The Brain Training Blog

Brain Training Information - a new home for the blog

2008-05-13T14:48:00.004+01:00

Hello,

If you are a regular reader or have just found this blog, this is to let you know that the blog has changed location. It has been integrated into the main website, so it is right next to lots of other brain training information.

The new permanent home for this blog is here:

The Brain Training Blog

http://www.thebraintrainingcompany.com/brain-training-blog/

As it is part of the main site this will be updated much more regularly with interesting brain training information.

See you over there soon....

TheBrainTrainingCompany.com

Chimps beat humans in memory test

2007-12-04T09:44:00.000Z

You have to watch the video footage of this news report - it is incredible.

Recent research shows that chimpanzees have near photographic memories. Memory tests were performed for both chimpanzees and humans. The chimps were far better than the humans. With just a quick glance at the information (less than a second), they could then select hidden numbers in the correct order.

You can read the news report here and there is also some video footage which you must watch. You'll be amazed.

So why is this? Well, if you have attended any of my memory training courses or perhaps you subscribe to my Brain Training Tips, you will understand that we memorise visual information the fastest. For the chimps, the numbers are simply shapes with no meaning, except that of precedence of the images. So I would guess that they see the layout of the numbers as a visual image. They have learnt the order of these images.

But even so, the speed at which they do this is incredible. Even our very best memorists, those who compete at the World Memory Championships, would struggle to compete.

So what is the implications of this research? Well, for one thing it is rather humbling! Next, it gives us a glimmer of hope that yes, we can take our memories to an even higher level.

My friend and colleague Dominic O'Brien is the eight times World Memory Champion. When he first started breaking memory world records, one of which was memorising the order of three decks of cards, a scientist commented that Dominic was now reaching the limits of human memory. In recent years Dominic has gone on to memorise the order of 54 decks of cards shuffled together.

We are still exploring our memories and discovering what techniques work best for memorisation. This latest information is what is taught on our brain training courses.

Yet these chimpanzees beat us hands down at a memory test without ever learning these skills.

Wow!

BrainTrainingTips.com
TheBrainTrainingCompany.com

Stand on your head to boost intelligence.

2007-10-25T15:04:00.000+01:00

During this last week there have been some interesting discussions about how blood flow affects the brain.

Some alternative medicine practitioners have for many years advised their clients to stand on their head to boost their memory or improve concentration.

However, this isn’t quite so ridiculous at it may at first sound.

Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US now have research to show that blood flow affects nearby neurons.

This is nothing new, but perhaps just more definitive proof of what I have been saying when working with clients. For instance, it has been agreed that low blood flow to the brain is related to instances of poor mental health, such as ADHD.

Within my own field of work I have been using a system of Audio-Visual Entrainment or Stimulation (AVE) as part of my Brainwave Conditioning System. Part of the benefit of AVE, beyond the effect on brainwave activity, is that there is an increase in blood flow to the brain. This is especially shown in the pre-frontal cortex of the brain.

With AVE there is no need to stand on your head to gain benefit, but simply to sit quietly for about 30 minutes wearing headphones and eye glasses.

Of course, with this research from MIT there will now be a drive in the developments of medicines to increase blood flow to specific areas of the brain. However, there are other ways like AVE which can also produce beneficial results.

BrainTrainingTips.com
TheBrainTrainingCompany.com

Right Brain vs. Left Brain

2007-10-09T14:05:00.001+01:00

Last week I received an email with a so-called brain test. The sender wanted to know why the brain reacted in the way described in the test. Attached to the email was a computer generated back and white image of a female dancer.

By coincidence, I came across the same image in an online news article today, so perhaps this is now going round the internet. Have a look at the image for yourself here.

When you first look at the image, which way round did the dance appear to be turning? Are you able to get it to change direction? With a few minutes practice you should be able to control the direction she turns.

But how does this effect occur? Is it really a right vs. left brain issue, as suggested in the article? Unfortunately no sources for their claim on this are mentioned.

My opinion is that it is more to do with how to brain interprets visual input, rather than left / right brain. With this image it is a flat two tone picture. There is little reference point of perspective for the brain to use.

If you create your own reference point in your imagination, such as thinking whether the girls hair is towards you or away from you as she turns. The same can be done with her foot and if it is towards you or away from you. As there is not possible to know this, by using your imagination and telling your brain this is what you see, your brain will create the image and perception to what you believe in this moment. A classic optical illusion.

