Brain Training Program

What Happens in Brain Training Programs, Anyway?

According to Evans and Burghardt, our brains are constantly engaging in an internal recalibration. Our brains use about 20% of our bodies daily fuel requirement, and in an attempt to use it wisely, our brains are constantly building and dismantling circuits inside our heads, the circuits being neurons that fire together when a certain task is undertaken.

For example, I took piano lessons when I was a little kid, and formed some circuits, but not many, while I practiced that skill, but I have not played a piano in 50 years (half a century!), so my brain has most certainly dismantled those connections. I does not serve me as an organism to keep those circuits and other unused circuits fueled and idling, prepared for action on the off chance that I will resume playing, which is lucky for people within earshot of my piano playing. That kind of idling is a waste of energy, so as circuits fall into disuse, they are dismantled.

So the synapses that once fired together in a piano playing circuit fell into disuse, which means that the neurons closed up the neurotransmitter receptors on the neurons involved in piano playing. Or involved them in another task.

However, had I continued playing, the neurons would have opened more receptors on the neurons involved in piano playing, strengthening the ability of those neurons to coordinate activity, and those neurons would have both invited other neurons into the circuit and sprouted dendrites which increase the number of connections (synapses touching) neurons have with

"....each other (a process called synaptogenesis, literally meaning‘synapse creation’). Think of this as multiple bridges over a river to increase the connectivity between the two sides. If one bridge fails or undergoes repairs, others can pick up the traffic.

Third, neurons can make synapses with other neurons theyweren’t originally talking to and recruit more brain cells into the circuit. Again, all of these increase the odds that the signal will not get dropped. Importantly, these strategies also increase the stability of the brain circuit, making it less likely to degenerate or get dismantled as you age.

Your brain is constantly employing all of these tactics,all of the time. It is continually testing out new connections to see how useful they are. It then stabilizes the ones that work...."

Brain Training Programs Take One of Three Forms Usually

One is performance enhancement, another can be characterized as damage control, or recovery of lost function, and the third is prevention of cognitive decline.

From Evans and Burghardt, "...Approaches to improve, maintain or recover cognitive function come in many forms. Some are tools you use for the explicit purposes of improving pecific skills, like memory, reaction speed, vocabulary, pattern recognition, creativity or reasoning. This is the crux of the emerging brain fitness software industry, which is putting out more and more tools, attempting to help improve these specific skill sets.

Other approaches include daily experiences, educational level, commitments to life-long learning or social support networks.

You may engage in these without the expressed goal ofimproving cognitive function, but many of them will have that beneficial effect anyway!"

Evans and Burghardt go on to talk about a number of key factors, actually lifestyle factors, that impact the three main kinds of brain training, including nutrition, exercise, sleep, social activity, and learning.

They caution that if one is looking for an Rx for peak performance, it will be in a combination of the above factors, which might include a brain fitness training computer program, because the programs can help you improve in short term memory for example, but short term memory improvement may not translate to global improvement in brain function.

Is There an Exception?

Here is a link to a program based on the research cited above. It is a fun and can be a frustrating tool, which increases my awareness of how fast I can drift off into a tangential thought not related to the task at hand, the dual n back task.

What I have noticed is better attention to the task at hand in my life, and that change came very rapidly as I began my use of the Mind Sparke Brain Fitness Pro.

Quick, effective, online, subscription, I do it between appointments or phone calls. Professor Evans has said he likes the Lumosity Tools.

This is the first brain training program I became aware of. I saw it on a PBS fund raiser, and read about it in Norman Doidge's book, The Brain That Changes Itself, which is an excellent resource for the potential of brain fitness.

Would You Share Something That You Are Grateful For?

When I was beginning my personal growth journey, a wise person told me that when I was feeling resentful or afraid or sad, that I should remember the phrase "gratitude is the attitude" when I was ready to feel better. That phrase has helped me feel better tens of thousands of times.

Would you share what you are most grateful for? Your story could be just what another person is searching for to renew themselves? Thanks.


Have a question and want to talk with a therapist? Call 815-316-2621 for Julie Logan, LCSW, RN. 7121 Windsor Lake Parkway, Loves Park, Illinois 61111 jlogan7264@myway.com