Let’s explore some high-quality new resources, announcements and studies in this June edition of the monthly SharpBrains eNewsletter. The field is clearly on the move! Portraits of the Mind: Several sharp brains (Rick, Karen, John, thanks!) strongly recommend the recent book “Portraits of the Mind: Visualizing the Brain from Antiquity to the 21st Century” (which includes [...]The current issue of Cerebrum –a great publication of the Dana Foundation– includes the excellent in-depth article Promoting Healthy, Meaningful Aging Through Social Involvement: Building an Experience Corps, written by researcher Michelle Carlson: “Over the last decade, scientists made two key discoveries that reframed our understanding of the adult brain’s potential to benefit from lifelong [...]A couple of very interesting recent announcements show (in a military context) how well-targeted brain training can complement and augment existing approaches, both to help “normal” and “clinical” populations, in ways that silo-based, rear-mirror thinking often misses: U.S. Department of Defense Awards $2 Million to Brain Plasticity Inc. to Study Impact of Brain Training for [...]A couple of SharpBrains friends strongly recommend the recent book “Portraits of the Mind: Visualizing the Brain from Antiquity to the 21st Century”, by Carl Schoonover, both as great reading and as a beautiful coffee table book. The book is available now with a significant discount via Amazon.com. You can see more photos here, and read [...]Lumos Labs, the company behind lumosity.com, has raised $32.5 million dollars in a Series C round from Menlo Ventures, FirstMark Capital, Harrison Metal and Norwest Venture Partners. In our 2010 market report Lumos Labs came up as one of the category Leaders given its market and research momentum (not easy for a startup to get [...]Very interesting new study on computerized cognitive training (or brain training), well summarized in LA Times article Memory training improves intelligence in some children, report says. Quote: The training program used by Jaeggi and co-workers focused on ramping up working memory: the ability to hold in mind a handful of information bits briefly, and to update [...]
By Dianna Douglas
More research practically begging people to get a good night’s sleep has come out of the sleep labs at the University of Chicago. Eve Van Cauter and Rachel Leproult have discovered that a week of inadequate sleep means less testosterone in young men.
A lot less.
In the study, ten healthy young men gave blood [...]Let us highlight a couple of insightful and brief articles in the New York Times and a very powerful analysis in The New York Review of Books; they provide useful clues about Brain Calisthenics, Bilingual Brains, and Debunking Myths on Mental Illness. Brain Calisthenics for Abstract Ideas (NYT): Now, a small group of cognitive scientists [...]