Perhaps you’ve heard that we humans are special in the animal world because our brains are so very, very big for our size. Not true, as it turns out. Sure, they’re big compared to a bird brain or a dog brain, but in the primate world our brain size is pretty unremarkable–at least according to this [...]
Tags: brain function, craniometry, intelligence, IQ tests, neurology, science claims, scientific studies, Steven Jay Gould, The Mismeasure of Man
Posted August 4, 2010 by Marghi Merzenich under Evolution of the Brain, Neuroscience, Odds and Ends
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. [...]
Tags: brain fitness, Evaluating brain fitness products, michael merzenich, science claims, sharpbrains
Posted May 4, 2010 by Peter Delahunt under Benefits of Brain Fitness, Brain exercise, Brain Fitness Marketing, Brain Fitness Program, Brain plasticity, DriveSharp, Driving, InSight, Neuroscience, Research studies
Recently, I read an article about the promise of a nutritional drink called Souvenaid for Alzheimer’s treatment. (My co-worker wrote a great blog post about it a couple of weeks ago.) As reported in CNN, early studies showed the drink had the potential to improve certain types of memory in Alzheimer’s patients. Then I found [...]
Tags: Alzheimer's, Brain plasticity, breakthrough, CNN, media, murali doraiswamy, science claims, scientific studies, Souvenaid
Posted February 18, 2010 by Marghi Merzenich under Brain Fitness Marketing, Brain plasticity, Neuroscience, Odds and Ends, Research studies
1:38 PM: That’s it for our live blog today- Peter Delahunt will start the live blogging tomorrow morning at 8 AM for Day 2 coverage. We hope you enjoyed the live blog and that you’ll be back tomorrow! 1:35 PM: Elkhonon Goldberg is the Chief Scientific Advisor to SharpBrains. He begins by discussing the role [...]
Tags: allstate, alvaro fernandez, bill reichman, brain fitness, cognifit, conference, david whitehouse, Driving, driving safety, Elizabeth Zelinski, elkhonon goldberg, IMPACT study, jerri edwards, Kunal Sarkar, Lumosity, marian diamond, murali doraiswamy, plasticity, science claims, sharpbrains, shlomo breznitz, summit, teen driving, tom warden
Posted January 18, 2010 by Karen Merzenich under Benefits of Brain Fitness, Brain exercise, Brain Fitness Marketing, Brain Fitness Program, Brain plasticity, DriveSharp, Driving, Driving safety, Exercise, InSight, Memory, Neuroscience, Posit Science software, Processing speed, Research studies
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 [...]
Tags: brain fitness, brain function, IMPACT study, science claims
Posted January 12, 2010 by Peter Delahunt under Brain Fitness Program, Research studies
Disney recently announced that it is offering refunds on Baby Einstein DVDs purchased in the past five years. Why? Baby Einstein claimed to make babies “smarter,” but doesn’t. In fact, research suggests that if anything, watching such DVDs slows learning development in young children. Threatened with a class-action lawsuit, Disney began to offer the refunds. [...]
Tags: Baby Einstein, brain fitness, brain training, science claims, scientific studies
Posted November 11, 2009 by Marghi Merzenich under Benefits of Brain Fitness, Brain Fitness Marketing, Neuroscience, Research studies
Posit Science's corporate blog is the place where our employees share their thoughts about Posit Science and its products, brain fitness, breakthroughs in neuroscience, and any other topic they find interesting and relevant. 
