Brilliant Blog

Zack Lynch asks for support to Write Congress Today in Support of the National Neurotechnology Initiative Act, explaining:

"With the recent introduction of the National Neurotechnology Initiative (NNTI) Act in the House (H.R. 5989) and the Senate (S.2989) earlier this month, the time has come to ramp up a national grassroots campaign in support of the NNTI and I would like to ask for your help. It is imperative that we get a substantive amount of Congressional support as quickly as possible as we are targeting Congressional hearings prior to the August break.

Take action: We need to flood Congressional fax machines and mail boxes with individual letters of support from key constituents like you over the next four weeks. I urge you to visit NIO's Take Action webpage.

Here you can download sample letters to customize and send. Full instructions appear on that webpage, as well as a link to help access your representatives' contact information and fax numbers.

Spread the word: Because of limited resources and an aggressive legislative schedule, it is absolutely vital that we build a network of support for this bill. Please forward this appeal along with a personal note of support to your network of contacts and ask that they express their support to Congress and share with their networks as well. Please forward onto co-workers, board members, researchers, clinicians, nurses, patients, advocacy groups, friends, family, anyone with a stake in elevating therapies and cures for brain related illnesses.

We need your help - and ten minutes of your time - to secure Congressional support for newly introduced legislation designed to dramatically accelerate new treatments for brain and nervous system injuries and illnesses. This legislation stands to significantly improve the lives of more than 100 million Americans. Take 10 minutes to protect your future brain."

You can think of it as great brain exercise: if you had your Congressperson and Senator in front of you right now, what one application of brain research would you ask them to support? and how would you measure the impact of any additional research dollars?.

Once you have thought about that, why not actually let them know what you think? 

Here you are have the twice-a-month newsletter with our 10 most popular blog posts. Please remember that you can subscribe to receive this Newsletter by email, simply by submitting your email at the top of this page.

A crucial topic we cover is, "How can we use emerging technologies to keep our brains healthy and productive as long as possible?"  The American Society on Aging asked Alvaro to exercise his brain...and here are his thoughts on the current state and future of the brain fitness market: Brain Health Business Grows With Research and Demand

Announcements

Brain Training Presentation and Seminars: We had an informative webinar this Tuesday. Click here to view the presentation and learn about upcoming events.

New "Exercise Your Brain" Widget: A widget is basically a box you can embed in your blog or webpage (like Facebook) to easily share articles with your readers and friends. We have just released a SharpBrains one!

Research

Mysteries of Brain and Mind: Several recent New York Times articles highlight fascinating frontiers of brain science, exploring mindfulness, perceptual capacities, and the power of placebo.

Brain Games or Drugs for Cognitive Enhancement: "In conclusion, it looks like one can use training to boost one’s fluid intelligence," says Dr. Pascale Michelon, based on a recent study.

Education and Training

Try Thinking and Learning Without Working Memory: Quick! Can you recite backwards the 7 digits of your phone number? Bill Klemm answers some key questions on thinking and working memory, in one of the most insightful articles on the subject we have seen.

Health and Wellness

Manage Stress for Your Brain Health: Insightful essay on stress management and brain health written by Landon, as part of one of our student essay contests.

Study: Meditation Against ADHD: In order to fight attention deficits...does it make sense to develop the "mental muscles" to pay attention? Take a quick look at the topic, posted at the Huffington Post (if you have an account there, and can leave a comment, please do).

Mindfulness Meditation for Adults & Teens with ADHD: Dr. David Rabiner shares with us a detailed review of a new study that analyzes the benefits of mindfulness for adolescents and adults with attention deficits.

Brain Teasers

Expanded Brain Teasers Section: we have re-organized the Brain Teasers section in our website. You can now easily enjoy our Top 50 brain games or check out our Latest challenges.

Have a stimulating weekend!

We had an informative webinar this Tuesday, discussing the State of the Brain Fitness Software market today, based on the findings in our Market Report. In case you missed it, you can find below a link to check out and download the PowerPoint slides I presented (just the visuals, without audio) to cover these areas:

1- The Four Pillars for Brain Health

2- Cognitive Abilities can Be Assesed and Trained

3- An emerging field, and poised to grow

4- A confusing player landscape. Think "What For", not "Best".

Link: State of the Brain Fitness Software Market 2008

Please remember that we have 2 upcoming webinars, and you can still register!:

Webinar #2: In “Brain Rules for Thinking Smarter,” John Medina, developmental molecular biologist and author of Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Striving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School will emphasize the importance of physical exercise, stress management…and avoiding multitasking altogether.
- Target audience: Anyone who wants to learn more about brain health and performance.
- More information: The Science of Thinking Smarter, by John Medina.
- Date and time: Tuesday June 3rd, 2pm EDT/ 11am PDT
Register: Here

Webinar #3: In “The Science and Practice of Brain Fitness,” I will provide an overview of the Brain 101, latest research findings and implications for how to improve brain health and performance based on my classes and speaking engagements.
- Target audience: Anyone who wants to learn more about brain health and performance
- Date and time: Tuesday June 10th, 2pm EDT/ 11am PDT
Register: Here

I hope you find this series stimulating.

Several recent NYT articles focus on several fascinating frontiers of brain science. We know much more about brain and mind than only 20 years ago, yet exponentially less than 20 years from now.

A few worthy explorations on mindfulness, perceptual capacities, and the power of placebo:

Lotus Therapy

Mindfulness meditation is easy to describe. Sit in a comfortable position, eyes closed, preferably with the back upright and unsupported. Relax and take note of body sensations, sounds and moods. Notice them without judgment. Let the mind settle into the rhythm of breathing. If it wanders (and it will), gently redirect attention to the breath. Stay with it for at least 10 minutes.

After mastering control of attention, some therapists say, a person can turn, mentally, to face a threatening or troubling thought — about, say, a strained relationship with a parent — and learn simply to endure the anger or sadness and let it pass, without lapsing into rumination or trying to change the feeling, a move that often backfires.

At workshops and conferences across the country, students, counselors and psychologists in private practice throng lectures on mindfulness. The National Institutes of Health is financing more than 50 studies testing mindfulness techniques, up from 3 in 2000, to help relieve stress, soothe addictive cravings, improve attention, lift despair and reduce hot flashes.

Since mindfulness meditation may have different effects on different mental struggles, the challenge for its proponents will be to specify where it is most effective — and soon, given how popular the practice is becoming.

Read article: Lotus Therapy.

 

 

A Superhighway to Bliss

Her perceptions changed, too. She could see that the atoms and molecules making up her body blended with the space around her; the whole world and the creatures in it were all part of the same magnificent field of shimmering energy.

