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Brain Fitness Tip of the Week: Multitasking

August 28, 2009 Brain Fitness No Comments

Multitasking, many people say, is on the rise. Multitasking is doing two or more things at once. If you watch the news, you can see evidence. Bus drivers sending text messages, and the nearly universal practice of having conversations on the telephone while driving.

A recent study shows that people who habitually multitask actually are worse at switching back and forth between mental tasks than people who don’t. A study reported this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (early edition; August 23, 2009) shows that multitaskers have trouble screening out irrelevant information while performing several tasks. Eyal Ophir and his colleagues at Stanford University used several cognitive tasks including the same n-back task used to in other studies to train working memory.

People who reported the highest use of several media simultaneously (e.g., watching television, surfing the Web, and texting) were more likely to be distracted and performed more poorly on the n-back task.

So what do we make of earlier studies that show that n-back training may improve working memory, fluid intelligence, and even change brain receptors? This may be a case of comparing things that are superficially similar but basically different. Habitual multitasking may lead people to perform more poorly on a variety of tasks, most notably, driving. This habitual multitasking should be distinguished from the working memory training in which the n-back task is used. Working memory training can improve performance, but it may be that constant multitasking does not.

Mediterranean Diet, Physical Activity, and Risk for Alzheimer’s

August 13, 2009 Brain Fitness, Cardiovascular Disease, cognition, Diet, exercise, Fitness, Memory No Comments

Studies reported in this week’s  Journal of the American Medical Association (August 12, 2009) support the relation of physical activity and the Mediterranean diet to reduced risk for Alzheimer’s disease. The first study, by Scarmeas and his colleagues, showed that persons who report following the Mediterranean diet and who are more physically active were less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease over several years. The average age of the participants was 77 years, so this group (called the Northern Manhattan cohort) would have been at higher risk than younger individuals.

The second study, by Feart and her colleagues, looked at adherence to the Mediterranean diet and risk for having problems on certain mental ability tests. Here again, the study suggests that following the Mediterranean diet was associated with a reduced risk of developing certain kinds of cognitive problems.

The study was discussed by Dr. Nancy Snyderman on the Today Show. You can find a link to a page that will let you see the segment from the show here.  (Look for a link to “Study: Mediterranean diet cuts Alzheimer’s risk.” You also have to watch a commercial; that’s NBC, not me).  I think that she may overstate the case based on the research; there’s a very nice editorial in this same issue of the Journal by well-known neurologist David Knopman. He points out a number of possible reasons for these findings that might affect the conclusion that the Mediterranean diet and exercise reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s. He suggests we should “nibble and savor” the results of these studies, not “swallow them whole.”

It’s still premature to be sure that following the Mediterranean diet or being physically activity will prevent Alzheimer’s disease. Given what we know about the relation of cardiovascular health and risk for Alzheimer’s, and what we know about diet and exercise and cardiovascular health, though, I think it’s a good idea to pay close attention to your diet and to exercise safely.

Brain Fitness

Depression and Risk for Dementia

Hispanic Woman

An article authored by a group at the University of Pittsburgh today published an article in the British Journal of Psychiatry confirming and extending our 2006 paper in the Archives of General Psychiatry showing that depression is related to an increased risk of developing dementia later in life. Our previous paper showed that having …

Strength Training and the Brain

Gray haired woman lifting weight

Lots of evidence points to the usefulness of aerobic exercise for maintaining and improving mental functioning (see a previous blog post here and an extensive review article here). It is not as clear, though, whether strength training has an effect. An article in JAMA Internal Medicine shows that even a …

Concentration

Old book pen magnifier

Maria Konnikova posts an interesting article in this past Sunday’s New York Times on the effects of undivided attention and mindfulness. In her post, she links concentration to Sherlock Holmes (perhaps because that’s a link to her forthcoming book), but she provides a nice if brief review of some of …

Cognitive Lifestyle and Neuroprotection

man thinking

A study from earlier this year sheds light on how being mentally active may confer protection for cognitive decline. Michael Valenzuela is a researcher whose work focuses on understanding the links between mental activity over someone’s entire life and their later function. In previous studies, he and his colleagues have …

Physical Activity and How Long You Live

Man riding a bicycle in a race

Lots of research has shown that, at least over short periods of time, people who are physically active are more alert, remember things better, and are in better health. But does that mean that they live longer?  A recent review article looked at this question. The authors found 13 papers …

RSS Worry and GAD Blog

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