitive system, related to short-term memory, that stores and manipulates the information necessary to solve complex cognitive tasks. Participants undergoing working memory training programmes systematically improve their performance in several working memory tasks. However, experimental groups consistently fail to show any improvement over active controls in other skills such as fluid intelligence, cognitive control or academic achievement. These findings were confirmed in three independent meta-analyses about <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Giovanni_Sala5/publication/310752508_Working_Memory_Training_in_Typically_Developing_Children_A_Meta-Analysis_of_the_Available_Evidence/links/589f0d6145851598bab6ec5f/Working-Memory-Training-in-Typically-Developing-Children-A-Meta-Analysis-of-the-Available-Evidence.pdf">children</a>, <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/s13423-016-1217-0">adults</a>, and the <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1745691616635612">general population</a>.</p>
<p>Video game training also fails to enhance cognitive function. In another recent meta-analysis, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/321110846_Video_Game_Training_Does_Not_Enhance_Cognitive_Ability_A_Comprehensive_Meta-Analytic_Investigation">to be published in Psychological Bulletin</a>, we show that video game players outperform non-gamers on a variety of cognitive tasks. However, when non-players take part in video game training experiments, no appreciable effect is observed in any of the outcome measures. This suggests the video game players may just have been better at those tasks to start with. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/195305/original/file-20171119-11462-1eafzwa.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/195305/original/file-20171119-11462-1eafzwa.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/195305/original/file-20171119-11462-1eafzwa.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/195305/original/file-20171119-11462-1eafzwa.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/195305/original/file-20171119-11462-1eafzwa.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/195305/original/file-20171119-11462-1eafzwa.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/195305/original/file-20171119-11462-1eafzwa.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Korean brain training exercise.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%ED%8C%8C%EC%9D%BC:NDSL-Brain_Training_Korean_Version.png">wikipedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Another group of scientists also recently carried out a <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1529100616661983?journalCode=psia">systematic review</a> on general <a href="https://theconversation.com/brain-training-why-its-no-walk-in-the-park-66245">brain training programmes</a> (often including puzzles, tasks and drills). While the researchers reported some effects, they found an inverse relationship between the size of the effects and the quality of experimental designs of training programmes. Put simply, when the experiment includes essential features such as active control groups and large samples, the benefits are very modest at best. </p>
<h2>The problem with misinterpretation</h2>
<p>A pervasive problem with cognitive training studies is that improved performance in isolated cognitive tasks is often seen as a proof for cognitive enhancement. This is a common misinterpretation. To provide solid evidence, it is necessary to investigate the effects of training programmes on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latent_variable">“latent cognitive constructs”</a> – the variables underlying the performance in a set of cognitive tasks. </p>
<p>For example, working memory skill is a cognitive construct and can be measured by collecting data such as digit span. But if the training exerts an actual effect on the cognitive skill (construct) you should see the effects on many different tasks and latent factors – multiple measures of the same cognitive skill. And it is rare that these training programmes are set up to do that.</p>
<p>That means that, to date, cognitive training programmes do not even necessarily boost those cognitive functions that the trained tasks are supposed to involve. What is enhanced is just the ability to perform the trained task and similar tasks. </p>
<p>Researchers and the general public should be fully aware of the limits of benefits from training the brain. However, these negative findings shouldn’t discourage us from searching for ways to boost intelligence and other skills. We do know that our cognition is extraordinarily malleable to training. What we need now is more promising pathways to general cognitive enhancement rather than domain-specific enhancement. Our best bet for achieving that is probably by carrying out research on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8ycRdy23s0&t=1783s">genetics and neuroscience</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/86554/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Fernand Gobet receives funding from the University of Liverpool and is Research Associate at the Centre for Philosophy of Natural & Social Science, London School of Economics. He is author of the book "Understanding Expertise: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach".</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Giovanni Sala does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>New studies investigate whether music, chess, video games or puzzles can make us smarter.Giovanni Sala, PhD - Cognitive Psychology, University of LiverpoolFernand Gobet, Professor of Decision Making and Expertise, University of LiverpoolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/829262017-09-04T11:25:23Z2017-09-04T11:25:23ZWhen it comes to keeping our brains young, we need to rise to new challenges<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183985/original/file-20170830-23670-m9qu0v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Still got it. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/professor-gesturing-intelligence-over-dark-background-2471721?src=fTxnv4_cZWQ1yUURtdBZ9Q-2-30">Gino Santa Maria</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As we get older, our thinking skills often deteriorate: we get slower, more forgetful, less good at learning new things. Yet not everyone experiences these changes to the same degree. Some remain mentally sharp into their sixties, seventies and beyond; others experience declines which can make it harder for them to live independently.</p>
<p>Researchers see hope in this variation. It is a sign that decline might not be inevitable. Together with the fact that people are <a href="https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/worlds-older-population-grows-dramatically">tending to</a> live longer, it’s no surprise that this is an area being pursued by specialists around the world. </p>
<p>Broadly speaking, the thinking skills that decline earlier <a href="https://www.nap.edu/read/21693/">are the ones</a> that allow us to quickly process information or respond to things. This perhaps starts in our early twenties. <a href="https://www.nap.edu/read/21693/">On the other hand</a>, we retain and may even continue to develop mental skills associated with accrued knowledge through midlife and into old age. A good example would be our vocabulary. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183987/original/file-20170830-12933-zdtqxd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183987/original/file-20170830-12933-zdtqxd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183987/original/file-20170830-12933-zdtqxd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=705&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183987/original/file-20170830-12933-zdtqxd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=705&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183987/original/file-20170830-12933-zdtqxd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=705&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183987/original/file-20170830-12933-zdtqxd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=886&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183987/original/file-20170830-12933-zdtqxd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=886&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183987/original/file-20170830-12933-zdtqxd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=886&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lube me!</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/professor-gesturing-intelligence-over-dark-background-2471721?src=fTxnv4_cZWQ1yUURtdBZ9Q-2-30">Lightspring</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Another thing that happens as we get older is our brains get smaller – known as brain atrophy. One relatively recent report <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hbm.22959/abstract">indicated that</a> adults in their seventies experienced about 0.7% loss of grey matter per year, and about 1% of white matter. Both are important for our thinking skills – our “little grey cells” might be the familiar term regarding what underlies complex thinking skills like language and reasoning, for example, but the white matter plays a vital role in connecting different areas of the brain.</p>
<p>Brain atrophy is associated with an increased risk of cognitive decline, albeit the research is <a href="http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/81/1/13">not</a> entirely <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4832269/">consistent</a>. But crucially, this shrinkage varies from person to person. In the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4832269/">same study</a> of seventy-somethings, for example, men were found to lose a bit more grey matter than women. Those who are less physically active have <a href="http://www.neurology.org/content/79/17/1802">also been shown</a> to have more shrinkage.</p>
<h2>The fear factor</h2>
<p>This much we know, but we’re still developing our understanding of what might influence our thinking skills as we age. In the meantime, there remain challenges in providing the public with clear information about how best to preserve their brain health. </p>
<p>Changes in thinking skills are <a href="http://www.ageuk.org.uk/health-wellbeing/staying-sharp/">often reported</a> to be among people’s greatest fears about ageing. On the one hand, it is a good thing to have a healthy concern about this issue, since it might encourage people to make sensible lifestyle choices to maximise their health. Having said that, some of these fears may be the result of misinformation. News headlines <a href="http://www.express.co.uk/life-style/health/756453/Dementia-leisure-activities-middle-age-help-prevent-disease-later-life">often wrongly use</a> phrases like dementia and Alzheimer’s as shorthand for any research into changes in thinking skills, for example. </p>
<p>I was recently involved in a <a href="https://healthyageing.hw.ac.uk/research.html">UK-wide survey</a> into this area, questioning over 3,000 adults aged 40 and older. We’re still analysing the results, but can share some top-line findings – indeed we took them “on tour” recently to the <a href="https://www.hw.ac.uk/about/news/academics-tread-the-boards-at-this-year-s.htm">Edinburgh Festival Fringe</a>. </p>
<p>For example, the middle-aged adults in the survey were more pessimistic than over-70s about when mental decline might begin. The 40-year-olds expected it between ten to 15 years earlier than the older respondents – possibly a sign that the reality does not live up to the scaremongering when you get there. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183992/original/file-20170830-9222-2sor7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183992/original/file-20170830-9222-2sor7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183992/original/file-20170830-9222-2sor7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183992/original/file-20170830-9222-2sor7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183992/original/file-20170830-9222-2sor7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183992/original/file-20170830-9222-2sor7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183992/original/file-20170830-9222-2sor7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183992/original/file-20170830-9222-2sor7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hangin’ in there.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/grandmother-glasses-points-finger-562720921?src=4DnGdBaJWSTEEm2tOLeVRg-1-2">Pavel Kubarkov</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Nine in ten respondents thought there were things we can do to protect or maintain thinking skills, though fewer than six in ten were confident about what these might be. This suggests room for improvement, though it is arguably a strong foundation on which to build further public health messages. </p>
<h2>The hacks and the whack</h2>
<p>So how best to preserve our brains? For some lifestyle choices, the evidence is relatively consistent. Smoking, for example, is detrimental. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20875635">It thins</a> the outer layers of the brain, which are vital for functions including memory, reasoning and language. The good news for former smokers is that this thinning appears to “reverse” if you give up, though a full return to thick cortical layers is estimated to <a href="http://www.nature.com/mp/journal/v20/n6/full/mp2014187a.html">take about 25 years</a>. </p>
<p>Being physically active is also generally linked to better thinking skills and <a href="http://www.neurology.org/content/79/17/1802">brain health</a>. For the inactive among us, even making initial changes in terms of <a href="http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/199487">walking more</a> have been documented as worthwhile. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183989/original/file-20170830-29224-1bxc6ve.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183989/original/file-20170830-29224-1bxc6ve.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183989/original/file-20170830-29224-1bxc6ve.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=709&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183989/original/file-20170830-29224-1bxc6ve.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=709&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183989/original/file-20170830-29224-1bxc6ve.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=709&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183989/original/file-20170830-29224-1bxc6ve.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=890&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183989/original/file-20170830-29224-1bxc6ve.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=890&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183989/original/file-20170830-29224-1bxc6ve.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=890&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Whew.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/professor-gesturing-intelligence-over-dark-background-2471721?src=fTxnv4_cZWQ1yUURtdBZ9Q-2-30">Julien Tromeur</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For some other things, the evidence is flimsier. Headlines that some game or puzzle is the key to remaining sharp won’t be going away. But to put it mildly, the whole “brain training” area is highly contested. You wouldn’t expect anything less for an industry already worth well over $1 billion (£774m) and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/oct/23/brain-games-memory-loss-open-letter">predicted to</a> top $6 billion by 2020.</p>
<p>In fact, the <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/stoken/rbtfl/hK6Y5zBI1Rv.M/full">most recent review</a> of the literature has concluded the same as previous ones: people tend to become better at whatever game they are playing over time, and there are instances where this transfers to other skills. Broadly, however, the benefits appear limited. </p>
<p>Rather than playing the same repetitive game, perhaps a better possibility for boosting brain health is doing something novel and more challenging – learning a new thing, meeting people or engaging in new experiences. <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ana.24158/abstract">Learning a new language</a> has been promoted, for example, while researchers are also finding some empirical support for the benefits of mastering <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0956797613499592">digital photography</a> or <a href="https://academic.oup.com/gerontologist/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/geront/gnu057">tablet computers</a>, or <a href="https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1552-5260(15)00061-8">volunteering</a>. While these activities are quite diverse, the key ingredient is the new learning – and that can continue to increase as your expertise grows.</p>
<p>The bottom line is that brain ageing remains a developing research area with much still unknown. It is certainly <a href="http://www.ageuk.org.uk/health-wellbeing/staying-sharp/">worth getting</a> a bit more active and giving yourself a bit of a challenge, but there is also much to be said for choosing that new activity according to whatever makes us happy – be it learning Russian, how to tango or whatever. </p>
<p>Retaining our thinking skills is obviously important, but happiness and fulfilment is <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/aphw.12090/full">linked with</a> its own health benefits. I can’t promise that staying cheerful will allow you to retain the mind of a 20-year-old into your dotage, but it certainly looks worthwhile overall.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82926/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alan J Gow receives funding from Velux Stiftung and has previously been funded by the Dunhill Medical Trust.</span></em></p>Brain games, learning languages, rowing? Beware of snake oil salesman claiming we know it all.Alan J Gow, Associate Professor, Psychology, Heriot-Watt UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/824642017-08-25T09:42:32Z2017-08-25T09:42:32ZHow to reduce the risk of cognitive decline with age<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183477/original/file-20170825-28531-1jzrcc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/confirm/335954603?src=IagW21tXTCdES6oBSN3bMw-1-2&size=medium_jpg">Jne Valokuvaus/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Research into how we can <a href="https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/news/article/234/dementia_education_on_risk_inspires_people_in_midlife_to_consider_healthier_lifestyles">keep our brains healthy</a> as we age has gained momentum in recent years. There is now an increased focus on the changes that we can makes to our health and lifestyle, which may prevent dementia. Here are some things that research has shown reduce a person’s risk of cognitive decline with age.</p>