“My perception of physical boundaries was no longer limited to where my skin met air,” she has written in her memoir, “My Stroke of Insight,” which was just published by Viking.

Dr. Taylor shows the less mystically inclined, she said, that this experience of deep contentment “is part of the capacity of the human mind.”

Read article: A Superhighway to Bliss (includes link to fantastic video).

Experts Question Placebo Pill for Children

With the help of her husband, Dennis, she founded a placebo company, and, without a hint of irony, named it Efficacy Brands. Its chewable, cherry-flavored dextrose tablets, Obecalp, for placebo spelled backward, goes on sale on June 1 at the Efficacy Brands Web site. Bottles of 50 tablets will sell for $5.95. The Buettners have plans for a liquid version, too.

This is designed to have the texture and taste of actual medicine so it will trick kids into thinking that they’re taking something,” Ms. Buettner said. “Then their brain takes over, and they say, ‘Oh, I feel better.’ ”

Even if Obecalp proved helpful, some doctors worry that giving children “medicine” for every ache and pain teaches that every ailment has a cure in a bottle.

“Kids could grow up thinking that the only way to get better is by taking a pill,” Dr. Brody said. If they do that, he added, they will not learn that a minor complaint like a scraped knee or a cold can improve on its own.

Read article: Experts Question Placebo Pill for Children.

Quck heads up: Two excellent editions of these ongoing blog carnivals.

- Encephalon 46th Edition: selection of neuroscience and psychology blog. posts

- Grand Rounds 36th Edition: all things medical and healthy. 

Hello, I hope you have been enjoying the long weekend (for folks in the US).

Creating a SharpBrains Widget was in my To Do list for a good while, to make it easier to share our content via other blogs and social sites (Facebook...). Finally, it is done!. And surprisingly easy.

What it is: A widget is basically a box you can embed in your blog or webpage. For example, after creating our Exercise Your Brain widget, I just embedded it into our own blog: you can see it in the right column, titled Share Our Blog. There are several options (size, color...), very easy to customize.

Description: Exercise Your Brain. Research-based information on Brain Fitness and Cognitive Health, authored by SharpBrains staff and over 10 neuroscientists, spiced up with fun Brain Teasers.

What you can do: if you have any website or blog where you'd like the widget to appear, you can simply Get your Widget by clicking Here. Choose the options (box size, color theme, article text...) that better fit your site, and copy and paste the HTML. It literally takes 3-5 minutes.

Thank you. I hope we'll see it appear in a variety of blogs and websites interested in brain topics, so we can expand the conversation!

Cognitive training is showing a tremendous potential to expand working memory, a capacity once thought limited and untrainable.

If you have enough working memory to both be processing this information and developing your own thoughts, you may be thinking now, a) what exactly is Working Memory?, and b) why do we even care?. Well, Dr. Bill Klemm answers those questions, and more, below. Please enjoy one of the most insightful articles on the subject we have seen in a long while, which we are proud to bring to SharpBrains readers.

How Well People Think Depends On Working Memory

- By  Dr. Bill Klemm

Imagine dialing a phone number by having to look up each digit one at a time in the phone book. Normally, you look up the number and remember all seven digits long enough to get it dialed. Even with one digit at a time, you would have to remember each digit long enough to get it dialed. What if your brain could not even do that! We call this kind of remembering, “working memory,” because that is what the brain works with. Working memory is critical to everyday living. 

Conscious thought involves moving a succession of items through what seems like a virtual scratch-pad. Think of it like streaming audio/video, where “thought bites” move on to the scratch pad where they are fed into a thought process and then moved off the scratch pad to make room for the next thought bite. 

We think with what is in working or "scratch pad" memory. What we know, stored in regular memory, is brought onto the scratch pad in successive stages, each involving subjecting the knowledge to analysis, integration into the current context, and creative re-organization via our thinking processes ("thought engine"). The animated version of this graphic shows item 1 moving on to the scratch pad and then sent on to the "thought engine." This is followed by item 2, then 3, etc. 

Conscious thinking thus requires the ability to hold information “on line” long enough to use it in thinking. Conscious thought thus seems to be a serially ordered process of moving thought bites on to and off of the scratch pad. 

Unconscious Thinking 

What about unconscious thought ... the kind that occurs when you are not paying attention? We know that the subconscious mind is processing information (i.e. “thinking”) all the time, even while we sleep. The evidence for this kind of “sleep learning” is incontrovertible and summarized in my memory improvement book (see http://thankyoubrain.com). Subconscious thinking and its related memories may not involve a scratch pad of working memory. Subconscious thinking could occur as multiple parallel processes and may be more non-linear than conscious thought. However, in the case of dream sleep, which I regard as a form of consciousness, those dreams that I happen to remember do seem to be based on serially ordered “thought bites.” 

A recent study, not explicitly concerning memory, sheds some important light both on how we think and on the role of working memory in thought. In this study, the researchers examined how people make a correct choice. Researchers compared the quality of decisions formed from conscious versus unconscious thinking with that resulting from unconscious thinking. Here is how they studied this issue. In one study, subjects were given information about the attributes of four hypothetical cars, and they were to decide which was the best car, based on the attributes assigned to each car. Analysis conditions were either simple (based on only four attributes) or complex (based on 12 attributes). After reading about the attributes, subjects were assigned to one of two groups: conscious analysis or to an unconscious thought condition. In the conscious condition, they thought about the attributes for four minutes before making a choice. In the unconscious condition, subjects were told they would have to make a choice in four minutes, but they were distracted during that time by being required to solve anagrams. 

Their “thinking” about the problem was thus not allowed to be conscious. 

Not surprisingly, when only four attributes were involved, subjects in the conscious-thought condition made the best choice of car. But when the complex condition of 12 attributes, results reversed. The best car was chosen most reliably in the unconscious-thought condition. 

In a second study, one change was made. Instead of choosing the best car, subjects were asked about their attitudes toward the four cars. Again, conscious thinkers made the clearest distinctions among the cars when only four attributes were considered, but the opposite occurred when 12 attributes had to be considered. 

In another experiment, two stores were selected, one that sold complicated items like furniture and the other a department store that sold simple products. As people left the store, people were asked questions about what they bought, why they bought it, how costly was it, and how much they thought about making the choice. The buyers were categorized as either “thinkers” (those who spent a lot of time consciously making a decision) and “impulse buyers” (who did not spend much time consciously thinking about their choice). Several weeks later, these same people were called to check on how satisfied they were with the purchase. As expected, more post-choice satisfaction was found in the conscious thinker group, but only for the simple items in the department store. For the complex choices in the furniture store, the unconscious thinkers expressed the most satisfaction with their purchases. 

