Our eyes take in a lot of information from the world, but limitations in brain processing means that we can only pay attention to a small portion of it. As a consequence we often fail to notice important information that is clearly in our field of view because our attention is focused elsewhere. One compelling [...]

1. Why Would An Older Driver Run A Red Light?
2. New Study Shows: Posit Science Brain Training Reduces Crash Risk in Older Adults by 50%
3. Safer driving by improving visual processing

The brain fitness market has expanded rapidly in recent years, and there is now a large selection of computer and on-line brain training exercises to choose from. At one end of the spectrum are games that are purely for entertainment purposes. At the other end are exercises that have been scientifically validated in clinical trials. [...]

1. Live Blogging the SharpBrains Summit – Day 1
2. Our Brain Awareness Session on Brain Plasticity & Brain Fitness with Dr. Michael Merzenich
3. Posit Science training programs provide many real-world benefits

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that helps produce a reward response in the brain. This response kicks into action when we do something pleasurable- like eating highly palatable food. It is known that there is a reduction in this reward response in obese people. However, it is unclear whether the reduction in reward precedes obesity and [...]

1. Your Brain in Love: Part 5 – No Room for Romance? Try Music Instead… but not Junk Food
2. Weight Gain Can Lead to Fewer Food-Related Brain Rewards
3. Is Milk the Newest Brain Food?

Multiple studies have shown that Posit Science training programs produce many benefits for healthy adults by improving cognitive performance. There is also great interest in the science community for using our products to address cognitive decline in clinical populations. The goal of brain plasticity based training programs is to re-normalizing brain function through rigorous and [...]

1. Brain Scan Study Provides Further Evidence of Chemotherapy-Related Cognitive Decline
2. After Chemotherapy, Brain Can Be Impaired For 5+ Years
3. Liveblogging “HIV-Related Cognitive Decline: Can Brain Training Help?” – Webinar with Dr. Sean Rourke

It has become clear over the last few years that one of the many benefits of regular physical exercise is a better functioning brain. In a recent review paper Erickson and Kramer (2009) noted the following: People who exercise regularly have larger volumes of grey matter in important regions of the brain, including the prefrontal, [...]

1. UFOV Training Reduces Medical Expenditures
2. Move Aside, Drugs: Non-invasive Brain Therapies
3. Dog Owners Excel in Physical and Cognitive Fitness

At the Transportation Research Board annual meeting last year I attended a talk by Dr. Fredric Wolinsky of the University of Iowa. Along with his colleagues, he conducted an analysis of participants in the ACTIVE clinical trial, the largest study of cognitive training performed to date. He found that people who had done ten hours [...]

1. Posit Science training programs provide many real-world benefits
2. Want to Live Longer? Keep Driving!
3. New Study Shows: Posit Science Brain Training Reduces Crash Risk in Older Adults by 50%

Recently Dr. Jerri Edwards of the University of South Florida published a paper showing that older adults who cease driving have higher mortality rates.1 You might think this can be easily explained by the fact that unhealthy people are more likely to cease driving. However, Dr. Edwards used an analytical method to take into account [...]

1. Posit Science training programs provide many real-world benefits
2. UFOV Training Reduces Medical Expenditures
3. Live Blogging the SharpBrains Summit – Day 1

‘If you want to keep safe out there, you must use your peripheral vision.’ So said the mentor in the orange vest. I was in a crowd of about 100 cyclists who were about to embark on their first criterium bicycle race. Criteriums are circuit races that are held on short road circuits.  In this [...]

1. Biking in the city
2. UCSF Researchers Show InSight Program Improves Working Memory
3. How Do You Teach A 6-Year-Old with Autism to Ride a Bike?

11:05 am: This session has now concluded. That is the end of my blogging from the Sharp Brains summit. All the best, Peter. 11:04 am: Dr. Stern believes that improving executive functioning performance with training can increase cognitive reserve. Improving cognitive reserve may delay or reverse the effects of aging. 10:56 am: Now speaking is [...]

1. Live Blogging the SharpBrains Summit – Day 1
2. Live Blogging the SharpBrains Summit: “Beyond the Con­tro­versy: Defin­ing ‘Brain Train­ing’ and Its Appli­ca­tions”
3. Live Blogging the SharpBrains Summit: “Past, Present, and Future of Applied Neuroplasticity”

Although there have been numerous small studies investigating the effects of Ginkgo Biloba on memory, they have generally have been small and followed participants for short periods of time. The results have been inconsistent and overall inconclusive. The GEM (Ginkgo Evaluation of Memory) study was set up to address these  inconsistent results. GEM is a [...]

1. Posit Science training programs provide many real-world benefits
2. Live Blogging the SharpBrains Summit – Day 1
3. Safer driving by improving visual processing