Brain Fitness

Little Miss Brain gives her two cents on how to keep your brain young and fit!

… and I promise it’s almost nothing like the boot camp in Full Metal Jacket.

A new study concluded a training program focusing on improving thinking and concentration can improve mental acuity. The study primarily focused on attention training in older adults who have a harder time blocking out distractions due to how the brain changes with age.

“In the one-on-one sessions, subjects are asked to ignore distracting information and tasks get harder as the eight-week training progresses. For the group sessions, participants learn new information relevant to healthy aging and are tested on their ability to apply the new information. All participants had an fMRI scan while they completed a task that required them to look for target words or numbers while ignoring distracting sounds. The scans showed brain activity in areas related to both sight and sound. Follow-up fMRIs showed that in the group receiving the one-on-one training, activity related to sight was increased, while activity related to sound was decreased. In addition, performance on the task was improved.”

Essentially this “brain training” is a powerful statement regarding how much control we have over how our brains function. Interesting. And for those of us who might not fit into the “older adult” category?

“There are a growing number of activities, from crossword puzzles to Sudoku, promoted as ways to keep our minds young,” said Jennifer Mozolic, a Wake Forest graduate student who presented the results."

Too bad I hate Sudoku.