What all this says is that simple decisions are best made by careful conscious thought. But for complicated decisions, the best choices may result from “deliberation without paying attention,” that is letting the thinking be done by the unconscious mind. I interpret these results to reflect the dependence of conscious thought on scratch-pad memory and the relative independence of subconscious thought on scratch-pad memory. Conscious thought is very effective as long as it can work on information that it can hold on-line in working memory. But working memory has limited capacity. Therefore it cannot be very effective when the amount of information needed for high-quality thought exceeds the carrying capacity of working memory. 

The corollary of this new evidence about working memory and thinking processes is that if we had a bigger working memory, we might think better. 

Working Memory Load Affects Paying Attention 

Paying attention is pre-requisite to learning. The ability to pay attention seems to be affected by how much information (load) is being carried in working memory. These principles have been elucidated in human experiments that tested the assumption that attending to relevant details in a learning situation requires that the details be held in working memory. Having other, non-relevant, information in working memory at the same time serves as a distraction, lowering attention and interfering with memory formation. 

In this experiment, participants performed an attention task that required them to ignore pictures of distracter faces while holding in working memory a string of digits that were in the same order (low memory load) or different order (high memory order) on every trial. The test thus was one of multi-tasking, one task being holding the digits in working memory and the other task being identifying whether a name flashed on the screen was that of a famous politician or a pop star, while a contradictory face was projected. For example, the name Mick Jagger would have the face of Bill Clinton superimposed, and the task was to know that Mick Jagger is a pop star, not a politician. 

The attention performance degraded severely with high working-memory load. That is, the distracting faces created confusion when subjects were also required to hold mixed-order digits in working memory at the same time. 

The point is simple. It is hard to think about two complicated things at once. The growing trend, especially among young people, to multi-task may seem wonderful. But actually, multi-tasking is most likely to interfere with focused attention and, in turn, degrade memory formation, recall, and thinking quality. 

Training Working Memory and IQ 

Studies have shown that it is possible to train ADHD children to have better working memories. This led researchers in Japan to try to develop a simple working memory training method and to test whether this method can increase the working memory capacity and whether this has any effect on a child's IQ. Children ages 6-8 were trained 10 minutes a day each day for two months. The training task to expand working memory capacity consisted of presenting a digit or a word item for a second, with one-second intervals between items. For example, a sequence might be 5, 8, 4, 7, with one-second intervals between each digit. Test for recall could take the form of "Where in the sequence was the 4?" or "What was the third item?" Thus students had to practice holding the item sequence in working memory. With practice, the trainers increased the number of items from 3 to 8. 

After training, researchers tested the children on another working memory task. Scores on this test indicated that working memory correlated with IQ test scores. That is, children with better working memory ability also had higher IQs. When first graders were tested for intelligence, the data showed that intelligence scores increased during the year by 6% in controls, but increased by 9% in the group that had been given the memory training. The memory training effect was even more evident in the second graders, with a 12% gain in intelligence score in the memory trained group, compared with a 6% gain in controls. As might be expected, the lower IQ children showed the greatest gain from memory training. 

So in conclusion, it seems that working memory capacity can be increased by training and that such training can even raise IQ, at least in young children. 

Benefits of Increasing Working Memory 

Accumulating evidence seems to indicate that working memory, with proper training, can be improved in anyone, even adults. I recently found a research report in which lasting improvements in brain function were produced in healthy adults by only five weeks of practice on three working-memory tasks that involved the location of objects in space. Subjects performed 90 trials per day on a training regimen (CogMed). MRI scans showed increased activity in the cortical areas that were involved in processing the visual stimuli. Brain activity increases in these areas appeared within the first week and grew over time. 

Similar results have been reported by other investigators. In a few cases, where different kinds of stimuli were used, memory training induced a decrease of brain activity in certain areas, which is interpreted to indicate that the trained brain did not have to work as hard. While we clearly don’t understand things very well, it seems clear that working memory training not only improves memory capability but also causes lasting changes in the brain. 

Help Your Working-Memory Capacity 

I just read a fascinating book on increasing teacher awareness of the importance of working-memory capacity for teaching and learning strategies. Many youngsters have working memory limitations, and they usually do not grow out of them. This is a major and serious cause of low grades, poor learning skills, poor confidence, and life-long diminished motivation to learn. 

Limited working-memory capacity impairs the ability to think and solve problems. I was told once by a middle-school teacher that her “special needs” students could do the same math as regular students, but they just can’t remember all the steps. This clearly reflects a limited working-memory capacity. If the demands made on working memory could be lessened, better thinking could result. 

Certain strategies can help to reduce the load on working memory. Teachers should model and students should employ the following devices: 

• Provide help, cues, mnemonics, reminders.
• KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid!)(example: use short, simple sentences, present much of the instruction as pictures/diagrams).
• Don’t present so much information. Less can be more.
• Facilitate rehearsal, using only relevant information and no distractors.
• Get engaged, by taking notes, and creating diagrams and concept maps.
• Attach meaning from what is already known. (The more you know, the more you can know).
• Organize information in small categories.
• Break down tasks into small chunks. Master each chunk sequentially, one at a time. 

Doing these things not only helps the thinking process, but will also promote the formation of lasting memories. The process of converting working memory into permanent form is called consolidation, and I will explain that next time. 

--- W. R. (Bill) Klemm, D.V.M., Ph.D. Scientist, professor, author, speaker As a professor of Neuroscience at Texas A&M University, Bill has taught about the brain and behavior at all levels, from freshmen, to seniors, to graduate students to post-docs. His recent books include Thank You Brain For All You Remember and Core Ideas in Neuroscience.

Related articles on Working Memory Training

- Can Intelligence Be Trained? Martin Buschkuehl shows how

- Working Memory Training: Interview with Dr. Torkel Klingberg

- Working Memory Training for Adults

Sources 

1. Repovs, G and Bresjanac, M. 2006. Cognitive neuroscience of working memory: a prologue. Neuroscience. 139: 1-3. 

2. Dijksterhuis, A. et al. 2006. On making the right choice: the deliberation-without-attention effect. Science. 311: 1005-1007. 

3. Wajima, Kayo, and Sawaguchi, T. 2005. The effect of working memory training on general intelligence in children. Society for Neuroscience Abstracts. Abstract 772.11. 

4. de Fockert, J. W. et al. 2001. The role of working memory in visual selective attention. Science. 291: 1803-1806. 

5. Olesen, P. J., Westerberg, H., and Kingberg, T. 2004. Increased prefrontal and parietal activity after training of working memory. Nature Neuroscience. 7: 75-79. 

