Brilliant Blog

Tom alerts us (thanks!) of a fun book review in the New York Times today, by Abigail Zuger, titled The Brain: Malleable, Capable, Vulnerable, on the book The Brain That Changes Itself (Viking, $24.95) by psychiatrist Norman Doidge. Some quotes: "In bookstores, the science aisle generally lies well away from the self-help section, with hard reality on one [...]

The great MIT OpenCourseWare initiative offers a lot of free materials on Brain and Cognitive Sciences. You can browse lecture notes, readings, and more on a variety of psychology and neuroscience courses.    "The human brain is the most complex, sophisticated, and powerful information-processing device known. To study its complexities, the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at [...]

Senia writes a great article on How You Tell the Story of Your Life in Positive Psychology News Daily. As part of the story, she mentions a very fun study on the power of the Placebo effect.  From Senia's post: "In the February, 2007 issue of Psychological Science, Langer and colleague Alia Crum reported that they took 84 hotel workers and told [...]

Very interesting new study, Critical Period Plasticity of Adult-Born Neurons, published in the journal Neuron by a team of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine researchers. The press release New Adult Brain Cells May Be Central To Lifelong Learning contains a good summary (the bold format is mine): "The steady formation of new brain cells in adults [...]

I was sent links to a free online crossword puzzle game and sudoko. While we often talk about the excellent computer-based brain fitness programs available, puzzles can still be good mental exercise ... they are just not a complete workout for your whole brain. Word games like crossword puzzles and SCRABBLE® exercise your lexical recall (memory for words that name things), attention, memory, and pattern recognition. They can help maintain your vocabulary and avoid the frustrating tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon that all of us experience from time to time. Sudoko is not a mathematics game in that you don't actually manipulate the numbers as mathematical entities, but it is a pattern recognition game using symbols (numbers). A very legitimate reason to play casual games is that games can be social and fun - which is good for reducing stress.The drawbacks to puzzles and games is that they are hard to calibrate to ensure increasing challenge, and they generally only exercise a limited number of brain functions.

Steven Edwards at Wired Blog writes a post titled Yoga Boosts Brain's GABA Levels, saying that "Participants in the yoga group had a 27% increase in GABA levels, while those in the reading group remained unchanged. Co-authors Chris Streeter from BUSM and Domenic Ciraulo pointed out that this research shows a method of treating low GABA [...]

Expertise Out of Context

Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Naturalistic Decision Making

• Edited by Robert R. Hoffman

Researchers have revealed that real expertise, while applied to well-defined tasks with highly circumscribed contexts, often stretches beyond its routine boundaries. For example, a medical doctor may be called upon to diagnose a rare disease or perform emergency surgery outside his or her area of specialization because other experts are not available. Moreover, in some cases, the context for expertise is in a constant state of flux, such that no one case is identical. Expertise Out of Context is a culmination of some of the most insightful studies conducted by researchers in the fields of cognitive systems engineering and naturalistic decision making in the effort to better understand expertise and its development.

Born out of the Sixth International Conference on Naturalistic Decision Making, a conference that gathers researchers who study cognition, perception, and reasoning outside of the traditional laboratory, this book is organized in five parts, the first of which provides an overview of the topic and presents varied perspectives. Consequent sections cover how to make sense of things, tools for thinking out of context, how to cope with uncertainty in a changing workplace, and teams operating out of context.

As researchers in naturalistic decision making have investigated such areas as the knowledge and decision-making skills of expert firefighters, critical care nurses, military commanders, and aircraft pilots, this volume is of importance to an expansive audience, including individuals in business, government, industry, and society at large.

ISBN: 9780805855098

Published May 22 2007 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Thinking With Data

• Edited by Marsha C. Lovett, Priti Shah

The chapters in Thinking With Data are based on presentations given at the 33rd Carnegie Symposium on Cognition. The Symposium was motivated by the confluence of three emerging trends: (1) the increasing need for people to think effectively with data at work, at school, and in everyday life, (2) the expanding technologies available to support people as they think with data, and (3) the growing scientific interest in understanding how people think with data.

What is thinking with data? It is the set of cognitive processes used to identify, integrate, and communicate the information present in complex numerical, categorical, and graphical data. This book offers a multidisciplinary presentation of recent research on the topic. Contributors represent a variety of disciplines: cognitive and developmental psychology; math, science, and statistics education; and decision science. The methods applied in various chapters similarly reflect a scientific diversity, including qualitative and quantitative analysis, experimentation and classroom observation, computational modeling, and neuroimaging. Throughout the book, research results are presented in a way that connects with both learning theory and instructional application.

The book is organized in three sections:

• Part I focuses on the concepts of uncertainty and variation and on how people understand these ideas in a variety of contexts.
• Part II focuses on how people work with data to understand its structure and draw conclusions from data either in terms of formal statistical analyses or informal assessments of evidence.
• Part III focuses on how people learn from data and how they use data to make decisions in daily and professional life.

ISBN: 9780805854213

Published May 22 2007 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

One of the companies presenting at our panel on Brain Fitness at Neurotech Industry Conference, May 17th in San Francisco, was Cogmed. They offer a working memory training program focused now on kids with attention deficits. What was exciting in the panel was to hear how Cogmed is helping kids train working memory, Posit Science is helping [...]

We are very happy that Joaquin Fuster, one of our scientific advisors, has won the 2007 George A. Miller Prize in Cognitive Neuroscience. "The George A. Miller Prize in Cognitive Neuroscience was established in 1995 by the Cognitive Neuroscience Society and the James S. McDonnell Foundation to honor the career contributions of George A. Miller to [...]

