Brain Training Study Off the Ground!

After overcoming a number of obstacles, our study of the effects of cognitive training on fluid intelligence has finally started. We’re enrolling participants from our local Life Long Learning Program, all of whom are 50 years or older. In the study, we are comparing the effects of working memory training …

Cognitive Training, Gait Speed, and Brain Fitness

An article in this weeks’ Journal of Gerontology, provides some interesting information on how cognitive training can actually affect someone’s physical status. The article, titled “Effect of Cognitive Remediation on Gait in Sedentary Seniors,” reports on a small group of elders who completed 8 weeks of computer-based cognitive training. The …

Beagles and Your Brain

Just last week I had the opportunity to attend the second Cognitive Aging Summit sponsored by the National Institute on Aging. It was an outstanding opportunity to find out what researchers in the field of cognition and aging are doing. One of the most interesting presentations was by Dr. Carl …

5 Ways to Focus on Brain Fitness

For pretty much all of us, developing brain fitness means doing something different. Either we have to do something we don’t do now, such as exercise or eat antioxidant-rich foods, or we have to do less of something we already do, such as eating high fat foods or just eating …

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Brain Training Study Off the Ground!

October 8, 2011 Brain Fitness, Cognitive abilities, Cognitive Training, Psychomotor Speed, self-efficacy No Comments
computer with apple for teacher

After overcoming a number of obstacles, our study of the effects of cognitive training on fluid intelligence has finally started. We’re enrolling participants from our local Life Long Learning Program, all of whom are 50 years or older. In the study, we are comparing the effects of working memory training and general cognitive stimulation on a battery of cognitive measures.

It’s far too early for us to talk about results, but I can say that our first four participants have been very enthusiastic about working with us. We are using a combination of software packages for each condition, and participants have been very positive about working in our small computer lab.

We’re looking forward to the chance that our cognitive training battery has positive effects on our participants. We are not only looking at cognitive abilities but also the effects of training on self-efficacy and mood.

Changes in Brain Size with Aging

July 31, 2011 Brain Fitness, Cognitive abilities No Comments
Picture of chimpanzee

Understanding brain aging has to be research priority. The average age of people in the US is increasing. This means that there are more older people at risk for diseases that occur as people get older, such as Alzheimer’s.

In people, the size of the brain decreases as they get older. The deep grooves on the surface of the brain (called sulci) get bigger, and the fluid-filled areas inside the brain (ventricles) get larger. It all amounts to loss of brain tissue, and many people believe that this loss of brain tissue may be related to cognitive changes that also occur with aging, like problems in remembering things.

That’s why a recent study about brain size in chimpanzees is interesting. It shows that chimpanzees, who in many respects are similar to humans, have brains that don’t get smaller as they get older. Chimpanzees also don’t live as long as humans. The authors of the study argue that the decrease in brain size with increasing age that is seen in humans may have something to do with how long humans live. They suggest that the longer life span of humans may be in part the result of an evolutionary trade-off in which increased life span may have the cost of increased age-related neurodegeneration.

Reference:

Sherwood CC et al. Aging of the cerebral cortex differs between humans and chimpanzees. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, PNAS early edition (online) DOI: www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1016709108

 

Brain Fitness

Brain Training Study Off the Ground!

computer with apple for teacher

After overcoming a number of obstacles, our study of the effects of cognitive training on fluid intelligence has finally started. We’re enrolling participants from our local Life Long Learning Program, all of whom are 50 years or older. In the study, we are comparing the effects of working memory training …

Changes in Brain Size with Aging

Picture of chimpanzee

Understanding brain aging has to be research priority. The average age of people in the US is increasing. This means that there are more older people at risk for diseases that occur as people get older, such as Alzheimer’s. In people, the size of the brain decreases as they get …

Exercise, Mitochondrial DNA, and Brain Fitness

Mouse on white background

One very influential theory of why our physical and mental functions decline with age holds that changes in our DNA accumulate over time so that out cells don’t work any more. Perhaps the most important part of our DNA exists in every cell in a special part called the mitochondia. …

The Default Mode Network and Brain Fitness

Man sleeping on grass

If brain fitness is more than just trying to avoid memory loss as you get older (and I think it is), then understanding how you think is (I think) critical. Sometimes called metacognition, this means not just thinking, but thinking about thinking. Follow that? Metacognition is the idea that we …

Mindfulness Meditation, Brain Fitness, and Gray Matter

Buddhist monk looking out over the forest

Most people know that the brain is smaller with age, at least in part due to loss of brain cells in parts of the brain related to perception, memory, and executive processes. Anything that can slow down or reverse the process should be of interest to all of us, whatever our age. …

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