My four-year old son picks up new words and puts them to use as if they were so many pieces of Lego. Over the course of a dozen or so years, children build up a vocabulary of tens of thousands of words. A child's ability to absorb and master new information is a constant marvel. By contrast, adults would appear to be relative dullards. But the explanation for the difference between the growing brain and the adult brain yields the secret to the lifelong ability to maintain and improve brain function.
A child's brain produces large amounts of a protein known as BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor). BDNF stimulates the brain's center of attention and memory formation. For children, the copious production of BDNF means that their brains are constantly ready to take in new information and form new brain structures.
In late adolescence the body produces a lot more BDNF, so much more that it turns off the brain's attention center. This shutting down effortless learning and constant attention is very important for our life as adults; we'd otherwise get overloaded and find it difficult to discriminate between long term goals and short term distractions.
Until recently, scientists believed the adult brain incapable of growth or change. Prevailing wisdom resigned us to a long, slow mental decline. But recent advancements in brain science have proven that this is far from true. Activities that demand attention reactivate the brain's attention center. And when we carry out mental tasks that produce a sense of accomplishment, we create conditions under which the brain can grow and change.
Known in the scientific community as neurogenesis and neuroplasticity the ability to rewire the brain provides the foundation for effective brain training. Effective brain training protocols use mental tasks that demand focus and reward that focus via exercises that strengthen memory, processing speed, and problem-solving ability.
The Three Building Blocks of Effective Brain Training
1. Attention
With mental focus and attention the nucleus basalis produces acetylcholine. Acetylcholine stimulates the brain's long term memory and retention.
2. Challenge
Mental challenge and reward stimulate the production of another brain chemical - dopamine - which in turn is critical for plastic change.
3. Exercise of Core Brain Functions
Together these two brain chemicals stimulate the growth of new nerve cells, and produce conditions under which the brain can grow and change. If this mental condition is accompanied by an exercise that strengthens and improves core functions, we end up with lasting improvements in our mental ability.
Practical Applications of Brain Training
All kinds of mental tasks produce some degree of neural growth, helping us stay sharp - learning a new language, solving puzzles, taking up a new career. But such incidental change isn't as directed and effective as that produced by some of the brain training exercises that scientists have designed.
A well designed brain training program improves cognitive ability using efficient and quantitatively verifiable exercises. The practical applications are many and varied: Learning specialists now work with brain training software to help reverse learning deficits; Senior centers offer brain training resources to their customers, helping to reverse memory loss and delay or prevent the onset of Alzheimer's symptoms or dementia; Schools have begun to introduce brain training as a way of optimizing children's academic study; And individuals have taken to brain training as a way to maintain and improve their mental agility, in some instances even capitalizing on the latest training programs as a way to increase fluid intelligence (problem-solving skills) - a goal once thought unattainable.
Still an emerging market, the brain training industry inevitably churns out some programs that are at best only moderately effective, and at worst pretty near useless. On the other hand, the better programs are founded on excellent science and produce reliable results.
Since committing to a program requires time and money it pays to check the scientific credentials of the training. What specifically is it designed to achieve? Has its efficacy been independently tested or proven? Does the vendor specify the degree of improvement you should expect? And does training follow a prescribed timeline with set duration and milestones?
It's perhaps equally important to remember that brain training requires something from us, too. Plastic change can't be had without diligence and stamina. To use the analogy of physical fitness, we can't expect to increase our brain power without breaking a mental sweat. If we are willing to make the investment, however, the rewards will be well worth the effort. - 16003
A child's brain produces large amounts of a protein known as BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor). BDNF stimulates the brain's center of attention and memory formation. For children, the copious production of BDNF means that their brains are constantly ready to take in new information and form new brain structures.
In late adolescence the body produces a lot more BDNF, so much more that it turns off the brain's attention center. This shutting down effortless learning and constant attention is very important for our life as adults; we'd otherwise get overloaded and find it difficult to discriminate between long term goals and short term distractions.
Until recently, scientists believed the adult brain incapable of growth or change. Prevailing wisdom resigned us to a long, slow mental decline. But recent advancements in brain science have proven that this is far from true. Activities that demand attention reactivate the brain's attention center. And when we carry out mental tasks that produce a sense of accomplishment, we create conditions under which the brain can grow and change.
Known in the scientific community as neurogenesis and neuroplasticity the ability to rewire the brain provides the foundation for effective brain training. Effective brain training protocols use mental tasks that demand focus and reward that focus via exercises that strengthen memory, processing speed, and problem-solving ability.
The Three Building Blocks of Effective Brain Training
1. Attention
With mental focus and attention the nucleus basalis produces acetylcholine. Acetylcholine stimulates the brain's long term memory and retention.
2. Challenge
Mental challenge and reward stimulate the production of another brain chemical - dopamine - which in turn is critical for plastic change.
3. Exercise of Core Brain Functions
Together these two brain chemicals stimulate the growth of new nerve cells, and produce conditions under which the brain can grow and change. If this mental condition is accompanied by an exercise that strengthens and improves core functions, we end up with lasting improvements in our mental ability.
Practical Applications of Brain Training
All kinds of mental tasks produce some degree of neural growth, helping us stay sharp - learning a new language, solving puzzles, taking up a new career. But such incidental change isn't as directed and effective as that produced by some of the brain training exercises that scientists have designed.
A well designed brain training program improves cognitive ability using efficient and quantitatively verifiable exercises. The practical applications are many and varied: Learning specialists now work with brain training software to help reverse learning deficits; Senior centers offer brain training resources to their customers, helping to reverse memory loss and delay or prevent the onset of Alzheimer's symptoms or dementia; Schools have begun to introduce brain training as a way of optimizing children's academic study; And individuals have taken to brain training as a way to maintain and improve their mental agility, in some instances even capitalizing on the latest training programs as a way to increase fluid intelligence (problem-solving skills) - a goal once thought unattainable.
Still an emerging market, the brain training industry inevitably churns out some programs that are at best only moderately effective, and at worst pretty near useless. On the other hand, the better programs are founded on excellent science and produce reliable results.
Since committing to a program requires time and money it pays to check the scientific credentials of the training. What specifically is it designed to achieve? Has its efficacy been independently tested or proven? Does the vendor specify the degree of improvement you should expect? And does training follow a prescribed timeline with set duration and milestones?
It's perhaps equally important to remember that brain training requires something from us, too. Plastic change can't be had without diligence and stamina. To use the analogy of physical fitness, we can't expect to increase our brain power without breaking a mental sweat. If we are willing to make the investment, however, the rewards will be well worth the effort. - 16003
About the Author:
Oxford-trained scientist, author, and technologist, Martin G. Walker is a member of The British Neuroscience Association, Learning and The Brain, and MENSA. His company Mind Evolve Software publishes free information on the field of neuroscience and brain training as well as effective and affordable brain fitness software under the brand name Mind Sparke.
