High level of evidence for cognitive training

A recently published report funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) reviews the extensive literature on cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease in search of factors that might delay or prevent these age-related conditions. Of all the factors reviewed, including diet and dietary supplements, physical exercise, social engagement, and other leisure activities, only cognitive training was found to have a high level of evidence for being associated with a decreased risk of cognitive decline. So, if you want to engage in activities that are known to be associated with a reduced risk of cognitive decline, this report says that cognitive training is the only thing that currently fits the bill.

The nearly 800-page manuscript was prepared by the Duke Evidence-based Practice Center for the Agency of Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This exhaustive report was created to support the NIH State-of-the-Science Conference “Preventing Alzheimer’s Disease and Cognitive Decline.” The conference brought together health experts with specific expertise in aging and age-related changes in cognition to discuss the current state of knowledge related to treatments for age-related cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease. The report takes a very conservative approach to its evaluation of risk factors and potential treatments for age-related problems of cognition. In fact, only cognitive training was found to have a high degree of evidence for reducing the risk of age-related cognitive decline. Hundreds of studies were reviewed, and while many studies offered evidence that was suggestive of reducing risks, most were correlational, rather than experimental, in nature. For instance, some studies showed a relationship between eating a “Mediterranean diet” and reduced risk of cognitive decline. But these studies typically just ask people about their diet and correlate these factors to cognitive performance. Conversely, there have been several randomized, controlled trials that have shown improved cognitive performance through cognitive training. This higher degree of rigor earned cognitive training the “high degree of evidence” designation in this report.

Of course, that’s not to say you shouldn’t take care of yourself in other ways. Other factors such as a diet high in vegetables and omega-3 fatty acids, physical activity, and some leisure activities were found to be associated with a decreased risk of cognitive decline, albeit with a low level of evidence. In other words, these things are likely good for your brain, but the authors did not feel there was enough evidence to say so definitively. Given that most of these lifestyle factors are good for you in other ways, there’s certainly no harm in eating better, getting more exercise, or spending more time with friends and family. If you want to see how your lifestyle may be affecting your brain health, take our Brain Grade test.

This report is just another reason to make cognitive training — like Lumosity.com — a regular part of your brain health routine.

Even mice benefit from brain training!

Working memory training has been shown to be effective in improving fluid intelligence in humans. Now, research out of Rutgers has shown a similar effect in mice. This finding in mice reinforces the idea that brain enhancement through neuroplasticity is generally possible among mammals, and it opens up exciting possibilities for future research.

Researchers trained mice on a task that exercised working memory and attention, and measured their ability to perform a range of mentally challenging tasks before and after training. The mice that received focused brain training improved on measures of generalized cognitive function compared to control mice with no training. The researchers, who recently published this work in the prestigious journal Current Biology, imply that you can think of these tests as IQ tests for mice. In other words, working memory training seems to have actually made these mice smarter!

For training, the mice needed to simultaneously remember two maze configurations, and be able to make their way through either one. The mice then completed several tests to measure the effect of the training on their intelligence and ability to learn. The training made the mice better at tests that didn’t involve mazes at all, like learning how to avoid an unpleasant stimulus.

So, as in brain training studies in humans, the mice didn’t just get better at what they were practicing – they also became generally more intelligent. This transfer of training is the gold standard in assessing the effectiveness of brain training. Transfer implies that underlying brain systems are fundamentally changed by the learning, and it’s not just that the subject learned how to take the test.

This kind of transfer has been shown many times in human studies — including transfer from speed of processing training to driving ability, auditory processing training to memory performance, and working memory training to fluid intelligence — but, this is the first such result demonstrated in a non-human animal. This is significant for a few reasons. First of all, it implies that improvement in general cognitive function with brain training is a fundamental capacity of the mammalian brain, not just a human trait. Also, this paradigm allows for research that is difficult to perform on humans. The environment of mice can be very carefully controlled, eliminating many of the confounding variables inherent in research on humans. Researchers can breed mice to have certain characteristics and even knock out certain genes and replace them with others. This opens up the possibility of testing the effects of brain training on conditions like Alzheimer’s Disease, for which there are mouse models. Many new avenues of research are opened by the demonstration of this effect in mice.