<h2>Sex</h2>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28645192">latest study</a> shows that having more sex is associated with better cognitive function. </p>
<p>We recruited 28 men and 45 women, aged between 50 and 83, to take part in our study. We found that those who had sex weekly scored on average 2% higher on some cognitive tests than those who had sex monthly, and 4% higher than those who never had sex. These results were shown on tests of verbal fluency (such as naming as many animals as possible in one minute) and visuo-spatial abilities (drawing familiar objects from memory or copying complex pictures). </p>
<p>The association could be the result of the heightened levels of intimacy and companionship inherent in sexual relationships (that is, an increase in social contact), or there could be a purely biological explanation – where regular surges in arousal and release of sex-related hormones (such as oxytocin and dopamine) could be affecting brain function. Of course, as with the age-old nature/nurture debate, our answer could lie in a combination of the social and biological impact of sexual activity. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183157/original/file-20170823-13293-h7kycu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183157/original/file-20170823-13293-h7kycu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183157/original/file-20170823-13293-h7kycu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183157/original/file-20170823-13293-h7kycu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183157/original/file-20170823-13293-h7kycu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183157/original/file-20170823-13293-h7kycu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183157/original/file-20170823-13293-h7kycu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Could it be sex hormones that keep our brains young?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/confirm/397886950?src=UYWdCiUPXZE1kQdov1fzLQ-1-13&size=medium_jpg">nd3000/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Sleep</h2>
<p>Many studies show that getting enough sleep is important for preventing cognitive decline. A <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22560827">study</a> of cognitively healthy people aged 65 and over showed that daytime napping is associated with a lower risk of cognitive decline at two-year and ten-year follow-ups. Conversely, excessive daytime sleepiness and getting less than six-and-a-half hours of sleep at night are associated with an increased risk of cognitive decline at ten-year follow-up.</p>
<p>A more recent <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1074742716304208">study</a> showed that longer sleep duration and poorer sleep quality are both associated with poorer memory in men and women aged 65 and older. These studies all support the advice that we should be getting around eight hours of sleep a night. Sleep disturbance in early adulthood is associated with <a href="https://academic.oup.com/innovateage/article/1/suppl_1/156/3902539/SLEEP-EARLIER-IN-LIFE-AND-LATE-LIFE-COGNITION">poorer cognitive function in later life</a>, which just goes to shows how sleep can affect our brain health across the lifespan.</p>
<h2>Active leisure</h2>
<p>New studies show that increased participation in social, mental and physical activities is linked to a <a href="https://academic.oup.com/biomedgerontology/article/68/2/205/544371/Late-Life-Leisure-Activities-and-Risk-of-Cognitive">slower rate of cognitive decline</a> in older adults. This research shows a “dose-response” relationship, where the more activities we do, the slower the rate of decline becomes. </p>
<p>The following activities are good examples of the types of mental, social and physical leisure activities that are good for your brain:</p>
<p>● Mental: <a href="https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/info/20054/our_achievements/766/have_a_go_at_brain_training">puzzles, games and quizzes</a>, reading or even adding up your shopping bill in your head as you go around the supermarket.</p>
<p>● Social: visiting friends and family, regular phone or email conversations with people, going to the cinema or doing some <a href="https://www.gvi.co.uk/resources/over-50s-volunteering/">volunteer work</a>.</p>
<p>● Physical: gardening, housework, walking for around 30 minutes a day, or doing <a href="http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/fitness/Pages/sitting-exercises-for-older-people.aspx">chair-based or sitting exercises</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183158/original/file-20170823-13303-1gaxc0z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183158/original/file-20170823-13303-1gaxc0z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183158/original/file-20170823-13303-1gaxc0z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183158/original/file-20170823-13303-1gaxc0z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183158/original/file-20170823-13303-1gaxc0z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183158/original/file-20170823-13303-1gaxc0z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183158/original/file-20170823-13303-1gaxc0z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The more you do, the slower the decline.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/confirm/291130337?src=SMSAXRJojxg8RBEzRThNUA-1-21&size=medium_jpg">ABO PHOTOGRAPHY/Shutterstock</a></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Gender equality</h2>
<p>Studies have found that women may be at reduced risk of cognitive decline, simply because of the activities they choose. There is little that we can do to change our gender, without drastic surgery of course – but we can be aware of the gender stereotypes and expectations that are all around us, which can affect the activities we engage in. </p>
<p>In a study of <a href="http://content.iospress.com/articles/journal-of-alzheimers-disease/jad130143">Australian older adults</a>, there were notable gender differences in the leisure activities that people took part in. For example, women were more likely to engage in social activities, reading and volunteer work, all of which are known to slow cognitive decline. The way that cultures or societies perceive gender roles can affect people’s expectations of themselves and others. If this changes the lifestyle and leisure activities that men and women engage in, then it could well have an <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0956797617708634%20">effect on cognitive abilities</a> in later life.</p>
<h2>Get an early (in life) start</h2>
<p>When it comes to doing things to prevent cognitive decline, it’s never too early to start. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28359749">Some studies</a> show that interventions in older adults have little effect – but that could be because the participants are already suffering from cognitive decline. Studies mapping the rate of cognitive decline in <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1568163717300235">older participants who do not yet have dementia or cognitive impairment</a>, however, show promising results. </p>
<p>We all experience cognitive decline as we age. This is a natural process and occurs at different rates for everybody, much like declines in physical abilities with age. But it’s time we started addressing this much earlier in life, rather than waiting till middle age or older. It’s time for us to take a lifelong approach to keeping our brains healthy as we age.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82464/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hayley Wright does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A certain amount of cognitive decline with age is inevitable, but there are ways to radically slow this decline.Hayley Wright, Research Fellow, Coventry UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/759602017-06-05T01:45:23Z2017-06-05T01:45:23ZWorking memory: How you keep things ‘in mind’ over the short term<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171522/original/file-20170530-23699-itx0un.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C181%2C2987%2C2163&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">It's a crucial cog in the your ability to perform a variety of mental tasks.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/brain-loss-losing-memory-intelligence-due-98211377">Lightspring via Shutterstock.com.</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When you need to remember a phone number, a shopping list or a set of instructions, you rely on what psychologists and neuroscientists refer to as working memory. It’s the ability to hold and manipulate information in mind, over brief intervals. It’s for things that are important to you in the present moment, but not 20 years from now.</p>
<p>Researchers believe working memory is central to the functioning of the mind. It correlates with many more general abilities and outcomes – things like <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0191-8869(02)00023-5">intelligence</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17470210500162854">scholastic attainment</a> – and is linked to basic sensory processes.</p>
<p>Given its central role in our mental life, and the fact that we are conscious of at least some of its contents, working memory may become important in our quest to understand consciousness itself. Psychologists and neuroscientists focus on different aspects as they investigate working memory: Psychologists try to map out the functions of the system, while neuroscientists focus more on its neural underpinnings. Here’s a snapshot of where the research stands currently.</p>
<h2>How much working memory do we have?</h2>
<p>Capacity is limited – we can keep only a certain amount of information “in mind” at any one time. But researchers debate the nature of this limit.</p>
<p>Many suggest that working memory can store a <a href="http://memory.psych.missouri.edu/doc/articles/2001/Cowan%20BBS%202001.pdf">limited number of “items” or “chunks” of information</a>. These could be digits, letters, words or other units. Research has shown that the number of bits that can be held in memory can depend on the type of item – flavors of ice cream on offer versus digits of pi. </p>
<p>An alternative theory suggests working memory acts as a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.3655">continuous resource</a> that’s shared across all remembered information. Depending on your goals, different parts of the remembered information can receive different amounts of resource. Neuroscientists have suggested this resource could be <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2015.06.004">neural activity</a>, with different parts of the remembered information having varying amounts of activity devoted to them, depending on current priorities.</p>
<p>A different theoretical approach instead argues that the capacity limit arises because different <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.3758/s13423-012-0272-4">items will interfere with each other in memory</a>. </p>
<p>And of course memories decay over time, though rehearsing the information that’s in working memory seems to mitigate that process. What researchers call maintenance rehearsal involves repeating the information mentally without regard to its meaning – for example, going through a grocery list and remembering the items just as words without regard to the meal they will become. </p>
<p>In contrast, elaborative rehearsal involves giving the information meaning and associating it with other information. For instance, mnemonics facilitate elaborative rehearsal by associating the first letter of each of a list of items with some other information that is already stored in memory. It seems only elaborative rehearsal can help consolidate the information from working memory into a more lasting form – called long-term memory.</p>
<p>In the visual domain, <a href="http://gocognitive.net/interviews/rehearsal-visual-spatial-sketchpad">rehearsal may involve eye movements</a>, with visual information being tied to spatial location. In other words, people may look at the location of the remembered information after it has gone in order to remind them of where it was.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171666/original/file-20170531-25652-1y4et61.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171666/original/file-20170531-25652-1y4et61.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171666/original/file-20170531-25652-1y4et61.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171666/original/file-20170531-25652-1y4et61.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171666/original/file-20170531-25652-1y4et61.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171666/original/file-20170531-25652-1y4et61.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171666/original/file-20170531-25652-1y4et61.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171666/original/file-20170531-25652-1y4et61.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lots of things we need to remember over the short term can soon be forgotten with no ill effect.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/steering-wheel-covered-notes-reminder-errands-445215337">Suzanne Tucker via Shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Working memory versus long-term memory</h2>
<p>Long-term memory is characterized by a much larger storage capacity. The information it holds is also more durable and stable. Long-term memories can contain information about episodes in a person’s life, semantics or knowledge as well as more implicit types of information such as how to use objects or move the body in certain ways (motor skills).</p>
<p>Researchers have long regarded working memory as a <a href="http://gocognitive.net/interviews/how-are-long-term-and-working-memory-related">gateway into long-term storage</a>. Rehearse information in working memory enough and the memory can become more permanent.</p>
<p>Neuroscience makes a clear distinction between the two. It holds that working memory is related to temporary activation of neurons in the brain. In contrast, long-term memory is thought to be related to physical changes to neurons and their connections. This can explain the short-term nature of working memory as well as its greater susceptibility to interruptions or physical shocks.</p>
<h2>How does working memory change over a lifetime?</h2>
<p>Performance on tests of working memory improves throughout childhood. Its capacity is a major driving force of cognitive development. Performance on assessment tests increase steadily <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fnsys.2016.00015">throughout infancy</a>, <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/87565640709336889">childhood and the teenage years</a>. Performance then reaches a peak in young adulthood. On the flip side, working memory is one of the cognitive abilities most sensitive to aging, and performance on <a href="http://www.dana.org/News/Details.aspx?id=43176">these tests declines in old age</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171667/original/file-20170531-25704-1n75kz1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171667/original/file-20170531-25704-1n75kz1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171667/original/file-20170531-25704-1n75kz1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171667/original/file-20170531-25704-1n75kz1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171667/original/file-20170531-25704-1n75kz1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171667/original/file-20170531-25704-1n75kz1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171667/original/file-20170531-25704-1n75kz1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171667/original/file-20170531-25704-1n75kz1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">What was I going to write on my list again?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/memory-disorder-181673666">Image Point Fr via Shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The rise and fall of working memory capacity over a lifespan is thought to be related to the normal development and degradation of the prefrontal cortex in the brain, an area responsible for <a href="http://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/psychpedia/prefrontal-cortex">higher cognitive functions</a>.</p>
<p>We know that damage to the prefrontal cortex causes working memory deficits (along with many other changes). And recordings of neuronal activity in the prefrontal cortex show that <a href="http://www.jneurosci.org/content/16/16/5154">this area is active during the “delay period”</a> between when a stimulus is presented to an observer and when he must make a response – that is, the time during which he’s trying to remember the information.</p>
<p>Several mental illnesses, including <a href="https://doi.org/10.4103/0019-5545.31613">schizophrenia and depression</a>, are associated with decreased functioning of prefrontal cortex, which can be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2008.07060945">revealed via neuroimaging</a>. For the same reason, these illnesses are also associated with decreased working memory ability. Interestingly, for schizophrenic patients, this deficit appears <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-843X.114.4.599">more marked in visual rather than verbal</a> working memory tasks. In childhood, working memory deficits are linked to <a href="http://www.mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk/our-research/gathercole/">difficulties in attention, reading and language</a>. </p>
<h2>Working memory and other cognitive functions</h2>
<p>The prefrontal cortex is associated with a wide array of other important functions, including <a href="http://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/psychpedia/prefrontal-cortex">personality, planning and decision-making</a>. Any decrease in the functioning of this area is likely to affect many different aspects of cognition, emotion and behavior.</p>