Some good collections of blog posts that came out today: Stephanie hosts this month's Brain Fitness Carnival (Neuroscience and Psychology) Encephalon Mathematics  Observations on Life Festival of Under 30 Finances Life, Growth and Leadership Living by Design Healing Modern Sage Creative Growth No Tags

An Essential Guide to Hearing and Balance Disorders

• Edited by R. Steven Ackley, T. Newell Decker, Charles J. Limb

An Essential Guide to Hearing and Balance Disorders consolidates the most significant clinical aspects of hearing and balance disorders, ranging from cause and diagnosis to treatment and cure. Experts in various subspecialties of this extensive topic introduce readers to the most sophisticated and state of the art methods of diagnosis and treatment. Each chapter expands on a specific topic area along the continuum of how medical personnel diagnose hearing and balance disorders, to how surgical implantation of the cochlea and rehabilitation can remedy various conditions.

In concise format, the book begins with a case history and follows with comprehensive descriptions of current knowledge regarding fundamental causes of hearing loss and balance disorders, as well as a thorough examination of objective assessment. The latter half of the volume presents specialized treatment and rehabilitative options for various disorders. The chapters in this part cover special topics and conclude with pertinent case studies. Unique areas of discussion in a text of this kind include:

• genetics of deafness
• pediatric hearing loss and hearing loss later in life
• business essentials in audiology private practice
• professional issues, such as ethics, methods of practice, and conflicts of interest.

As its title implies, this book is critically important for all students and professionals in hearing/balance related disciplines, including audiology, otolaryngology, general medicine, and rehabilitation oriented allied health care occupations.

ISBN: 9780805858938

Published May 22 2007 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

What a busy week, last one. We will be writing during the week about some of the SharpBrains events that occured.  The May/June Issue of Stanford Magazine brings a very nice section titled Just One Question, where a number of Stanford alumni answer the question "What do people in your profession know that you wish everyone knew?" Some [...]

When you divide 12 by 5, the remainder is 2; it's what's left over after you have removed all the 5's from the 12.  When you raise 4 to the fifth power (that is, 4^5), you multiply four by itself five times: 4x4x4x4x4, which equals 1,024. What is the remainder when you divide 100^100 by 11?

Hypothetical Thinking

Dual Processes in Reasoning and Judgement

• By Jonathan St. B. T. Evans

Hypothetical thought involves the imagination of possibilities and the exploration of their consequences by a process of mental simulation. Using a recently developed theoretical framework called Hypothetical Thinking Theory, Jonathan St. B. T. Evans provides an integrated theoretical account of a wide range of psychological studies on hypothesis testing, reasoning, judgement and decision making.

Hypothetical thinking theory is built on three key principles, implemented in a revised and updated version of Evans' well-known heuristic–analytic theory of reasoning. The central claim of this book is that this theory can provide an integrated account of some apparently very diverse phenomena including confirmation bias in hypothesis testing, acceptance of fallacies in deductive reasoning, belief biases in reasoning and judgement, biases of statistical judgement and a number of characteristic findings in the study of decision making. The author also provides broad ranging discussion of cognitive biases, human rationality and dual-process theories of higher cognition.

Hypothetical Thinking draws on and develops arguments first proposed in Evans’ earlier work from this series, Bias in Human Reasoning. In the new theory, however, cognitive biases are attributed equally to analytic and heuristic processing and a much wider range of phenomena are reviewed and discussed. It will therefore be of great interest to researchers and post-graduates in psychology and the cognitive sciences, as well as to undergraduate students looking for a comprehensive review of current work on reasoning and decision-making.

ISBN: 9781841696607

Published May 17 2007 by Psychology Press.

Please check out our press release today: SharpBrains Announces Ten-Point Brain Fitness Checklist. We hope this information is useful as you evaluate all the programs that are appearing.  "Leading Source of Brain Exercise Information Establishes 10 Must-Ask Questions for Consumers Choosing Brain Fitness Software Programs" "SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The influx of brain exercise programs during the past six [...]

Some good links today: 1) Keep Your Brain Nimble as You Age MSNBC - May 13, 2007 "If using your computer as a mental gym sounds good to you, SharpBrains.com's Fernandez suggests asking a few questions first to determine a product's..." 2) Great blog by Stanford Business School's Jackson library, including an announcement of an upcoming lecture there by [...]

Arguing About the Mind

• Edited by Brie Gertler, Lawrence Shapiro

Arguing About the Mind is an accessible, engaging introduction to the core questions in the philosophy of mind. This collection offers a selection of thought-provoking articles that examine a broad range of issues from the mind and body relation to animal and artificial intelligence. Topics addressed include:

• the problem of consciousness
• the nature of the mind
• the relationship between the mind, body and world
• the notion of selfhood
• pathologies and behavioural problems
• animal, machine and extra-terrestrial intelligence.

The editors provide lucid introductions to each section and give an overview of the debate and outline the arguments of the papers. An original and stimulating reader, it is ideal for students new to the philosophy of mind.

ISBN: 9780415771627

Published May 16 2007 by Routledge.

A Leap for All Life: World’s Leading Scientists Announce Creation of Encyclopedia of Life (a database of all living things) Press Release: Biodiversity, Science Communities Unite Behind Epic Effort To Promote Biodiversity, Document All 1.8 Million Named Species on Planet WASHINGTON (May 9, 2007) – Many of the world’s leading scientific institutions today announced the launch of [...]

Great Forbes article on Top Brain Boosters, by Allison Van Dusen, with good lifestyle advice on lifelong learning, computer programs, social interaction, stress reduction, sleep, exercise and emotional health, and nutrition. You can read more about these pillars in our The Dana Guide to Brain Health book review. The article also mentions the programs by Posit Science and [...]