This is one of the slides I created recently for my talks, and it seems to be getting the point across.
Your answer?
The follow-up question: is your job and life more similar to the constant problem-solving and mental challenge of the cab driver, or to the routine or the bus driver?
Learning can be incidental. We all memorize facts without paying much attention to these facts or without willing to memorize them. However, when one really wants to memorize a fact, it is crucial to pay attention. Many studies have shown that compared to full attention conditions, dividing attention during study time leads to poor memory performance.
This exercise will help you practice focusing your attention.
It may seem easy but make sure you count twice!
Count the number of “Y” in this text:
Yesterday, Lucy went all the way to Boston. She wanted to buy new shoes. She had to go in many shops before she found the shoes she wanted. She was happy to stop at a restaurant to have some tea and cookies before she took the train back home.
Count the number of “E” in this text:
Last summer, Jean and Harriet spent their vacation in Michigan. They rented a cabin on the lake. The cabin had two bedrooms and a nice deck. They used to spend a lot of time on the deck, just looking at how the light would change on the water. Several times, they borrowed bikes from their neighbors and spent a few hours exploring the villages not far from their cabin.
--- Solutions
There are 7 “Y” in the first text.
There are 38 “E” in the second text.
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For many other Brain Teasers, click Here.
For many other teasers and articles by Dr. Michelon, click Here.
-- Pascale Michelon, Ph. D., is SharpBrains' Research Manager for Educational Projects. Dr. Michelon has a Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology and has worked as a Research Scientist at Washington University in Saint Louis, in the Psychology Department. She conducted several research projects to understand how the brain makes use of visual information and memorizes facts. She is now an Adjunct Faculty at Washington University.
Here you have the March edition of our monthly newsletter covering cognitive health and brain fitness topics. Please remember that you can subscribe to receive this Newsletter by email, using the box at the top of this page. I know I am biased - but do believe this Newsletter issue might well be our best so far. I hope you find the time to enjoy it!
Bird's Eye View
Top Articles and Resources in March: Highlights - a) great articles in SciAm Mind and the Wall Street Journal, b) new resources (book and free DVD) by the Dana Foundation, c) research studies on how our cognitive abilities tend to evolve as we age, the impact of physical exercise on the brain, the lack of long-term effectiveness of ADHD drugs, and how working memory training may benefit math performance.
Brain Fitness Survey: Over 2,000 thoughtful responses to our January survey (Thank You!) reinforce the need for public awareness initiatives and quality information to help evaluate and navigate lifestyle and product claims, as well as the need for more research, an expanded healthcare culture, as more. Given this context, we are publishing The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness in May 2009, a book with 18 Interviews with Scientists, Practical Advice, and Product Reviews, in addition to our annual market report for professionals and executives (to be published in April). If you have ideas to help us promote the book, please reply to this email and let us know!
Lifelong Learning
Elderhostel's Marty Knowlton dies at 88: He helped launch Elderhostel, reinvented "aging", "retirement" and "learning", and contributed to the brain fitness of millions of individuals as a result.
MetLife Mature Market Institute Report: Gerontologist Fay Radding presents the findings of a recent MetLife report, concluding that "As individuals age, meaningful interactions and purposeful activity become even more valued and crucial to cognitive health- and cognitive health itself becomes more of a priority."
Change Your Environment, Change Yourself: Dr. Brett Steenbarger explains in his recent book that, "The greatest enemy of change is routine. When we lapse into routine and operate on autopilot, we are no longer fully and actively conscious of what we’re doing and why. That is why some of the most fertile situations for personal growth—those that occur within new environments—are those that force us to exit our routines and actively master unfamiliar challenges."
Food for Thought
Michael Merzenich: Brain Plasticity offers Hope for Everyone: Dr. Ginger Campbell recently interviewed Dr. Michael Merzenich. Podcast Quote: "Whatever you struggle with in a sense as it stems from your neurology, the inherent plasticity of the brain gives you a basis for improvement. This is a way underutilized and under-appreciated resource that well all have."
Therapy vs. Medication, Conflicts of Interest, and Intimidation: What started as an academic dispute regarding disclosure of conflict of interest is now snowballing. Dr. Jonathan Leo criticized two important aspects of a recent a study published in JAMA that compared the efficacy of therapy vs. medication. JAMA editors then tried to intimidate Dr. Leo and his university. An investigation by the American Medical Association is under way.