<p>Critically, many of these prefrontal functions are thought to be intimately linked to, and perhaps dependent on, working memory. For instance, planning and decision-making require us to already have “in mind” the relevant information to formulate a course of action.</p>
<p>A theory of cognitive architecture, called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Workspace_Theory">Global Workspace Theory</a>, relies on working memory. It suggests that information held temporarily “in mind” is part of a “global workspace” in the mind which connects to many other cognitive processes and also determines what we are conscious of in any given moment. Given that this theory suggests working memory determines what we are conscious of, understanding more about it may become an important part of solving the mystery of consciousness.</p>
<h2>Improving your working memory</h2>
<p>There is some evidence that it’s possible to train your working memory using interactive tasks, such as simple games for children that involve memory ability. It has been suggested that this training can help improve scores on other types of tasks, <a href="http://editlib.org/p/36119/">such as those involving vocabulary and mathematics</a>. There is also some evidence that training to beef up working memory can <a href="http://www.apa.org/monitor/sep05/workout.aspx">improve performance for children with specific conditions</a>, such as ADHD. However, research reviews often conclude that benefits are <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0028228">short-lived and specific to the trained task</a>.</p>
<p>Furthermore, the enhancements found in some of these studies could be due to learning how to more efficiently use one’s working memory resources, as opposed to increasing its capacity. The hope for this kind of training is that we can find relatively simple tasks which will both improve performance not just on the task itself but also transfer to a range of other applications.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/75960/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alex Burmester does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Both psychologists and neuroscientists are interested in how working memory holds on to items over brief intervals – and are investigating from different angles.Alex Burmester, Research Associate in Perception and Memory, New York UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/732052017-02-23T00:08:44Z2017-02-23T00:08:44ZSome brain training programs are backed by evidence. Here’s how to pick them<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157803/original/image-20170222-20306-1m1tnmr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Brain training programs support healthy brain ageing – but you've got to choose the right one. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/senior-man-using-tablet-computer-sitting-349253225?src=W_GphWTVRsQOY2CRcS99gw-1-27">from www.shutterstock.com </a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Brain training has been <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-psychogeriatrics/article/div-classtitleearly-intervention-for-cognitive-decline-can-cognitive-training-be-used-as-a-selective-prevention-techniquediv/4B805F948849B2D8D8BDBAD328C1BA5A">touted</a> as a way to prevent age-related cognitive decline. Many products are available for purchase. But are any actually effective? </p>
<p>We <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11065-016-9338-9">reviewed</a> the merits of peer-reviewed clinical intervention studies that investigated commercial computerised brain training products in healthy people aged over 50 years. </p>
<p>We identified seven programs whose claims of efficacy were supported by evidence, but only two of these met our highest standards. These were <a href="http://www.brainhq.com/welcome?lead_id=google-search-text-home-Brand_(US_CAN_UK_AUS_SAF_NZ)&gclid=CKeGs5rgpNICFQYKKgodsioFww">BrainHQ</a> and <a href="https://www.cognifit.com/">Cognifit</a>.</p>
<p>Exercises from BrainHQ continuously adjusted difficulty depending on how the user was performing. One set of exercises included matching pairs of confusable syllables, reconstructing sequences of verbal instructions, and identifying details in a verbally presented story. </p>
<p>Other sets of exercises are visually engaging – for example, in one of the exercises the user is assumed to be a gardener. To grow plants, the user has to match pictures after they appear briefly on screen, one after the other. </p>
<p>Exercises from Cognifit contain 21 different tasks. In one of the tasks a hot-air balloon flies in the sky. On its way, it lands on different clouds. The user has to remember and reproduce its exact route. </p>
<p>In another task, a letter grid appears in the centre of the screen. A picture of a well-known object appears in the lower left corner of the screen and the user has to find the name of this object spelled out in the letter grid. </p>
<p>Overall, both programs provided reasonable clinical evidence to support healthy brain ageing. <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/aging/healthybrain/">Healthy brain ageing</a> is a broad term that focuses on sustaining cognitive function and capacity to function independently as we age. </p>
<h2>Less than 40% of programs come with evidence</h2>
<p>To determine if particular brain training exercises are effective, it’s important to look at the scientific evidence behind these exercises and the purpose for which they are recommended (for example, to promote healthy brain ageing, or for dementia or other neurological diseases), and to understand the principle behind the design of such exercises. </p>
<p>We identified 18 computerised brain training programs available across the world that were marketed with scientific claims. Of these, only seven programs (less than 40%) had been assessed by peer-reviewed studies that reported formal outcome measures of the programs on specific cognitive domains such as memory, reasoning, processing speed and executive functions. We selected studies that had been conducted in healthy adults, aged at least 50 years. </p>
<p>Trials were regarded as “well designed” if they were randomised clinical trials with a control group. They were classified as being of high, moderate or poor quality <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12882612">as rated</a> from one to ten on a checklist. Trials with a score greater than six are deemed high quality; trials with scores between five and six are moderate quality; and those with a score less than five are poor quality. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157981/original/image-20170222-6413-dxmizb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157981/original/image-20170222-6413-dxmizb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157981/original/image-20170222-6413-dxmizb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157981/original/image-20170222-6413-dxmizb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157981/original/image-20170222-6413-dxmizb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157981/original/image-20170222-6413-dxmizb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157981/original/image-20170222-6413-dxmizb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157981/original/image-20170222-6413-dxmizb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An example of a brain training activity on BrainHQ.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.brainhq.com/welcome?lead_id=google-search-text-home-Brand_(US_CAN_UK_AUS_SAF_NZ)&gclid=CKiondXgpNICFQoHvAodfiMA2g">Screenshot, BrainHQ</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We classified the seven computerised brain training programs into three categories according to the strength of the evidence supporting their claims of efficacy. This process included an examination of the quantity and quality of the clinical trial applied in each instance. </p>
<h3>Level one</h3>
<p>Programs in this category had at least two well-designed randomised controlled trials, one of which was of high-quality design. Two brain training programs met these criteria (BrainHQ and Cognifit).</p>
<h3>Level two</h3>
<p>Programs in this category were supported by only one randomised controlled trial of high-quality design. Three programs were classified at this level (Cogmed, BrainAge 2 and My Brain Trainer). </p>
<h3>Level three</h3>
<p>Programs in this category were supported by only one randomised controlled trial of moderate or poor design. Two were rated at this level (Dakim and Lumosity). </p>
<p>Our findings indicate some computerised brain training programs are backed by evidence in their claim to assist in promoting healthy brain ageing. However, such programs must be further validated using brain imaging methods to investigate their mechanism of action. </p>
<h2>How to pick an effective program</h2>
<p>Brain training programs feature different exercises that particularly target specific cognitive domains such as memory, reasoning, speed of processing, and executive functions. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3622463/">Effective exercises</a> are mostly designed on the principle of the brain’s capability to rewire and reconnect – the <a href="http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.neuro.21.1.149?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_dat=cr_pub%3Dpubmed&rfr_id=ori%3Arid%3Acrossref.org&journalCode=neuro">neuroplasticity principle</a>. <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/wol1/doi/10.1111/j.1532-5415.2008.02167.x/abstract">Such computerised exercises</a> are <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0061624">adaptive according to a person’s capability</a>, continuously challenging and audio and/or visually interactive. </p>
<p>Some features to look for in deciding whether a program is right for you include: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>the program is recommended for your specific purpose – for example, healthy brain ageing, rehabilitation, learning and concentration</p></li>
<li><p>the program is scientifically validated </p></li>
<li><p>the program is adaptive and engaging</p></li>
<li><p>the program is continuously challenging</p></li>
<li><p>the program features audio and/or is visually interactive</p></li>
<li><p>the program provides feedback about your progress. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Programs that train the brain to be more responsive using specific tasks and increasing levels of difficulties are thought to help rewire neural pathways according to the neuroplasticity principle. </p>
<h2>Identifying programs least likely to work</h2>
<p>In our review process, we identified 18 brain training programs. Of these, 11 had no clinical trials or empirical evidence to indicate they were effective in promoting healthy brain ageing. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157983/original/image-20170222-6413-gt83vj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157983/original/image-20170222-6413-gt83vj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157983/original/image-20170222-6413-gt83vj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1043&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157983/original/image-20170222-6413-gt83vj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1043&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157983/original/image-20170222-6413-gt83vj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1043&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157983/original/image-20170222-6413-gt83vj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1311&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157983/original/image-20170222-6413-gt83vj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1311&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157983/original/image-20170222-6413-gt83vj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1311&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Programs that train the brain to be more responsive are thought to help rewire neural pathways.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.cognifit.com/">Screenshot, Cognifit</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To spot the programs without adequate evidence, one option is to go to the program’s website and identify whether the company provides links to specific studies relevant to your purposes. </p>
<p>Most of the websites provide only supportive evidence – that is, they do not refer to specific clinical trials, but instead quote the principles of the brain’s ability to rewire or reconnect, or cite studies that used other programs. Very few have a list of studies that directly measured the impact of the program in question. </p>
<p>Findings from studies that are randomised, double-blinded (both the investigator and the user don’t know if the intervention is real or only a placebo) and have a control group that meets the gold standard of clinical trials are more reliable than non-randomised trials without any control conditions. </p>
<h2>Training programs to prevent cognitive decline</h2>
<p>However, evidence concerning how or where these software programs affect plasticity in brain cells or connections within the brain is lacking. Assessments using specific biological markers of Alzheimer’s disease (or other neurodegenerative diseases) such as blood and brain imaging would considerably enhance clinical validation of brain training programs. This would also enable greater understanding of the connection between computerised brain exercises and human cognition, and provide an insight into new therapeutic pathways. </p>
<p>It’s possible computerised exercises that are adaptable and continuously challenging may help the brain to rewire lost connections that are linked with dementia later in life. At the moment, however, there is little evidence computerised brain training programs can help prevent dementia onset. Thus, more longitudinal follow-up studies are required. </p>
<p>Regardless of whether new neural pathways are established, some mental exercises may work simply by increasing the blood circulation in the brain, similar to physical exercise. Thus, healthy brain ageing may be achieved by maintaining or improving cognitive functions via avenues such as brain training, but <a href="https://www.fightdementia.org.au/files/YBM_evidence_paper_29_lores.pdf">also through</a> social interaction, exercise, diet and other lifestyle strategies.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/73205/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Tejal Shah works as a post doctoral research fellow for the Australian Alzheimer's Research Foundation, Hollywood Private Hospital, Perth, Western Australia. Dr Shah was earlier supported by the Australian Postgraduate Award from the University of Western Australia, the Research Excellence Award from Edith Cowan University and the Freemasons of Western Australia Education Grant 2010 and 2011.</span></em></p>Many brain training programs are based on the principles of neuroplasticity. But a new study shows that less than 40% are backed by proof of efficacy.Tejal Shah, Visiting Fellow , Edith Cowan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/652812016-10-03T15:35:04Z2016-10-03T15:35:04ZThe science, drugs and tech pushing our brains to new limits<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140074/original/image-20161003-20239-15xj1ao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1%2C0%2C1022%2C683&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jonathancohen/5242719201/in/photolist-8ZhiLn-b7AqZF-tSrfd-tmJ6c-qRxgTe-4JtaPE-qRz2c4-r5dvyN-64ug35-5xW2WZ-gZLr2s-4V3bmG-fNiZ9Y-a7G5Zf-5u7sjn-9vZCs2-bthRaT-dgWGYt-qccwgp-qRpMG7-qPX8PJ-bthR9a-BgXSo-4cX2Qo-5wbMrp-qaHudD-q6hWLM-r8R2Jx-r8ZWkH-qccz8B-qbZbJo-qQ47rR-qRz23M-r7qQws-fJ167Z-qPVJjh-qavcgs-76aNXQ-r8ZVxv-ASfsqn-AFDjmT-bthR4v-bthShv-a81GjC-8YfnQ-bthS1n-bthReV-9kLTRv-bthR4D-bthSir">Jonathan Cohen/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A recent explosion of neuroscience techniques is driving <a href="http://theconversation.com/five-brain-challenges-we-can-overcome-in-the-next-decade-25975">substantial advances</a> in our <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0149763414000864">understanding of the brain</a>. Combined with developments in engineering, machine learning and computing this flowering has helped us enhance our cognitive abilities and potential. In fact, new research into the extraordinary machine in our skulls is helping us keep pace with the rapid rise of artificial intelligence.</p>
<p>Exciting new advances are everywhere, but worth putting <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982215005953">front and centre</a> are <a href="http://www.jneurosci.org/content/33/8/3505.long">findings</a> made in the relatively new area of social neuroscience. Research by Molly Crockett at Oxford University has demonstrated how we might influence the social brain and examine the effects of neurotransmitters, such as serotonin, and hormones, such as oxytocin, on social cognition and social interactions. This includes the most fundamental aspects of our daily lives: trust, punishment, moral judgement, conformity and empathy.</p>
<p>Crockett and colleagues used experiments looking at cooperation, and moral dilemmas such as the “trolley problem” where participants must decide who to save from an onrushing railway cart (a similar puzzle was posed in the 2015 <a href="http://www.empireonline.com/movies/eye-sky/review/">Helen Mirren film Eye in the Sky</a>). Among their findings was evidence that <a href="http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/kc/serotonin-facts-232248">serotonin</a> increased an aversion to harming others. This clearly suggests that this brain chemical can promote positive social behaviour. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140075/original/image-20161003-20213-xfl0z8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140075/original/image-20161003-20213-xfl0z8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140075/original/image-20161003-20213-xfl0z8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=312&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140075/original/image-20161003-20213-xfl0z8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=312&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140075/original/image-20161003-20213-xfl0z8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=312&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140075/original/image-20161003-20213-xfl0z8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140075/original/image-20161003-20213-xfl0z8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140075/original/image-20161003-20213-xfl0z8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Does serotonin make you a better person?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Xavier Béjar/Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Recently developed computerised tests, <a href="http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnbeh.2016.00025/full">such as EMOTICOM</a>, which assesses a range of cognitive functions, will also make it easier to combine state-of-the-art neuroscience techniques with objective measurement of social and emotional concepts. </p>
