Archive for November, 2006
November 30, 2006: 10:09 pm: CarolineUncategorized
Ambiguous Visual Illusion
What do you see?
Do you see a series of black shapes on a white background, or do you see a white word on black background?
This image is an example of an ambiguous illusion — a picture or object that requires perceptual switching between the alternative interpretations of figure and ground. Our visual system simplifies visual [...]
Student Achievement Gap, Stress, and Self-Regulation
Jonah Lehrer dissects and builds on a New York Times article on the education Achievement gap. Quotes from Jonah’s post:
-”most of the research suggests that the “achievement gap” has real neurological roots, which are caused by distinct home environments: Hart and Risley showed that language exposure in early childhood correlated strongly with I.Q. and academic [...]
Talk therapy may be best for depressed seniors
Talk therapy may beat medication for older adults’ depression, particularly when therapists work along with the patient’s primary care doctor, a research review suggests.The review involved eight previous clinical trials, which found that psychological counseling was more effective, compared with the “usual care;” from family doctors for older adults with depression.
Usual care was up to [...]
November 29, 2006: 4:12 pm: CarolineUncategorized
Carnivals All Around!
        We are delighted to report on a number of great carnivals posting articles from SharpBrains lately.Issue 12 of The Synapse came out this Sunday.... Alvaro's post on the executive function of emotional self-regulation via biofeedback is posted there - go check it out!Jake at Lunatic Wisdom is hosting the Carnival of Greatness.
November 28, 2006: 11:02 pm: AlvaroUncategorized
What happens in your brain when you see “SharpBrains”?
Well, it depends on how good a job we are doing.
A study presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America, carried out functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies on the brain activation of 20 adult men and women when shown a number of logos.
Very interesting results. We won’t write about [...]
IntelliGym for basketball: ESPN video with the Memphis Tigers
Memphis Tigers Revolution with IntelliGym
Good ESPN video that introduces the IntelliGym basketball game-intelligence training program we are offering. The Basketball IntelliGym ™ is a training tool that enables basketball players, both professional and amateur, to dramatically improve their game-intelligence skills. The trainer directly stimulates the brain functions that are responsible for basketball’s cognitive skills. [...]
November 27, 2006: 3:12 pm: reidelUncategorized
Neurofeedback: Physical therapy for the brain
Every week for two years, Michael Hammett stared at a computer screen, trying to open a flower with his mind.
Hammett had developed a case of carpal tunnel syndrome so severe he needed surgery. But being a former opiate abuser, he refused to use the medications that would be needed to control the resulting pain. Having [...]
November 26, 2006: 6:07 pm: AlvaroUncategorized
Stress Management as part of Brain Fitness Programs
The article Job Stress Fuels Disease reports on the results from a new study of 677 workers that show that ”When work stress becomes unmanageable, job burnout can lead to a combination of three symptoms:
Emotional exhaustion
Physical fatigue or exhaustion
Cognitive weariness (slow thinking)”
and that “Studies have shown that workplace stress can lead to an increase in rates of heart [...]
November 25, 2006: 8:24 pm: docmoUncategorized
Mensa members are in club of their own
This is not a test you can study for. Either you know it or you don’t.
On Saturday morning, six Bay Area residents hovered over an intelligence test behind closed doors to figure out how smart they really are and if they’ve got the brains to join the international organization reserved for the brightest.
“The individual questions [...]
Challenging substance abuse treatment and therapeutic approaches
A Maple Ridge addictions counsellor is challenging mainstream perceptions of substance abuse and treatment therapy in his new book about a novel approach to substance abuse therapy.
A Long Night’s Journey Into Day, written by Geoff Thompson, a clinical addictions counsellor at Maple Ridge Treatment Centre, is a psychobiography of American Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning [...]
Just whose idea was all this testing? Fueled by technology, nation?s attempt to create a level playing field has had a rocky history.
In ancient Greece, Socrates tested his students through conversations.
Answers were not scored as right or wrong. They just led to more dialogue. Many intellectual elites in the fifth and fourth centuries B.C. cared more about finding the path to higher knowledge than producing a correct response. To them, accuracy was for shopkeepers.
Today, educators often hold [...]
November 23, 2006: 8:47 pm: reidelUncategorized
Insight meditation: Concentrate on every little action to reduce racing thoughts and stress
It is said to boost performance and wellbeing, decrease anxiety, depression and chronic fatigue, and have beneficial effects on conditions ranging from chronic pain and fibromyalgia to psoriasis, multiple sclerosis and even cancer. But it’s not a futuristic wonder drug - it’s an ancient Buddhist discipline gaining increased acceptance in mainstream medicine.It is mindfulness meditation, [...]
Synaesthesia: For Rare Few, Taste Is in the Ear of the Beholder
To some ears, the following Thanksgiving menu sounds — and tastes — absolutely scrumptious:
A plump bird stuffed with Stephanie and served with giblet civil, accompanied by marshmallow-topped sweet Londons, a bowl of performs with pearl unions and a serving of steamed microscopes. And, for dessert, city a la mode, followed by a confession.
If only you [...]
November 22, 2006: 6:41 pm: docmoUncategorized
Modafinil: Get ready for 24-hour living
So much to do, so little time. Between a hectic work schedule and a thriving social life, Yves (not his real name), a 31- year-old software developer from Seattle, often doesn’t have time for a full night’s sleep. So he swallows something to make sure he doesn’t need one. “If I take a dose just [...]
Pattern Recognition Brain Teaser
Here’s a puzzle to test your ability to find a pattern and test it against more data.
In this table, each row across follows the same pattern of numbers. See if you can discern the pattern and fill in the missing number in the bottom row. For added challenge (or competition), time how long it takes you to complete the [...]
World Experts on Dialectical Behavior Therapy Address Self-Injury and Cutting
According to recent research, self-injury is the fastest-growing health problem among teenage girls today. Fifty percent of those who self-injure — most often in the form of “cutting” — do so before reaching the age of 15. Some studies suggest that up to 7 percent of teenage girls have engaged in self-injurious behavior at least [...]
November 21, 2006: 7:04 pm: AlvaroUncategorized
Emotional self-regulation and biofeedback: FreezeFramer
In the post Trader Peak Performance and biofeedback programs we showed the Heart Rate Variability patterns correlated with levels of a) anxiety or b) Peak Performance, “The Zone”. Biofeedback supports our emotional self-regulation: we can visually track what is going on inside us and train ourselves to manage our emotional state. On the left you [...]
Posit Science, Nintendo, Dakim…WebMD on Brain Fitness.
Good WebMD 4-page article on Brain Fitness programs for seniors. Check Keeping Your Brain Fit for Life:Software companies are offering new programs that promise to keep your brain sharp as you get older.
Some quotes:
- “The notion of brain fitness has even invaded popular culture. In April, Nintendo released Brain Age, a Japanese-inspired, handheld video game [...]
The Psychology of Smoking
People smoke even though they are well aware what the risks of smoking are. So if educating smokers isn’t the answer, what is?
Who do you know that smokes? My girlfriend is an on-again off-again smoker, but her mother, brother and sister-in-law are heavy smokers. My father is a once-a-day smoker, but my sister smokes more. [...]
Blog Carnivals, Thanksgiving and Mission Accomplishing
Big party today. Carnivals everywhere.
Caroline and I admit we are quite biased. We see the world through our own lenses. Which, these days, means a lot of passion for the science-based Brain Fitness Revolution. We have been trying hard to combine fun brain teasers with serious posts on how brain research is starting to influence [...]
