RPizzle wrote:When I took organic chemistry, we had to be able to take various molecules and manipulate them using molecular modeling kits. During exams this had to be done in your head. I noticed that some people seemed to easily be able to rotate the structures in their mind, but for me it was like a brick wall.

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."

CdesignProponentsist wrote:

RPizzle wrote:When I took organic chemistry, we had to be able to take various molecules and manipulate them using molecular modeling kits. During exams this had to be done in your head. I noticed that some people seemed to easily be able to rotate the structures in their mind, but for me it was like a brick wall.

I think as far as training the brain, practical training is what you need. Sudoku probably will not help you much with spacial skills when working with molecules. If you want to increase specific mental skills, you should focus your exercises on those skills.

Think of the brain as a round mountain and different parts of the mountain have different cognitive application, and think of your thought process as water falling on this mountain eroding streams and valleys. As you utilize specific cognitive applications, the streams in those areas become rivers. You build the needed connections in order to be better at doing these application.

So in essence practice what you want to get better at.

@mr Samsa, I agree, it looks like there is some question regarding fish oil and brain function. I do currently take it to lower my cholesterol along with red yeast rice, and had heard talk of it being beneficial for the brain as well. I guess this may not be the case. Oh well. I feel smarter at least

RPizzle wrote: In the full text article you linked2, I found it fascinating that elderly adults who received training were able to best a cohort of college students, albeit ones who were untrained.

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.

I would be interested to learn more about neuroplasticity, and the methods used to create cognitive improvement.