<h2>Shared knowledge</h2>
<p>One amazing feat of combined neuroscience, engineering and computing was achieved by Edda Bilek, Andreas Myer-Lindenberg and colleagues from the <a href="https://www.zi-mannheim.de/">Mannheim Central Institute of Mental Health</a> in Germany. They invented a way to study information flow between human pairs during real-time social interaction, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), which measures changes in blood flow in the brain. They were particularly interested in studying joint attention because it arises in early development and is important for social learning.</p>
<p>Their study allowed immersive, audio-visual interaction of two people in linked fMRI scanners, and identified the flow of information between the sender’s and receiver’s <a href="https://www.brainmap.org/pubs/Krall_BSF_14.pdf">temporoparietal junction</a>, a key brain region for social interaction. Not only did the study show that specific social brain systems are drivers of interaction in humans, it demonstrated the strength of integrated research across biological and physical sciences.</p>
<p>In future, this will allow us to study in real time the neural networks involved in other forms of joint social interaction, such as defeat, trust and mutual attraction. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140076/original/image-20161003-20228-1t6yly.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140076/original/image-20161003-20228-1t6yly.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140076/original/image-20161003-20228-1t6yly.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140076/original/image-20161003-20228-1t6yly.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140076/original/image-20161003-20228-1t6yly.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140076/original/image-20161003-20228-1t6yly.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140076/original/image-20161003-20228-1t6yly.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140076/original/image-20161003-20228-1t6yly.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Understanding attraction.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/coding/3749995552/in/photolist-6HnH2J-bstGxu-67mCJn-oNwnyL-29w61H-2mT7b5-9gG4wL-29qS6m-pCC6ru-jXsEmt-8qjjT4-96LvpL-HUjEQA-spSVRT-aF2Gwm-29mvrX-29qShu-omwvMe-8JXLmc-FLfG6-8WwNF-8aH81t-8FQV7J-H5n8Pj-9gG4No-oQWfXt-bn4v9e-4S3Ur9-auxCCw-H2g1uz-H8ivUR-H5n24L-GcMHyE-GcWnEn-9kzb3T-k5SjRp-nBQHxX-5DUwse-44zEZZ-8myjrE-pgKJ1r-4mo9Ps-3oPDYy-H5n6A1-H8ixJT-H5mQCq-nu5odo-5Tn77a-fauNQq-6AkXva">codin.g/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Rapid development of these fMRI techniques, and of neuroimaging, will continue <a href="https://global.oup.com/ukhe/product/sex-lies-and-brain-scans-9780198752882?cc=gb&lang=en&">to transform the field of neuroscience</a>. Experiments have tackled topics such as unconscious <a href="https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/3512208/Banaji_PerformanceIndirect.pdf?sequence=2">racial bias</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMDuakmEEV4">“mind reading”</a> and <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053811910014552">lying</a>. It is work which helps to pull back the curtain on our understanding of the human mind – and might make us wonder if this glimpse into our thoughts crosses an <a href="http://www.nature.com/nrn/journal/v15/n2/full/nrn3665.html">ethical line</a> in terms of privacy and profiling.</p>
<p>To see the power of fMRI techniques, look to the futuristic experiments by Jack Gallant and colleagues at the University of California. They have developed a method for reconstructing movie segments that a person is watching <a href="http://news.berkeley.edu/2011/09/22/brain-movies/">purely based on fMRI recordings</a>, which track brain activation patterns. More recently, the Gallant laboratory mapped the semantic atlas of the brain. These semantic networks are a sum of our verbal knowledge and how we understand the relationship between words and concepts. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nsjDnYxJ0bo?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
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<h2>The drugs might work</h2>
<p>Outside of the lab and academia, there is <a href="http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/370/1677/20140214.long#ref-1">an increasing use</a> of so-called lifestyle drugs to enhance cognition, creativity and motivation in the workplace. Drugs such as modafinil, which has effects on noradrenaline, dopamine and GABA/glutamate in the brain, can boost cognitive functions, especially in <a href="http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/370/1677/20140214">flexibility of thinking and complex planning</a>. </p>
<p>Such drugs are used to seek <a href="http://theconversation.com/fair-play-how-smart-drugs-are-making-workplaces-more-competitive-61818">a competitive edge at university or work</a>. The Care Quality Commission reported that over a six-year period from 2007 to 2013, there had been a <a href="http://www.cqc.org.uk/sites/default/files/documents/cdar_2012.pdf">56% rise in prescriptions</a> for methylphenidate in the UK. London City workers and traders use them to stay awake and alert for long periods of time. German workers <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nyas.13040/full">use them in jobs</a> where small mistakes might have large consequences. American academics travelling to international meetings <a href="http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080409/full/452674a.html">use them to counteract jet lag</a>.</p>
<p>Modafinil has been known to reduce <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1911168/">accidents in shift workers</a>, thereby increasing safety. In a similar fashion, <a href="https://examine.com/supplements/racetam/">aniracetam</a> is used by Silicon Valley entrepreneurs to boost cognition. One of the original drugs in the same class is piracetam, which increases brain metabolism, while aniracetam has been shown to modulate the receptors in the brain that are thought to enhance cognition. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140077/original/image-20161003-20213-60py0a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140077/original/image-20161003-20213-60py0a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140077/original/image-20161003-20213-60py0a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140077/original/image-20161003-20213-60py0a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140077/original/image-20161003-20213-60py0a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140077/original/image-20161003-20213-60py0a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140077/original/image-20161003-20213-60py0a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140077/original/image-20161003-20213-60py0a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pills and thrills.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/ggreer/4314887217/in/photolist-sPpK4-e27WrA-nUZfRp-68mGgB-dZvTdz-cSuQEW-q97v8-q97AY-6tzddh-q97rb-q97gP-q97dX-7zhVDc-aYffnK">Geoff Greer/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In parallel, there is a boom in demand for nootropics. These “microdosed” psychdedelics are increasingly a phenomenon in which small amounts of <a href="https://theconversation.com/magic-mushrooms-expand-your-mind-and-amplify-your-brains-dreaming-areas-heres-how-28754">psilocybin mushrooms</a>, LSD or mescaline are taken to enhance perception and creativity. Cognitive processes, including attention, learning and memory, have also been targeted through evidence-based games such as the brain training programme and the <a href="http://www.peak.net/advanced-training/">Wizard memory game</a> developed by University of Cambridge and Peak. These <a href="http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/370/1677/20140214.long">academia-industry collaborations</a> help to translate neuroscience discoveries into the real world.</p>
<h2>AI, AI, Go</h2>
<p>At present, the magnificent human brain is superior to artificial intelligence (AI). Computers have to dedicate themselves to playing chess <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-the-computer-beat-the-go-master/">or Go</a> in order to beat us humans. In contrast, we can play chess or Go or perform many other activities and behaviours, often multi-tasking, and we can create new ideas and inventions. We are also social beings and our social and emotional cognition allows us to have “theory of mind”. In other words we can understand and empathise with the thoughts and emotions of others.</p>
<p>However, with the rapid advances in machine learning and computing technology – including face and voice recognition – the potential for artificial intelligence may be limitless. By contrast, there will likely remain limits to the extent to which we can enhance human intelligence. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, the <a href="http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2014/">amazing achievements</a> made by basic and clinical neuroscientists will not only help us understand the healthy brain but also improve brain health for everyone, including those with neuropsychiatric disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease, and brain injury.</p>
<p><em>This piece is co-published with the World Economic Forum as part of its Final Frontier series. <a href="https://www.weforum.org/focus/agenda-in-focus-the-final-frontier?delete_local=36">You can read more here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/65281/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Barbara Sahakian consults for Peak, Cambridge Cognition and Mundipharma. She owns share options in Cambridge Cognition. She has received funding from the Medical Research Council, the Wellcome Trust and Peak.</span></em></p>While AI seems unstoppable, our improved understanding of human brains is levelling the playing field for now.Barbara Jacquelyn Sahakian, Professor of Clinical Neuropsychology, University of CambridgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/662452016-10-03T06:03:49Z2016-10-03T06:03:49ZBrain training – why it’s no walk in the park<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139990/original/image-20161002-15278-35vlc3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">We don't need fancy gadgets to improve our brain power. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-372558295/stock-photo-brain-training-concept-with-businessman-holding-brain.html?src=iVKB6kWf406kDU3ljNFppw-1-6">ScandinavianStock/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>You’ve probably heard of “brain training exercises” – puzzles, tasks and drills which claim to keep you mentally agile. Maybe, especially if you’re an older person, you’ve even bought the book, or the app, in the hope of staving off mental decline. The idea of brain training has widespread currency, but is that due to science, or empty marketing?</p>
<p>Now a major new review, <a href="http://m.psi.sagepub.com/content/17/3/103">published in Psychology in the Public Interest</a>, sets out to systematically examine the evidence for brain training. The results should give you pause before spending any of your time and money on brain training, but they also highlight what happens when research and commerce become entangled.</p>
<p>The review team, led by <a href="http://www.dansimons.com/">Dan Simons</a> of the University of Illinois, set out to inspect all the literature which brain training companies cited in their promotional material – in effect, taking them at their word, with the rationale that the best evidence in support of brain training exercises would be that cited by the companies promoting them.</p>
<h2>But the CEO says it works …</h2>
<p>A major finding of the review is the poverty of the supporting evidence for these supposedly scientific exercises. Simons’ team found that half of the brain training companies that promoted their products as being scientifically validated didn’t cite any peer-reviewed journal articles, relying instead on things like testimonials from scientists (including the company founders). Of the companies which did cite evidence for brain training, many cited general research on neuroplasticity, but nothing directly relevant to the effectiveness of what they promote.</p>
<p>The key issue for claims around brain training is that practising these exercises will help you in general, or on unrelated tasks. Nobody doubts that practising a crossword will help you get better at crosswords, but will it improve your memory, your IQ or your ability to skim-read email? Such effects are called transfer effects, and so-called “far transfer” (transfer to a very different task than that trained) is the ultimate goal of brain training studies. What we know about transfer effect is reviewed in Simons’ paper.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139991/original/image-20161002-9475-12lwyyh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139991/original/image-20161002-9475-12lwyyh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139991/original/image-20161002-9475-12lwyyh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139991/original/image-20161002-9475-12lwyyh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139991/original/image-20161002-9475-12lwyyh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139991/original/image-20161002-9475-12lwyyh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139991/original/image-20161002-9475-12lwyyh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Doing puzzles make you, well, good at doing puzzles.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-335283932/stock-photo-an-elderly-woman-is-doing-crossword-puzzle-with-a-pencil-this-is-a-good-exercise-for-older-people-to-train-their-brains.html?src=8V_dvhU5-m4uqcKHsh3GMA-1-45">Jne Valokuvaus/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As well as trawling the company websites, the reviewers inspected a list provided by an industry group <a href="http://www.cognitivetrainingdata.org/">Cognitive Training Data</a> of some 132 scientific papers claiming to support the efficacy of brain training. Of these, 106 reported new data (rather than being reviews themselves). Of those 106, 71 used a proper control group, so that the effects of the brain training could be isolated. Of those 71, only 49 had a so-called “active control” group, in which the control participants actually did something rather than being ignored by the the researchers. (An active control is important if you want to distinguish the benefit of your treatment from the benefits of expectation or responding to researchers’ attentions.) Of these 49, about half of the results came from just six studies.</p>
<p>Overall, the reviewers conclude, no study which is cited in support of brain training products meets the gold standard for best research practises, and few even approached the standard of a good randomised control trial (although note their cut off for considering papers missed <a href="https://theconversation.com/at-last-a-gold-standard-study-on-brain-training-50210">this paper</a> from late last year which showed the benefits of online brain training exercises, including improvements in everyday tasks, such as shopping, cooking and managing home finances.</p>
<h2>Promotion is premature</h2>
<p>The implications, they argue, are that claims for general benefits of brain training are premature. There’s excellent evidence for benefits of training specific to the task trained on, they conclude, but less evidence for enhancement on closely related tasks and little evidence that brain training enhances performance on distantly related tasks or everyday cognitive performance.</p>
<p>The flaws in the studies supporting the benefits of brain training aren’t unique to the study of brain training. Good research is hard and all studies have flaws. Assembling convincing evidence for a treatment takes years, with evidence required from multiple studies and from different types of studies. Indeed, it may yet be that some kind of cognitive training can be shown to have the general benefits that are hoped for from existing brain training exercises. What this review shows is not that brain training can’t work, merely that the promotion of brain training exercises is – at the very least – premature based on the current scientific evidence. </p>
<p>Yet in a <a href="http://www.aarp.org/content/dam/aarp/research/surveys_statistics/health/2015/2014-Brain-Health-Research-Study-AARP-res-gen.pdf">2014 survey of US adults</a>, more than 50% had heard of brain training exercises and showed some credence to their performance-enhancing powers. Even the name “brain training”, the authors of the review admit, is a concession to marketing. In reality, these games are usually developed without anyone measuring brain activity or brain changes directly.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140079/original/image-20161003-20200-j5ofl4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140079/original/image-20161003-20200-j5ofl4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140079/original/image-20161003-20200-j5ofl4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140079/original/image-20161003-20200-j5ofl4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140079/original/image-20161003-20200-j5ofl4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140079/original/image-20161003-20200-j5ofl4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140079/original/image-20161003-20200-j5ofl4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A brisk walk in the park gives your brain a boost.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-218997220/stock-photo-young-fitness-woman-legs-walking-on-forest-trail.html?src=A2oPvILsegs-4tIRZOLqcw-1-38">lzf/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The widespread currency of brain training isn’t because of overwhelming evidence of benefits from neuroscience and psychological science, as the review shows, but it does rely on the appearance of being scientifically supported. The billion-dollar market in brain training is parasitic on the credibility of neuroscience and psychology. It also taps into our lazy desire to address complex problems with simple, purchasable, solutions (something written about at length by Ben Goldacre in his book <a href="http://www.badscience.net/">Bad Science</a>).</p>
