Brain Fitness Centers on the Right Tract

It seems that the older brain can undergo intensive training to improve the owner’s mental functioning (‘cognitive function’). Posit Science Corporation in San Francisco has developed a training program for older people with cognitive decline, and tested it on 180 of them. The subjects had to be over 60, and have a Mini-Mental State Exam score of 24 or over, i.e. they did not have Alzheimer’s-level decline.

The volunteers were randomly assigned to the brain training program, hearing DVD-based educational lectures, or no intervention at all. The training consisted of increasingly more difficult tests of stimulus recognition, discrimination, sequencing, and memory tasks. Increased difficulty depended on the individual’s progress. The subjects trained for one hour a day, 5 days a week, for 8 to 10 weeks.

Significant improvements were recorded in the brain training group, but not in the other two groups. In particular, good results were seen in improved speed of processing and word recognition, syllable matching memory, working memory and story memory. Equally important were the spontaneous tributes given to the program by the participants. At follow-up 3 months later these improvements were maintained.

What to do? Wait until the decline is noticeable and then try to get entered into a program like this one? Some critics say the change (benefit0 is not that noticeable – it’s like increasing your IQ a point or two. But I’m enthused by the idea that it could be fun – there’s a computer game coming out that will be more enjoyable than most training programs.