6. Gathercole, Susan E., and Alloway, Tracy P. 2008. Working Memory and Learning. Sage Publications, 124 pages. 

7. Gathercole, Susan E., and Alloway, Tracy P. 2008. Working memory and learning. Sage Publications, . 124 pages. 

We just received this very insightful essay on stress management and brain health written by Landon, a homeschooler and participant in Susan Hill's writing workshop. Susan asked her students to write about implications of recent brain research.

Enjoy the article and the long weekend (at least here in the US) and Relax...

---------------------

Stress Management for Your Brain Health

-- By Landon N

Thousands and thousands of web-like neurons linked together form a spongy mass inside a skull. This mass, called the brain, is what controls the body and the thoughts that run threw it have a notable effect on the heath of an individual. In addition to thoughts, fear, stress, and emotions also have a strong effect on health. So then, health depends on more than just eating right and exercising; it depends on our mental state as well.

Thoughts have more power in the body then most people know. The brain and health are closely connected, and usually if one malfunctions, so does the other. In fact, some scientists have traced about 87 percent of illnesses to thoughts (Leaf 2007). Even if that percentage high, I do think that thoughts definitely have an effect on health. In addition to shaping our health, thoughts also shape our attitudes. As an ancient proverb says, “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.” This means that if someone is constantly thinking negative thoughts, he will tend to be someone with poor health and vice versa. If not properly dealt with, bad thoughts can slowly build up and could cause damage to the brain. This is very important for people to know since it could help them to have better health and therefore a better life. In addition, if they knew this they would be spared the pain of being polluting with bad thoughts. That is why this is the most important thing for people to know about the brain. The public should know that the true cause of their illnesses could be nothing more than a buildup of bad thoughts over the years.

Fear, stress, and emotion are also directly linked to health and the brain. For example, fear starts as harmful thoughts, which are created in the brain, and which in turn, can cause stress. Also, anyone who has been afraid at one time or another knows that fear is stressful. The mouth gets dry, the hands get clammy, and the nerves get jumpy. Living in a continual state of fear is very unhealthy because it wears greatly on an individual’s health. So then, fear can be unhealthy because it causes stress, which is unhealthy in excessive measures. In some cases, overstressed children have a 30% higher chance of developing some kind of cancer in their early 30’s (Leaf 2007) Also, when someone is too stressed, the dendrites in the brain can actually shrink causing their mind to “go blank” (Leaf 2007). In addition, it has been found that stress can cause people to gain weight and take vital minerals from the bones. Emotions are also very important to the health of a person, and studies have shown that emotional pain can slowly turn into physical pain as well. People who are angry all the time can have many more health problems then someone who is not. And those who hold on to a past wrongs and refuse to forgive only hurts themselves both emotionally and physically. As the psalmist said, “Refrain from anger and turn away from wrath; do not fret--because it leads only to evil.” With this in mind, we should not hold grudges or be unforgiving; the only one hurt the one who holds the grudge. One can hide or bury his feelings and not deal with them, but be sure those buried emotions will come to the surface again when they don’t expect it. So many things are directly linked to the brain and health and they are important because they have a strong effect on our lives.

Though the brain is made up of thousands parts, each small thought has a consequence of its own. Stress, emotion, and fear also have an effect on the brain, and therefore the health. The most important concept for people to know about the brain is that thoughts affect health and that health is the guardian of life.

Related posts on Stress management

- Relaxing for your Brain's Sake.

- Stress and Neural Wreckage: Part of the Brain Plasticity Puzzle.

- Stress Management Workshop for International Women's Day.

Handbook of Metamemory and Memory

• By John Dunlosky, Robert A. Bjork

This handbook examines the interplay between metamemory and memory. Each contributor discusses cutting-edge theory and research that, in some way, showcases the symbiotic relationship between metamemory and memory. Together, these chapters support a central thesis, which is that a complete understanding of either metamemory or memory is not possible without understanding their mutual influence.

The inspiration for this volume was the life and research of Thomas O. Nelson, whose pioneering and influential research in the fields of metamemory and memory consistently highlighted their integrated nature.

ISBN: 9780805862140

Published May 23 2008 by Routledge.

We have talked about the value of meditation before (see Mindfulness and Meditation in Schools), as a form of well-directed mental exercise than can help train attention and emotional self-regulation.  Which other studies have shown how it strengthens specific parts of the brain, mainly in the frontal lobe.

Dr. Rabiner shares with us, below, an excellent review of a new study that analyzes the benefits of mindfulness for adolescents and adults with attention deficits. He writes that "although this is clearly a preliminary study, the results are both interesting and encouraging."
 

Does Mindfulness Meditation Help Adults & Teens with ADHD

-- By Dr. David Rabiner

Although medication treatment is effective for many individuals with ADHD, including adolescents adults, there remains an understandable need to explore and develop interventions that can complement or even substitute for medication. This is true for a variety of reasons including:
1) Not all adults with ADHD benefit from medication.
2) Among those who benefit, many have residual difficulties that need to be addressed via other means.
3) Some adults with ADHD experience adverse effects that prevent them from remaining on medication.

Because of the widespread interest in new ADHD interventions - particularly non-pharmaceutical approaches - I try to cover credible research in this area whenever I come across it. I was thus pleased to learn about a very interesting study of mindfulness meditation as a treatment for adults and adolescents with ADHD that was published in the Journal of Attention Disorders [Zylowka, et al. (2008). Mindfulness meditation training in adults and adolescents with ADHD. Journal of Attention Disorders, 11, 737-746.]

According to the authors, "...mindfulness meditation involves experiential learning via silent periods of sitting meditation or slow walking and purposeful attention to daily activities. Relaxation, although often induced during the training, is not the sole goal of the activity; rather, the main activity is a cognitive and intention-based process characterized by self-regulation and attention to the present moment with an open and accepting orientation towards one's experiences."

In recent years, mindfulness meditation has a new approach for stress reduction and has been incorporated into the treatment for a variety of psychiatric disorders, including depression, anxiety, and substance abuse. Of special relevance to the treatment of ADHD are findings that meditation has the potential to regulate brain functioning and attention. For example, research has demonstrated that mindfulness meditation can modify attentional networks, modulate EEG patterns, alter dopamine levels, and change neural activity.

As conceptualizations of ADHD now increasingly recognize the importance of executive functioning and self-regulation in the disorder, mindfulness meditation - which can be thought of as a type of attention/cognitive exercise program that is focused in improving self-regulation - is a complementary treatment that is well worth investigating. However, although a few small studies of meditation training in children with ADHD have yielded promising results, no research on the use of mindfulness training in adolescents and adults with ADHD has been published.

