Boosting your Brain Power

Boosting your Brain Power - the Hype and the Hope was a sold out public lecture held at the Melbourne Neuroscience Institute (28.05.13). ABC’s Hilary Harper skillfully chaired the evening and we heard from three leading experts: Professor Nicola Lautenschlager, Dr Bob Wood, Dr Damian Birney and Dr Jee Hyan Kim.

Context of the brain

Prof. Lautenschlager introduced the context of the brain. Studies show that by the age of 25 the majority of people have reached our cognitive peak. The knowledge, that brain function declines from in our twenties has peaked people’s interest.

Brain training industry

This could also explain why there is an exponential growth in the brain ‘training’ industry in the last five years (just google ‘brain training’ and you will see a plethora of companies). We have an aging population who want to preserve their well-being as much as possible. It is predicted that the younger generations will be retiring later in life, therefore being mentally (and physically) in  ‘good shape’ is essential for the potential demands of later life. Doing brain training exercises (for some people) is akin to going to the gym.

Prof. Wood reviewed the recent research into the brain training programs in the market. The main message was that these brain training activities are based on scientific research, but are over-stretching the claims made by the neuroscientists. He explained that although these programs are ‘evidence based’ they have not undergone the rigorous research protocols of academic research.

Criticism of brain training programs

One main criticism Prof. Wood put forward was that most brain training exercises do not account for motivation and attention, and lack thereof. In principle these brain training techniques might work, but people lack the motivation to engage in them for X amount of minutes every day.

Prof. Wood also postulated that the brain training exercises lack real life applicability. For example, how can doing Sudoku be generalised to everyday life? There may well be parallels but this needs to be studied further to understand the implications.

Active memory

Interestingly, Melbourne University, the Florey Institute and ABC have collaborated to create a brain training program that is a cut above the rest - Active Memory. As all good researchers know they are building on existing memory programs and learning from past mistakes. 

For example, they are using expert developers to create a program that is tantalizing and engaging to users. From professional experience one child (who had working memory difficulties) reported that he disliked his brain training program because ‘it doesn’t look any where near as good as my Xbox games! Why would I bother?!’ Using expert developers is important because the biggest criticism from children and adults who try to engage with existing brain training programs in the market are immediately turned off because it looks rudimentary in its design.

If you are interested in improving or sharpening your memory take a look at Active Memory. If you sign up you will secure exclusive and first time access to the program. It is currently in beta version and your participation will help improve and develop the program for the future.