Trendsurfing: Brain training (The Times)
By David Rowan
You've sorted your gym membership, your personal trainer and your Botox. But how can you hope to retain that sparkle of youth unless you've signed up for a decent brain-fitness regime? As mortality looms for the Baby Boom generation, businesses are piling in to market new mental-stimulation programmes that claim to slow the brain's rate of decline. From computer gaming to publishing, the new "brain training" regimes promise to enhance mental agility and stave off dementia, using the latest neuroscience to stretch thinking power. At a time when we have ever-increasing expectations of our senior years, it's a compelling sales pitch.
With many of us expecting to live longer than our parents, marketers are jumping on growing evidence that mental stimulation can slow the brain's rate of attrition. In recent years, neuroscientists such as Michael Merzenich of the University of California have popularised the notion of adult "brain plasticity" - the idea that the brain remains malleable even as it ages, and so, with exercise, can be "rejuvenated" far into the advancing years. Dr Merzenich's clinical research may be directed towards alleviating Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, but his brain has been sharp enough to spot a commercial opportunity: through his company, Posit Science, he sells computer-based training programmes to "enhance cognitive performance". Priced from $395, the programmes, it is claimed, "dramatically improve auditory memory and other cognitive functions in older adults".
This is just the start. Publishers' neurones are glowing with excitement over the new self-help opportunities. Shelves are filling with books that claim to "supercharge your memory" and "sharpen your intelligence", generally based on a short daily cognitive routine. Subscription websites, too, are sensing profits, with companies such as MyBrainTrainer offering online exercises "designed to stimulate different parts of your brain (and so) improve your cognitive function and brain processing speed".
But the real excitement surrounds electronic games that claim to offer cerebral workouts. Nintendo's brain-training game, Brain Age, launched in Britain this month for its DS handheld system, offers number, verbal, memory and intelligence tests, and claims to help you tone up and hence reduce your mental "age" through exercises based on the work of Japanese neuroscientist Ryuta Kawashima. Soon, your mobile will also be available for a mental tune-up: Dublin-based Upstart Games is to launch handset-compatible versions of G-mode's bestselling Right Brain Paradise games, apparently designed to exercise the brain's right side and "improve spatial, visual and cognitive skills".
Is there science behind the hype? Neuroscientists have raised doubts about the more extravagant claims, but there seems to be an emerging consensus that regular mental challenges can delay the brain's decline. One study, involving 678 American nuns, found that complex mental activity delayed the onset of dementia. Research from the University of New South Wales also suggests that memory-based games can build "brain reserve" even among the elderly.
That's why, when The Times calls to ask where my column is, I proudly explain that I'm busy doing the Su Doku. The editor isn't impressed, but I'm sure my doctor would approve.
(The Times Magazine, May 6 2006)
You've sorted your gym membership, your personal trainer and your Botox. But how can you hope to retain that sparkle of youth unless you've signed up for a decent brain-fitness regime? As mortality looms for the Baby Boom generation, businesses are piling in to market new mental-stimulation programmes that claim to slow the brain's rate of decline. From computer gaming to publishing, the new "brain training" regimes promise to enhance mental agility and stave off dementia, using the latest neuroscience to stretch thinking power. At a time when we have ever-increasing expectations of our senior years, it's a compelling sales pitch.
With many of us expecting to live longer than our parents, marketers are jumping on growing evidence that mental stimulation can slow the brain's rate of attrition. In recent years, neuroscientists such as Michael Merzenich of the University of California have popularised the notion of adult "brain plasticity" - the idea that the brain remains malleable even as it ages, and so, with exercise, can be "rejuvenated" far into the advancing years. Dr Merzenich's clinical research may be directed towards alleviating Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, but his brain has been sharp enough to spot a commercial opportunity: through his company, Posit Science, he sells computer-based training programmes to "enhance cognitive performance". Priced from $395, the programmes, it is claimed, "dramatically improve auditory memory and other cognitive functions in older adults".
This is just the start. Publishers' neurones are glowing with excitement over the new self-help opportunities. Shelves are filling with books that claim to "supercharge your memory" and "sharpen your intelligence", generally based on a short daily cognitive routine. Subscription websites, too, are sensing profits, with companies such as MyBrainTrainer offering online exercises "designed to stimulate different parts of your brain (and so) improve your cognitive function and brain processing speed".
But the real excitement surrounds electronic games that claim to offer cerebral workouts. Nintendo's brain-training game, Brain Age, launched in Britain this month for its DS handheld system, offers number, verbal, memory and intelligence tests, and claims to help you tone up and hence reduce your mental "age" through exercises based on the work of Japanese neuroscientist Ryuta Kawashima. Soon, your mobile will also be available for a mental tune-up: Dublin-based Upstart Games is to launch handset-compatible versions of G-mode's bestselling Right Brain Paradise games, apparently designed to exercise the brain's right side and "improve spatial, visual and cognitive skills".
Is there science behind the hype? Neuroscientists have raised doubts about the more extravagant claims, but there seems to be an emerging consensus that regular mental challenges can delay the brain's decline. One study, involving 678 American nuns, found that complex mental activity delayed the onset of dementia. Research from the University of New South Wales also suggests that memory-based games can build "brain reserve" even among the elderly.
That's why, when The Times calls to ask where my column is, I proudly explain that I'm busy doing the Su Doku. The editor isn't impressed, but I'm sure my doctor would approve.
(The Times Magazine, May 6 2006)
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