Excercise and brain health

The best blog on brain fitness (SharpBrains) has a post today on
physical excercise and brain fitness. Click link below.

http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/06/26/physical-exercise-and-brain-health/

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Lower IQ linked to later dementia

PsychCentral has a news report of a new study linking IQ level and
education and dementia in adulthood.

http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/06/26/iq-linked-to-later-life-dementia/2510.html

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FMRI taking stock article

No doubt that fMRI research has become a very sexy topic these days,
especially in the popular press. Mind Hacks has a very good post on
the limits of this brain technology and questions that are being
asked. Click link and think.

http://www.mindhacks.com/blog/2008/06/the_fmri_smackdown_c.html

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US troops to receive cognitive screening

A good idea although a bit late for many of our troops.

http://www.psycport.com/showArticle.cfm?xmlFile=knightridder%5F2008%5F06%5F25%5F%5F0000%2D3651%2DHC%2DU%2DS%2DTroops%2DTo%2DGet%2DCognitive%2DScreening%2D0625%2Exml&provider=The%20Hartford%20Courant%2C%20Connecticut

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Encephalon 48 available

http://www.mindhacks.com/blog/2008/06/encephalon_48_makes_.html

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More on brain fitness field

Another news report on the buzz in the field of brain fitness. Check
link below.

http://www.openeducation.net/2008/06/15/experts-state-brain-exercise-as-important-as-physical-activity/

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God and IQ

Richard Lynn is again publishing controversial research on the
relations between intelligence and other variables--this time belief
in God. I'll wait to read the published article. His conclusion--
those with higher intelligence believe less in God. This is sure to
be "hot" in the popular press. Lynn is a highly respected scholar on
human intelligence. See news report at link.

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=402381

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Senior moments

NPR recently had a story and broadcast on "senior moments. " check
out via link.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18953734

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Announcement of ADDA Conference

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Begin forwarded message:

The 2008 National Attention Deficit Disorder Association (ADDA) Conference this July 10-13 in Minneapolis

                                   "Adult AD/HD: People, Purpose & Passion – Pathways for Success"

The conference features some of the biggest names in AD/HD, including keynote presentations by:

Sari Solden , MS, LMFT, on " A 'Whole' New View of Success – Aiming for Wholeness Instead of Perfection"

Ned Hallowell , MD, on "Finding the Buried Treasure in ADD"

John Ratey , MD, on "The Spark for Success"

  Other topics include:

  ·         Medical Management and Treatment

·         Science and Research

·         College Challenges and Success

·         Workplace and Career Issues

·         Life Skills

·         ADHD and Addictions

·         Family and Relationship Issues

·         Non-AD/HD Spouses

·         Time Management and Organization

·         Women's and Men's Issues

·         Coaching       ………and much, much more!      Check it out on www.add.org    

  CEU's are available!

Please contact Beverly Rohman with questions:

Beverly H. Rohman
ADDA Board member and Conference Co-Chair
Learning Consultant & Senior Certified ADHD Coach
The Learning Connections, LLC
Easton , MD 21601
Phone: 410-763-7097

E-mail: Beverly@thelearningconnections.net

Synch your daily tasks to your brain clock

Interesting article on optimal times of the day to do different tasks.


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More on brain fitness revolution

Another news article on the increasing brain fitness movement.

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SharpBrains Update: Emerging Tools, Not Magic Pills