<p>The Simons review ends with recommendations for researchers into brain training, and for journalists reporting on the topic. My favourite was their emphasis that any treatment needs to be considered for its costs, as well as its benefits. By this standard there is no commercial brain training product which has been shown to have greater benefits than something you can do for free. </p>
<p>Also important is the opportunity cost: what could you be doing in the time you invest in brain training? The reviewers deliberately decided to focus on brain training, so they didn’t cover the proven and widespread benefits of exercise for mental function. I’m happy to tell you now that a brisk walk round the park with a friend is not only free, and not only more fun, but has <a href="http://www.nature.com/nrn/journal/v9/n1/abs/nrn2298.html">better scientific support</a> for its cognitive-enhancing powers than all the brain training products which are commercially available.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/66245/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
When research and commerce become entangled, consumers are the losers.Tom Stafford, Lecturer in Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of SheffieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/502102015-11-05T11:06:36Z2015-11-05T11:06:36ZAt last, a gold-standard study on brain training<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/100784/original/image-20151104-29079-1v92q8q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Use it or lose it</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><h2>The headlines</h2>
<p>The Telegraph: <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/11971571/Alzheimers-disease-Online-brain-training-improves-daily-lives-of-over-60s.html">Alzheimer’s disease: Online brain training “improves daily lives of over-60s”</a></p>
<p>Daily Mail: <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3301204/The-quiz-makes-60s-better-cooks-Computer-brain-games-stave-mental-decline.html">The quiz that makes over-60s better cooks: Computer brain games ‘stave off mental decline’</a></p>
<p>Yorkshire Post: <a href="http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/main-topics/general-news/brain-training-study-is-truly-significant-1-7550935">Brain training study is “truly significant”</a></p>
<h2>The story</h2>
<p>A new trial shows the benefits of online “brain training” exercises including improvements in everyday tasks, such as shopping, cooking and managing home finances.</p>
<h2>What they actually did</h2>
<p>A team led by Clive Ballard of King’s College London recruited people to a trial of online “brain training” exercises. Nearly 7,000 people over the age of 50 took part, and they were randomly assigned to one of three groups. One group did reasoning and problem solving tasks. A second group practised cognitive skills tasks, such as memory and attention training, and a third control group did a task which involved looking for information on the internet. </p>
<p>After six months, the reasoning and cognitive skills groups showed benefits compared with the control group. The main measure of the study was participants’ own reports of their ability to cope with daily activities. This was measured using something called the <a href="https://www.abramsoncenter.org/media/1197/instrumental-activities-of-daily-living.pdf">instrumental activities of daily living scale</a>. (To give an example, you get a point if you are able to prepare your meals without assistance, and no points if you need help). The participants also showed benefits in short-term memory, judgements of grammatical accuracy and ability to learn new words.</p>
<p>Many of these benefits looked as if they accrued after just three months of regular practice, completing an average of five sessions a week. The benefits also seemed to affect those who went into the trial with the lowest performance, suggesting that such exercises may benefit those who are at risk of mild cognitive impairment (a precursor to dementia).</p>
<h2>How plausible is this?</h2>
<p>This is gold-standard research. The study was designed to the highest standards, as would be required if you were testing a new drug: a double-blind randomised control trial in which participants were assigned at random to the different treatment groups, and weren’t told which group they were in (nor what the researcher’s theory was). Large numbers of people took part, meaning that the study had a reasonable chance of detecting an effect of the treatment if it was there. The study design was also pre-registered on a database of clinical trials, meaning that the results couldn’t be buried if they turned out to be different from what the researchers (or funders) wanted, and the researchers declared in advance what their analysis would focus on.</p>
<p>So, overall, this is serious evidence that cognitive training exercises may bring some benefits, not just on similar cognitive tasks, but also on the everyday activities that are important for independent living among the older population.</p>
<h2>Tom’s take</h2>
<p>This kind of research is what “brain training” needs. Too many people – including those who just want to make some money – have leapt on the idea without the evidence that these kind of tasks can benefit anything <a href="https://theconversation.com/brain-training-apps-just-make-you-better-at-playing-games-22301">other than performance on similar tasks</a>. Because the evidence for broad benefits of cognitive training exercises is sparse, this study makes an important contribution to the supporters’ camp, although it far from settles the matter.</p>
<p>Why might you still be sceptical? Well there are some potential flaws in this study. It is useful to speculate on the effect these flaws might have had, even if only as an exercise to draw out the general lessons for interpreting this kind of research.</p>
<p>First up is the choice of control task. The benefits of the exercises tested in this research are only <em>relative</em> benefits compared with the scores of those who carried out the control task. If a different control task had been chosen maybe the benefits wouldn’t look so large. For example, we know that physical exercise has long-term and profound benefits for cognitive function. If the control group had been going for a brisk walk everyday, maybe the relative benefits of these computerised exercises would have vanished. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/100783/original/image-20151104-29082-i4zyt0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/100783/original/image-20151104-29082-i4zyt0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100783/original/image-20151104-29082-i4zyt0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100783/original/image-20151104-29082-i4zyt0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100783/original/image-20151104-29082-i4zyt0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100783/original/image-20151104-29082-i4zyt0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100783/original/image-20151104-29082-i4zyt0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Or just go for a walk.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Another possible distortion of the figures could have arisen as a result of people dropping out during the course of the trial. If people who were likely to score well were more likely to drop out of the control group (perhaps because it wasn’t challenging enough), then this would leave poor performers in the control group and so artificially inflate the relative benefits of being in the cognitive exercises group. More people did drop out of the control group, but it isn’t clear from reading the paper if the researchers’ analysis took steps to account for the effect this might have had on the results.</p>
<p>And finally, the really impressive result from this study is the benefit for the activities of daily living scale (the benefit for other cognitive abilities perhaps isn’t too surprising). This suggests a broad benefit of the cognitive exercises, something which other studies have had difficulty showing. However, it is important to note that this outcome was based on a self-report by the participants. There wasn’t any independent or objective verification, meaning that something as simple as people feeling more confident about themselves after having competed the study could skew the results.</p>
<p>None of these three possible flaws mean we should ignore this result, but questions like these mean that we will need follow up research before we can be certain that cognitive training brings benefits on mental function in older adults.</p>
<p>For now, the implications of the current state of brain training research are:</p>
<p>Don’t pay money for any “brain training” programme. There isn’t any evidence that commercially available exercises have any benefit over the kinds of tasks and problems you can access for free.</p>
<p>Do exercise. Your brain is a machine that runs on blood, and it is never too late to improve the blood supply to the brain through increased physical activity. How long have you been on the computer? Could it be time for a brisk walk round the garden or to the shops? (Younger people, take note, <a href="http://www.neurologyreviews.com/specialty-focus/dementia/article/cognitive-benefits-are-seen-in-young-adults-who-exercise/4f14e5e4844d9184040bf6fa2120a6b9.html">exercise in youth benefits mental function in older age</a>)</p>
<p>A key feature of this study was that the exercises in the treatment group got progressively more difficult as the participants practised. The real benefit may not be from these exercises as such, but from continually facing new mental challenges. So, whatever your hobbies, perhaps – just perhaps – make sure you are learning something new as well as enjoying whatever you already know.</p>
<h2>Read more</h2>
<p>The original study: <a href="http://www.jamda.com/article/S1525-8610%2815%2900435-1/abstract">The Effect of an Online Cognitive Training Package in Healthy Older Adults: An Online Randomized Controlled Trial</a></p>
<p>Oliver Burkeman writes: <a href="Can%20I%20increase%20my%20brain%20power?">http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/jan/04/can-i-increase-my-brain-power</a></p>
<p>The New Yorker (2013): <a href="Brain%20Games%20are%20Bogus">http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/brain-games-are-bogus</a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/50210/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
The headlines The Telegraph: Alzheimer’s disease: Online brain training “improves daily lives of over-60s” Daily Mail: The quiz that makes over-60s better cooks: Computer brain games ‘stave off mental…Tom Stafford, Lecturer in Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of SheffieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/471022015-09-07T20:07:26Z2015-09-07T20:07:26ZSo much talk about ‘the brain’ in education is meaningless<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/93863/original/image-20150904-22462-pmp3it.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Teaching 'the student' and teaching 'the brain' is the same thing.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com.au</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>You may have noticed a steady increase in the use of <a href="http://www.dana.org/News/NeuroEducation/">brain-based language in education</a> recently. You may also have noticed that, beyond the creation of some <a href="http://www.cogmed.com/">lucrative</a> learning <a href="http://www.scilearn.com/products/fast-forword">tools</a>, this language hasn’t done much to meaningfully add to the teaching/learning discourse.</p>
<p>The reason for this is simple: although impressive sounding, the majority of educational references to the brain are devoid of any original, unique or prescriptive value. They are what we have come to call “neurosophisms”.</p>
<p>“Neuro” meaning neuron or nerve, and “sophisma” meaning “clever device”, a neurosophism is a sophisticated but fallacious application of neuroscientific language. To get a sense of what we mean, here are a few of the more common types of offences.</p>
<p>The first type we’ve termed the <em>Sleight of Hand</em>: when someone coyly sneaks an ultimately meaningless neuroscientific term into a phrase in the hope it will add prestige and weight. Here’s an <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=TwtRBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA72&lpg=PA72&dq#v=onepage&q&f=false">example</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>When learning activities are repeatedly linked to enjoyable experiences, students’ brains learn to seek out those activities.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Now remove the word “brains” from the sentence above and re-read it. Does the meaning change at all? Is any information lost or gained by removing the reference to neuroscience in this context? Did the inclusion of neuroscience in this context teach you anything meaningful about the brain, or was it simply decorative?</p>
<p>The next type of neurosophism is called the <em>Rebadged Car</em>: when someone takes a well-understood piece of information, repackages it in neuroscientific language, and tries to sell it as something new.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>You can’t think when you’re stressed, you can’t learn when you’re anxious and that’s one of the primary principles of the neuroscience …</p>
</blockquote>
<p>What’s implied in <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-31/melbourne-school-using-australia-first-nearo-science2c-to-boos/6738758">this sentence</a> is that, prior to the emergence of neuroscience, teachers were blissfully unaware of the effects of stress and anxiety on learning. The truth is, this relationship has been understood for decades (if not centuries) and was <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=related:YValx1n8p08J:scholar.google.com/&hl=en&as_sdt=0,5&as_vis=1">exhaustively explored</a> in labs and classrooms throughout the 1950s.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/93997/original/image-20150907-22719-n5ik0r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/93997/original/image-20150907-22719-n5ik0r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/93997/original/image-20150907-22719-n5ik0r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93997/original/image-20150907-22719-n5ik0r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93997/original/image-20150907-22719-n5ik0r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93997/original/image-20150907-22719-n5ik0r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93997/original/image-20150907-22719-n5ik0r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93997/original/image-20150907-22719-n5ik0r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Talking about ‘the brain’ in education might sound good but it doesn’t really mean much.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Another type of neurosophism we call the <em>Bait and Switch</em>: when someone says cited research is neuroscience, but it truly derives from a different (typically behavioral) field. Here’s an <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=7xrxPudNcGgC&pg=PA6&lpg=PA6&dq#v=onepage&q&f=false">example</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Brain research shows that people learn better when new concepts are tied to what students already know.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Although this might seem similar to the Rebadged Car, there is a subtle difference: in this instance, <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022537173800398">the research referenced</a> as being conducted by neuroscientists was actually conducted by psychologists without any neural measure. Essentially, readers were promised information about the brain but, instead, were delivered information about behaviour.</p>
<p>The final brand of neurosophisms are known as <em>The Untouchables</em>: when someone presents a vague, ill-defined neuroscientific measure to assess an important educational outcome.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>[the] true self is obviously one in which neural network development has been maximised …</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Most teachers will never see their students’ brains in action. So what are we to make of propositions that pair a desired educational goal (“<a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=CrUgs0H2QC8C&pg=PA53&lpg=PA53&dq#v=onepage&q&f=false">true</a>” students) with an outcome impossible for the majority of teachers to measure (neural network development)? Even if teachers were able to directly measure neural development, how would they ever determine if the changes produced were “maximised” or otherwise?</p>
<h2>How to spot a neurosophism</h2>
<p>The next time you read something about neuroscience and education, there are a few simple questions you can ask to inoculate yourself against ultimately meaningless propositions:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Can I replace the word “brain” with the word “student” without losing any meaning? If so, there is no need to defer to neuroscience.</p></li>
<li><p>Is this finding new? Or has it been a part of successful teaching practice for years? If the latter, there is no need to defer to neuroscience.</p></li>
<li><p>What type of research is being used to prove the point? If the answer is psychological, educational or otherwise behavioural, there is no need to defer to neuroscience.</p></li>
