Can you actually become more intelligent?  For years, neuroscientists thought that this basically didn’t happen.  According to this view, you can take in more information and learn new things, but you can’t really become “more intelligent.”  Recent research conducted by scientists at the University of Michigan shows that this old view is probably dead wrong.

Susanne Jaeggi, Martin Buschkuehl, and their colleagues at Michigan did a study looking at what happens when people play a challenging working memory task called Dual N-Back.  They found that after training on this task for 25 minutes a day for a few weeks, the young adults in their study actually scored much better on tests of fluid intelligence – the ability to creatively solve new problems.  Fluid intelligence is part of standard IQ tests, so we can say that these subjects actually increased their intelligence following this training.

The Dual N-Back training is now available (free for a limited time) on Lumosity!  We have worked closely with Dr. Jaeggi and Dr. Buschkuehl to create a version of the Dual N-Back training that replicates what was used in their earlier study.  And, we’re going to support their ongoing research by hosting the program which will be used in their studies of intelligence training going forward.

Try it for yourself, but be warned: this training is not for the faint of heart. It’s hard! But the effort is worth it. After you’ve started, why not share your experiences with other users in our dual n-back forum?

Eating lots of fish, the ultimate brain food, was recently associated with reduced risk of stroke.

A study conducted by Jyrki Virtanen and his crew at the University of Kuopio in Finland found that people who ate more fish tended to have fewer strokes. Virtanen looked at a population of 2,313 participants over the age of 65 who had their brains scanned (via MRI) twice, with a 5-year lapse between scans. After analyzing answers the participants gave to diet-related questionnaires the researchers found that:

• Those eating fish 3 or more times a week had fewer sub-clinical infarcts or “mini-strokes” than those eating fish less than once a month.
• Consuming more fish was associated with more intact brain white matter.
• Fried fish is not so healthy, and seemed to negate the above benefits.

As seen in other research studying healthy brain food, omega-3 fatty acids, which are present in most fish oils, seem to be a key contributor to lowering the risk of stroke.

Reference: Virtanen, J. K., Siscovick, D. S., Longstreth, W. T., Kuller, L. H., & Mozaffarian, D. (2008). Fish consumption and risk of subclinical brain abnormalities on MRI in older adults. Neurology, 71(6), 439-446.

It seems that working memory training may work by physically altering the brain. Stockholm Brain Institute researchers put healthy people through working memory exercises for 35 minutes per day over a period of 5 weeks. Changes in dopamine receptor density were measured with positron emission tomography (PET) before and after the training.

Following working memory training, they found:

• An increase in the density of dopamine receptors.
• An improvement in working memory performance.

The neurotransmitter dopamine plays a central role in working memory. This research implies that improving working memory performance through several weeks of training might work by increasing the quantity of dopamine receptors in the brain.

References:
Buschkuehl, M., Jaeggi, S. M., Hutchison, S., Perrig-Chiello, P., Däpp, C., Müller, M., et al. (2008). Impact of working memory training on memory performance in old-old adults. Psychology and Aging, 23(4), 743-53.

Dahlin, E., Neely, A. S., Larsson, A., Bäckman, L., & Nyberg, L. (2008). Transfer of learning after updating training mediated by the striatum. Science (New York, N.Y.), 320(5882), 1510-2.

McNab, F., Varrone, A., Farde, L., Jucaite, A., Bystritsky, P., Forssberg, H., et al. (2009). Changes in cortical dopamine D1 receptor binding associated with cognitive training. Science (New York, N.Y.), 323(5915), 800-2.

A new study indicates that focusing too much might actually diminish your ability to pay attention. The researchers, based out of Carnegie Mellon University, used a phenomenon called the attentional blink as the center of their investigation.

An attentional blink is a deficit in visual attention which often occurs 200-500 milliseconds after the first of two visual items are presented during an experiment. The study looked at the ability of participants to detect that second visual item in the presence of visual distractions (moving grey dots).

Surprisingly, the distractors enhanced the ability of people to detect items often obscured by attentional blinks.

The authors hypothesize that the attentional blink phenomenon is due to an overexertion of control happening when target detection and memory consolidation overlap.

They surmise that the adding of distractors dissipates this overexertion of control, thereby enhancing performance.

So the next time you’re playing Speed Match you may want to try day dreaming a bit…it just might improve your score.