- Participants -

Participants were 24 adults and 8 adolescents (62% female) diagnosed with ADHD following a comprehensive evaluation. Eight participants fell 1 symptom short of meeting full diagnostic criteria and were considered to have "probable ADHD." The average age was 48.5 for adults and 15.6 for adolescents. About two-thirds were being treated with stimulant medication and continued on medication during the study. As with many adults and adolescents diagnosed with ADHD, the majority had struggled with other psychiatric disorders in their lifetime, with mood disorders being particularly common.

- Mindfulness Training -

Mindfulness meditation is described as involving 3 basic steps: 1) bringing attention to an "attentional anchor" such as breathing; 2) noting that distraction occurs and letting go of the distraction; and, 3) refocusing back to the "attentional anchor".

This sequence is repeated many times during the course of each meditative session. As the individual becomes better able to maintain focus on the attentional anchor, the notion of "paying attention to attention" is introduced and individuals are encouraged to bring their attention to the present moment frequently during the course of the day.

By directing one's attention to the process of paying attention, to noticing notice when one becomes distracted, and to refocusing attention when distraction occurs, mindfulness meditation training can be thought of as an "attention training" program. As such, examining the impact of such training on individuals with ADHD becomes a very interesting question to pursue.

- Mindfulness Training Program -

The mindfulness training program lasted for 8 weeks; each week included one 2.5 hour training session and daily at-home practice sessions.

Weekly training sessions followed a consistent format. The sessions began with a short meditation, followed by a discussion of at-home practice, the introduction and practicing of new exercises, planning for at-home practice sessions for the following week, and a closing sitting meditation. The at-home practice sessions consisted of "...gradually increasing formal meditation and various mindful awareness in daily living exercises." For the at-home practice sessions, participants received 3 CDs containing guided sitting meditations that began at 5 minutes and increased to 15 minutes.

To adapt traditional mindfulness meditation practice to the unique needs of adolescents and adults with ADHD, several modifications to traditional practice were made. First, the 8-week program included educational information on the symptoms, etiology, and biology of ADHD. Second, sitting meditations were shorter than required in similar programs (45 minutes of at-home practice is typically recommended) and walking meditation could be substituted for sitting meditation. Third, visual aids were incorporated to help explain mindful awareness concepts. And, fourth, a loving-kindness mediation, i.e., an exercise of wishing well to self and others) was incorporated at the end of each session to address the low self-esteem often associated with ADHD.

- Measures -

Pre- and posttest assessments included individual self-report scales of ADHD, depression, and anxiety as well as several cognitive tests that were administered when participants were off medication. Attention was assessed using a computerized assessment called the Attention Network Test that measures 3 aspects of attention: alerting (maintaining a vigilant state of preparedness), orienting (selecting a stimulus among multiple inputs), and conflict (prioritizing among competing tasks). Neuropsychological tests that assessed working memory and the ability to shift attention sets (Trails A and B) were also included. At the end of the training, participants were also asked to rate their overall satisfaction with the training.

- Results -

Seventy-eight percent of participants (25 of 33) completed the study. On average, participants attended 7 of the 8 weekly training sessions. Adults reported an average of 90 minutes and 4.6 sessions per week of at-home meditation practice; adolescents averaged 43 minutes and 4 sessions of weekly at-home practice. Both adolescents and adults who completed the program reported high levels of satisfaction with it - average scores above 9 on a 1 to 10 satisfaction scale.

Seventy-eight percent of participants reported a reduction in total ADHD symptoms, with 30% reporting at least a 30% symptom reduction (a 30% reduction in symptoms is often used to identify clinically significant improvement in ADHD medication trials). Because the majority of participants were receiving medication treatment, for many these declines represent improvement above and beyond what benefits were already being provided by medication.

On neurocognitive test performance, significant improvements were found on the measure of attentional conflict and on several other neuropsychological tests (i.e., Stroop color-word test and Trails A and B) but not for measures of working memory.

For adults, significant reductions in depressive and anxiety symptoms were reported. Comparable reductions in these symptoms were not evident in adolescents.

- Summary and Implications -

Results from this study indicate that mindfulness meditation training may be a beneficial complementary treatment approach for adolescents and adults with ADHD. Positive findings include: 1) the absence of any reported adverse events; 2) highly favorable ratings of the treatment by participants; 3) reductions in self-reported ADHD symptoms reported by over three quarters of participants, even though the majority were already being treated with medication; 4) significant improvement on several of the neuropsychological measures; and, 5) reductions in depressive and anxiety symptoms for the adults.

The authors are appropriately cautious in discussing their findings and suggest that the study supports the "...feasibility and potential utility of mindfulness meditation in at least a subset of adults and adolescents with ADHD." They are careful to note, however, that this was a pilot study with a small sample, and that the reported pre-post changes in behavioral and neurocognitive measures should be "...considered exploratory given the absence of a control group and reliance on self-report measures of psychiatric symptoms."

Given the promising results obtained in this pilot study, there is a clear need for a more extensive research on mindfulness meditation training as an intervention for ADHD. In the meantime, although mindfulness meditation could not be considered a scientifically supported treatment for ADHD, it may have benefits as a complementary treatment and is highly unlikely to have any adverse effects.

I find it both encouraging and exciting that there seems to be growing interest among ADHD researchers to explore the scientific support for complementary approaches such as mindfulness meditation training and to subject a wider range of treatments subjected to rigorous scientific research. This has not always been the case and it would be wonderful if this trend were to continue. I hope that the authors of this study are already in the midst of the controlled trial that they call for and will certainly continue to cover these kinds of interesting investigations in Attention Research Update as they appear in the literature.

--- Dr. David Rabiner is a child clinical psychologist and Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke University. His research focuses on various issues related to ADHD, the impact of attention problems on academic achievement, and attention training. He also publishes Attention Research Update, a complimentary online newsletter that helps parents, professionals, and educators keep up with the latest research on ADHD.

For related and mindful reading, you will enjoy:

- Mindfulness and Meditation in Schools for Stress Management

- From Meditation to Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)

- On being positive

In recent years, most professionals in aging have become aware of the growing scientific evidence showing that human brains retain the ability to generate neurons and change over a lifetime, discoveries that have broken the scientific paradigm prevalent during the 20th century. Furthermore, neuroimaging and cognitive training studies are showing how well-directed exercise presents people major opportunities for healthy brain aging.

How can people use emerging technologies to keep their brains healthy and productive as long as possible? An emerging market for brain health-- $225 million market in 2007, in the United States alone, of which consumers account for $80 million--is trying to address that question in a way that complements other important more traditional pillars (and multi-billion industries) of brain health, such as physical exercise, balanced diet, stress management (stress has been shown to actually kill neurons and reduce the rate of creation of new ones) and the overall mental stimulation and lifelong learning.

