The results of the 7th Annual Best Illusion of the Year are in! The winner: “Silencing awareness of change by background motion.” Though of the top 10 finalists, I personally like “Mask of Love.” If you’d like to see a collection of fun illusions that befuddle the brain, check out our Brain Teasers page. You [...]

Take a look at this picture: I think it’s pretty incredible–not just because it’s an awesome piece of art, but because it provides a fantastic example of the versatility of your visual processing system.

According to scientists at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, eye movement can teach you a lot more about politics than you might guess. These scientists studied how liberals and conservatives respond to “gaze cues,” and found dramatic differences. The short version: the liberals generally followed the cues, the conservatives did not. Read about the study here. [...]

‘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 [...]

It turns out Posit Science doesn’t just help people recover from debilitating conditions, but actually has the potential to produce superhuman athletes. Take Dave Demko, the professional skiing competitor who has used our programs (along with rigorous physical exercise and training) to beat people more than half his age (just enter his name in the [...]

I just got a sneak peek of the new PBS show called Brain Fitness Frontiers in which our own founder, Dr. Mike Merzenich, is featured. One of the everyday examples of brain fitness Dr. Mike mentions is how older people can avoid falling down by training their brains to keep their head upright when they [...]

I commute to work on my bicycle through downtown San Francisco every day rain or shine. It is more fun than sitting in a crowded bus or worse, driving in  rush hour traffic. However, riding a bike in the city can be dangerous. Drivers often fail to see me and pull out in front of [...]

Cognitive ability is a critical measure of safe driving … understanding that point the way toward improving our ability to deal with the many distractions beyond texting that we can’t eliminate or legislate.

I am disappointed that distracted driving has been myopically defined as “texting while driving” … we are missing an opportunity to make a dent in the 6 million annual crashes in the US.

In my view the most impressive outcome from a cognitive training study is the 51% reduction in at-fault crash rates found in the ACTIVE study. ACTIVE is an acronym for Advanced Cognitive Training in the Independent and Vital Elderly. It is the largest clinical trial to examine the effects of cognitive training with almost 3000 [...]