Brain Fitness News: February 2015 February 2015 Attention Brain Speed Memory People Skills Intelligence Navigation Dear everybody, You may know that there are already more than 50 peer-reviewed research articles that show that BrainHQ improves memory, attention, and quality of life in healthy adults (and over 100 such articles overall). I’m excited to share that one more has just been added to that list. A paper published this month in the International Journal of Psychophysiology reports that people who did BrainHQ exercises have better “signal coherence” than their matched counterparts. What does that mean? Well, a young, healthy brain produces coherent electrical signal wave patterns across the brain. Older brains (and those impacted by certain diseases) show declines in coherency. In this study, performed at the University of Thessaloniki in Greece, healthy older adults completed a Greek-translated version of BrainHQ and did physical exercise. The results showed increased signal coherence across the brain in the trained group, suggesting an improvement in brain health. The control group showed no improvements. As the studies on BrainHQ’s exercises pile up, we hope your confidence in its benefits to you does, as well! Best regards, Jeff Zimman, Co-founder Posit Science Tweet Share +1 Forward Art Class Can Change the Brain  A new study has found that taking art class can change the brain’s motor and sensory areas in a variety of positive ways. Using brain imaging, the researchers found that learning to draw not only improved fine motor skills and brain connections, but also increased “creative thinking.” Find out how. Gene Variant May Predict Better Aging Researchers have recently found that the roughly 20% of people who carry only one copy of the KLOTHO allele—which is responsible for making key brain and kidney proteins—may experience more successful aging and less age-related decline. Single KLOTHO carriers also have larger frontal lobes.Learn more. To Boost the Brain, Put on a Happy Face? Recent research suggests that smiling can change the brain in a positive direction, and can even rewire negative brain circuits to be more positive. Smiling has also been found to improve mood and decrease stress. Scientists suggest that you can train yourself to smile more and drive positive changes! Learn more. People with AB Blood May Have Higher Risk for Cognitive Decline Troubling news for the roughly 10% of people with type AB blood: they may be at higher risk for cognitive decline. A study from University of Vermont that has followed over 30,000 Americans for the past 8 years has found that those with type A, B, or O blood were less likely to experience a decline in mental abilities than those with AB blood.Find out why. Simple Antibiotics May Alleviate Schizophrenia Symptoms Researchers have begun studying a “new” type of drug that may be effective in treating schizophrenia symptoms: tetracycline antibiotics. Because the disease is correlated with brain inflammation, they theorize that antibiotics may reduce inflammation and in turn, reduce psychotic symptoms. Learn more. Study: Dogs Can Detect Human Facial Expressions If you’re one of those people who thinks your dog can tell when you’ve had a good day or a bad day, it turns out that you are right. A recent study found that dogs can recognize human emotions from facial expression. Learn more. Pesticides & ADHD, Fat & Cognition, Gardening & the Brain, and Other Great Stories: Check out these recent stories from the BrainHQ blog! Exposure to “Safe” Pesticide May Increase ADHD Risk New Findings on Fat Intake and Cognitive Decline Low-Impact Exercise and Activities Can Also Boost the Brain BrainHQ Tips and Tricks Have you tried BrainHQ’s personalized trainer yet? It can help you get the most out of your training sessions by giving you a recommended training schedule. You can adjust your preferences to help the personalized trainer learn all about you, your goals, and your likes and dislikes, and you can get started on a better brain today. If you’re already a subscriber, try it out now. If you would like to become a subscriber, click here. Book of the Month The Brain’s Way of Healing: Stories of Remarkable Recoveries and Discoveries(2015) Norman Doidge, MD With the follow-up to his New York Times bestseller The Brain That Changes Itself, Norman Doidge has once again written a wonderful, well-researched book about the remarkable power of brain plasticity. In The Brain’s Way of Healing, he takes us on a journey across five continents exploring how the science of neuroplasticity is beginning to be applied in seemingly “miraculous cures” of patients with once hopeless cognitive diagnoses. Doidge is so good at story-telling that you hardly notice that you are getting an intensive course in advanced neuroscience, as he simultaneously rolls out each patient’s narrative and the explanation of why each seeming “miracle” fits in with the latest findings in science studies (with voluminous footnotes that are often as interesting as the text). By focusing on cutting-edge treatments, we get a glimpse into how different cognitive therapy might look in a decade than it looks today.   Buy it from Amazon. Useful Links » Why BrainHQ » Brain Training Your Way » About BrainHQ Exercises » World Class Science » Peer-reviewed Research » Brain Resources » Brain Teasers » BrainHQ Blog Tweet Share +1 Forward Copyright © 2015 BrainHQ from Posit Science, All rights reserved.