Archive for June, 2009
An interesting study is reported in the online version of Discover magazine suggesting that mind wandering is an important part of mental functioning. You can find the article here. Researchers asked people to pay attention to a task while their brain activity was recorded in a special scanner called a functional magnetic resonance imager (fMRI). At intervals they asked the people of they were paying attention to the task. Many people weren’t paying attention and were letting their mind wander. Its’ interesting to know that until they were asked, many of these people didn’t know that their minds were no longer focused on the task.
The researchers went back to the results of the fMRI scans and looked at what the mind wanderers’ brains were doing when they weren’t paying attention. They found that the parts of the brain that were active at those times were related to thinking about yourself and planning for the future. The suggest that the mind has a way of switching back and forth between paying attention in the present and thinking about and planning for the future. So letting your mind wander may have some benefits.
In contrast, an article that appeared earlier this year in the Journal of Experimental Psychology (available here; scroll down to the article titled “Conducting the Train of Thought . . .”) showed that mind wandering was related to poorer working memory functioning. Since working memory function, in general, becomes worse as we get older, this finding presents the possibility that older persons may have the tendency to let their minds wander more than do younger persons.
This would be an explanation for the most common complaint I hear from people about their memory. People tell me “I went in another room to get something and I couldn’t remember what it was.” If your mind wanders in the middle of a task such as finding something, it may give you the impression that your memory isn’t working. It may not be so much your memory itself, but your ability to control whether your mind wanders.
Computer brain training in a brain gym is one way to help improve this ability. Most brain training programs require people to pay attention for extended periods. Both the programs from Posit Science and available on line at Lumosity may train your ability to pay attention. I’m also intrigued by the possibility that coping with stress and improving your mood may help with attention, since both depression and stress have a negative impact on a person’s ability to pay attention. Some types of meditation, too, can help train attention. More studies of all of these interventions are needed to help us figure out whether attention training can help older people improve their everyday memory.
Dietary supplements for brain fitness are controversial. This is at least in part because of two important facts:
- Very little research shows that any supplement has a positive effect on brain fitness, and
- Many supplements are costly, and some may have negative side effects such as interactions with prescription medications.
The first fact means that it’s very hard to know whether any supplement measures up to the claims that some people at least make for it. The second means that you may have to make a substantial investment in something that may or may not help you, and that the makers of the supplements may have a lot of money to promote them.
Having said that, some dietary supplements have limited evidence to support their inclusion in a brain fitness program. Probably the best-supported supplement for heart health, omega-3 fish oils, is a likely candidate for brain health. The American Heart Association recommends that everyone get some omega-3 fish oils from their diet, and from supplements if they to lower their triglycerides.
Another supplement that has been touted as possibly effective in reducing your risk of getting Alzheimer’s disease is curcumin. It’s a substance that occurs in turmeric, a common spice. Consumption of turmeric in some parts of India, some researchers have suggested, may account for low rates of Alzheimer’s disease in those areas. In one study with mice, those fed curcumin seemed to have a reversal of amyloid plaque formation in their (those are one of the key things that happen in the brain in Alzheimer’s).
Large scale studies have shown that people who get more antioxidants in their diet, and possibly those who take supplements of antioxidants like vitamins C and E, may have lower risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease. A group of researchers in New York have shown that people who follow the antioxidant-rich Mediterranean diet more closely have a lower risk for Alzheimer’s disease.
At the moment, these are our best guesses for supplements that may help maintain brain fitness. As interest increases in brain fitness, we may know more about these and other supplements.
I’ve seen a lively discussion in some groups about the best ways to do brain training. The discussion revolves around not only what to do but also how long and how often someone should do the training.
As with most things about brain training, there isn’t much good research to guide you. As with learning almost anything, though, one reasonable strategy is to train for 20-30 minutes at least once a day. Twice a day is likely to improve the training effect, but it’s not clear by how much. It’s important not to do too much of one activity. Too much learning in one area without allowing yourself a break may result in interference in your learning.
You should also consider other factors in your training. The best software programs, for example, give you a number of choices in activities, and don’t to any one thing for very long. Although the free n-back training software is very good, some people may find it boring after 20 minutes a day over several weeks. You shouldn’t take your level of motivation for granted. It’s what will keep you training after the initial thrill of trying out cognitive training wears off.
Latest
- Meditation as Brain Training
- Brain Fitness and The Mind of a Monk
- Brain Fitness Tip: Training Without a Computer
Mindfulness meditation as practiced over a long period by experts makes clear changes in someone’s brain function. But what about those of us who don’t have a few years to sit in a monastery in the Himalayas? A new study shows that even brief meditation practice can improve attention.
I saw an interesting blog post yesterday evening on the site of the Huffington Post about the potential benefits of meditation – or at least about what one woman thinks might be the benefits. (more…)
Although many people are excited about the potential for using computers to train their brains, we shouldn’t forget that other techniques have been used to the train the brain for many centuries. I’m thinking about the large number of techniques for meditation. While free computer software still requires an investment in a computer, meditation only asks you to sit or lie quietly and focus your mind.
A recently-published study shows parts of the brain in long-term meditators are larger than the same parts of the brain in people who don’t meditate. The article by Eileen Luders and her colleagues appeared in a recent issue of the journal Neuroimage (Vol. 45, No. 3, pp. 672-678, April 15, 2009). The study showed that portions of the orbitofrontal cortex and the hippocampus were larger in persons who had been regular meditators for 5 or more years. The study is interesting because the parts of the brain that were larger are often thought to be important in helping people keep themselves emotionally balanced.
A number of strategies are likely to be helpful for meditators. There has been a great deal of interest over the last several years in mindfulness meditation. Researchers have studied how it can be used in reducing anxiety and depression. Mindfulness is based on Buddhist meditation (for a brief article, click here) but you don’t have to be a Buddhist to practice meditation. In fact, one of the most important persons who has promoted mindfulness is Jon Kabat-Zinn, a researcher at the University of Massachusetts. You can see a video presentation by him on YouTube by clicking here.