In our training courses we measure brainwave activity to compare left hemisphere brainwave activity with the right hemisphere. It is possible to measure the amplitude of activity and thus which side is more active. Where optimal levels of performance are achieved, be that in a sport or other activity, a balance of brainwave activity is seen. Conversely, we often notice that those who struggle to perform well, especially in academic skills, that they have a significant imbalance of brainwave activity.

There are other images, like this dancer, where your brain has to fill in the gaps of information it cannot see. Have you seen the drawing of the cube and you have to work out if the corner is towards you or away from you? You can see that and other illusions here.

The brain is a very clever piece of kit. If it is not sure as to what it sees, it creates that impression. This might include the child's imagination that they see the shape of monsters in their bedroom, when it is just how the moonlight falls on a pile of clothes.

BrainTrainingTips.com
TheBrainTrainingCompany.com

A political brainwave

2007-10-05T17:47:00.000+01:00

With all the current election talk in the UK, this article seemed both topical and amusing.

Scientists believe they can now identify a person’s political voting preference by analysing their brainwave activity – whether they tend to be more conservative or liberal in their political behaviour.

For much of the last decade, my work at The Brain Training Company has been fascinating. Much of the pleasure from this has been from working in a field which at first was seen as rather alternative, but is now seen as essential for the high performance individual. Although this is a business rather than a research laboratory, fascinating trends have at times emerged from our own EEG (brainwave activity) data.

Olympic athletes now contact us to learn our brainwave training techniques. Only two Olympic Games ago, I was approaching them to offer the benefits and was often met with scepticism. In the executive arena, FTSE 100 companies are incorporating theories of brainwave training to improve their training plans. How times have changed – our “Elite Training” team is full with Beijing Olympic hopefuls and top executives.

It is so refreshing to have reached this point. Rather than being the quirky outsider, our work is now recognised as the cutting edge of peak performance training and I am often consulted as the authority on the subject.

How far will this all go? If you can measure and identify someone’s political persuasion through brainwave activity, is it possible to change it?

We are now into an age of mainstream brain training. It is available to everyone and should be embraced by everyone. It is my personal passion to see this knowledge introduced into education systems.

If it is possible to improve someone’s exam grades by two levels, simply by teaching them a few brain-friendly study skill techniques, when will this be adopted by the masses? At the moment we provide training where requested, usually at INSET training days. However shouldn't this be in the curriculum?

If it is possible to help a child reduce the symptoms of ADHD with brainwave training and reduce their medication, when will doctors start prescribing a course of brainwave training?

I believe it will be sooner than we expect.

BrainTrainingTips.com
TheBrainTrainingCompany.com

Study skills and brainwaves

2007-10-04T17:17:00.000+01:00

Today I found an interesting video on the BBC news website. It is a news item looking at a new teaching style – a brain friendly style.

This incorporates short bursts of learning followed by some physical activity. It also discusses the importance of understanding of brainwave activity.

All of this is exciting as it is exactly what I have been teaching to my clients looking to improve their study skills. Periods of learning should be split into smaller blocks. School classes typically last for 40 – 50 minutes. However younger students cannot concentrate for this length of time.

By adding a period of physical activity, this increases blood flow and oxygen to the brain; essential for laying down the information into neural pathways.

Whilst the study of brainwave activity is mentioned, there is no specific mention of the different levels essential to learning.

Have a look at the news report here. It is great to see this subject, which was previously seen as being very “alternative”, becoming much more accepted and mainstream.

http://www.braintrainingtips.com/
http://www.thebraintrainingcompany.com/

Tips to improve your brain

2007-10-04T15:55:00.000+01:00

Ok I know, as some of you have emailed to point out, it has been way too long since the last post. So here’s another fresh start and some fresh news.

The subject of brain training seems to be so hot at the moment. It is everywhere in the news. The momentum is really building with people being increasingly aware that it is possible to train their brains.

One of the most common questions I am asked in radio interviews is, “how beneficial are these new electronic brain-training games?”

In my opinion, whilst a quick game of Sudoku or some mental arithmetic is no bad thing, it is more important for people to learn techniques of how to use their brain.

For instance, rather than practicing memory games without any training, it is far better to learn how to memorise information. There are specific memory techniques which can be learnt and 10 minutes of studying these is far better than 10 minutes of struggling with your old ways. Why re-invent the wheel?