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From: SharpBrains

June 2008 #1

SharpBrains Brain Fitness Newsletter Dear Friend Brain Fitness Webinar Series: Our first Brain Fitness Webinar Series was a success with several hundred participants and great feedback. If you could not participate, you can still review the presentation slides by clicking Here. A key message from the series: it is exciting that our brains remain more flexible, at all ages, than was once thought possible. The implications? Every single owner of a brain can benefit from learning more about how to maintain the "It" in "Use It or Lose It." And which tools, if any, can be helpful. But, remember, there are no magic pills for cognitive health and performance. Market News National Neurotechnology Initiative: Neurotech leaders ask for help to support a pending bill on funding for applications of brain research. Lumos Labs raises $3 m in venture capital: This website provides a stimulating user experience at a reasonable cost. However, there is no clinical validation showing the efficacy of their specific brain training program. If you are in the market for programs than make brain-related claims, please check out our 10-Question Evaluation Checklist. Click Here. Report for Brain Fitness Centers: We are happy to see more organizations, from retirement communities to health systems, benefit from our market report to navigate the brain fitness field and make better informed decisions. Research Executive Functions, Education and Alzheimer's Disease: What we find exciting is the growing amount of research showing how specific cognitive skills (attention, memory, etc....) can be improved. An important reason why the search for a "magic pill" will prove elusive is because there is a variety of brain structures and functions to care care of, not just one. An area that deserves more attention: our frontal lobes and so-called executive functions. Promising Cognitive Training Studies for ADHD: Dr. David Rabiner reports the results from two recent scientific studies highlighting that "cognitive training interventions may provide an important complement to traditional medication treatment and behavior therapy" to help children with attention deficits. Education Cognitive and Emotional Development Through Play: Enough about "exercise" and "training". Dr. David Elkind, author of The Power of Play: Learning That Comes Naturally, discusses the need to build a more "playful culture." Health and Wellness Physical or Mental Exercise for Brain Health?: Both are important. Advice for a couch potato: Be Active. For a teenager: Don't Drop Out of School, Go To College. For a middle age person: Make Sure you Have a Stimulating Job. For a retired person: Find and Try to Master A New Hobby Every Few Years. Professional Development Your Trading Brain: Expert or Novice: Information is power, yet, how often do we ask ourselves, "how does my brain work?". Trader and neuropsychologist Dr. Janice Dorn provides an in-depth discussion to help traders make better decisions and be more successful. Brain Teasers Brain Games: Spot the Difference. You can exercise your brain without spending a dime. In fact, you may well already be. We hope you enjoy this newsletter. Please stay tuned for the next one at the end of June. It will include a fascinating interview with Dr. Arthur Kramer on the cognitive benefits of physical exercise and his cutting-edge cognitive training work with the Navy and air controllers. Have a stimulating week! The SharpBrains Team email: afernandez@sharpbrains.com phone: (415) 318.3467 web: http://www.sharpbrains.com

Executive function training - does it transfer?

My recent FYI post regarding reported transfer effects (to Gf) from working memory training tasks generated a number of posted comments (go to link and see original post plus comments). Today Developing Intelligence has a nice critique of another study dealing with potential transfer (or lack thereof) from training on an executive function "updating" task and possible neurological changes based on neuroimaging data.

Technorati Tags: psychology, educational psychology, school psychology, neuropsychology, neuroscience, executive function, working memory, fMRI

Schizophrenai and brain development video

Thanks to Deric Bownd's Mindblog for the FYI tip regarding an on-line instructional video demonstrating the differences between the brains of normal children and children with schizophrenia.

Technorati Tags: psychology, educational psychology, school psychology, intelligence, schizophrenia, instruction, neuropsychology, neuroscience

115 year old healthy brain

Just because a person gets old it doesn't mean your brain
deteriorates. Interesting story about the brain of the 115 year old
Dutch women who recently passed away. I'm not sure I want to use here
"secret"

http://www.psycport.com/showArticle.cfm?xmlFile=ap%5F2008%5F06%5F13%5Fap%2Eonline%2Eall%5FD91992CO0%5Fnews%5Fap%5Forg%2Eanpa%2Exml&provider=Associated%20Press

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Spot differences game: Parts of brain used

From Sharp Brains blog.

http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/06/11/brain-games-spot-the-difference/

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More temporal processing and reading/dyslexia research

Below are a list of research studies (forwarded to me by a colleague) dealing with the role of temporal processing and reading. I've NOT had the time to read any of these abstracts or articles. I'm posting them here as an FYI. Enjoy.

Visual and auditory processing in young children at family risk for dyslexia. A longitudinal study.

Cross-Modality Temporal Processing Deficits in Developmental Phonological Dyslexics

New Sensory Tests for the Early Detection of Dyslexia

Rapid Visual Processing by College Students in Reading Irregular Words and Phonologically Regular Pseudowords Presented Singly and in Contiguity

Children with dyslexia: evidence for visual attention deficits in perception of rapid sequences of objects.

Psychophysical indices of temporal processing abnormalities in children with dyslexia.

