Miami Brain Fitness

Brain Training Study Off the Ground!

rlo — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 13:25:45 +0000

After overcoming a number of obstacles, our study of the effects of cognitive training on fluid intelligence has finally started. We’re enrolling participants from our local Life Long Learning Program, all of whom are 50 years or older. In the study, we are comparing the effects of working memory training and general cognitive stimulation on a battery of cognitive measures.

It’s far too early for us to talk about results, but I can say that our first four participants have been very enthusiastic about working with us. We are using a combination of software packages for each condition, and participants have been very positive about working in our small computer lab.

We’re looking forward to the chance that our cognitive training battery has positive effects on our participants. We are not only looking at cognitive abilities but also the effects of training on self-efficacy and mood.

Changes in Brain Size with Aging

rlo — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 03:11:00 +0000

Understanding brain aging has to be research priority. The average age of people in the US is increasing. This means that there are more older people at risk for diseases that occur as people get older, such as Alzheimer’s.

In people, the size of the brain decreases as they get older. The deep grooves on the surface of the brain (called sulci) get bigger, and the fluid-filled areas inside the brain (ventricles) get larger. It all amounts to loss of brain tissue, and many people believe that this loss of brain tissue may be related to cognitive changes that also occur with aging, like problems in remembering things.

That’s why a recent study about brain size in chimpanzees is interesting. It shows that chimpanzees, who in many respects are similar to humans, have brains that don’t get smaller as they get older. Chimpanzees also don’t live as long as humans. The authors of the study argue that the decrease in brain size with increasing age that is seen in humans may have something to do with how long humans live. They suggest that the longer life span of humans may be in part the result of an evolutionary trade-off in which increased life span may have the cost of increased age-related neurodegeneration.

Reference:

Sherwood CC et al. Aging of the cerebral cortex differs between humans and chimpanzees. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, PNAS early edition (online) DOI: www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1016709108

Exercise, Mitochondrial DNA, and Brain Fitness

rlo — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 01:54:32 +0000

One very influential theory of why our physical and mental functions decline with age holds that changes in our DNA accumulate over time so that out cells don’t work any more. Perhaps the most important part of our DNA exists in every cell in a special part called the mitochondia. Mitochondria are especially important because they are the part of the cell that helps it generate energy. DNA contains the programs that generate energy, but over time errors accumulate in the programs until eventually they don’t work very well any more. Errors in the programs that run our cells happen all the time — but when we’re younger the cells can fix themselves. As we get older, the cells don’t fix themselves as well. The result: our bodies don’t work as well as they used to. Over time, things start breaking and can’t be fixed. Eventually . . .

A recent study reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science reports on a way to reduce the errors, at least in mice who are prone to an increased number of DNA errors. These mice have an increased number of errors in their DNA, and even early in life start to show signs of aging that are eerily similar to those seen in humans: hair loss, graying, low of body weight, and problems in mobility. Researchers at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, compared mice with the increased number of errors to regular mice, and looked at what happened if some of the error-prone mice spent time exercising.

The group of the mice who had DNA errors exercised for 45 minutes on three days a week for 5 months. The researchers then compared the three groups: (1) DNA error-prone who didn’t exercise, (2) DNA error-prone who exercised, and (3) regualr mice who had normal DNA. Result: The error-prone mice who exercised looked the same as the regular mice. They weren’t just stronger, or in better shape, or able to run longer. They “lacked visible features of the accelerated aging phenotype (alopecia and graying hair) and were visually indistinguishable from age-matched … littermates” (page 4135).

Does this mean that if you start exercising regularly you can reverse aging? Probably not. But good research continues to accumulate that shows that exercise can improve cognition and keep the effects of aging to a minimum.

You can find an abstract for the article here. To read the full article, you will need a subscription to the journal.

The Default Mode Network and Brain Fitness

rlo — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 03:13:03 +0000

If brain fitness is more than just trying to avoid memory loss as you get older (and I think it is), then understanding how you think is (I think) critical. Sometimes called metacognition, this means not just thinking, but thinking about thinking.

Follow that? Metacognition is the idea that we can understand not only the content of our thinking, but the different processes that go into it. And understanding the ways that the default mode network and focused attention (both ways of thinking) interact are the subject of several interesting article.

The default mode network is a group of brain structures that become more active when someone’s attention is focused inward, thinking about what happened in the past or what might happen in the future. When a person’s attention is focused on the outer world, a different set of brain structures is activated.

A recent article in Neuroimage (click here for link) suggests that people who are less efficient in making the transition between the two sets of structures may be more creative. It’s as though the person’s internal world intrudes on reality. This finding has some appeal, because it helps us understand how creative persons can look at everyday life and see something radically different. It also helps us understand how someone’s unique individual vision can be so compellingly imposed on existing reality.

You don’t have to look very far to find examples. My personal favorites are Stanley Kubrick’s vision of the future in 2001, Fritz Lang’s in Metropolis, and the entire Dr. Who series from the BBC. Take an ordinary telephone call box, the vision of a sexy robot in the future, or a nghtmare of artificial intelligence, and extrapolate.

How do you apply this to your own brain fitness? Research shows that creativity, or at least its close relative, divergent thinking, can be taught, even to kindergarten-aged children. Jonah Lehrer wrote a recent article in the Wall Street Journal and a related blog post about the virtues of distractibility.

For optimal brain fitness, consider training yourself in divergent thinking.

Walking, BDNF, Hippocampal Size, and Brain Fitness

rlo — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 12:53:58 +0000

Maybe I have an obsession. Maybe I’m addicted to exercise. Maybe. But here it is, once again: Yet another study has shown that aerobic exercise is good for your brain. Not only does aerobic exercise improve cognition (at least 20 or more studies have shown that), but it can help to prevent age-related declines in the size of the hippocampus. The hippocampus is a critically important structure in the brain that is a key part of a circuit that creates new memories.It tends to get smaller with increasing age, but exercise can actually increase its size. The increase in size may be related to increased levels of brain-derived neurotrophic growth factor (BDNF), a substance in the body that promotes the growth of new brain cells.

In an article published online on January 31st in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers show again that regular walking can make a difference in cognition. This study is new because the researchers also looked at the volume of the hippocampus with imaging techniques and looked at BDNF levels.

Exercise and BDNF levels may also be related to the way that antidepressants work to reduce depression, and we know that for many individuals exercise improves mood. While we think of the hippocampus most often because of its role in memory, it also has important effects in regulating emotion.

You can find the abstract here. The full article is available to subscribers only.