2007 AN ACTIVE YEAR

A series of important events took place in 2007, a seminal year for the brain health field, beginning in January when many mainstream media publications, such as Time Magazine and CBS News, started to publish major stories on neuroplasticity and brain exercise. This media coverage followed the publication of the long-awaited results from national clinical trials showing that significant percentages of the participants age 65 and older who trained for five weeks improved their memory, reasoning and information-processing speed. Findings from the Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly (ACTIVE) Study appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association (Dec. 20, 2006) and revealed that even after five years, participants in the ACTIVE computer-based program showed less of a decline in information-processing skills than those in a control group that received no cognitive training.

Also, in June last year, the Journals of Gerontology published a special summer issue devoted to cognitive training research studies; actress Nicole Kidman became the mass-market face of “brain training,” highlighting the commercial success of the Nintendo Brain Age software, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, along with the Alzheimer Association released a cognitive health roadmap to guide growing amount of research and improve public health education.

At the annual scientific meeting of the Gerontology Society of America in November, researcher Elizabeth Zelinski of the University of Southern California’s Andrus Gerontology Center, reported very positive initial (not yet published) results from the IMPACT (Improvement in Memory with Plasticity-based Adaptive Cognitive Training) study based on the program that trains auditory processing created by Posit Science, based in San Francisco. In December, PBS broadcast The Brain Fitness Program, featuring Michael Merzenich of Posit Science and the University of California, San Francisco, and his colleagues discussing neuroplasticity, the ability of the brain to change and adapt--even rewire itself.

In addition in November, The Brain Resource Company, an Australian firm specializing in developing cognitive assessments for clinical trials, signed a multimillion dollar contract with an insurance company to develop more sensitive diagnostic brain markers and assessments to enable wider adoption of cognitive assessments.

CLEARING UP CONFUSION

These and other developments are signs of an incipient market still in an immature stage--and that has resulted in much misinformation and confusion. So let me address some typical questions:

Do these programs cure Alzheimer’s? No program can claim that it specifically delays or prevents Alzheimer’s disease beyond general statements, such as that mental stimulation together with other lifestyle factors (nutrition, physical exercise and stress management) can contribute toward building a cognitive reserve that may reduce the probability of Alzheimer’s-related symptoms.

What can brain-health training do? Human cognitive abilities evolve in a variety of ways with aging. Some improve, such as pattern recognition and emotional self-regulation; some decline, for example, speed of processing, working memory and novel problem-solving. Certain mental abilities have proved to be trainable, though, and this provides the opportunity to improve brain performance and quality of life, potentially prolonging one’s independence and autonomy.

How do I evaluate whether any program is good for me and my clients, patients or residents? Ask what cognitive skills you want trained. Some programs present the benefits in such a nebulous way that it is impossible to tell whether or not they will yield any results. The general wording “Brain training” itself is of limited benefit because such activities as gardening or learning a new language “train” the brain, too. One must ask whether an improvement experienced in a brain training program will transfer to real life, and usually that happens when a person trains the cognitive skill or skills that are specifically relevant-there are no general solutions to all problems. Assessments are needed that are distinct from the exercises. Last year, SharpBrains. released a 10-question checklist to help people evaluate the growing number of programs making brain-related claims. You can download a complimentary copy at http://www.sharpbrains.com/press-room/

Growing research is showing that training and an emerging number of tools people must learn to navigate can improve brain function. How does this development affect retirement communities, nursing homes, and the aging health professionals in general? Is this just a fad that will soon vanish, or a first wave of many? I believe technology is emerging as a welcome tool for evaluating and training specific brain functions, and this will enable the increasingly-rapid growth of a cognitive-fitness field that can parallel physical fitness.

In exercising my brain about this, I’ve anticipated 10 trends that I think are likely to emerge during the next three to five years. These include: 

* Emphasis on brain maintenance will increase. The health and aging field will shift from trying to increase longevity to maintaining quality of life throughout late life. Brain health, so neglected until now, will become a major focus.

* Fitness and exercise will gain new meaning applied to cognitive ability. This new focus on numerous brain functions will become obvious in retirement communities and nursing homes. The brain is part of the body and, not surprisingly, many similar principles apply. Much brain exercise will happen in the same installations as physical exercise is done today. Perhaps research will show how best to integrate both types of exercise, such as by training one’s working memory while jogging, or improving one’s attention while biking.

* Makers of public policy will launch government-led efforts to bring cognitive fitness into the mainstream. This will parallel President John F. Kennedy’s initiative to popularize physical fitness by establishing the White House Committee on Health and Fitness during the early 1960s. The increasing number of lifelong learning centers will be important allies in this process.

* Better assessment tools will be developed. These new tools will include personalized assessments, both in the form of neuroimaging and cognitive batteries of tests. These tools will allow anyone to identify areas to strengthen, establish a baseline to analyze performance over time and measure the effectiveness of brain fitness workouts and other cognitive interventions. Today’s assessments are cumbersome, expensive to administer and geared toward clinical populations. Tomorrow's may become as common as devices for checking blood pressure or glucose levels.

* There will be more and better computer-based training programs. These will allow everyone to exercise cognitive skills as needed, both improving strengths and widening bottlenecks that prevent overall progress. Different programs will flex different mental muscles much as different machines at a gym build different muscle groups. The rudimentary, research-limited tools of today will give way to programs defining not only what they do but also who should use them.

* Noncomputer-based programs will also prove to be effective tools. Research increasingly is affirming the value of such methods as meditation to train attention and regulate emotions, using cognitive therapy to build self-motivation and other abilities, and keeping a gratitude journal to affirm positives in one’s life and improve self-reported happiness.

* Certified brain coaches will guide, support and tailor programs. Coaches will help those hone their cognitive skills and build their brain reserves. Watch for practitioners from various professional backgrounds-perhaps psychologists, therapists or trainers-filling this role.

* Doctors and pharmacists will play a central role in brain health. These professionals will continue to be regarded as trusted advisors and points of information about the body, including the brain.

* Insurance Plans will offer incentives for the use of cognitive assessments and training programs. These tools will become part of initiatives for preventive medicine.

* Corporations will add a brain component to their wellness initiatives. Companies will contribute to keeping older employees as healthy and productive as possible, a trend that will be critical given predicted labor shortages in many fields and the growing number of perfectly healthy individuals won’t want to retire at 60 or 65.

We live fascinating times. Neuroscientist Ramon y Cajal said, at the turn of the 20th century, “Every man can, if he so desires, become the sculptor of his own brain.” Today we are starting to develop refined sculpting tools to do just that.

