Targeted Cognitive Exercises Improve Mental Abilities

Training with cognitive exercises can improve targeted mental functions, conclude the authors of a review article published recently in the journal Alzheimer’s and Dementia.  The authors (Kathryn Papp and Stephen Walsh from the University of Connecticut and Peter Snyder from Brown University) reviewed ten randomized controlled trials involving cognitive training interventions in healthy adults published since 1992.  They find that specific abilities such as memory, reasoning, and speed of processing can be improved through targeted training programs.  This is an important conclusion, and it is consistent with the growing evidence in support of the effectiveness of cognitive training.

The authors point out that the benefits of cognitive training tend to be specific to the trained domain.  So, if you want improved memory — train on games designed to improve memory.  If you want improved attention — train with attention games, and so on.  The relationship to physical exercise is apparent.  If you want big biceps — do curls.  If you want ripped abs — do sit ups.  Lumosity was designed with these principles in mind.  This is why the site contains over 30 games targeting cognitive functions spanning speed of processing, memory, attention, flexibility, and problem solving — a complete gym for the brain.

It is also clear from this review that there is still much to learn.  Few of the studies have follow-up testing longer than a few months, and many of them lack measures of real-world benefits such as activities of daily living.  However, where longer follow-ups and real-world benefits are measured, benefits are seen to be long lasting and quite general.  For example, in the ACTIVE study of cognitive training in normal healthy older adults, benefits to activities of daily living are seen 5 years after the training intervention ended.

While there is still much to learn, the weight of the evidence is showing that cognitive training can be highly effective when properly designed and executed.

Two New Math Storm Games

Ready to give your arithmetic and quantitative reasoning skills a workout? Think you’ve mastered Addition Storm and Subtraction Storm? Make sure you’ve got an umbrella handy, and get ready for our two new Math Storm games.

For a limited time, Division Storm and Multiplication Storm are free to play for all members. What are you waiting for?

Tell Us Your Story and Be Entered to Win a Lumosity Lifetime Membership

We love hearing stories about how Lumosity has improved our users’ cognitive abilities and changed their lives. If you have a Lumosity story to share, submit it here: http://www.lumosity.com/testimonials.

Here’s an example of a touching testimonial that we recently received from Dr. David Darbro. Dr. Darbro suffered from a stroke in 2005, and he now uses Lumosity to regain lost mental function.

“Imagine not being able to speak … you are driving home one night when suddenly out of the blue your speech becomes gibberish….then imagine what it would be like to not be able to remember what number comes after 1,2,3,4,…. That description describes what I experienced in 2005. A week or so after I went into atrial fibrillation I had a stroke that hospitalized me.

Ever since that time I have been working to regain lost mental function. Knowing that about my history hopefully allows you to understand my enthusiasm for your program. Lumosity provides me with a guide that is helping me restore lost cognitive function I suffered on that night in July 2005. Lumosity’s method for cognitive improvement contains games that are fun to take; challenge one’s mental performance; and at the same time encourage one to excel and outdo one’s previous best score.

It has been said that “no pain no gain” is as true in training the body as it is in training the brain. I believe there is some truth to that saying, and is why I work diligently taking these exercises daily and drive myself and sweat over them. The investment in time and effort required to blow out the mental cobwebs is yielding rewards. Exercising my brain to improve my mental status provides me with the confidence to go about my life. I know that nothing great is accomplished without hard work. And I also know that “if you don’t use it you will lose it.” I believe the Lumosity mental tests are keeping me from “losing it”. The tests aim at improving skill in attention, memory, speed, mental flexibility, and problem solving. These five basic skills are needed if we are to function well in today’s fast paced life. Not only am I regaining mental skills during my refreshing mental workout, but also my daily progress is documented. This documentation provides an objective measure of my brain’s healing. I can document the fact that I am regaining previously lost mental function. I am most thankful.

As a medical physician who is oriented to wellness I have a passion to help my patients and others regain lost function as I have done. Because mental functioning comprises a huge part of wellness I purpose to recommend your service to my patients and others. In short, the Lumosity method is a program of mental training that provides we members with a delightful way to prepare for whatever challenges life may have in store during our brief pilgrimage above sod. Thank you all for making this service available to us all.”