References:
Taatgen, N. A., Juvina, I., Schipper, M., Borst, J. P., & Martens, S. (n.d.). Too much control can hurt: A threaded cognition model of the attentional blink. Cognitive Psychology, In Press, Corrected Proof.

Salvucci, D. D., & Taatgen, N. A. (2008). Threaded cognition: An integrated theory of concurrent multitasking. Psychological
Review, 115(1), 101–130.

Newswise— Individuals with higher education levels appear to score higher on cognitive tests despite having evidence of brain plaques associated with Alzheimer’s disease, according to a report in the November issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

The cognitive reserve hypothesis holds that individuals with greater cognitive (thinking, learning and memory) abilities are able to delay symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease despite underlying changes in the brain, according to background information in the article. Education is commonly used as a substitute measure of cognitive reserve. “Adjusting for level of Alzheimer disease pathological burden determined at autopsy, greater education has been associated with better cognitive function during life,” the authors write. “Education interacts with Alzheimer disease pathological burden such that a greater pathological burden is required to show an effect on cognition among persons with more education.”

Catherine M. Roe, Ph.D., and colleagues at the Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, studied 37 individuals with dementia of the Alzheimer type and 161 individuals without dementia between 2003 and 2008. Participants reported their education history and took cognitive tests. They were injected with a marker known as carbon 11–labeled Pittsburgh Compound B ([11C]PiB) and then underwent a 60-minute positron emission tomography (PET) scan of the brain. Recent studies have shown that [11C]PiB adheres to beta-amyloid brain plaques associated with Alzheimer’s disease, allowing researchers to identify these characteristics of the disease in living patients.

The level of [11C]PiB uptake interacted significantly with years of education in predicting cognitive test scores. Among individuals whose brains took up higher levels of [11C]PiB, indicating the presence of beta-amyloid plaques, performance on the test increased with increasing education levels. Education was not associated with cognitive scores among those with low [11C]PiB uptake, indicating no plaques.

“The results support the hypothesis that cognitive reserve influences the association between Alzheimer disease pathological burden and cognition,” the authors write. “Based on autopsy data, there may be a ceiling effect when extensive beta-amyloid pathological burden is present as in late-stage dementia of the Alzheimer type. Presumably, as the Alzheimer disease pathological burden increases, a greater proportion of highly educated participants reaches the threshold for dementia and the initial advantage provided by cognitive reserve decreases. Longitudinal imaging of beta-amyloid pathology in vivo will soon allow us to determine whether these inferences from cross-sectional studies are accurate.”

Reference: Arch Neurol. 2008;65[11]:1467-1471

A recent research review to be published in the journal Progress in Neuropsychopharmacology & Biological Psychiatry shows a link between cigarette smoking and adverse changes in the function and physiology of the brain. Summarizing the findings of dozens of experiments, the review indicates that:

• Strokes are more prevalent in smokers than non-smokers.
• Gray matter (made up of brain cells) shrinks in long-term smokers.
• Smoking is associated with less integrity in the white matter connecting brain hemispheres.
• Puffing tobacco can be bad for neurotransmitters.

There are a few factors clouding the picture however. These include the fact that alcohol consumption often accompanies cigarette smoking and has also been shown to have detrimental effects on the brain.

In addition there is the question of which comes first: brain abnormalities or smoking habits. It is possible that preexisting brain abnormalities increase the likelihood of smoking and addiction.  The author suggested more research in order to answer these questions, as well as to determine if these symptoms are reversible after quitting.

References:

Domino, E. (2008). Tobacco Smoking and MRI/MRS Brain Abnormalities Compared to Nonsmokers. Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry, In press.

Research just published in the journal Brain and Cognition suggests that musical training can lead to more creative thinking and more symmetrical brain activity. The investigators, based out of Vanderbilt University in Nashville Tennessee, ran two experiments both comparing 20 musicians (with a minimum of 8 years of musical experience) with 20 non-musicians.

The first looked at potential differences in creative abilities by asking participants to come up with as many novel uses of common household items as possible, followed by their completing a word association task.

The second study monitored brain blood flow via near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) while participants again generated as many novel uses of everyday objects as possible.

The data indicated that:

• On average the musicians were able to generate about 13 more examples of how to use common objects than non-musicians.
• The musicians performed better on the word association task, producing an average of approximately 9 more correct responses than their non-musical counter parts.
• Overall, during the creative tasks, musicians showed more symmetrical brain blood flow between the hemispheres than the non-musicians.