Alvaro Fernandez is the CEO and cofounder of SharpBrains.com, a cognitive fitness website and consulting firm.

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In Focus is a regular feature of Aging Today, the bimonthly newspaper of the American Society on Aging. Articles may be reproduced by obtaining written permission from ASA. Contact:

Paul Kleyman, Editor

Aging Today

American Society on Aging

833 Market St, Suite 511

San Francisco, CA 94103-1824

A recent scientific study is being welcomed as a landmark that shows how fluid intelligence can be improved through training. I interviewed one of the researchers recently (Can Intelligence Be Trained? Martin Buschkuehl shows how), and contributor Dr. Pascale Michelon adds her own take with the great article that follows. Enjoy!

Reference: Jaeggi, S. M., Buschkuehl, M., Jonides, J., & Perrig, W. J. (2008). Improving Fluid Intelligence With Training on Working Memory. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 105(19), 6829-6833

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What is intelligence?

Intelligence is a concept difficult to define as it seems to cover many different types of abilities.

One definition dissociates between crystallized intelligence or abilities and fluid intelligence. Crystallized intelligence refers to the knowledge acquired throughout life such as vocabulary. Fluid intelligence is the ability that allows us to adapt to new situations or problems.

Age does not affect crystallized and fluid intelligence the same way. In 2004, Schaie and colleagues published the results of the Seattle study. In this study, the researchers collected information on participants over 7 testing cycles (from 1956 to 1998). The results showed that fluid abilities tend to decline earlier than crystallized abilities. In 2004, Lovden and colleagues published the results of the Berlin Aging Study, which included 516 participants assessed 5 times over a period of 13 years. The results show a steady decline in fluid abilities. In contrast, crystallized abilities were quite stable over time and even tended to increase.

Can we train intelligence?

There a lot of drugs that supposedly increase intelligence and makes one smarter. However there is no scientific evidence showing that these drugs have any measurable effects on performance.

In terms of training, several studies have shown that practicing specific tasks will indeed increase performance in these tasks. Problematically, transfer of the training benefits to a different task (not practiced) has been rarely shown.

However, in a very recent 2008 study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Jaeggi and her colleagues were able to shown that fluid intelligence could be improved by training on working memory. In other words they showed that training young adults using a working memory task induced performance benefits that transferred to fluid intelligence tasks.

Jaeggi and her colleagues trained four groups of young adults using a complex working memory task, called a dual n-back task (Working memory is the ability to hold information for a short while in memory and use that information to solve a problem). In the task participants had to hold in memory both the locations of squares shown on a computer screen and consonants heard through headphones. A response was required whenever one of the presented stimuli matched the one presented n positions back in the sequence. Quite complex as you can see!

Participants (approximately 16 per group) were trained for 25 minutes per day for 8 days, 12 days, 17 days or 19 days. Fluid intelligence was assessed before the training and after the training using standardized tests (consisting in visual analogy problems).

Control groups, who did not receive any training, were also tested for fluid intelligence at the same intervals as the trained groups.

Results showed that the trained groups did better in the fluid intelligence tasks after the training than before the training. Importantly, this gain was greater than the gain seen in the control groups.

Why would the control groups also improve when they did not get any training? They merely had some practice taking the intelligence test given that the test was administered twice (this is why it is crucial to show that the trained groups shows more benefit than the control groups).

This result is one of the rare ones showing that transfer of training gains exists. Here the benefits from being trained on a complex working memory task transferred to a test of fluid intelligence. This is probably possible because working memory and fluid intelligence are related in several ways. First, both require to use attentional and control processes. Second, they both rely on similar neural networks: lateral prefrontal and parietal cortices.

Note that the effect of the training on the intelligence task became significant only after 17 days of training and not before. However, given the small number of participants in each group, one would need more research including more participants to know for sure how many days of training are needed to get a benefit. It would also be interesting to learn how long these effects last…

In conclusion it looks like one can use training to boost one’s fluid intelligence.

Transfer of training effects are really a must, especially in this domain, because new situations come up all the time and you cannot train yourself on all possible situations.

The same argument applies to computerized brain games: playing the same game over and over will increase your performance in that game. But what you really want to see is a transfer of the benefits induced by playing that game to other everyday tasks. More research is needed then!

--- This article was written by Pascale Michelon, Ph. D., for SharpBrains.com. Copyright 2008. Dr. Michelon has a Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology and has worked as a Research Scientist at Washington University in Saint Louis, in the Psychology Department. She conducted several research projects to understand how the brain makes use of visual information and memorizes facts. She is now an Adjunct Faculty at Washington University, and teaches Memory Workshops in numerous retirement communities in the St Louis area.

Here you are have the bi-monthly update with our 10 most Popular blog posts. (Also, remember that you can subscribe to receive our RSS feed, or to our newsletter, at the top of this page, if you want to receive this digest by email).

 News and Events

Exercise your brain in the Cognitive Age: The New York Times published two thought-provoking articles on brain and cognitive fitness, one of them featuring SharpBrains.

Brain Fitness Webinar Series: Alvaro has been travelling a great deal over the last 2 weeks to speak at a number of conferences (Games for Health, Innovation Institute, Learning & The Brain) and universities (Harvard Business School), mainly to present the key findings from our market report. Now we launching a Brain Fitness Webinar Series to share the most important highlights of our work and field, helped by biologist and author John Medina:

Webinar #1: “The State of the Brain Fitness Software Market, 2008,” (Tuesday May 27th, 11am PDT).

Webinar #2: “Brain Rules for Thinking Smarter,” by guest speaker John Medina (Tuesday June 3rd, 11am PDT).

Webinar #3: “The Science and Practice of Brain Fitness,” (Tuesday June 10th, 11am PDT).

To learn more and register, click on Brain Fitness Webinar Series

Research

Can Intelligence Be Trained? Martin Buschkuehl shows how: These interview notes summarize a great conversation Alvaro had with Martin Buschkuehl, one of the University of Michigan’s researchers  involved in the cognitive training study that has received lots of media attention (New York Times, Wired, Science News...) since late April.

Understanding Brain Imaging: Spectacular post written by four of Dr. Daniel Lende's students, showing how brain imaging provides a window into the plasticity of our brains, and how our very own actions impact them. For better and for worse.

Market

Jack LaLanne and Dakim: Beautiful display of creativity...

Resources

Psychology of Intelligence Analysis: The CIA has posted the full text of one of its guidebooks, "Psychology of Intelligence Analysis". Fascinating overview.