ETech09 on Life Hacking and Brain Training: Here you have the presentation Alvaro Fernandez delivered at O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference 2009, a gathering of technology pioneers with a growing interest in science and biology topics.
Attention!
Distracted in the Workplace?: In a very-thoughtful 2-part interview (part 1 here, part 2 here), author Maggie Jackson challenges us to "First, question the values that venerate McThinking and undermine attention."
There's such a flood of very significant research studies, educational resources and articles related to brain health, it's hard to keep track - even for us!
Let me introduce and quote some of the top Brain Health Studies, Articles and Resources published in March:
- "These patterns suggest that some types of mental flexibility decrease relatively early in adulthood, but that how much knowledge one has, and the effectiveness of integrating it with one's abilities, may increase throughout all of adulthood if there are no pathological diseases," Salthouse said.
- However, Salthouse points out that there is a great deal of variance from person to person
2) Cerebrum 2009: Emerging Ideas in Brain Science - new book by the Dana Foundation that "explores the cutting edge of brain research and its implications in our everyday lives, in language understandable to the general reader."
A couple of excellent chapters of direct relevance to everyone's brain health are:
- Chapter 4: A Road Paved by Reason, by Elizabeth Norton Lasley
3) Staying Sharp DVD Program: "Dr. Jordan Grafman, chief of the Cognitive Neuroscience Section at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke outside of Washington, DC, and a member of the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives, is your guide as we cover what to expect from the aging brain and what we can do to 'stay sharp.'
For a free DVD of this program you can contact
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
. (they say free in their website, I don't know if that includes shipping & handling)
The outline of a cognitive test that drivers aged 75 or over will be required to take from June when renewing their licenses was released Thursday...The test is intended to reduce the number of traffic accidents involving elderly drivers by measuring their cognitive level.
- "Now researchers have found that elderly adults who are more physically fit tend to have bigger hippocampi and better spatial memory than those who are less fit."
"I recently tried out eight of the latest brain fitness programs, training with each for a week. The programs ranged widely in focus, quality and how fun they were to use. “Like physical exercise equipment, a brain exercise program doesn’t do you any good if you don’t use it,” says Andrew J. Carle, director of the Program in Assisted Living/Senior Housing Administration at George Mason University. And people tend not to use boring equipment. “I remember when NordicTrack was the biggest thing out there. Everyone ran out and bought one, and 90 percent of them ended up as a clothes rack in the back of your bedroom.”
The reporter used: Posit Science's Brain Fitness Program Classic, HappyNeuron, Nintendo BrainAge, CogniFit's MindFit/ CogniFit Personal Coach, Lumosity, MyBrainTrainer, BrainTwister, Cogmed Working Memory Training.
- "Marshall Kahn, an 82-year-old family doctor in Fullerton, Calif., says he got such a boost from brain exercises he started doing at a "Nifty after Fifty" club that he decided to start seeing patients again part-time. "Doing all the mental exercise," he says, "I realized I've still got it."
- "New data from a large federal study have reignited a debate over the effectiveness of long-term drug treatment of children with hyperactivity or attention-deficit disorder, and have drawn accusations that some members of the research team have sought to play down evidence that medications do little good beyond 24 months."
- "The study also indicated that long-term use of the drugs can stunt children's growth."
Abstract: Working memory plays a crucial role in supporting learning, with poor progress in reading and mathematics characterizing children with low memory skills. This study investigated whether these problems can be overcome by a training program designed to boost working memory. Children with low working memory skills were assessed on measures of working memory, IQ and academic attainment before and after training on either adaptive or non-adaptive versions of the program. Adaptive training that taxed working memory to its limits was associated with substantial and sustained gains in working memory, with age-appropriate levels achieved by the majority of children. Mathematical ability also improved significantly 6 months following adaptive training. These findings indicate that common impairments in working memory and associated learning difficulties may be overcome with this behavioral treatment.
- "On average, people with a family history of depression appear to have brains that are 28% thinner in the right cortex --- the outermost layer of the brain --- than those with no known family history of the disease. That cortical thinning, said the researchers, is on a scale similar to that seen in patients with Alzheimer's disease or schizophrenia."
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and brain fitness topics. Please remember that you can subscribe to receive this 
- new book by the Dana Foundation that "explores the cutting edge of brain research and its implications in our everyday lives, in language understandable to the general reader."