<li><p>Does the proposed outcome represent a truly meaningful and measurable value? If the answer is no, there is no need to defer to neuroscience.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>The errant use of neuroscientific jargon may seem innocuous, even humorous. But the consequences can be serious: if we know something works to enhance student learning or wellbeing, then we should name it and do more of it.</p>
<p>Attributing an intervention’s success to something else that may not actually confer that benefit – <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-31/melbourne-school-using-australia-first-nearo-science2c-to-boos/6738758">in this case, generic neuroscience</a> - makes it more likely that educators and policy-makers will waste time and resources exploring ultimately fruitless avenues of inquiry. This robs our students of that opportunity for success - and that’s no laughing matter.</p>
<p>There is no doubt the brain is an incredible topic and there is a growing sense of excitement about the implications of neuroscience for education. However, it’s important we don’t allow this excitement to cloud our judgement - and ridding the discourse of neurosophisms will no doubt be a step in the right direction.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Jared and Gregory will be one hand for an Author Q&A between 3 and 4pm AEST on Tuesday, September 8. Post your questions in the comments section below.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/47102/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jared Cooney Horvath works for the Science of Learning Research Centre (SLRC) at the University of Melbourne. The SLRC is funded through a Special Research Initiative of the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gregory Donoghue is a student of, and works for, the Science of Learning Research Centre at the Melbourne University Graduate School of Education. The SoLRC is a Special Research Initiative of the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>Beyond the creation of some lucrative learning tools, talking about “the brain” in education doesn’t mean much as teachers can’t measure what’s going on up there.Jared Cooney Horvath, PhD Student - Neuroscience, Psychology, and Education, The University of MelbourneGregory Donoghue, Learning Sciences Researcher & PhD Candidate, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/437562015-06-30T14:26:09Z2015-06-30T14:26:09ZGame your way to weight loss, thanks to new research<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/86867/original/image-20150630-5836-874y8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">New goals</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>There are many different ways which people try to lose weight. After a long day in the office some people manage to drag themselves to the gym and squeeze in that all-important cardio session. Others may regularly find themselves forgoing the gym to head home and relax. And there are a huge range of diet plans, many of which require significant effort to change your daily routine and eating habits. But what if there was a way to change your attitude to food from the comfort of your living room sofa? </p>
<p>Researchers from the <a href="https://ore.exeter.ac.uk/repository/handle/10871/17621">University of Exeter</a> have developed a simple computer game that aims to help people to control their snacking impulses and lose weight. They trialled the game with adults who had a body-mass index that indicated that they were overweight and/or who reported unhealthy snacking habits. The intervention lasted for one week and participants completed up to four training sessions using the online computer game. </p>
<p>The game works by asking people to avoid pressing on pictures of certain images (including calorie-dense foods such as biscuits), whilst responding to other images (including healthy foods such as fruit, and unrelated items such as clothes). The online training lasts for just 10 minutes and is designed to be easily managed in everyday life. </p>
<p>The game is based on the “go/no-go” principle in psychology. Players are led to associate the “go” category of healthy foods with motor impulses, the signals the nervous system use to tell our muscles to move (in this case using our arm and hand to press a button). The “no-go” (stop) category of high-calorie foods is linked to the desire to withhold motor responses (in this case not pressing the button).</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/86718/original/image-20150629-9072-1u6ihzg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/86718/original/image-20150629-9072-1u6ihzg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86718/original/image-20150629-9072-1u6ihzg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86718/original/image-20150629-9072-1u6ihzg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86718/original/image-20150629-9072-1u6ihzg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=597&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86718/original/image-20150629-9072-1u6ihzg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=597&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86718/original/image-20150629-9072-1u6ihzg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=597&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Putting unhealthy food out of reach.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<p>Repeating this process is designed to lead players to associate high-calorie foods with stopping motor activity. In other words, the idea is that when trained individuals see unhealthy foods they will no longer feel the ingrained need to reach for them. They may even no longer associate such foods with a feeling of reward. </p>
<p>To test the effectiveness of the game, researchers asked 41 participants to spend 10 minutes playing it on four occasions in one week. Players were also weighed and asked to complete food rating tasks and food diaries one week before and one week after the training. A follow-up was also made six months after training.</p>
<p>Another 42 volunteers formed a “control” group that was asked to play a similar game that only featured non-food objects. Those playing the food game lost an average of 0.7kg during the training week and consumed an average of around 220 fewer calories per day – while the control group on average gained weight. The active group also reported liking the unhealthy snack foods they were trained to stop reaching for less than they had when they started. And the further weight loss they self-reported six months later indicates the training effects may persist over longer periods. </p>
<h2>Changing your mind</h2>
<p>Cognitive brain-training apps that promise to easily improve our intellect or change our behaviour have become a multi-million pound business in recent years. Companies such as Nintendo and Luminosity have developed a wide range of user-friendly neuroscientific puzzles. These apps typically aim to provide a mental workout and often promise to improve memory, IQ or cognitive abilities such as spatial awareness or verbal reasoning. Brain training apps have even become associated with the ability to delay the <a href="http://www.alzheimers.net/11-5-14-brain-training-games">onset of dementia</a>. </p>
<p>In reality, the scientific proof for these grand claims is <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/brain-training-doesn-t-make-you-smarter/">fairly limited</a>. A <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20407435">2010 study</a> reported that individuals actually get better at the specific tasks set in the brain training games through familiarity, but showed no overall improvement in memory or general IQ.</p>
<p>The activities in brain training apps usually take up mere minutes of your long day. Is this really enough time to counteract a lifetime of bad habits, or even our very regular exposure to advertisements endorsing all things unhealthy? Intelligence and behaviours such as eating habits are developed over our entire lifetime. It is possible to form new neural pathways in the brain representing new patterns of thought or behaviour. But for us to favour these over long-established pathways we will likely need much more effort than that required to play a ten-minute computer game every day.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4286116/">Exeter’s research</a> shows such brain training techniques show promise in helping people control problematic and undesirable behaviour like overeating. <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24675683">Other recent research</a> suggests similar internet-based “go/no-go” tasks can be particularly helpful in training those most vulnerable to overeating. Plus, the fact that such games can fit easily into our often busy daily lifestyles suggest it might be easier to convince people to use them than traditional diets.</p>
<p>But despite the success of these efforts, we should regard the results of this research with some caution. There is no quick-fix solution to losing weight. It is likely that the participants who volunteered to enter these studies were already motivated individuals with an existing desire to change their eating habits. That means that this kind of brain-training game may have less success with those are unconcerned with or unwilling to change their diets in the first place.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/43756/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kira Shaw is a member of the Sheffield NeuroGirls (@Shef_NeuroGirls) </span></em></p>Scientists have developed an online “brain training” game designed to make you associate unhealthy foods with saying no.Kira Shaw, PhD Researcher in Neuroscience, University of SheffieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/369472015-02-03T19:04:48Z2015-02-03T19:04:48ZDoes brain training work? That depends on your purpose<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/70762/original/image-20150202-25924-ovcp6p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C103%2C994%2C778&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The effectiveness of brain-training games depends on what outcome you're hoping to achieve. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Over the last decade, an ever-growing number of brain-training programs claiming to enhance learning, memory and general well-being have been developed and marketed for use in the classroom. Unfortunately, despite many years of laboratory research and classroom scrutiny, the effect of these programs on real-world learning and health remains uncertain.</p>
<p>To address this issue, the <a href="http://longevity3.stanford.edu">Stanford Center for Longevity</a> recently <a href="http://longevity3.stanford.edu/blog/2014/10/15/the-consensus-on-the-brain-training-industry-from-the-scientific-community-2/">released a statement reporting</a> that there is now a scientific consensus that brain-training programs <em>are not</em> effective. Although they acknowledge there is some evidence that these programs may have short-term benefits, the 75 scientists who signed this statement argued that these benefits were narrow, fleeting and irrelevant outside the laboratory.</p>
<p>In response to this statement, a different group of researchers released a <a href="http://www.cognitivetrainingdata.org">second scientific consensus statement</a> arguing brain-training games <em>are</em> effective. Although agreeing with some points made in the Stanford report, the 131 scientists who signed this second statement argue there is irrefutable data demonstrating that brain-training games confer measurable, meaningful effects.</p>
<h2>So who’s right?</h2>
<p>At first glance, these counter statements appear to do nothing more than further confuse the debate as to whether or not these programs should play a role in classroom and real-world learning. However, a closer look at the signatories of each reveals something interesting, which may help shed light on this ongoing disagreement.</p>
<p>Of the 75 scientists who signed the “anti” brain-training statement, 54 are behavioural researchers while only 11 are neuroscientific/medical researchers. This means the majority of scientists (72%) who argue brain training does not work have explored this topic from a behavioural performance point of view (for example, using explicit tests to measure memory, learning, comprehension). A minority (~15%) of “anti” brain-training scientists have explored this topic from a physiological point of view (for example, using brain scans to measure brain function, structure, connectivity).</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/70764/original/image-20150202-25914-vkhawk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/70764/original/image-20150202-25914-vkhawk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/70764/original/image-20150202-25914-vkhawk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/70764/original/image-20150202-25914-vkhawk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/70764/original/image-20150202-25914-vkhawk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/70764/original/image-20150202-25914-vkhawk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/70764/original/image-20150202-25914-vkhawk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/70764/original/image-20150202-25914-vkhawk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Brain-training games won’t make you do better at school.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/phxcc/15880588900">PhoenixComicon/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>Conversely, of the 131 scientists who signed the “pro” brain-training statement, only 29 are behavioural researchers while 88 are neuroscientific/medical researchers. This means the majority of scientists (67%) who argue brain training does work have explored this topic from a physiological point of view, while the minority (22%) have explored this topic from a behavioural performance point of view.</p>
<p>So when scientists are measuring an individual’s behavioural performance via tests exploring explicit abilities and achievement (such as exams, essays and presentations - measures likely to occur in the classroom), they find brain-training programs are ineffective. </p>
<p>However, when scientists are measuring the physical characteristics of an individual’s brain via physiologic imaging equipment (such as fMRI, EEG, and TMS - measures unlikely to occur in the classroom), they find brain-training programs are effective.</p>
<h2>So should teachers use brain training in the classroom?</h2>
<p>When using a brain-training program, it’s important to determine your goals for the program before you begin. If your goals are to improve exam performance, enhance lesson comprehension and accelerate classroom learning, it appears unlikely brain-training programs will be of any use. If, however, your goal is to change brain structures, enhance physical well-being and combat the physical effects of degenerative diseases, it appears brain training may be a good tool.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/70766/original/image-20150202-25927-e1cfnr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/70766/original/image-20150202-25927-e1cfnr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/70766/original/image-20150202-25927-e1cfnr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/70766/original/image-20150202-25927-e1cfnr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/70766/original/image-20150202-25927-e1cfnr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/70766/original/image-20150202-25927-e1cfnr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/70766/original/image-20150202-25927-e1cfnr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/70766/original/image-20150202-25927-e1cfnr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Might improve brain functions, but won’t improve test scores.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/slipstreamjc/206515710">Jessica C/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>Although it may sound appealing, the concept that “brain change” is directly correlated with “behavioural change” is overly simplistic, at best. If this argument between scientists tells us anything, it is that one can measure and demonstrate significant changes in neural structure and general physiology without measuring any resultant behavioural or cognitive change.</p>
<p>What this means for teachers is that any discussion of “brain change” or “plasticity” is irrelevant to and likely meaningless for the larger goals of classroom and school-wide education. Until such a time as we are able to measure each student’s brain on a daily basis (and determine what that might mean in the long run), teachers can only rely on comprehension, growth and cognitive measures (such as activities, projects and exams). </p>
<p>If brain change does not correlate with behavioural change, then any program created to impact the prior will have no predictable bearing on the latter – this includes all “brain-based” and “plasticity-inducing” programs.</p>
<p>It’s also important to note when using scientific research to determine the best course of action for your classroom, be certain to clarify what field the scientific research is derived from. It is possible many teachers will read the second consensus statement and use that as an argument to implement brain-training in their classroom without realising this consensus has been largely derived from neural and medical scientists using outcomes largely irrelevant to classroom goals.</p>
<p>As such, always explore where research originated and what measures are used before determining applicability to your classroom.</p>
