Brain Training – Why It Works
Posted on October 29, 2009
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For children, learning happens effortlessly. By six years of age, children know over ten thousand words and learn dozens of new words on a daily basis. By contrast, learning a new language as an adult can be hard going. This curious and dramatic difference between the child and the adult brain is so familiar that we don’t even question it. But the mechanism and reason for the difference provides a powerful way for us to increase our adult mental abilities.
During the critical period of childhood learning, a child’s brain produces large quantities of a protein known as BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor). This process triggers the nucleus basalis (the brain’s attention center), keeping the brain constantly ready to absorb new memories and skills. Children pay attention to everything… well, almost everything.
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; without it we would be forever swamped by new details finding it hard to choose between long term goals and short term distractions.
But scientists have recently shown that the default “off” mode of the adult brain’s attention center doesn’t mean that we’re resigned to a static brain, or, worse yet, a long, inevitable mental decline. As adults we can reactivate the learning center by engaging in activities that requires focus and attention. When these activities also produce a sense of accomplishment or satisfaction, we have the ingredients for neurogenesis and brain plasticity.
Intense focus at a challenging task results in neurogenesis (new nerve cell growth) and neuroplasticity (rewiring of brain structure). If we activate these processes while training core brain functions (e.g., processing speed, memory, and problem-solving ability) we can strengthen and improve our mental ability.
The Three Pillars of 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
Tackling a mental challenge that yields a sense of satisfaction or reward causes the brain to produce a second substance crucial to plastic change called dopamine.
3. Targeted Training
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.
Brain Training In Practice
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.
It’s still so new that 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 brain training programs are founded on excellent science and produce reliable results.
Before purchasing a brain training program, check the scientific pedigree of the training exercises it incorporates. Does the vendor spell out specifically what the training will accomplish, providing measurable gains in memory or processing ability? And does the product come with a training schedule, telling you how much time you should devote to the exercises and over what period you should train?
Lastly, it’s important to remain aware that even the best brain training program requires our focus and diligence – those essential elements of brain plasticity. As with physical exercise, we can’t improve if we don’t exert ourselves. But the rewards if we do so will be well worth it.
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 Sparke publishes free information on the field of neuroscience and brain training as well as effective and affordable brain training software.
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