Brain Training – Why It Works
Last year my sister moved to Spain with her two young children. For my sister, the process of learning a new language has been slow and hard work, involving hours of dedicated study and instruction. But her children have absorbed not one but two dialects of Spanish as if by osmosis, and already switch effortlessly back and forth between their native and adopted tongues. Scientists now understand the neurological processes that account for the amazing plasticity of the child’s brain. And this understanding lays the foundation for the exciting new field of brain training.
During the critical period of childhood learning, a child’s brain secretes large quantities of a protein known as BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor). This process triggers the nucleus basalis (the brain’s attention governor), keeping the brain constantly ready to absorb new memories and skills. Children pay attention to everything… well, almost everything.
But once we reach our late teens our bodies begin to produce a lot more BDNF, a trigger that shuts down the brain’s attention center. While it may seem odd that our bodies put an end to effortless learning, from an evolutionary perspective it makes good sense; having an always on brain as an adult would make it difficult to discriminate between choices and avoid unproductive distractions.
As scientists have shown, however, the adult brain isn’t hopelessly cut off from further growth and change. We can reactivate the absorption of new information by engaging in mental tasks that requires focus and attention. When these mental tasks also induce a sense of achievement or satisfaction, we can create the conditions for the growth of new nerve cells and plastic change.
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 Building Blocks of Effective Brain Training
1. Focus
When we apply focus and attention the nucleus basalis releases a substance called acetylcholine. Acetylcholine tells the brain’s memory center to pay attention so that we will hold on to the memories being formed.
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. Exercise of Core Brain Functions
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.
Still an emerging market, 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 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.
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