The next most popular question I am asked is, “what tips can you give us to improve our memory / concentration / study skills?”

You may know that I provide private training courses to improve an individual’s mental performance. These are for the person seriously dedicated to maximising their personal performance; typically the Olympic athlete or top executive.

However, many people are looking for some simple, quick to learn techniques to improve their brain power.

So with this in mind, I am really excited and pleased to tell you about some new information I have released:

www.BrainTrainingTips.com

This information has been developed by condensing down all of the most powerful tips I give in my private training sessions. You can soon have access to the techniques needed to improve your brain power.

So, yes, hopefully more blogs will follow. There is so much news each and every day about the brain. It is an exciting time. Until the next time, bye for now.

BrainTrainingTips.com
TheBrainTrainingCompany.com

wow - Time Flies!

2007-06-04T18:57:00.000+01:00

Goodness me, the month of May has slipped by and I haven't added any new posts to this blog - whoops! Like any new habit, it takes time to become conditioned into our routines and I guess this blog posting needs a little more work. Perhaps this is due to my intention to craft longer and more interesting blogs for you to read, rather than the shorter spur-of-the-moment blogs. But as something is better than nothing, in future I'll try more of the later. I'm new to blogging but enjoy a new challenge - we'll get there!

Anyway, May was an exciting month in the world of brain training and mental fitness. This is for both the public news and also the news within my own company - Life Systems. So in the coming days I'll work through some of these for you and try to get simple, short and punchy posts up for you to read. Some of the topics:

brainwave training used by a professional football team with great results
a Life Systems client wins the English Open
alcohol and the shrinking brain
the dawning of a new era in brainwave controlled computer games
launch of patented formula of brain food
...and many other topical items

So do please keep an eye on this new blog. It's growing and evolving, albeit rather slowly ;)

Welcome to the Brain Training Blog

2007-04-24T14:28:00.000+01:00

Wow! This is exciting. This is the first post in the new blog. So what is this blog going to be about? Well, the intention is to talk about topical brain related news and information, but with the emphasis focusing on brain training – how we can all improve the performance of our brains.

Who am I? My name is Henry Hopking and I am the founder of Life Systems International Ltd in the UK. The company is a leader in the world of brain training and the developer of the Brainwave Conditioning System™. I specialise in training people and their brainwaves for Peak Performance. Rather than blurb on all this in the first post, no doubt you’ll read and learn more about this as I blog some more.

So where to start? Well, I guess I should just dive straight in and mention a few interesting brain-stats which have caught my eye recently.

This morning in the New Zealand Herald I read an article about dyslexia. At Auckland University a recent brain mapping study (MRI) has shown that people with dyslexia try to use the right hemisphere of their brain for reading.

Now this is very interesting to me as for the last eight years I have been measuring the brainwave activity of my dyslexic clients. My business associate, Dominic O’Brien (eight times World Memory Champion fame) and I had identified a trend showing that there is often a higher amplitude of brainwave activity on the right hemisphere of those with dyslexia. We have found that with suitable training, often with the Brain Buddy, we have been able to balance out this activity. Once brainwave balance has been reached, the client usually notices a significant decrease in symptoms of dyslexia.

It was for this area of my work that BBC television in the UK interviewed me and some of my younger clients in 2005 after they heard about the success and featured it on their news. It is just a shame that some institutions specialising in dyslexia do not take this brainwave training more seriously.

However I am not a scientific researcher, but have been able to identify trends from my clients. It is my opinion that the Brainwave Conditioning System™ can help about 70% of those with dyslexia; though certainly not all.

So this formal research from Auckland University really caught my attention and perhaps there is stronger scientific evidence of what we had identified earlier. Hopefully there will be more research in this area and systems such as the Brain Buddy will be scientifically backed in how they can help people.

So what else? Being the first post in this blog, I feel I could go on forever chatting about different topics. But I’ll try to split it up; even if that means I do post in quick succession.

Oh, a quick new item to mention before I sign off… Last week I started the first in my series of regular radio interviews with the BBC. We are discussing topical brain related subjects, very much like in this blog. Last week we were chatting about athletes and how they can train their mental performance. England had just bombed out of the cricket World Cup and this weekend we have seen the opening of the Snooker World Championship. I will try to let you know in advance of the next radio interview so you can listen in; perhaps even call in!