SAN FRANCISCO — Results from the Warfighter Brain Fitness Study, which recently published in the journal Military Medicine, show that the combination of two brain fitness programs delivered significant improvements across multiple key measures of cognitive resilience a health and readiness priority of the US military. The study, led by Applied Research Associates, Inc. (ARA) combined the top-down, strategy-based executive function training program SMART™ (Strategic Memory Advanced Reasoning Training) from the UT Dallas Center for BrainHealth with the bottom-up, adaptive and progressively challenging brain exercises found in BrainHQ from Posit Science.
Cognitive resilience has become a critical health and readiness issue for US warfighters. Military life demands peak performance in challenging conditions, such as extreme and prolonged stress, frequent deployments, separation from family, sleep deprivation, exposure to severe trauma, and other stressors, which make warfighters vulnerable to brain health conditions (e.g., anxiety, depression, brain fog, and PTS). Building cognitive resilience helps servicemembers optimize performance, adapt, and recover from adversity.
“This study offers further strong confirmation that just as the right physical training builds physical resilience, the right cognitive training builds cognitive resilience,” noted Dr. Henry Mahncke, CEO of Posit Science, which makes the brain exercise app, BrainHQ. “While our work began with showing our technology could help servicemembers recover from persistent issues following brain injuries, the military is now increasingly deploying this technology to strengthen capabilities and resilience, and to monitor cognitive readiness.”
“Optimizing brain health is the greatest weapon the military can invest in,” observed Dr. Sandra Bond Chapman, Founder and Chief Director of the UT Dallas Center for BrainHealth. “Strengthening brain health ‘left of boom’ – ahead of the threat – helps build an agile, innovative, problem-solving brain. It also enhances resilience ‘right of boom’ for a faster return to readiness. Being proactive matters. And cognitive training in the military matters. Brain fitness is as important as physical fitness, arguably more so.”
“US military leadership is acutely aware of the importance of building warfighters with the resilience to sustain cognitive performance and psychological well-being under extremely demanding conditions,” said lead researcher Leanne Young, an ARA subject matter expert and engineering director. “This study provides data to support validated, scalable approaches to equipping warfighters to meet these demands.”
The researchers enrolled 406 healthy National Guard servicemembers in a multi-arm study with alternating sequences of 90 days of BrainHQ and SMART training, and with waitlist control arms. Training efficacy was evaluated using the BrainHealth Index (BHI), the world’s first validated measure of holistic brain health, comprised of 22 multi-domain assessments to provide an indicator of overall brain health that can track changes in brain health over time.
Consistent with prior studies, participants benefitted from training in either BrainHQ or SMART. Improvements were shown across all measures (including cognitive performance and psychological well-being).
Good brain health is now recognized as critical to combat readiness and transitions back to civilian life. Early research programs in stress management, mindfulness, and sleep hygiene are now widely deployed across the military. The researchers noted that cognitive training is ready for similar deployment. SMART and BrainHQ are highly scalable solutions useable even in remote locations, supported by rapid growth in data showing efficacy in achieving peak performance, building resilience against injury, and aiding faster and more complete recovery. Their adaptive features permit personalized approaches to cognitive training, much in the way that physical trainers personalize physical training regimens to optimize performance of warfighters and elite athletes.
Developed by Center for BrainHealth researchers and tested over two decades, SMART brain training is a neuroscience-based program training cognitive strategies that sharpen focus, reasoning, decision-making, mental flexibility and resilience – to drive real-world benefits like improved strategic thinking and stress management. SMART has demonstrated significant success in more than 30 peer-reviewed studies, including several studies involving first responders, active-duty military personnel and veterans. Results point to enhanced high-level cognitive functions (focus and decision-making), improved psychological health (stress and depression symptoms), engagement in daily life (planning, taking initiative), and ongoing recovery from the effects of chronic PTS and brain injuries.