Computer-based Brain Training Addresses... (m. Dr. Delahunt demonstrated a s...)

Computer-based Brain Training Addresses Many Ills

Date:11/3/2007

m. Dr.

Delahunt demonstrated a substantial difference in the performance of

older (average age 76) and younger (average age 20) adults in visual

tasks. After training, the older adults were as good at the tasks as

the younger adults. This has implications for driving, sports,

finding things and navigating life.

-- A presentation by Sarah Kim, MS on the use of the Posit Science Brain

Fitness Program to address a condition known as "chemobrain." More

than 200,000 American women undergo chemotherapy each year to treat

breast cancer. For up to 80% of patients, the treatment leads to

cognitive dysfunction with some persistence well beyond the year of

treatment. After training, the subjects reported meaningful

alleviation of chemobrain symptoms and improvement in everyday

function.

-- A presentation by Michael Trujillo on the use of specially designed

haptic joysticks to assess the differences in fine motor control

performance between musicians with hand dystonias and healthy adults.

The differences were substantial. After four days of intensive

training at computer-guided tasks, the impaired musicians showed

improved performance on the tasks. This suggests a brain-plasticity

based training regimen may be effective in treating hand dystonias.

-- A presentation by Samuel Chan, PhD on the use of a computerized

cognitive training program to enhance executive function in people

with schizophrenia. It is well documented that schizophrenics

generally have impaired executive function abilities that prevent them

from engaging fully with society. Schizophrenics trained for 20

one-hour sessions using continuous performance tasks that adapted to

place increasing demands on executive function. The trained subjects

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