Sensitivity to dynamic auditory and visual stimuli predicts nonword reading ability in both dyslexic and normal readers

Technorati Tags: psychology, educational psychology, school psychology, neuropsychology, temporal processing, mental time keeping, IQ Brain Clock, reading, dyslexia

Dissertation dish: Temporal processing and early reading development

An interesting unpublished dissertation that highlights the relationship between temporal processing (click here for link to relevant portion of IQ Brain Clock EWOK; click here for other "temporal processing" posts at this blog; click here for other "reading" and timing posts at this blog) and early reading development. PDF copy can be downloaded from the original cite (click here). Thanks to Amy V. for forwarding me information about this dissertation. This is the first "dissertation dish" post at the IQ Brain Clock. Dissertation dish posts are a semi-regular feature at IQ's Corner.

As is often the case, this dissertation has a nice literature review on the role of auditory and temporal processing and reading, as well as the well-known role of phonological processing and reading. Of particular interest was the finding that temporal processing explained additional variance unique from phonological processing variance. That is - both temporal and phonological processing were found to be important sources in understanding early reading development.

Title	The Role of Temporal and Phonological Processing In Early Reading Development: A Longitudinal Study
Author	Hood, Michelle H
Institution	Griffith University
Date	2005
Abstract

• [Blogmaster note - bold font added by me] This study investigated the ability of auditory and visual temporal processing measured before school entry (mean age 5.36 years) to predict early reading development in an unselected sample of children. There were 142 children at the first phase (Preschool), 125 at the second phase 6 - 8 months later (early Grade 1; mean age 5.94 years), and 105 at the third phase12 months later (Grade 2; mean age 6.94 years). There were similar numbers of males and females. Visual and auditory temporal order judgement (TOJ) and Temporal Dot accuracy (rapid visual sequencing task) measured at Preschool explained a significant percentage of the variance in letter identification (an important pre-reading skill) measured concurrently. These measures also predicted a significant percentage of the variance in letter and word identification (word reading accuracy) and reading rate (fluency) measured in early Grade 1, even after controlling for the effects of age, environment, memory, attentional vigilance, non-verbal ability, and speech and language problems. They also significantly discriminated between groups of children at Grade 1 who could and could not use phonological decoding to read non-words. By Grade 2, these Preschool measures accounted for significant variance in word reading accuracy and fluency and in non-word decoding. Only Preschool auditory temporal processing accounted for significant unique variance in the reading measures at Preschool or Grade 1, but by Grade 2, visual temporal processing (Temporal Dot) also accounted for significant unique variance. Temporal Dot accuracy also explained unique variance in the rate of growth in these reading measures across this period.
• These changes in predictive ability by the auditory and visual temporal processing measures were interpreted as reflecting developmental changes in their roles in reading as reading develops. Auditory temporal processing was important in early pre-reading and reading and remained important throughout. Visual temporal processing only became important in the later phase, possibly because of increasing need to analyse letter sequences. Preschool temporal and phonological processing measures accounted for approximately equal percentages of variance in the reading measures at Preschool and Grade 1, but by Grade 2, the Preschool phonological processing measures accounted for significantly more variance in all reading measures, except Pseudohomophone Choice (orthographic processing). Very little of the variance that was explained in the reading measures was common to temporal and phonological processing. The variance that each uniquely explained in reading was more important than the variance they explained in common. Therefore, utilising both temporal and phonological processing predictors optimised prediction of early reading skills.
• The study also showed there was significant linear development occurring in temporal processing from Preschool to Grade 2. The correlations of scores on the temporal measures from Preschool to Grade 1 were moderate. The relative position of children within the distribution on these skills showed moderate stability over the short-term, but less stability over the long-term. The majority of children who fell in the bottom quartile on the temporal and phonological processing measures at Preschool remained in the bottom half of the distribution on those measures by Grade 2. These children may represent those who are at most risk for reading difficulties. Letter Word Identification showed high stability from Preschool to Grade 2.
• There was little difference in the percentage of variance explained in subsequent reading between temporal processing measures obtained at Preschool or Grade 1. However, performance on the Visual temporal order judgement task was more likely to account for significant unique variance in reading when measured after school entry than before. This was consistent with the expected developmental changes in reading. When measured after school-entry, phonological processing measures accounted for greater percentages of variance in the reading measures than when measured before. There were also developmental changes in which phonological processing measures were important predictors of reading skills. When measured at Grade 1, rhyme and alliteration detection and phonemic segmentation were the most important predictors. However, when measured at Grade 2, performance on the Rhyme and Alliteration task had reached ceiling, so would no longer be a useful predictor of later reading. These results were consistent with developmental models of reading and of phonological processing.
• The results provided support for a causal role of temporal processing in reading development. They also showed that measures of visual and auditory temporal processing obtained close to school-entry would be a useful addition to predicting risk of early reading difficulties. However, additional work is needed to determine the most suitable temporal processing measures for this younger age group.

