| I’m pleased to let you know that BrainHQ is a part of a new study sponsored by the Canadian Down Syndrome Society (CDSS). The study will examine the impact of physical and brain exercise on cognitive and physical performance in people with Down syndrome. As our CEO Dr. Henry Mahncke said, we think it’s important that this study “directly confronts a prevailing prejudice that—as a genetic condition—the abilities of people with Down syndrome are not susceptible to improvement through physical and brain exercise.” Learn more in this article or in the press release about the study! |
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 Best regards, Jeff Zimman
Co-founder
Posit Science |
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| | | Use Paper for Better Memory A new study conducted in Japan shows that students remember information better when they write notes using a pen on paper—not using a stylus on a tablet or smartphone. What’s more, their brain activation was richer, with activity in areas of the brain associated with memory, language, and visualization. What advantages does paper have over digital devices? Find out. |
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Post-Pandemic: Get Back to New Experiences During the COVID pandemic, many of us have been stuck at home a lot of the time. One of the negative side effects of that for our brains: the lack of novel experiences. When we meet new people, are surprised by something we haven’t seen before, or even just go buy a new air conditioner (as the author of this piece recently did), our brains pump chemicals that support learning and memory. Learn all about it! |
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Déjà Vu Is Good for You Do you ever have the experience of déjà vu? Do you have it as often now as you used to? Research suggests that although déjà vu seems like a memory glitch, younger people actually experience it more than older people. That’s because it’s not so much a memory glitch as it is a sign of a brain operating in top form. Learn more |
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When Fiction Starts to Feel Real At one point or another, most of us have found ourselves really absorbed in a fictional story—almost as if real life falls away for a time. And often, we find ourselves closely identifying with one of the characters. When we do, it’s reflected in our brains. A new imaging study conducted on Game of Thrones fans showed that one area of the brain that is active when people think about themselves (called the ventral medial prefrontal cortex) is also activated when thinking of a character they identify with, helping to explain how we lose ourselves in fiction. Learn more. |
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Beauty and the Brain How we understand what is “beautiful” is an age-old question. And scientists have a more specific question: Is the perception and processing of “beauty” centralized in one part of the brain (the “beauty center”) whether it’s a beautiful face, piece of art, or landscape? Or is it spread throughout the brain, depending on what it is that is beautiful? A new meta-analysis may shed some light. Learn more. |
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March Update on BrainHQ This past month, we have been working on updating foreign language versions of BrainHQ. We have made a lot of improvements to the Spanish version in particular, including adding another exercise to the Spanish version: True North (Norte Verdadero). In addition to our current versions in numerous languages, we are working on a few more this month! If you want to see what languages are currently available, log in to BrainHQ, go to your profile, and scroll down to find the language settings. |
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On Task: How Our Brain Gets Things Done (2020)
David Badre
How do we keep ourselves “on task”? In his accessible and fascinating new book, David Badre explores our cognitive control—how we stick to that diet, write that paper, multitask effectively—or, conversely, fail at those things. Through compelling case studies and a dive into neuroscience, Badre shows how our brains translate ideas into action. Learn more or buy. |
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