Posted: Feb 14, 2011 1:49 pm
Rich,
Your question has been posed by a number of medical researchers over the past decade. More broadly, they have been wondering "Is there a way to improve the brain's executive functions?" Epidemiological data had shown that the answer was "probably yes." This prompted researchers to conduct a number of randomized studies.
Because in Medicine "no pain, no gain," the populations studied so far are those with some cognitive deficit at baseline ("pain"). They do show benefits ("gain") from interventions. These consist of brain training, as you call it, and exercise. We know now that regular exercise increases growth factors, which in turn increases the number of cerebral capillaries (transporting oxygen), of neurons, and of dendrites (inter-neuronal connections). Exercise has shown cognitive benefit also in obese children. There is no reason why these findings should not apply to fit, young adults like yourself. Your departing point (in terms of cognitive ability) before brain training and exercise is simply higher -and so will your results.
See: Computer-Based, Personalized Cognitive Training versus Classical Computer Games: A Randomized Double-Blind Prospective Trial of Cognitive Stimulation.
So how does cognitive training works on the brain? There is some evidence of functional plasticity:
The influence of perceptual training on working memory in older adults.
...So don't give up Sudoku and exercise just yet
Your question has been posed by a number of medical researchers over the past decade. More broadly, they have been wondering "Is there a way to improve the brain's executive functions?" Epidemiological data had shown that the answer was "probably yes." This prompted researchers to conduct a number of randomized studies.
Because in Medicine "no pain, no gain," the populations studied so far are those with some cognitive deficit at baseline ("pain"). They do show benefits ("gain") from interventions. These consist of brain training, as you call it, and exercise. We know now that regular exercise increases growth factors, which in turn increases the number of cerebral capillaries (transporting oxygen), of neurons, and of dendrites (inter-neuronal connections). Exercise has shown cognitive benefit also in obese children. There is no reason why these findings should not apply to fit, young adults like yourself. Your departing point (in terms of cognitive ability) before brain training and exercise is simply higher -and so will your results.
See: Computer-Based, Personalized Cognitive Training versus Classical Computer Games: A Randomized Double-Blind Prospective Trial of Cognitive Stimulation.
Exercise improves executive function and achievement and alters brain activation in overweight children: A randomized, controlled trial.
The study involved 171 overweight sedentary 7 to 11 year old children. All the children took the Cognitive Assessment System and Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement III (a standard cognition test that measures math, reading, and other academic skills) at the beginning of the study. Some of the children had a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) test at the beginning of the study.
The children were then exposed to a routine of 20 minutes or 40 minutes of vigorous exercise daily. The more the children exercised the more their scores on the achievement tests increased. The fMRI revealed more activity in the prefrontal cortex of the brain of those children who exercised more. The prefrontal cortex is responsible for higher cognition skills like math and for behavioral control. The same results have been seen in adults.
http://www.examiner.com/science-news-in ... z1DwBEHCmJ
Effects of Cognitive Training Interventions With Older Adults. A Randomized Controlled Trial
Context Cognitive function in older adults is related to independent living and need for care. However, few studies have addressed whether improving cognitive functions might have short- or long-term effects on activities related to living independently.
Objective To evaluate whether 3 cognitive training interventions improve mental abilities and daily functioning in older, independent-living adults.
Design Randomized, controlled, single-blind trial with recruitment conducted from March 1998 to October 1999 and 2-year follow-up through December 2001.
Setting and Participants Volunteer sample of 2832 persons aged 65 to 94 years recruited from senior housing, community centers, and hospital/clinics in 6 metropolitan areas in the United States.
Interventions Participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 groups: 10-session group training for memory (verbal episodic memory; n = 711), or reasoning (ability to solve problems that follow a serial pattern; n = 705), or speed of processing (visual search and identification; n = 712); or a no-contact control group (n = 704). For the 3 treatment groups, 4-session booster training was offered to a 60% random sample 11 months later.
Main Outcome Measures Cognitive function and cognitively demanding everyday functioning.
Results Thirty participants were incorrectly randomized and were excluded from the analysis. Each intervention improved the targeted cognitive ability compared with baseline, durable to 2 years (P<.001 for all). Eighty-seven percent of speed-, 74% of reasoning-, and 26% of memory-trained participants demonstrated reliable cognitive improvement immediately after the intervention period. Booster training enhanced training gains in speed (P<.001) and reasoning (P<.001) interventions (speed booster, 92%; no booster, 68%; reasoning booster, 72%; no booster, 49%), which were maintained at 2-year follow-up (P<.001 for both). No training effects on everyday functioning were detected at 2 years.
Conclusions Results support the effectiveness and durability of the cognitive training interventions in improving targeted cognitive abilities. Training effects were of a magnitude equivalent to the amount of decline expected in elderly persons without dementia over 7- to 14-year intervals. Because of minimal functional decline across all groups, longer follow-up is likely required to observe training effects on everyday function.
Exercise May Improve Cognitive Skills in Older Population
February 3, 2010 — Participating in a sustained exercise program may decrease cognitive decline in patients older than 55 years, according to results from 2 new studies published in the January 25 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.
In a cohort study from Germany, investigators found that moderate or high physical activity was associated with a lower risk of developing cognitive impairment in patients older than 55 years.
The second randomized controlled study showed that resistance training programs improved the cognitive skills of attention and conflict resolution in women between the ages of 65 and 75 years in Canada.
"Our population-based prospective study of a large cohort of elderly subjects found that lack of physical activity yielded a significant association with incident cognitive impairment after 2 years" ...
… Dr. Etgen said that he was amazed at the extent of the findings. "Physical activity cut in half the odds of developing incident cognitive impairment. We were also surprised that moderate physical activity had nearly the same effect as high physical activity."
So how does cognitive training works on the brain? There is some evidence of functional plasticity:
The influence of perceptual training on working memory in older adults.
...So don't give up Sudoku and exercise just yet