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I am a member of the Public Health Service which composes three federal agencies: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), The National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Center for Disease Control. NIH is largely an agency that is research oriented and FDA is largely a regulatory agency. I work for FDA in the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research as Director of Small Business Assistance. As part of my responsibilities I scan the NIH website frequently for information that could be useful to small pharmaceutical businesses. While looking at the NIH website recently I became aware of a study supported by NIH involving older adults who were otherwise healthy and living independently received training focused on targeted cognitive skills.
The participants were divided into treatment groups to receive cognitive training in one of the three target skills. The memory training focused on methods to learn and remember new information such as word lists and short narratives; the reasoning training emphasized pattern detection and inductive skills to solve problems; and the speed-of-processing training addressed the speed of responses to visual and manual prompts on a computer screen. Only the memory training component relied on the participant's declarative memory ability. Training was conducted in 10 sessions of 60-75 minutes over a period of 5-6 weeks. Compared to a control group that received no training, participants who received the memory training and had normal memory ability at the start of the study showed significant improvement in memorization skills. However, among the participants with declines in memory function, those in the memory training group showed no benefit, while those who received the reasoning or the speed-of-processing training showed improvement in these areas comparable to normal-memory participants.
In reference to this study, the Director of National Institute of Aging at NIH stated "that interventions can be designed and demonstrated to maintain cognitive skills with age is of enormous interest in the research community right now. This study tests hypothesis and shows the potential promise of continued research in this area."
As result of emerging information of reasonable evidence that challenging the brain can stave off cognitive decline there has been a "brain fitness" explosion. And it is not only the elderly but teenagers and athletes who are using brain fitness software to increase their performance in school and/or sports. There are several software programs available that provide cognitive exercise programs. Three of the popular brain fitness software programs are My Brain Trainer, Happy Neuron, and Luminosity. I subscribe to My Brain Trainer and Happy Neuron as the exercises are different and provide more opportunities for challenging games. The cost for subscribing to these programs is minimal. I set aside at least an hour several days a week to use these programs. So do I see a difference? Yes. My memorization skills have increased but more importantly I appear to be sharper in decision making. But a major reason I use them is that they are fun and challenging. And I sometimes use them with friends. So it is rather a win/win situation where you can have fun times by yourself or with your friends and have the potential benefits of improving your cognitive function.
Websites for the Brain Exercisers
As a footnote I would appreciate your feedback on the articles that I provide in the Phoenix.
**Editor's Note: Would you like to review a book you've found particularly inspirational and helpful? Or discuss a topic that tickles your fancy? If so, please forward your review to phoenix@stthomasdc.org.
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