Technorati Tags: psychology, educational psychology, school psychology, neuropsychology, temporal processing, brain clock, IQ Brain Clock, phonological processing, Ga, Grw, reading, dyslexia, dissertation

Encephalon 47 brain blog carnival available

Latest from this brain blog carnival at link below.

http://channeln.blogspot.com/2008/06/encephalon-47.html

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Organized mind

Interesting post regarding the "organized mind" over at the ENL blog.

http://eideneurolearningblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/aha-organized-mind.html

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MaestroLive and the Brain Clock

Thanks to the person that left the following comment (in response to a blog post) at the IQ Brain Clock blog.

• "I have been playing game called MaestroLive.com and I think it might be helpful for developing internal clock. Game is basically about tapping the rhythm for the songs and you get instant feedback how much you missed the each note. It's also quite fun."

I just took a quick peak. Interesting stuff. It is possible that MaestroLive might be increasing the efficiency of the internal clock via some of the mechanisms I've hypothesized about previously (e.g., increased executive controlled attention; focus; working memory; executive function; rhythm perception; etc.). I'd love to see some empirical research.

Below is a brief description from their web page:

• "MaestroLive is a music game that lets anyone play songs by tapping the rhythm of the song on a computer keyboard or on an attached MIDI keyboard. MaestroLive gives you a score for your performance. When you finish playing a song you can save your score to the MaestroLive network and compare it with previous scores of that song or with other player’s scores. Each song has its own set of scores."

Working memory training improves fluid intelligence: New research

Training working memory can increase fluid intelligence (Gf). Wow.

I've had a number of people forward the following abstract to me. After reading the article I now see why. This article, in the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), reports that a working memory training intervention produced positive transfer effects in fluid intelligence (Gf). This is a very important finding. Cognitive ability training research suffers from a paucity of studies that demonstrate positive transfer to other tasks/domains that differ from the training medium. This study also adds additional strong evidence to the link between working memory and Gf.

These findings are particularly important regarding the hypothesis that brain clock intervention training programs (e.g., Interactive Metronome) may be producing positive outcomes via an improvement in the domain-general cognitive mechanism's of working memory and executive functions. I've previously written about this hypothesis at this blog (click here).

Cool stuff. A must read. Much has been written about the link between working memory and Gf. Here are some prior related posts touching on the topics of working memory and Gf.

Jaeggi, S., Buschkuehl, M., Jonides, J. & Perrig, W. (2008). Improving fluid intelligence with training on working memory. Proceedings of the National Academic of Sciences, 105 (19), 6829-6833. (click to read)


Abstract

• Fluid intelligence (Gf) refers to the ability to reason and to solve new problems independently of previously acquired knowledge. Gf is critical for a wide variety of cognitive tasks, and it is considered one of the most important factors in learning. Moreover, Gf is closely related to professional and educational success, especially in complex and demanding environments. Although performance on tests of Gf can be improved through direct practice on the tests themselves, there is no evidence that training on any other regimen yields increased Gf in adults. Furthermore, there is a long history of research into cognitive training showing that, although performance on trained tasks can increase dramatically, transfer of this learning to other tasks remains poor. Here, we present evidence for transfer from training on a demanding working memory task to measures of Gf. This transfer results even though the trained task is entirely different from the intelligence test itself. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the extent of gain in intelligence critically depends on the amount of training: the more training, the more improvement in Gf. That is, the training effect is dosage-dependent. Thus, in contrast to many previous studies, we conclude that it is possible to improve Gf without practicing the testing tasks themselves, opening a wide range of applications.

Brain rules

Mindblog has some comments regarding the popular press book "Brain Rules"

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Newsweek article: EF is new IQ?

Newsweek article re: flurry of research surrounding executive functioning...."Is EF the new IQ."

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Tip-of-the-tongue info.

Thanks to Mind Hacks for the post regarding the tip-of-the-tongue phenomena.

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Brain fitness report accolades

More deserved praise for Sharp Brains recent brain fitness software market report. Check link below.

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