- Dr. David Darbro

Dr. David Darbro, Age 73

Tell us YOUR story! 

Submit your story by 11 PM PST on Saturday, October 31st, you’ll be automatically entered to win a Lumosity Lifetime Membership. One Lumosity Lifetime Membership will be awarded to one winner selected by a random drawing from all testimonials received during the month of October 2009. The winner will be notified via email by 12 PM PST on Friday, November 6th. This promotion is void where prohibited by law.

Working memory training changes the brain

By Gregory Kellett, a cognitive neuroscience researcher at SFSU and science writer for Lumos Labs .

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.

Improving Memory with Magnets?

By Gregory Kellett, a cognitive neuroscience researcher at SFSU and UCSF, and science writer for Lumos Labs.

Scientists at the university of Sydney in Australia have recently claimed to be able to make people’s memory more accurate by reducing the occurrence of false memories… via magnets.

Although it is often possible to increase the precision of memory by paying better attention at the time of an event, little till now has been able to help improve remembrance after the fact.

The experimenters used electro-magnetic pulses via a technique called transcranial magnetic stimulation to decrease brain activity in such a way as to mimic the minds of people with anterior temporal lobe dementia and autism.  The logic behind this being that one of the common characteristics of these conditions is a more literal memory with greater accuracy for details.

Participants were given a list of words to memorize and then either actual magnetic brain manipulation, a sham manipulation or no treatment at all.

Those who actually had their brains magnetically pulsed after seeing the list of words showed a 36% decrease in false memories, meaning thinking a word was initially presented when it was not, over those whose brains were left untouched.

Although this leaves us with more questions than answers, the authors point to a possible future application in the courtroom, where memories frequently get a little too creative.

Reference:

Gallate, J., Chi, R., Ellwood, S., & Snyder, A. (2009). Reducing false memories by magnetic pulse stimulation. Neuroscience Letters, 449(3), 151-154. doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2008.11.021.

Staying Sharp by Keeping Fit

By Gregory Kellett, a cognitive neuroscience researcher at SFSU and science writer for Lumos Labs.

It turns out there may be a link between cardiovascular fitness and the size of one’s hippocampus, a portion of the brain important for the formation of new memories.

Researchers from the University of Illinois and the University of Pittsburgh, looked at the cardiovascular fitness of 165 adults between the ages of 59 and 81. They also measured (via MRI) the size of each participant’s hippocampus and tested for spatial reasoning abilities.

What they found:

• Elderly adults who are physically fit tend to have larger hippocampi than those who are less fit.
• Having a larger hippocampus is correlated with better performance on spatial memory tasks.

Exercise has been linked to hippocampus size and spatial memory in rodents, but this is the first study to demonstrate a similar relationship in humans.

This is good news because although variable between individuals, it is well established that the hippocampus typically shrinks with age and that this shrinkage is associated with subtle but definite declines in memory and spatial orientation.

References:

Erickson, K. I., Prakash, R. S., Voss, M. W., Chaddock, L., Hu, L., Morris, K. S., et al. (2009). Aerobic fitness is associated with hippocampal volume in elderly humans. Hippocampus.

Kitabatake, Y., Sailor, K. A., Ming, G., & Song, H. (2007). Adult neurogenesis and hippocampal memory function: new cells, more plasticity, new memories? Neurosurgery Clinics of North America, 18(1), 105-13, x.

Trying too hard to focus

By Gregory Kellett, a cognitive neuroscience researcher at SFSU and science writer for Lumos Labs .

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.

Lumosity for your future offspring?

Could the brain training you do today help the memory of your children – even before conception? Research published today suggests that – surprisingly – this might actually be possible.

A study of brain function in mice reveals that a stimulating environment improves the memory of their offspring. If this improvement also occurs in humans, a mother’s youthful experiences may help shape her childrens’ ability to learn. Here’s the press release, with the paper reference below the fold:

Newswise — A study reveals that the severity of learning disorders may
depend not only on the child’s environment but also – remarkably – on
the mother’s environment when she was young. The study in
memory-deficient mice, published in the February 4 issue of The
Journal of Neuroscience, was led by Larry Feig, PhD, professor of
biochemistry at Tufts University School of Medicine and member of the
biochemistry and neuroscience programs at the Sackler School of
Graduate Biomedical Sciences at Tufts University.

