(Page 2 of 2)
Merzenich and colleagues tested the program with 95 older people aged 63-94 who were living in retirement homes in California. According to research presented last week at the Society for Neurosciences meeting in Washington, DC, people who trained an hour a day for eight weeks significantly improved their scores on memory tests. And those who progressed to the most difficult levels showed the greatest improvements, with the majority of participants gaining the equivalent of ten neurocognitive years.
"It's an encouraging finding," says Linda Ercoli, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the Neuropsychiatric Institute at UCLA. "I would love to read it when it comes out as a whole paper."
Researchers don't yet know how long the effects of the training last. But the Posit program is one example of how scientists are conceptualizing the aging brain differently. "We used to think that cognitive decline was global and inevitable," says Ercoli. "Now we think cognition and aging is something you can intervene in...you can teach people to maximize their cognitive potential."
The key question for Posit and other cognitive training programs is how well the specific training improves daily activities, such as shopping or driving. "The thing that eludes programs now is how do you train people in one area [such as working memory] and get improvement in another area [such as following conversations in a noisy room]," says Jeffrey Elias, a health science administrator at the National Institute on Aging in Bethesda, MD. Today, a typical training program focuses on memory tricks, such as mnemonics.*
The Posit program already shows some ability to generalize -- participants improved memory in ways that weren't used in training sessions. But Merzenich and colleagues plan to assess broader effects in the next round of testing. The scientists will also use brain imaging to analyze how the program changes brain function.
One potential drawback to such a training program is the amount of time and effort it takes to see a difference. Much like physical exercise and dieting, mental workouts require a healthy dose of discipline. "The potential is significant, but it takes a lot of self-motivation and willpower," says Elias.
For those with enough drive to stick with the mental gymnastics, though, Posit will soon offer an entire brain gym. In addition the auditory program, the company is building four other tools to train different cognitive systems: vision, executive control, balance and mobility, and sensory-guided motor control.
* [Correction, Nov. 23, 2005: In the original version of this story, the word "mnemonics" was misspelled.]
A specialized camera regularly takes pictures to aid with memory.
Chicago PT wants to help stroke survivors learn to walk again.
Guest (William McMillan)
If the training of the brain to absorb at ever increasing speed (based on review questions and incremental speed increases)is integrated with the content of current newspapers, or books that you would have to read anyway, then the process would not "require" time, but would actually "save" time.
Guest (Raymond Haney)
Guest (Owen N. Martinez)
Am 77 and still in good mental shape, with a few mental lapses, sometimes.
I like to read a lot, particularly action and historic novels. Also to prepare technical reports about economic and urban development problems.
Your article about "Excercising the Brain" was very good and an eye opener, for us seniors. Keep up the good work!
Guest (Andy)
So, training and practise result in performance improvements. Big surprise.
Wheres the control group? Try getting similar people to remember songs or peotry and see if their memory improves.
Guest (Michael Rodemer)
Guest (Peggy)
The reporter does research a disservice by writing about a subject this early in a study. The sample size of 95 is too small. Also, everyone in the sample lives in nursing homes, even though some are at the relatively young age of 63. This indicates that those in the sample have other medical issues than just age. All of us reading the article probably know some lively 80-plus-year-olds living full, vibrant lives on their own. Is memory loss related to age or lifestyle as one ages? How ironic that the neurologists leading the study are close to the lower edge of the sample age limit.
Guest (Peggy)
The reporter does research a disservice by writing about a subject this early in a study. The sample size of 95 is too small. Also, everyone in the sample lives in nursing homes, even though some are at the relatively young age of 63. This indicates that those in the sample have other medical issues than just age. All of us reading the article probably know some lively 80-plus-year-olds living full, vibrant lives on their own. Is memory loss related to age or lifestyle as one ages? How ironic that the neurologists leading the study are close to the lower edge of the sample age limit.
Guest (Andy)
So, training and practise result in performance improvements. Big surprise.
Wheres the control group? Try getting similar people to remember songs or peotry and see if their memory improves.
Guest (William McMillan)
If the training of the brain to absorb at ever increasing speed (based on review questions and incremental speed increases)is integrated with the content of current newspapers, or books that you would have to read anyway, then the process would not "require" time, but would actually "save" time.
Guest (Raymond Haney)
Guest (Owen N. Martinez)
Am 77 and still in good mental shape, with a few mental lapses, sometimes.