Although it is always possible that creative people tend to be more drawn to the world of music than non-creative people, the authors suggest that the results might be due to the ability of certain aspects of music training, such as improvisation and song creation, to enhance cognitive and neural mechanisms of the creative process.

References:

Gibson, C., Folley, B. S., & Park, S. (2008). Enhanced divergent thinking and creativity in musicians: A behavioral and near-infrared spectroscopy study. Brain and Cognition.

Video game play seems to be related to better surgical skills according to research showcased at the recent Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association.

Iowa State University psychologist Douglas Gentile, PhD, ran an experiment looking at the video game experience of 33 budding surgeons and how this related to performance during surgical training.

The numbers showed that:

• Past video game play in excess of 3 hrs/wk correlated with 37% fewer errors and a 27% increase in speed (over non-video-game players) during training exercises.

• Video game skill (as measured by high scores) were a significant predictor of demonstrated surgical skills.

Although this doesn’t necessarily translate as cause and effect, it seems plausible that exercising fine motor control, visual attention processing, reaction time, hand-eye coordination and 2-dimensional depth perception might just improve one’s ability to wield a scalpel.

References:

Rosser, J. C., Lynch, P. J., Cuddihy, L., Gentile, D. A., Klonsky, J., & Merrell, R. (2007). The Impact of Video Games on Training Surgeons in the 21st Century. Arch Surg, 142(2), 181-186.

Dorval, M., & Pépin, M. (1986). Effect of playing a video game on a measure of spatial visualization. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 62(1), 159-62.

A study conducted by Martin Buschkuehl and Susanne Jaeggi in John Jonides’ lab at the University of Michigan indicates that it is possible to improve on measures of fluid intelligence by training one’s working memory.

The concept of fluid intelligence (gF) as defined by its founder Raymond Cattell is “…the ability to perceive relationships independent of previous specific practice or instruction concerning those relationships.” Fluid intelligence contributes to abilities like learning and problem solving. It is distinct from its counterpart, crystallized intelligence (cF) which involves  “…abilities that have obviously been acquired, such as verbal and numerical ability, mechanical aptitude, social skills, and so on.”

Fluid intelligence tests usually entail completing visual patterns of some kind.  Performance on such tests typically declines after reaching a peak in early adulthood.  This study, however, offers evidence that it’s possible to improve fluid intelligence, at least temporarily.

The researchers used a computer-based working memory task called the “dual n-back” to simultaneously administer auditory and visual stimuli in sequence.  A response was required whenever one of the presented stimuli (visual or auditory) matched a previously presented stimulus n positions back in the sequence.  Four groups trained daily for either 8, 12, 17 or 19 days, with each group being matched by a control group that did not have training.  Pre and post tests of fluid intelligence were given to all groups.

What the study found:

• The working memory training significantly improved performance on the fluid intelligence tests.
• Fluid intelligence performance improved in proportion to the amount of training received.
• Working memory (as measured by digit span) also improved significantly.

The authors suggest that the above effects were due primarily to an increased ability to control attention.

References:

Cattell, R. B. (1971). Abilities: Their structure, growth, and action. New York: Houghton Mifflin.

Jaeggi, S., Buschkuehl, M., Jonides, J., Perrig, J. (2008). “Improving fluid intelligence with training on working memory.” PNAS- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

There is some new evidence that Alzheimer’s disease is much more likely for people whose parents both have the neurodegenerative disorder than if only one parent has it. Researchers examined families in which both parents have Alzheimer’s, and found that their children ended up with the disease 42% of the time.

This finding supports the evidence that genes play an important role in determining whether you end up with Alzheimer’s. One of the genetic components responsible for the disease is known as the gene Apolipoprotein E (ApoE). Fortunately your genes do not entirely determine your fate. Your lifestyle is important too, and although we do not have control of our genetic makeup, we can control how we live. With the proper cognitive and physical exercise, brain food, and even attitude toward life, one can better buffer their brain from later years of cognitive decline and delay the risk of dementia.

The incidence of Alzheimer’s increases with age, and is typically diagnosed after the age of 65. By then, there’s not much you can do to slow the disease. So what can you do earlier to help your chances of preserving cognitive function? For me personally, I have been implementing some of the brain health tips on this blog, as well as training my brain with Lumosity, as part of my daily routine. This is not just to practice what I preach, but rather to address a concern I have when I constantly need to remind my parents about certain things, such as taking their meds. I’d rather start my cognitive training regimen early so that when I someday reach my parents’ age my brain will be in the best condition it can be.