The researchers studied the brain function of pre-adolescent mice with
a genetically-created defect in memory. When these young mice were
enriched by exposure to a stimulating environment – including novel
objects, opportunities for social interaction and voluntary exercise –
for two weeks, the memory defect was reversed. The work showed that
this enhancement was remarkably long-lasting because it was passed on
to the offspring even though the offspring had the same genetic
mutation and were never exposed to an enriched environment.

Previous research has shown that environmental exposures during
pregnancy can affect offspring. “A striking feature of this study is
that enrichment took place during pre-adolescence, months before the
mice were even fertile, yet the effect reached into the next
generation,” said Feig.

“The offsprings’ improved memory was not the result of better
nurturing by mothers who were enriched when they were young. When the
offspring were raised by non-enriched foster mothers, the offspring
maintained the beneficial effect,” said co-author Junko Arai, PhD,
postdoctoral associate in Feig’s laboratory.

“The effect lasted until adolescence, when it waned, suggesting that
this process is designed specifically to aid the young brain,”
continued Shaomin Li, PhD, MD, co-author, former postdoctoral
associate in Feig’s laboratory, now at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

“This example of ‘inheritance of acquired characters,’ was first
proposed by Lamarck in the early 1800s. However, it is incompatible
with classical Mendelian genetics, which states that we inherit
qualities from our parents through specific DNA sequences they
inherited from their parents. We now refer to this type of inheritance
as epigenetics, which involves environmentally-induced changes in the
structure of DNA and the chromosomes in which DNA resides that are
passed on to offspring,” said Feig.

Previous research by Feig and his team showed that a relatively brief
exposure to an enriched environment in both normal and
memory-deficient mice unlocks an otherwise latent biochemical control
mechanism that enhances a cellular process in nerve cells called
long-term potentiation (LTP), which is known to be involved in
learning and memory. This enhancement was detected in pre-adolescent
mice but not in adult mice, reflecting the brain’s higher plasticity
in the young.

Feig concluded that the transgenerational inheritance of the effect of
an enriched environment may be a mechanism that has evolved to protect
one’s offspring from deleterious effects of sensory deprivation, which
may be particularly potent in the young and exacerbated in the
learning disabled.

Junko Arai and Shaomin Li, first authors, contributed equally to the
paper. Dean M. Hartley, PhD, of Rush University Medical Center is also
an author.

The work was supported by the National Cancer Institute of the
National Institutes of Health because these findings were derived as
an offshoot of the Feig lab’s long-term experience working on Ras
proteins that are involved in cancer. Fundamental principles of how
Ras proteins function gained by studying its role in cancer expedited
subsequent studies on Ras function in the brain. This work highlights
how major breakthroughs can arise by allowing researches to follow new
leads that cross disciplines. The work was also supported by the Tufts
Center for Neuroscience Research.

Arai J, Li S, Hartley DM, and Feig LA. The Journal of Neuroscience.
2009. (February 4); 29(5): 1496-1502. “Transgenerational Rescue of a
Genetic Defect in Long-Term Potentiation and Memory Formation by
Juvenile Enrichment.” Published online February 3, 2009, doi:
10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5057-08.2009

About Tufts University School of Medicine
Tufts University School of Medicine and the Sackler School of Graduate
Biomedical Sciences at Tufts University are international leaders in
innovative medical education and advanced research. The School of
Medicine and the Sackler School are renowned for excellence in
education in general medicine, special combined degree programs in
business, health management, public health, bioengineering, and
international relations, as well as basic and clinical research at the
cellular and molecular level. Ranked among the top in the nation, the
School of Medicine is affiliated with six major teaching hospitals and
more than 30 health care facilities. The Sackler School undertakes
research that is consistently rated among the highest in the nation
for its impact on the advancement of medical science.