Evaluating Brain Fitness Programs – Which Should I Choose?

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. [...]

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Posted May 4, 2010 by Peter Delahunt under Benefits of Brain Fitness, Brain Fitness Marketing, Brain Fitness Program, Brain exercise, Brain plasticity, DriveSharp, Driving, InSight, Neuroscience, Research studies

A New Age of Centenarians

I just found out that more than half of babies born in developed countries today will live to be more than 100 years old. That’s a lot of centenarians. Apparently, with each passing year humankind (in rich countries, at least) gains an average of 3 months of extra life expectancy, thanks to medical advances. As [...]

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Posted April 7, 2010 by Marghi Merzenich under Neuroscience, Research studies

Music Has Charms to Soothe a Savage Brain

Is there really anything more interesting to talk about than music? Personally, I can’t think of anything else I would rather occupy my thoughts and conversations with. That’s probably because for me, music connects to everything worth caring about in the first place: culture, technology, and language. Mark Richardson, one of my favorite modern writers [...]

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Posted March 31, 2010 by Cyrus Hedayati under Brain exercise, Brain plasticity, Neuroscience, Research studies

Tips for Growing Brains, Behaviors and Ideas!

Ed. note: Today we are pleased to present a guest post from Dr. G, aka M. A. Greenstein, Ph.D. Dr. G is an internationally recognized speaker, coach, and researcher of visual culture and neurosomatics.  Click on her name above for a full biography. With the ever increasing research buzz on brain fitness, and especially “novel” [...]

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Posted March 17, 2010 by M.A. Greenstein under Brain plasticity, Neuroscience, Odds and Ends, Research studies

I Train To…

Depending on where you live, you may have seen our new commercial on TV. We are really proud of it- because it reminds people that among other benefits, Posit Science programs are clinically proven to help people improve their memory and auditory processing, cut crash risk in half, and protect health-related quality of life for [...]

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Posted March 16, 2010 by Karen Merzenich under Benefits of Brain Fitness, Brain Fitness Marketing, Brain Fitness Program, Brain exercise, DriveSharp, InSight, Memory, Posit Science software, Processing speed, Research studies

Optimizing Brain Function

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, [...]

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Posted March 10, 2010 by Peter Delahunt under Brain exercise, Exercise, Physical exercise, Posit Science software, Research studies

New Web Resource: “About the Brain”

About the Brain is a new section on the Posit Science website that’s chock-full of great information about the brain and brain fitness. You can choose from these areas of interest: Brain Facts helps you understand how your brain and brain plasticity work. It answers all kinds of questions, like “Are crosswords really good for [...]

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Posted March 2, 2010 by Marghi Merzenich under Benefits of Brain Fitness, Brain exercise, Exercise, Memory, Neuroscience

UFOV Training Reduces Medical Expenditures

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 [...]

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Posted February 16, 2010 by Peter Delahunt under Benefits of Brain Fitness, Brain exercise, DriveSharp, Exercise, InSight, Neuroscience, Posit Science software, Processing speed, Research studies

Move Aside, Drugs: Non-invasive Brain Therapies

Recently, scientists at MIT tested a specially-designed nutritional drink to see whether it could improve cognitive function in patients with mild Alzheimer’s disease. (Here’s an article in CNN on the subject.) The drink includes three key nutrients: uridine, choline (part of the vitamin B family) and DHA (an omega-3 fatty acid). These are nutrients that [...]

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Posted January 26, 2010 by Sharon Delman under Exercise, Neuroscience, Research studies

Live Blogging the SharpBrains Summit – Day 2

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 [...]

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Posted January 19, 2010 by Peter Delahunt under Benefits of Brain Fitness, Brain exercise, Brain plasticity, InSight, Memory, Neuroscience, Processing speed, Research studies