<p>In the end, we’re left with the same question we started with: does brain training work? If your goal is to physically change the brain, then yes – it appears brain training does work. However, if your goal is to improve behaviour and cognition, then no – it appears brain training does not work.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/36947/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jared Horvath receives funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC-SRI: Science of Learning Research Center - Project # SRI2030015).</span></em></p>Over the last decade, an ever-growing number of brain-training programs claiming to enhance learning, memory and general well-being have been developed and marketed for use in the classroom. Unfortunately…Jared Cooney Horvath, Post Doc - Neuroscience, Psychology, and Education, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/335742014-10-30T18:04:45Z2014-10-30T18:04:45ZAging brains aren’t necessarily declining brains<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63241/original/9gg3ycrc-1414628801.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">It's not all bad news for older brains.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic.mhtml?id=122789017&src=lb-29877982">Man image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For years, conventional wisdom held that growing older tends to be bad news for brains. Past behavioral data largely pointed to loss in cognitive – that is, thinking – abilities with age, including <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/art-markman-phd/aging-memory_b_3211435.html">poorer memory and greater distractibility</a>. Physical measures of brain structure also showed <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15703252">atrophy</a>, or loss of volume, in many regions with age. </p>
<h2>Watching older brains at work</h2>
<p>Enter cognitive neuroscience, a subfield of psychology that incorporates methods from neuroscience. It uses measures of brain activity to understand human thought. The emphasis is on how the brain shapes behavior, asking questions like which brain regions help us form accurate memories or what area controls face perception.</p>
<p>Using cognitive neuroscience methods to study aging has unexpectedly revealed that, <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/lookup/doi/10.1126/science.1254604">contrary to previous thought</a>, aging brains remain somewhat malleable and plastic. Plasticity refers to the ability to flexibly recruit different areas of the brain to do different jobs. In contrast to the earlier, largely pessimistic view of aging, neuroimaging studies suggest aging brains can reorganize and change, and not necessarily for the worse.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63245/original/4vdmbp76-1414629548.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63245/original/4vdmbp76-1414629548.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63245/original/4vdmbp76-1414629548.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=374&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63245/original/4vdmbp76-1414629548.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=374&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63245/original/4vdmbp76-1414629548.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=374&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63245/original/4vdmbp76-1414629548.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63245/original/4vdmbp76-1414629548.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63245/original/4vdmbp76-1414629548.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">fMRI scan shows areas of brain more active than others.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FMRI_scan_during_working_memory_tasks.jpg">John Graner, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Researchers investigate which parts of the brain are engaged during different tasks using methods such as functional magnetic resonance imaging, which measures blood flow to various areas of the brain while active. By tracking what happens inside the brain during particular activities, neuroimaging data reveal <a href="http://cabezalab.org/compensatory-brain-activity-in-older-adults/">patterns of change with age</a>. For instance, older adults sometimes use a region in both the left and right hemispheres of their brains to perform certain tasks, while young adults engage the region in only one half of the brain. Older adults also appear to activate more anterior regions of the brain whereas young adults exhibit more posterior activation.</p>
<p>The emergence of the cognitive neuroscience of aging occurred alongside advances in the understanding of neurogenesis; neuroscientists discovered that the growth of new neurons could continue throughout life, not just when we are very young. It is still unknown to what extent new neurons contribute to behavioral and brain changes with age. But there is some evidence in rodents that new learning and enriched, stimulating environments <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20954935">increase survival of new neurons</a> potentially allowing the new neurons to contribute to abilities and even improve <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25219804">health</a>. </p>
<h2>External stimulation</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63242/original/g4z4zsc8-1414629350.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63242/original/g4z4zsc8-1414629350.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63242/original/g4z4zsc8-1414629350.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=886&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63242/original/g4z4zsc8-1414629350.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=886&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63242/original/g4z4zsc8-1414629350.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=886&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63242/original/g4z4zsc8-1414629350.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1113&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63242/original/g4z4zsc8-1414629350.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1113&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63242/original/g4z4zsc8-1414629350.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1113&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Stimulating the left side of his brain generates movement in the right hand.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ambassador_visits_Bar-Ilan_University_%285287646698%29.jpg">Eric Wassermann, M.D.</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One exciting new direction for research on the aging brain uses neurostimulation to temporarily activate or suppress distinct neural regions. With transcranial magnetic stimulation, a coil is held over a participant’s head. Participants may be able to feel some stimulation on the scalp when the coil is turned on. Transcranial direct current stimulation is an even more surprising technique, with current administered from a <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23933040">9V battery</a>. These methods are non-invasive, simply involving holding a device over a person’s head or attaching electrodes to the scalp, and are quite safe when operated within guidelines.</p>
<p>They allow us, for the first time, to manipulate brain activity in a healthy, functioning person. Other neuroscience methods allow neurons to be turned on or turned off using pharmacological, genetic, or other methods, but such manipulations can’t ethically be applied to humans. While neuroimaging methods allow us to view which brain regions are active while performing cognitive tasks, we haven’t been able to test whether those brain regions cause, or are critical for, those tasks.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63348/original/43xm9z9v-1414691916.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63348/original/43xm9z9v-1414691916.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63348/original/43xm9z9v-1414691916.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1122&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63348/original/43xm9z9v-1414691916.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1122&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63348/original/43xm9z9v-1414691916.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1122&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63348/original/43xm9z9v-1414691916.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1411&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63348/original/43xm9z9v-1414691916.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1411&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63348/original/43xm9z9v-1414691916.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1411&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Shocking results! Older subjects did almost as well as young ones when their brains were direct current stimulated.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Science/AAAS</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The ability to manipulate brain regions – temporarily and safely – allows for new types of tests that couldn’t be done before. For example, stimulating the frontal cortex – the brain region behind the forehead – can decrease errors on cognitive tests. When older adults in one study were asked to give examples of items that fit into different categories, they made mistakes under time pressure. Administering transcranial direct current stimulation <a href="http://www.jneurosci.org/content/33/30/12470.short">decreased the number of errors</a> committed by older adults, bringing them close to the level of performance of younger adults. </p>
<p>Neurostimulation offers much promise to further understanding of how the brain works in aging people, but there are many limitations. The spatial area affected by neurostimulation is not very precise as the scientist passes the coil over the subject’s head. Many regions cannot be targeted because they’re located deep within the brain, particularly problematic for studying memory. And activating some regions can cause discomfort for participants, such as twitching induced in the area of the forehead.</p>
<h2>It’s not all downhill</h2>
<p>Much of our understanding of aging brains has thus far focused on declining cognitive abilities. But there is some evidence that social and emotional abilities are relatively well-preserved with age. Older adults seem to be just as good at <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/pag/29/3/482/">forming impressions</a> of others and are even better at <a href="http://cdp.sagepub.com/content/19/6/352.short">regulating or controlling their emotions</a> than younger adults. </p>
<p>This suggests that brain regions underlying these abilities may not exhibit the same downward trajectory with age as those associated with cognitive abilities; these brain areas may show different patterns of reorganization and change.</p>
<p>Should these abilities be better preserved with age, they could be harnessed to develop effective memory strategies. For instance, emphasizing the motivational, personal and emotional significance of information to be remembered could help older people’s memories. Much research remains to be done on these questions.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63247/original/3vstttgs-1414629747.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63247/original/3vstttgs-1414629747.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63247/original/3vstttgs-1414629747.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63247/original/3vstttgs-1414629747.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63247/original/3vstttgs-1414629747.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63247/original/3vstttgs-1414629747.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63247/original/3vstttgs-1414629747.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63247/original/3vstttgs-1414629747.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Active older brain, healthy older brain?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic.mhtml?id=129121082&src=lb-29877982">Men image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Brain workouts</h2>
<p>Older brains’ plasticity suggests they could benefit from training programs and engaging, immersive experiences such as learning new skills like <a href="http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/news/releases/learning-new-skills-keeps-an-aging-mind-sharp.html">quilting or digital photography</a>. Such a finding would have profound implications for the large population of active seniors who wish to stave off age-related cognitive decline.</p>
<p>While research is flourishing on a number of potential programs that could positively affect brain health – including physical exercise, cognitive regimens and engaged, social lifestyles – caution is warranted. For example, researchers <a href="http://longevity3.stanford.edu/blog/2014/10/15/the-consensus-on-the-brain-training-industry-from-the-scientific-community/">warn</a> there is little scientific evidence of the effectiveness of brain training software – so-called brain games – to date.</p>
<p>The aging brain has proven to be much more dynamic than early research would have suggested. Advances in research methods and widening the range of questions under investigation will further enhance our understanding of how the brain changes and adapts across the lifespan. With luck, this knowledge will reveal ways to harness plasticity to better support cognition as we age.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/33574/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Angela Gutchess has current funding from NSF and the Alzheimer's Association. Past funding was received from NIH and AFAR.</span></em></p>For years, conventional wisdom held that growing older tends to be bad news for brains. Past behavioral data largely pointed to loss in cognitive – that is, thinking – abilities with age, including poorer…Angela Gutchess, Associate Professor of Psychology, Brandeis UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/316002014-09-18T05:26:32Z2014-09-18T05:26:32ZBrain training can help develop building blocks needed for maths and reading<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/59312/original/y5r9c9j7-1410963220.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Don't understand? Do a bit of brain training. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mfhiatt/6023620361/sizes/l">mfhiatt</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A recent <a href="https://theconversation.com/brain-training-games-wont-help-children-do-better-at-school-30227">article</a> in The Conversation by Emma Blakey addressed a widespread concern about exaggerated claims made by developers of brain training products. </p>
<p>Blakey correctly pointed out that the evidence for the effects of brain training on children’s performance at school is weak. But there is a real danger that such articles can swing public opinion too far in one direction. The fact is that developments in the science underlying brain training are pretty exciting.</p>
<p>It would be hard to dispute the negative effect of industry spin, or “neurojargon”, on the public understanding and misunderstanding of brain training. It appears that any claim containing the words “brain” or “neuroscience” gains extra weight.</p>
<p>Brain training developers know that to sell their products they need to use these “neuro” terms, provide meaningless images of brains on their web pages, and talk about “laboratory research”. This is indeed an abuse of science and it should be challenged, as <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/21507740.2011.611123#.VBBiwUJiZ-g">some psychologists</a> have begun to do. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/59313/original/hfsbcvdz-1410963824.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/59313/original/hfsbcvdz-1410963824.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59313/original/hfsbcvdz-1410963824.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59313/original/hfsbcvdz-1410963824.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59313/original/hfsbcvdz-1410963824.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59313/original/hfsbcvdz-1410963824.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59313/original/hfsbcvdz-1410963824.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Brain pictures help.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/18924124@N00/8071905112/sizes/l">Jack Mallon</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Blakey’s article correctly focused on perhaps the biggest challenge for brain training developers, of which I am one: to increase our ability to perform intellectual tasks <a href="https://theconversation.com/brain-training-apps-just-make-you-better-at-playing-games-22301">other than those targeted in brain training</a>. Put simply, brain training is not of much use if all it does it make the user better at brain training.</p>
<p>But <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2008/04/25/0801268105.abstract">some researchers</a> have found that the effects of brain training can be extended to tests that do <a href="https://theconversation.com/ignore-the-iq-test-your-level-of-intelligence-is-not-fixed-for-life-30673">not look similar to the tasks practiced</a> during brain training. </p>
<h2>Understanding basic concepts</h2>
<p>In addition to these developments, new research in my own field is attempting to find the best ways to hone the basic skills a person requires to excel at any type of verbal and mathematical task. We are not too concerned about how the brain works, rather how and what to teach people in order for these tasks to become easier.</p>
<p>Using a concept called <a href="http://contextualscience.org/what_is_rft">relational frame theory</a>, many researchers believe they have identified the basic building block skills of verbal and mathematical abilities. These skills are called relational framing skills and they involve the comprehension of some basic relational concepts: sameness, difference, oppositeness, more and less, along with a few others. </p>
<p><a href="http://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1085&context=tpr">Research has shown</a> that the more complex our understanding of these concepts is, the higher our intelligence is, as measured on the <a href="http://wechsleradultintelligencescale.com/">WAIS IQ test</a>. <a href="http://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1009&context=tpr">Further research</a> has shown relational skill levels to be predictive of scores on <a href="http://jpa.sagepub.com/content/28/2/167.full.pdf">Kaufman’s brief test for intelligence</a>, which measures both the ability to solve new problems (fluid intelligence) as well as acquired knowledge and skills (also referred to as crystallised intelligence).</p>
<h2>Building blocks for children</h2>
<p>Crucially, <a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Derived_Relational_Responding_Applicatio.html?id=D67KbxldS88C&redir_esc=y">research</a> appears to show that relational skills are acquired before the intellectual skills with which they are associated – and therefore may well underlie them. Many of these basic building block skills have been used to establish foundational reading and reasoning skills in children across <a href="http://contextualscience.org/rft_empirical_support">a wide variety of studies</a>.</p>
