Improving cognitive skills is now creating better soldiers, finds a new US navy research.
The cognitive effects of certain video-game-style activities are not only impressive but can last a couple of years, a researcher for the Navy recently explained.

If gamers don’t want to believe that video games have an effect on them — at least any effect that will cause them to do antisocial things — will they accept research that suggests brain games make their work better?
Here’s Ray Perez, program officer for the Office of Naval Research’s warfighter performance department:
“We have discovered that video game players perform 10 to 20 percent higher in terms of perceptual and cognitive ability than normal people that are non-game players…”

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Music training proved to have profound effects in shaping a growing child’s brain and sensory systems. So the experts in neuroscience advice music to be a main stay of K-12 education. They also advice the cash-strapped schools, not to make the major mistake by cutting music from K-12 Education.

Music training is beneficial for processing music stimuli. It will enhance the brain stems’ sensitivity to the speech sounds.

So music study can be an effective strategy in helping typically developing children who is healthy with the neural aspects. Music is equally helpful for the children with developmental problems like dyslexia or autism.

“Playing an instrument may help youngsters better process speech in noisy classrooms and more accurately interpret the nuances of language that are conveyed by subtle changes in the human voice,” says Nina Kraus, Hugh Knowles Professor of Neurobiology, Physiology and Communication Sciences at Northwestern University.

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Check out this intriguing new article from sharpbrains:
Working memory is the ability to hold information in your head and manipulate it mentally. You use this mental workspace when adding up two numbers spoken to you by someone else without being able to use pen and paper or a calculator. Children at school need this memory on a daily basis for a variety of tasks such as following teachers’ instructions or remembering sentences they have been asked to write down.

The main goal of our recent paper published in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology was to investigate the predictive power of working memory and IQ in learning in typically developing children over a six-year period. This issue is important because distinguishing between the cognitive skills underpinning success in learning is crucial for early screening and intervention.

In this study, typically developing students were tested for their IQ and working memory at 5 years old and again when they were 11 years old. They were also tested on their academic attainments in reading, spelling and maths.

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This is the new stuff! You can control your keyboard with your brain – it will also serve as a neural workout.

It is known for some time that specific brain activities, designed in a specific way can be effective for brain training.
A new and exciting area of research also indicate that we can control different devices with the “power” of our brain.

A new study, from the University of Washington shows that when watching a cursor respond to one’s thoughts prompts brain signals to become stronger than those generated in day-to-day life. Having a greater activity in a specific area of the brain is the essence of brain training. The visual feedback on the brain activity looks like a potential new brain training technology.
The study also indicates that after a period of “learning”, the people studied the mechanism of activating the cursor, and a lower effort was needed. This shows how quickly the brain adopted its new role. [Source: http://www.washington.edu/]

And until this technology becomes available for brain training in general, as well as for more areas of the brain – such as memory improvement, you are welcome to use our brain training games for the job…

Wise men say only fools rush in… Get smarter!
Train your brain with our special Valentine’s Day Matchmaking
memory training. Play cupid – It’s fun!

Why Do Men Forget Important Dates?
Watch this video and find out what to do with a forgetful spouse.
Don’t become a part of those statistics! Train your memory and avoid the most common relationship mistake of forgetting Important Dates.
Smart People Make Better Lovers!

Mind360 Wishes You a Happy and Loving Valentine’s Day.

So you’ve heard about the benefits of strength training for your bones (it helps increase bone density) and your muscles (counteracts natural muscle loss) but a brand new study found that pumping some iron has major benefits for your brain too. And the results are pretty significant to say the least…

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After making a silly mistake, it’s not uncommon for a person to say, “Oops — I was on autopilot.” In his new book, The Hidden Brain, science writer Shankar Vedantam explains how there’s actually a lot of truth to that.

Our brains have two modes, he tells NPR’s Steve Inkseep — conscious and unconscious, pilot and autopilot — and we are constantly switching back and forth between the two.

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PRISONERS in Scotland are to be given Nintendo DS consoles to improve their reading and maths skills.
A report by the Scottish government concluded that it would be “motivational” for cons to play “brain training” games.

The Scottish Prison Service could fork out up to £149 per console and £20 per game for the trial scheme, which could see the practice rolled out across Scotland.

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A massive earthquake hit Haiti last Tuesday, killing thousands of people and wounding many more. For so many, it is survival of the body, not only the brain.

The quake, measuring 7 on the Richter scale, has caused widespread damage in and around the capital Port-au-Prince, leaving a large number of people homeless and hungry.

The people of Haiti need food assistance as quickly as possible to prevent hunger worsening the misery already caused by the disaster.

Remembering that brain training is important, and yet we do need a healthy body as well, MIND360 is helping the people of Haiti. All subscriptions for this week will be donated to Haiti refugees. So Join MIND360 this week, train your brain, and help us help them.

Our heart, as well as our brain, is with the survivals.