The improvement of brain function in healthy aging - Interview with scientist Jerri Edwards

Today we are happy, Dr. Jerri Edwards, an associate professor at the University of South Florida School of Aging Studies and Co-Investigator of the interview influential ACTIVE study. Dr. Edwards was trained by Dr. K. Karlene Ball, and explore their research, such as cognitive ability can be maintained and strengthened with increasing age.

Please tell our readers your search: Alvaro Fernandez (AF).

Jerri Edwards (JE): I am particularlyinterested in how cognitive interventions may help people to avoid or at least delay functional difficulties and thereby maintain their independence longer. Much of my work on the operation of driving including assessing driving fitness among older adults and rehabilitation focusing on cognitive skills which results in driving difficulties.

Some issues that are of interest to me, how can we continue to live healthier longer? How can we improve the cognitive trainingto improve skills, both these capabilities and also slow down, delay or cognitive decline? The specific cognitive ability that I have studied the processing speed, one of the cognitive skills at an early stage, and decline with age.

AF: Can you explain what is the speed of cognitive processing and why it is important to our daily lives?

JE: Mental processing speed is fast. Just like a computer with a 486 processor is not the same things as a computer with a lotPentium 4 processor, but it takes much more time they tend to slow the head with age, than when we were younger. We can use the same tasks, but it takes more time. High processing speed is important for rapid decision-making in our daily lives. If you are traveling, if something unexpected happens, you can determine how quickly the situation and decide how to respond?

AF: Please describe how to use the study of the ACTIVE cognitive training program, and what results has provedwhen they are published in the Journal of American Medical Association in December 2006?

JE: I was a co-investigator of the ACTIVE study, a multi-site, controlled study of thousands of adults over sixty-five years to evaluate the effectiveness of three different methods of cognitive training with three different groups:

- The first group used a memory training, including a variety of traditional techniques such as memory mnemonics and the method of loci.

- The secondGroup was formed in inductive reasoning skills to learn.

- The third group was exposed to train computer applications based on processing speed.

All three groups spent the same amount of time in their training programs, about 2 hours a week for 5 weeks going through exercises of increasing difficulty. The ACTIVE study was to monitor the performance of participants over several years, so after this first 5-week intervention group received some training Boosterafter 1 year and again after 3 years.

Willis and colleagues published the results of five years were in JAMA in December last year and the results are very positive. All three types of cognitive programs have been shown to have an effect immediately after the program, after 3 years and after 5 But the results showed the group of a computer program for processing high-speed clear results in the short and long term. People who experience greater processing speed also showed betterPerformance on the tasks of instrumental activities of daily life such as finding something quickly in a crowded kitchen shelves and reading medicine bottles. They responded more quickly on road signs. We found that the transfer of training in our previous studies in which the training protocol.

In short, a significant proportion of the participants improved their memory, reasoning and speed of information processing in all three methods. The most surprising result was that in five newspapersYears later, the participants in the computer program based on fewer than a decline in the ability of it as a control group who were trained received no cognitive training.

AF: ACTIVE The results were very impressive and contributed largely to the amount of media coverage of brain fitness last year. However, as you've probably seen, there is much confusion about the suitability of the brain in the media and the public. It can help ourReader to understand two common questions: 1) Why are new programs better than, for example, are solving crosswords, crossword puzzles, and 2) Can we really say that these programs can reverse the decline in age-related?

To answer the first question I would say that it is not a crossword puzzle is a form of cognitive training. It can be exciting, but it is not a structured form of mental exercise that has been shown to improve specific cognitive skills - the ability to do but, crossword puzzles, of course.

InRegarding the second question, it is too early to say if we really reverse the decline permanently. There are many skills involved and the studies are not long enough to really compare different trajectories. What we can say is that it provides some exercises that can improve cognitive processing speed by 146-250% and which pays a significant part of this improvement even after 5 years. You can not say definitively.

But I think it's great to be able to say thatall the programs tested, the release of the cognitive training, or what we might call "spiritual exercise" seemed much bigger than us, habits of physical activity. Imagine, you could say that 10 hours of training has been to the gym every day this month, enough to facilitate assembly in five years.

AF: Research like this seems great opportunities for today's society. For example, would not insurance companies or AARP, will sponsor more research and evaluationif this type of training offered to its members? Not the biggest employers see opportunity to require the performance of older workers, identifying the cognitive skills to improve and provide customized training to improve? One might suspect that a person with faster processing capabilities that can make decisions more quickly and learn faster ...

JE: This makes sense, based on what we know. cognitive abilities in different ways, to develop with age, and someUsually begin to decline in our thirties. cognitive interventions can contribute to training and improving these skills, and there is already research strongly suggests where and how training can be useful. More research is needed to provide more precise and targeted interventions in a variety of environments. I suspect that we will significantly grow the field - and not just for age-related priorities. Cognitive training for a variety of health conditions, as usefulParkinson's and Alzheimer's patients, for example. More research will help researchers improve assessments and training programs.

Copyright (c) 2008 Sharp Brains

Methods For Memory Improvement Based on Finding Your Best Learning Style

Our memory is so important since it helps us to keep those life events in our mind for the years to come. Of course when you remember a memory from 15 years before but you forget the grocery list, it can be so irritating. There are many who want to find a way that they can improve upon their memory. Well, there are actually things you can do to help other than just dealing with frustration over things you forget.

It's important that we take a look at how things are learned before we get involved in methods for memory improvement. When you are involved in a new experience or you hear something new, the brain has to take that information and decode it. It takes the information and interprets it in certain ways. When you are focusing on something and you learn something new, the brain takes the information and files it.

It is much like putting information into a file cabinet that you open up. Once you want to remember that information again, the brain brings it out for you. It's just like walking back to the filing cabinet and retrieving the file you put in there before.

More than likely you can remember when your memory was great and you probably were used to that. When we don't work on keeping our brain in good shape and learning new ways that we can think, our memory skill may begin to slip a bit. Think of a dancer. While she may have spend time training for all her moves, when she stops training, she won't be able to get out there and start performing if she hasn't been practicing for many years. It's like that with the memory as well.

One way to improve memory is to constantly be aware of all that is going on around you. Many people only half listen when other people talk to them. It is easy to focus on another thing that you need to do instead of what they say. Make sure you start focusing on what is going on around you so you can store it and bring it back up in the future.

When you get new information, work to associate it with something that you already know to make it easier to remember. There are a variety of different learning methods, so find the one that works out for you. There are some people that remember best when they have visual aids to help out. Others learn best from actually hearing things. When you figure out your own learning style, you can work on it further to help improve your memory.

If you don't know something, find out more about it by researching it on your own. While it may seem difficult to learn, if you find a different way of learning it or a different explanation it may make more sense to you. Doing the research on something new helps you to acquire more knowledge, which will help you figure out which things you need to keep in your mind.

When you really want to ensure something is remembered, think about it and throw it around in your brain a few times. The more you repeat something in your mind, the better you'll learn it and be able to recall it in the future. Using visual aids and even word association can help with your memory too. Use the various memory aids available to help improve your memory.