10/28/2009 - 3:42pm

Brain Training May Help The Blind-Sighted To See

Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research have found that brain training may help people who are blind due to injury to the brain region responsible for vision, gain some vision.

Patients whose primary visual cortex has been damaged through a stroke or trauma cannot consciously see, but at some level their brains are still processing their visual environment. Through brain training, these patients may regain some conscious awareness of what their minds can see.

10/26/2009 - 9:38am

Music and the Brain

Several interesting studies about Music and the Brain were presented at the 158th Acoustical Society of America meeting that was held in San Antonio in October.

Music Can Train the Brain

One study of the brain’s electrical and magnetic signals showed that musical training changes the auditory cortex-the part of the brain where the processing of sound takes place.

10/05/2009 - 2:53pm

Surrealism for Sharper Thinking

Psychologists at the University of California in Santa Barbara and the University of British Columbia have shown that when subjects are exposed to surrealistic stories the cognitive mechanisms involved in learning are enhanced.

09/16/2009 - 11:41am

Sport Advantage- Players' Skill and Brains

We can all agree that professional sportsmen are better at their particular sport than you or I. Is it because of intense practice or are they simply born with better skills? Or is there perhaps something else at work there?

Swiss and British researchers have been looking into this matter and have come up with some interesting insights.

Any sport that involves moving objects (like tennis), requires three levels of response for timing:

08/27/2009 - 10:00am

Children, Bilingualism and Brain Plasticity

Studies have found that the best age to learn a language is between birth and 7. This leaves most of the population out of learning a second language well enough to be considered a native speaker. Scientists have been looking into why children are able to learn languages so quickly and whether there is any way to apply the ability to adult language learning.

08/27/2009 - 9:09am

Multitasking and Multitaskers- More Means Less

Today it seems to be the norm to be multi tasking- doing more than one thing at a time. We get more and more information from different sources, which we are expected to process and handle.
 
Multitasking- no matter what form it takes- means that our brains must use their “executive control function” which is associated with the brain’s prefrontal cortex and the parietal cortex.
 

07/30/2009 - 10:26am

Aging, Social Activity and Motor Skills

Another Reason to Meet With Your Friends

Remaining socially active has been recognized as one of the key elements for remaining intellectually alert. Now research has shown that remaining socially active also keeps motor skills like strength, speed and dexterity sharp as well.

05/05/2009 - 12:55pm

Is aging just a figment of your imagination?

We often think about the consequences of aging as inevitable. But Harvard University psychologist Ellen Langer claims in her book Counterclockwise that we are all victims of our own stereotypes about aging and health. She says that we mindlessly accept negative cultural cues about disease and old age, and these cues shape our self-concepts and our behavior. But according to her theory, we can shake loose from the negative clichés that dominate our thinking about health, we can "mindfully" open ourselves to possibilities for more productive lives even into old age.

03/09/2009 - 4:16pm

Reversing Age-Related Cognitive Decline

I’ve noticed that as people begin to experience age-related cognitive decline, they naturally start wondering about how much of it is normal and how much is reversible. Well, the bad news is that it’s inevitable and perfectly normal, and the good news is that you can do something about it.

03/08/2009 - 4:14pm

Effective Brain Training

One of the most common questions people ask us is whether solving puzzles or playing computer games can help prevent or slow down cognitive decline. While any training is better than no training at all, research has proven that the key to an effective brain fitness program is its ability to maintain a sufficient level of challenge over a range of different activities.