This result represents an important milestone in study of brain training! It reinforces what we already know — the brain is highly adaptable and can be improved with training, and it gives us new avenues to explore. We’re looking forward to seeing what this team comes up with next.

Joe Hardy, PhD

Coming Soon: More BPIs!

You’ve been playing our new Lumosity games, and we’ve been working behind the scenes to collect data and generate BPI (Brain Performance Index) scales for them. Now we’re gearing up to integrate some of our more recent games into the BPI system on our site.

So what does all this mean for you?

As you play some of our newer Lumosity games, you may notice adjustments to your overall BPI, brain area BPIs (such as Memory and Attention), attribute BPIs (such as Visual Field and Focus) as well as individual game BPI histories. For example, playing Memory Match Overload will now affect your BPI for that individual game as well as for the larger categories it is a part of. Lumosity subscribers can check their Memory Match Overload BPI history at any time by logging into lumosity.com, accessing “Your Profile,” clicking on the “History” tab,  selecting “Memory,” clicking the “Working Memory” attribute, and choosing “Memory Match Overload” from the drop-down box. Because Memory Match Overload is a Working Memory game, playing it will affect the BPI for the Working Memory attribute and the more expansive Memory category, as well as your overall BPI. You can check your category and attribute BPI history from the History section within “Your Profile.”

Don’t be discouraged if your overall BPI drops a bit after playing one of our newer games: like all Lumosity activities, practice will lead to improvement, and eventually, a higher BPI. We’ll be integrating games into our BPI system during the upcoming weeks, starting with Memory Match Overload.

We’ll make sure to update this post each time we add another game to our BPI system, so keep checking back!

And as always, if you’re curious about how we calculate BPI scales, or could use a refresher, you can learn more about it here.

UPDATE 12/07/09

BPIs have been added for Playing Koi and Brain Shift Overdrive. Why not play them now?

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.

New on Lumosity: Friends and User Profiles

Today the Lumosity team launched a couple of new features that mark the beginning of a more social Lumosity experience: Lumosity Friends and user profiles.

Now, you can see what your friends and family are doing on Lumosity and what their best cognitive attributes are. If they aren’t already on Lumosity, invite them to join so you can add them as Lumosity Friends.

Also, check out your new Lumosity profile and personalize it with a photo.

There’s a lot more to come; stay tuned in the coming weeks for more ways to communicate and coordinate with the Lumosity community.

As always, let us know what you think by commenting on this post or by sending a note to feedback@lumosity.com.

We want to hear from you!

Want to tell us what you think about Lumosity? Here’s your chance!

Follow us on Twitter: Lumosity is on Twitter, at twitter.com/lumosity.

Send us an email! Send us a note at feedback@lumoslabs.com and let us know what’s on your mind.

Live in the Bay Area? We’re always looking for local Lumosity subscribers who’d like to stop by the Lumos Labs headquarters in San Francisco to offer feedback on new ideas. Email feedback@lumosity.com and we’ll let you know about upcoming user testing events.

Coming soon: a sparkling new Lumosity!

The Lumos Labs team is excited to announce that in the next few weeks Lumosity is getting an upgraded look and lots of new features. We don’t want to spoil the surprise, but keep a watch out for new ways to understand and compare your brain performance, easier navigation, and more helpful tips about how Lumosity can make your life better.

You’ll be getting a sneak peek of new game designs starting next week! We’d love to hear what you think at games@lumoslabs.com.

New Brain Game – Top Chimp!

We’re on a roll! Following the debut of Name Tag last month, we are now ready to release Top Chimp, a brain game that sharpens visual attention and trains working memory. We think it’s more fun than a barrel of…well, monkeys, but would love to have your feedback before the game becomes part of the regular set of brain exercises. Please find the game here http://games.lumosity.com/top_chimp.html and send any suggestions to games@lumosity.com.