<p>But now researchers have begun to show that they can also increase general intelligence using brain training-style software that targets our level of relational skill. For example, a child might be taught to answer a question such as: if A is opposite to B, and B is opposite to C, is A the same as or opposite to C? </p>
<p>When exposed to large amount of such training, across a sufficiently large and varied range of examples, improvements are seen in every part of the WISC IQ test, even though the IQ test items look nothing like the items contained in the relational skills training.</p>
<h2>Boost to IQ</h2>
<p>In one <a href="http://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/tpr/vol61/iss2/2/">small study</a> of this new method in which I was involved, 12 children were exposed to a fully computerised relational skills-training course in once to twice-weekly sessions across several months. The WISC IQ test was administered before and after the completion of the training. </p>
<p>Before training began, four normally developing children in the sample had an average IQ of 105, but this was raised above 130 following three to four months of training. These kids moved from the normal to the “high functioning” range in a period of a few months as assessed by an IQ test that looked nothing like the relational skills training provided. </p>
<p>Eight further children with intellectual difficulties started the training with an average IQ of 82, well below the average IQ score of 100. Following training in basic relational skills that are foundational to verbal and numerical ability, these IQs were moved to an average of 96, well within the normal range. It is of course early days yet, but these kinds of findings are surely very exciting. </p>
<p>A healthy dose of scepticism is most certainly required when listening to the pseudo-scientific spin of brain training developers. But let’s also be mindful that many great breakthroughs in science were preceded by periods of unease and suspicion before the weight of the evidence finally tipped the balance of opinion.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/31600/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bryan Roche is founder of RaiseYourIQ.com and a director of Relational Frame Training Ltd. trading as raiseyouriq.</span></em></p>A recent article in The Conversation by Emma Blakey addressed a widespread concern about exaggerated claims made by developers of brain training products. Blakey correctly pointed out that the evidence…Bryan Roche, Lecturer in Behavioral Psychology, National University of Ireland MaynoothLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/295152014-09-01T05:08:50Z2014-09-01T05:08:50ZBrain-training isn’t just a modern phenomenon, the Edwardians were also fans<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/57762/original/8gbkk25m-1409323422.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1%2C18%2C1108%2C917&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Didn't improve their brains much.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Review of Reviews (1904)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://theconversation.com/search?q=brain-training">Brain-training</a> programmes are all the rage. They are part of a growing digital brain-health industry that earned <a href="http://neurogadget.com/2012/12/06/industry-report-says-digital-brain-health-market-will-reach-1-billion-in-2012-6-billion-by-2020/6401">more than US$1 billion in revenue in 2012</a> and is estimated to reach US$6 billion by 2020. The extent to which they actually improve brain function <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/magazine/can-you-make-yourself-smarter.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0">remains hotly debated</a>. But there is agreement that brain-training, as a commercial phenomenon, is <a href="http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/products/story/2011-08-24/Brain-training-games-are-new-exercise-craze/50125152/1">relatively new</a>. <a href="http://www.cogmed.com/">Cogmed</a> was founded in 2001, <a href="http://www.brainhq.com/">Posit Science</a> was incorporated in 2002, and <a href="http://brainage.nintendo.com/">Brain Age</a> for the gaming device Nintendo DS was first released in 2005. </p>
<p>So you might think the line “Build mind just as the physical instructor builds muscle” is taken from marketing for one of these companies. In fact, it is from an advertisement for a 100-year-old mind-training product, which was used by more than 500,000 members, including a <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/aug/31/change-life-pelmanism-mind-trainning">British Prime Minister and the founder of the Scouting Movement</a>. Unlike the mnemonic systems that came before it, this programme, called Pelmanism, focused on the same mental functions – such as attention, concentration, and creativity – targeted by modern brain-training programmes. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56553/original/c38vjkhd-1408034893.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56553/original/c38vjkhd-1408034893.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=733&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56553/original/c38vjkhd-1408034893.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=733&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56553/original/c38vjkhd-1408034893.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=733&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56553/original/c38vjkhd-1408034893.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=922&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56553/original/c38vjkhd-1408034893.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=922&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56553/original/c38vjkhd-1408034893.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=922&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">1920s Pelmanism advertisement.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Popular Science, 1924</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Previous systems of “memory-training” were quite popular in 19th-century Britain. These mnemonic systems, such as Mark Twain’s <a href="http://pages.uoregon.edu/dbr/time-online/twain/index.php">Memory Builder</a>, involved a set of strategies or tricks to better recall facts, say, names or dates. Pelmanism evolved from one such mnemonic system developed in London at the turn of the 20th century into something that, by the start of World War I, didn’t look that much different from modern brain-training. </p>
<p>The Pelman Scientific Mind Training Program was advertised in periodicals like The Strand and Popular Mechanics. Members, or “Pelmanists” as the programme called them, were mailed <a href="http://senatehouselibrary.ac.uk/2013/04/30/pelmanism/">booklets</a> with titles such as “Concentration”, “Knowledge and the Senses”, and “Memory and the Principles of Mental Connection.” Each booklet started with an explanation of the topic that reflected a selection of then-contemporary pop psychology, such as William James’s views on developing habits or auto-suggestion, an early 20th century self-hypnosis technique. </p>
<p>After these short readings, participants filled out sheets of exercises to mail in for review by the teachers of the Pelman Institute. They also were instructed to practice brief games, such as quickly adding the number of dots on a series of dominoes. One task that you might recognise as memory or concentration involved finding matches among a set of flipped over playing cards. Pelmanism is still used as a name for this simple game. </p>
<p>A historical review of Pelmanism in the book Psychological Subjects by Mathew Thomson mentions that a wide swath of the middle class, from clergymen and teachers to government officials and members of the military, participated in the programme. <a href="http://www.arthurlinfoot.org.uk/tag/pelman/">Personal journals from the period</a> show that Pelmanists practised the system a few minutes each day. Eventually the programme was expanded worldwide, with offices in the US, India, South Africa and beyond.</p>
<p>The origins of Pelmanism can likely be traced back to journalist <a href="http://www.ennever.com/histories/history386.php">William Ennever</a> and his work with CL Pelman and a certain Professor Loisette. The latter two founders <a href="http://jsbookreader.blogspot.com/2009/08/pelmanism-or-poehlmannism.html">may have been using assumed names</a>, and their standing as “psychologists” is questionable. The programme itself peaked in popularity sometime shortly after World War I, when, as Thomson mentions in his book, proponents of the system went so far as to call for a “Ministry of Pelmanism” in the UK. By the start of World War II, however, Ennever was in financial ruin, and the programme was in decline.</p>
<p>A hundred years later, what can we learn from this movement? First, it shows that public interest in brain-training isn’t new. Neither is the belief that certain mental functions, like attention or creativity, can be improved. Also, there are many other mind-training programmes from throughout the 20th century that have been forgotten – or largely ignored – by contemporary researchers. These include Catherine Aiken’s 1899 <a href="https://archive.org/details/cu31924031434461">Exercises in Mind Training</a>, and <a href="http://education.jhu.edu/PD/newhorizons/strategies/topics/Instrumental%20Enrichment/hur.htm">Instrumental Enrichment</a> and <a href="http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1980/4/23/intelligence-project-pluis-alberto-machodo-a/">Project Intelligence</a> in the 1970s and 1980s. </p>
<p>The larger research questions behind brain-training, such as how improvement on trained tasks might transfer to every-day life, have yet to be fully addressed. Some early cognitive-training programmes, such as Instrumental Enrichment, have sizable bodies of research attached to them that might help answer these questions and could inform the development of future cognitive-training systems. Researching these early mind-training programmes might not help cure “grasshopper mind” or “scatter brain”, as the Pelmanism advertisements promised, but it may get psychologists just a little closer to figuring out what actually works.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/29515/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ben worked as a game designer for Lumosity.com prior to starting his PhD program.</span></em></p>Brain-training programmes are all the rage. They are part of a growing digital brain-health industry that earned more than US$1 billion in revenue in 2012 and is estimated to reach US$6 billion by 2020…Benjamin Katz, PhD student in Education & Psychology, University of MichiganLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/306732014-08-27T05:28:28Z2014-08-27T05:28:28ZIgnore the IQ test: your level of intelligence is not fixed for life<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/57399/original/q53gbx33-1409053589.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">You can do better. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-195457751/stock-photo-hand-filling-out-answers-to-standard-answer-sheet.html?src=Jr-WnogZtP8uVYqZ3RTeAg-1-56">Answer sheet via Wichy/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>We’re getting more stupid. That’s one point made in a recent article in the <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22329830.400-brain-drain-are-we-evolving-stupidity.">New Scientist</a>, reporting on a gradual decline in IQs in developed countries such as the UK, Australia and the Netherlands. Such research feeds into a long-held fascination with testing human intelligence. Yet such debates are too focused on IQ as a life-long trait that can’t be changed. Other research is beginning to show the opposite. </p>
<p>The concept of testing intelligence was <a href="http://psychology.about.com/od/psychologicaltesting/a/int-history.htm">first successfuly devised by French psychologists in the early 1900s</a> to help describe differences in how well and quickly children learn at school. But it is now frequently used to explain that difference – that we all have a fixed and inherent level of intelligence that limits how fast we can learn. </p>
<p>Defined loosely, intelligence refers to our ability to learn quickly and adapt to new situations. IQ tests measure our vocabulary, our ability to problem-solve, reason logically and so on. </p>
<p>But what many people fail to understand is that if IQ tests measured only our skills at these particular tasks, no one would be interested in our score. The score is interesting only because it is thought to be fixed for life.</p>
<h2>Who is getting smarter?</h2>
<p>Standardised IQ tests used by clinical psychologists for diagnostic purposes, such as the <a href="http://psychology.about.com/od/intelligence/a/wechsler-adult-intelligence-scale.htm">Weschler scale</a>, are designed in such a way that it is not easy to prepare for them. The contents are kept surprisingly secret and they are changed regularly. The score given for an individual is a relative one, adjusted based on the performance of people of the same age.</p>
<p>But even as we become better educated and more skillful at the types of tasks measured on IQ tests (a phenomenon known <a href="https://www.princeton.edu/%7Eachaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Flynn_effect.html">as the “Flynn effect”</a>, after James Fylnn who first noted it) our IQs stay pretty much the same. This is because the IQ scoring system takes into account the amount of improvement expected over time, and then discounts it. This type of score is called a “standardised score” – it hides your true score and merely represents your standing in relation to your peers who have also been getting smarter at about the same rate. </p>
<p>This apparent stability in IQ scores makes intelligence look relatively constant, whereas in fact we are all becoming more intelligent across and within our lifetimes. The IQ test and the IQ scoring system are constantly adjusted to ensure that the average IQ remains at 100, despite <a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Are_We_Getting_Smarter.html?id=Z_-ykOVpRccC&redir_esc=y">a well-noted increase</a> in intellectual ability worldwide.</p>
<h2>Politics of IQ testing</h2>
<p>Psychologists are aware that intelligence scores are somewhat subject to cultural influence and social opportunity, but some have still insisted that we cannot raise our IQ by much. This is because our general intelligence (or “g”) is a fixed trait that is insensitive to education, “brain training”, diet, or other interventions. In other words, they say, we are all biologically limited in our intelligence levels.</p>
<p>The idea that IQ is fixed for life is built into the questionable politics of IQ testing. The most serious consequence of this is the use of IQ tests to blame educational difficulties on students rather than on teaching systems. </p>
<p>But it is the job of psychologists to find better ways to teach, not to find better ways to justify the poor performance of students. This particular use of IQ tests has caused one leader in the field of intelligence research, Robert Sternberg, to refer to IQ testing as <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/105/19/6791.full.pdf+html">“negative psychology”</a> in a 2008 article.</p>
<h2>All is not lost</h2>
<p>Those who hang dearly onto the notion that IQ is fixed for life have managed to ignore <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10803-008-0596-0#page-1">decades of published research</a> in the field of applied behaviour analysis. This has reported very large IQ gains in children with autism who have been exposed to early intensive behavioural interventions once they have been diagnosed with learning difficulties. </p>
<p>Another 2009 Norwegian <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2011/12/19/1106077109">study</a> examined the effects of an increase in the duration of compulsory schooling in Norway in the 1960s which lengthened the time in education for Norwegians by two years. The researchers used records of cognitive ability taken by the military to calculate the IQ of each individual in the study. They found that IQ had increased by 3.7 points for every extra year of education received.</p>
<p>More recent <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2008/04/25/0801268105.full.pdf+html">studies</a> by John Jonides and his colleagues at the University of Michigan reported improvements in objective measures of intelligence for those who practised a brain-training task called the <a href="http://www.soakyourhead.com">“n-back task”</a> – a kind of computerised memory test. </p>
<p>My own research, in the field of <a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Relational_Frame_Theory.html?id=n4RmapzrihAC">relational frame theory</a>, has shown that understanding relations between words, such as “more than”, “less than” or “opposite” is crucial for our intellectual development. One <a href="http://eprints.nuim.ie/2765/">recent pilot study</a> showed that we can considerably raise standard IQ scores by training children in relational language skills tasks over a period of months. Again, this finding challenges the idea that intelligence is fixed for life.</p>
<p>So it’s about time we reconsidered our ideas about the nature of intelligence as a trait that cannot be changed. Undoubtedly, there may be some limits to the development of our intellectual skills. But in the short term, the socially responsible thing to do is not to feel bound by those limits, but to help every child work towards and even exceed them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/30673/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bryan Roche is a director of Relational Frame Training ltd. trading as raiseyouriq.</span></em></p>We’re getting more stupid. That’s one point made in a recent article in the New Scientist, reporting on a gradual decline in IQs in developed countries such as the UK, Australia and the Netherlands. Such…Bryan Roche, Lecturer in Behavioral Psychology, National University of Ireland MaynoothLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.