Comments on: How To Keep Your Brain Smart

By: Steven Aldrich

Steven Aldrich — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 15:16:25 +0000

There are two topics here, neurogenesis (neuron creation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurogenesis) and neuroplasticity (re-wiring of neurons http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroplasticity)

Speed of processing brain training shows improved memory (IMPACT study http://bit.ly/Smith_IMPACT that used Posit Science’s Brain Fitness Program) and other real-world measures (http://bit.ly/JAMA_Paper) also improve just like physical fitness gets better with exercise.

Posit Science, where I am CEO and Dr. Merzenich (http://bit.ly/6QEwYf) is CSO, makes scientifically-validated and engaging software to help you think faster, focus better and remember more. Over 30 clinical studies from institutions like the Mayo Clinic and Johns Hopkins show a range of benefits. For more information and free exercises, please visit http://www.positscience.com

By: Jay

Jay — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 14:16:49 +0000

I would like all these scientific people to come back to me when they have managed to find a way for us to wire our neurons so we can move things with our minds, levitate and read people’s thoughts…oh and when they have found a brain capable of knowing how to build a hover board as from Back To The Furture.

By: brain training advocate

brain training advocate — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 13:47:14 +0000

In response to Dave Straker’s comment, it does seem that we lose some brain plasticity as we get into our fifties and beyond, but it doesn’t go away entirely. I’ve known people in their late seventies who have still been able to improve their cognitive capacity. It takes more effort, though.

By: roz

roz — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 04:32:08 +0000

there’s something to be said fer being comfortably numb, whodat…besides, it keeps the liquor & drug industries profitable.

By: whodat

whodat — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 00:37:55 +0000

the assumption that people actually strive for intelligence…

bums me out to observe many of my friends and peers choosing to become comfortably numb =(

By: Elephants Child

Elephants Child — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 19:55:30 +0000

I had an arguement about this 25 years ago in a pschology lesson.
I was told that the brain was totally incapable of making new connections if the neurons were damaged. When I pointed out that this was blatantly nonsense I was basically told to shut up.

Glad to finally be proved right.
I have had severe brain damage several times in my life & always managed to bounce back .

By: Bart Mitchell

Bart Mitchell — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 17:29:39 +0000

I had my first child a bit later in life. During the first 3 years, I stopped learning myself while I was teaching her the basics. When I realized that I had stopped learning new things, I set out to correct the problem.

Getting back into reading challenging material was great, but the thing that boosted my brain the most was learning another foreign language. I could almost feel the neurons making new connections.

By: OtherMike

OtherMike — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 16:08:56 +0000

The question marks are down to a cut and paste problem – they are showing that there is an unknown character, which from the context must be the “em dash” as the writer uses a lot of parenthesis – this sort of thing.

If in doubt, run it through notepad first or something.

Or you could grow some new neurons be memorising all the codes for the different non keyboard characters…

By: Angstrom

Angstrom — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 15:53:16 +0000

“How strong is the evidence for this? Strong enough that a $200 million industry devoted to brain-boosting software ?”

so, the fact that there is an industry is meant to make be believe that the evidence is strong?
n that case, I play the card marked “Homeopathy”

Perhaps there is strong evidence, but the sentence you deliver does not indicate it.

By: roz

roz — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 13:05:24 +0000

this is very inneresting, because i’ve also seen research which indicates that muscles do not lose strength as you age. and quite a few good examples of this do seem to exist.