I like to read a lot, particularly action and historic novels. Also to prepare technical reports about economic and urban development problems.
Your article about "Excercising the Brain" was very good and an eye opener, for us seniors. Keep up the good work!
Guest (Michael Rodemer)
The article has the very basics..
It could have been more informative. Methods and statistics could have been mentioned more elaborativly.
I am 70 years old. Got my PhD online last year. Enjoyed every minute of the effort. I have now become addidicted to SODUKU. I can't pass one up. But like every thing else if you don't use it you loose it. Hope to learn more of this exercise for the brain program.
In my opinion, one of the best forms of exercise for the brain is learning a language. I particularly like the simple but effective and fun method for quickly picking up a practical vocabulary that Transparent Languages have developed (see www.beforeyouknowit.com).
So what's new? The Romans used to say 'mens sana in corpore sano'. It appears to me that mankind suffers form chronic 'history amnesia' and thus keeps 'reinventing the wheel'.
nihil novum sub sole...
Nevertheless, thank you for reminding!
CEGracias
www.bizino.com from Charles G. Nutter CEO of Silacon Valley Corporation, a high tech think tank in MPLS MN, is the brain exerciser most excellent. It combines investing, online gaming and rapid puzzle solving to boost brain, pocketbook and hedge on gambling by giving away a share of stock with each play. Cash jackpots are bigger if puzzles get solved. The usual jackpots apply with similar frequency beyond the free stock. The brain must work a little bit to get richer. www.bizino.com
We have also had a lot of success with HeadStrong Cognitive. The HeadStrong brain exercises have been developed to improve your cognitive fitness- brain function- in the areas of mental speed, attention and concentration, language, memory, and problem solving.
www.headstrongcognitive.com
Manufacturing in the United States is in trouble. That's bad news not just for the country's economy but for the future of innovation.
This document is part of the “How-To Guide for Most Common Measurements” centralized resource portal. This tutorial provides a detailed guide for measurement and device considerations to take temperature measurements using thermocouples. Get an introduction to thermocouples, which are inexpensive sensing devices widely used with PC-based data acquisition systems. Also review some specific thermocouple examples and learn how thermocouples work and ways to integrate them into a data acquisition measurement system.
View full PDF >
Listen to story > 
Our list of the 50 most innovative companies, including the following:
On Twitter
Become a Fan on Facebook
Subscribe to the Feed
Guest (Andy)
No surprise there
So, training and practise result in performance improvements. Big surprise.
Wheres the control group? Try getting similar people to remember songs or peotry and see if their memory improves.
Reply
Guest (Anon)
Might be the cats meow and make geniuses
out of our aging population, but at a price of $495 for the *individual* version looks like the marketing people at that company arent taking their own medicine. Oh well, looks like yet another cool technology fated to oblivion as far as market success.
Reply
Guest (anon)
ha ha ha pneumonics
mnemonics not pneumonics you twit
Reply
Guest (Ken Ingle)
Exercizing the brain
for the computer:
Availability
Cost
Reply
Guest (Ken Ingle)
Exercizing the brain
for the computer:
Availability
Cost
Reply
Guest (Ron Neyvatte)
Exercising the brain
How would people with accelerated deterioration i.e. Alzheimers or Picks diseases be affected?
Reply
Guest (M. C. Mykel)
It can be tough but worth it.
I am 71 and just finished the H&R Block tax course. I didnt do well and I think that it is partly because it went too fast. I needed to have them slow down. When I young I was pretty bright and could pick up new skills rather easily. Not any more. I have to work at it and repeat things several times in ddifferent ways.
Reply
Guest (Anon)
Might be the cats meow and make geniuses
out of our aging population, but at a price of $495 for the *individual* version looks like the marketing people at that company arent taking their own medicine. Oh well, looks like yet another cool technology fated to oblivion as far as market success.
Reply
Guest (anon)
ha ha ha pneumonics
mnemonics not pneumonics you twit
Reply
Guest (Ron Neyvatte)
Exercising the brain
How would people with accelerated deterioration i.e. Alzheimers or Picks diseases be affected?
Reply
Guest (M. C. Mykel)
It can be tough but worth it.
I am 71 and just finished the H&R Block tax course. I didnt do well and I think that it is partly because it went too fast. I needed to have them slow down. When I young I was pretty bright and could pick up new skills rather easily. Not any more. I have to work at it and repeat things several times in ddifferent ways.
Reply