Brain and Cognition Expert Contributors: We profile some of our growing roster of Expert Contributors and link to their best articles with us so far. Enjoy!

Directory of Websites: Here you have a variety of brain and brain-health resources, including many gems.

Brain Teaser

Word game: stimulate your temporal lobe: Teaser that targets the neurons in your language areas, by Dr. Pascale Michelon.

And finally, you may enjoy these reflections on Golden Moments of Choice...and self-directed neuroplasticity by reading Neuroplasticity through Mind Hygiene.

Enjoy!

Today I had a great conversation with Martin Buschkuehl, one of the University of Michigan’s Cognitive Neuroimaging Lab researchers  involved in the cognitive training study that has received much media attention (New York Times, Wired, Science News...) since late April, when the study was published at the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Reference: Jaeggi, S. M., Buschkuehl, M., Jonides, J., & Perrig, W. J. (2008). Improving Fluid Intelligence With Training on Working Memory. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 105(19), 6829-6833 (You can read it here, with subscription).

Before you keep reading, let me clarify a couple of terms:

- "Working Memory" is the ability to hold several units of information in our minds and manipulate them in real time. For example, imagine I ask you to remember, and then say backwards, the 7 digits of my phone number.

- "Fluid intelligence" can be described as the ability to deal with new challenges and new problems, those that we encounter for the first time.

Dr. Buschkuehl, nice to talk to you. Can you first provide us with some context on your research?

My collaborator Susanne Jaeggi and I started our training work four years ago in the Lab of Prof. Walter Perrig at the University of Bern, Switzerland. Now we are both Post Docs in Prof. John Joindes’ Lab at the University of Michigan. We developed a complex computerized task and have tried it in a number of studies. We reported our results in two unpublished dissertations, but this is the first time it has been published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Could you please explain the training involved in this particular study?

We recruited 70 students aged around 26 years and set half of them on a challenging computer-based cognitive training regimen, based on the so-called "n-back task." This is a very complex working memory task that involves the simultaneous presentation of visual and auditory stimuli. The experimental group watched a series of screens on their computers, where a blue square appeared in various positions on a black background. Each screen appeared for half a second, with a 2.5 second gap before the next one appeared. While this happened, the trainees also heard a series of letters that were read out at the same rate.

At first, students had to say if either the screen or the letter matched those that popped up two cycles ago. The number of cycles increased or decreased depending on how well the students performed the task. The students sat through about twenty-five minutes of training per day for either 8, 12, 17 or 19 days, and were tested on their fluid intelligence before and after the regimen using the Bochumer-Matrizen Test (this is a problem-solving task based on the same principle as the very well known Raven’s Advanced Progressive Matrices. However, it is more difficult and therefore especially suited for academic samples).

What were the results?

Participants in the experimental group did significantly better on the fluid intelligence test (which was not directly trained) than participants in the control group. Those in the control group hadn’t gone through any training. The control group did improve slightly, but real “trainees” outperformed them (see Figure Xa). Furthermore, we found that the improvement was dose-dependent: the more they trained, the larger the gain on fluid intelligence.

Images: PNAS.

We just published a market report to cover the growing brain fitness software market. A common question we get is, “How are computerized programs like the one you used fundamentally different from, say, simply doing many crossword puzzles?”

First, thank you for sending the report along. Fascinating to see what is starting to happen in this field.

In terms of why our program worked, I could say that the program has some inherent properties that are at least in this combination unique to our training approach. Our program is:
- Fully adaptive in real-time: The person using the program is truly pushed to his or her peak level all the time, thereby "stretching" the targeted ability.
- Complex: We present a very complex task, mixing different forms of stimuli (auditory, visual) under time pressure.
- Designed for Transferability: The tasks can be designed in a way that do not allow for the development of task-specific "strategies" to beat the game. One needs to truly expand capacity, and this helps ensure the transfer of to non-trained tasks.

This is very different from enhancing task-specific capacities, such as memorizing lists of 100 numbers, which have been shown not to necessarily transfer to related domains.

Can you give an example of the lack of transferability of other training methods?

In Ericsson’s classic paper (Ericsson, K. A., & Delaney, P. F. (1998). Working memory and expert performance. In R. H. Logie & K. J. Gilhooly (Eds.), Working Memory and Thinking (pp. 93-114). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum), people who could memorize 100 numbers, using a variety of mnemotecnic techniques, could not get even close to 100 letters. Remembering numbers didn’t translate into remembering other things, so it wasn’t a general memory capacity that had been improved.

What are the particular aspects of the University of Michigan study that surprised you the most?

First, the clear transfer into fluid intelligence, that many researchers and psychologists take as fixed.

Second, I was surprised to see that the more training the better the outcome. The improvements did not seem to peak early.

Third, that all trained groups improved, no matter their respective starting points. In fact, students with lowest fluid intelligence seemed to improve the most. But that was not the main focus of our study, so we can not say much more about it.

How did participants describe the experience, and their benefits?

Many liked the training. They saw the challenge, and tried hard to push themselves through the training to see how far they could go.

We did not analyze how the fluid intelligence gains transferred into real life. But from an anecdotal point of view, many participants have shared stories of how they perceive a major benefit. Now they can follow lectures more easily, understand math better etc…

There is a degree of artificial controversy these days in the media and the scientific community on the respective benefits of physical or mental exercise. Your thoughts?

We obviously need both. Physical exercise keeps the body in a good shape but especially in older people also leads to cognitive benefits. Mental exercise, like the one we used, can enhance important abilities and is most likely the most efficient way to improve a specific cognitive process but also generalizes to a broader range of skills, as we showed.

Research will need to help clarify who needs what type of exercise more. Some people may get enough mental exercise through very complex jobs and what they need is physical exercise. For others, it may be the opposite.

What are your plans now?

First, to conduct follow-up research to analyze the neural basis of the improvement via neuroimaging studies and try to measure benefits in real life.

But our main hope is to be able to investigate and develop applications for people who need it most: children with development problems, stroke/ TBI rehab, and older adults.

Also, let me note that there is a cross-platform application available (Note: Here), that allows to train with the dual n-back task and several other training tasks that we developed for other studies. Although the application is available in English, the Manual and the BrainTwister Website are not at the moment. We are about to release an English version, but unfortunately I cannot give you a release date right now. If the training program is used for research (i.e. a training study), it is provided free of charge.

Martin, many thanks for sharing your time and insights with us. Please keep us informed of new developments.

My pleasure. We will.

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Reference: Jaeggi, S. M., Buschkuehl, M., Jonides, J., & Perrig, W. J. (2008). Improving Fluid Intelligence With Training on Working Memory. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 105(19), 6829-6833 (You can read it here, with subscription