I watched the new PBS show called Brain Secrets in which our own founder, Dr. Mike Merzenich, is featured. One of the everyday examples of brain fitness Dr. Mike mentions is how older people can avoid falling down by training their brains to keep their head upright when they walk. Older people have more fear…
A few years ago Disney announced that it is offering refunds on Baby Einstein DVDs purchased in the past five years. Why? Baby Einstein claimed to make babies “smarter,” but doesn’t. In fact, research suggests that if anything, watching such DVDs slows learning development in young children. Threatened with a class-action lawsuit, Disney began to…
Repair, Reactivate and Rejuvenate are all words I just came across while reading a magazine aimed at the more ‘sophisticated and achievement-oriented’ women of America. Unfortunately these words were not in an article for brain fitness – although they could have been as that is what brain fitness exercises have been proven to achieve. Instead the words were…
Cognitive ability is a critical measure of safe driving … understanding that point the way toward improving our ability to deal with the many distractions beyond texting that we can’t eliminate or legislate.
Happy New Years folks! There’s a lot of buzz about distracted driving these days. Maybe it’s because we’re all so distracted that we don’t actually pay attention to the staggering statistics that illustrate what happens when you allow your eyes and mind to wander on the road. We work with the AAA Foundation for Traffic…
Why isn’t brain health top of mind? Recently I’ve been speaking to people all over the country about what a healthy lifestyle means to them. The reason I’m doing this is to understand where brain health fits in with overall health: eating right, exercise and emotional health. What I mostly hear from folks is that…
Many people have heard that eating fish is good for the brain. But can you expect the same brain health benefits from both canned fish and fresh fish? In short, yes: both types of fish are roughly equivalent in nutrients. Canned fish may contain more sodium than fresh, but it may also contain more calcium. When…
An early study of BrainHQ brain training exercises found that training can improve internal locus of control. Unless you are a Psychology professor, you are probably thinking, “what the heck does that mean, and why should I care?” This excerpt from Exploring Psychology in Modules with Updates on DSM-5, 9th Edition, by David G Myers, beautifully explains what…
I have just returned from a couple weeks in New Zealand, where I am collaborating with Dr. Melanie Cheung and others on a pretty incredible Huntington’s disease project. I am so inspired by what we’re doing there that I wanted to share a bit about it. More than 7,000 of the 4.5 million citizens of…
A recent study has found that both people with musical training show better executive functioning in the brain as compared to non-musicians. Based on this finding, the scientists involved in the study have suggested that musical training for ADHD (Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder) may be an effective, non-invasive therapy for the disorder. “Executive functioning” is generally…
