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.

Looking For A Memory Workout? Test Our New Games!

Gift lists, driving directions, the order of ingredients for Grandma’s spiced eggnog: the holidays can really test your memory! Why not spruce up your memory and help us put the finishing touches on two of our newest games at the same time?

Play Face Workout and Rhyme Workout, and then let us know what you think by clicking the link at the bottom of the score screen at the end of each game!

Intelligence Training Comes to Lumosity

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?

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.

Long-term and Working Memory – You Are What You Remember

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

Memories are vital to our ability to function on even the most basic of levels. Our respective “realities” are in fact a large part due to the constantly shifting kaleidoscope of our remembrances. Here we will touch briefly on the difference between short-term/working memory and long-term memory as well as how the two filter and add meaning to our worlds.

What if we could remember everything we experienced? As enticing as it sounds, our finite brains would quickly find themselves overwhelmed with the random details of yesterday’s weather forecast alongside the nutritional information off of last month’s box of raisin bran.

Thankfully, the vast majority of our memories are fleeting mental wisps lasting only seconds to minutes. These temporary impressions make up what is called short-term or working memory.

Working memory can be thought of as a staging area where the mind takes meaning from such items as:

• Specific immediate memories of very recent sensory input (IE the sour smell of expired milk).
• The temporary recollection of details from long-term memories (IE what happened the last time you drank sour milk).
• Conclusions and ideas made in the past (Sour milk is bad).

Notice how working memory can temporarily pull details from long-term memory for short-term use. Although constantly changing and ephemeral itself, working memory is vital to our ability to make decisions and take action over time (such as our pouring that sour milk down the drain). For a brilliant and more in-depth description of working memory read Elizabeth Buchen’s “Working Memory: What it is and how it works”.

When an experience or piece of information sticks and doesn’t evaporate with short-term memory, it is said to have entered into the realm of long-term memory. This journey is called consolidation and takes place after prolonged exposure to a piece of information or experience. The longer the exposure, the better the consolidation, the more robust the related memories will be.

Long-term memories can store much larger quantities of information than working memory and for much longer periods of time (often as much as a lifetime). These resilient long-term recollections are made up of both consciously learned facts, such as “Madrid is the capital of Spain” and subconsciously learned knowledge, such as the ability to balance and ride a bike.

We derive meaning and the ability to act via the synergistic relationship between long-term and working memory. Working memory combines elements from our long-term stores with immediate sensory information in order to generate ideas and plans of action. For example, remembering that the taste of peanut butter is pleasant as we toast toast, might just have us use our memorized skill of unscrewing a jar in order to manifest the pleasurable experience of peanut butter on toast. Which is just one more potentially delicious result of a fit and active mind.

Good Cholesterol and Good Memory

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

A recent British study published by the American Heart Association suggests that the balance of cholesterol in our blood may affect not only heart health but also memory performance. It is widely accepted that diets promoting “Good” cholesterol, otherwise known as high-density lipoprotiens (HDL), can reduce cardiovascular disease, but it now appears that high HDL may also be good for memory.

Researchers tested 3,600 British civil servants for both HDL levels and memory performance over time, first at an average age of 55 and then again at 61.

The results?

• Participants with higher HDL levels did consistently better at recalling items from a list of 20 words after 2 minutes.
• For those whose HDL levels declined between tests there were also declines in memory performance.

Reference:

Singh-Manoux, A., Gimeno, D., Kivimaki, M., Brunner, E., & Marmot, M. G. (2008). Low HDL Cholesterol Is a Risk Factor for Deficit and Decline in Memory in Midlife. The Whitehall II Study. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol, 28, 1398.