CogniFit - Brain Research

Brain training is a term that is becoming more and more common. This is mainly because as scientists learn more about the brain, the more we realize how important it is to keep our brains in shape, just like we work to keep our bodies in shape.

The idea that aging causes mental decline isn't something that brain research has just recently found out. In his play Much Ado About Nothing, William Shakespeare wrote: "When the age is in, the wit is out." The good news, however, is that science shows us that this isn't completely true. Current brain research suggests that the brain is a flexible and renewable organ and that in spite of age, the brain is able to maintain, and even improve, its cognitive performance, especially if you make sure to lead an active and stimulating lifestyle.

Brain exercise requires some work. Our brain has many different tasks to do in its daily routine that are repeated over and over again, which is why the brain has to be extremely efficient and create direct connections to easily perform repetitive tasks.

Think back to when you learned how to drive. It was probably difficult to maintain a conversation and drive at the same time, because your brain was so busy processing all of the different stimuli and carrying out the cognitive tasks needed for driving. However, as you improved and got more comfortable driving, it became easier for you to talk to others, enjoy the view, and drive, all at the same time.

It is obviously a good thing that many repetitive tasks, like driving, become automatic over time. It allows our brain to pull its attention to other tasks. However, it creates problemslong-term because the natural tendency of our brain is to learn and create new routines to process daily information easier, which also makes it lazy and complacent.

This problem gets worse as we age because it is more difficult to learn new activities that challenge our brain and turn off "auto-pilot". This is exactly why brain fitness is so important.

Why is Cognitive Research so important?

Brain exercise is like physical exercise. Just like our muscles, the brain needs to be challenged constantly in order to stay in shape and be healthy. Many people think that doing Sudoku, crosswords, or playing bridge is enough of a challenge for our brains. In reality, however, these activities don't do the work that we think they do. They are, of course, better than nothing, and it's true that they may help keep your brain in shape. However, if you continuously repeat the same kinds of brain activities, they will also become routine and won't properly train the brain. Brain research establishes that the real key to optimal brain exercise, is to constantly train all your brain parts, and to expose it to as many different cognitive activities as you can. This requires the use of a complete and comprehensive brain training program.

The reason for this is that cognition is made up of various different attributes that work together. These are memory (how efficiently you're able to memorize and recover information), attention (how good you are at concentrating on one or multiple tasks), perception (how well you perceive different stimuli around you), and coordination (how well you translate visual information into movements). As we're all unique individuals, the type of brain training that you need will be different than other people. So, the ideal brain training program is one that is able to determine your strengths and weaknesses and create personalized exercise routines that offer you the type of training that you need to keep your brain healthy and active.

CogniFit has more than a decade of experience in neuroscience, cognitive science, and brain investigation to scientifically validate the program, along with leading universities and centers specialized in neuroscience. We are a scientific company and we have to ensure that our brain training is efficient and our measurements reliable.

Training our brains is an important part of living a healthy life. By leveraging brain researching and cognitive science, CogniFit creates brain exercises designed especially to assess and enable cognition and many different cognitive skills.

Nearly everyday new neuroscientific studies show how malleable the brain is how why it is so important to keep it in shape. We use our brains everyday. It is a organ that needs to be trained like any other muscle, in hopes that we are able to control and improve brain plasticity.

Cognitive science also shows how we can use cognitive training to improve many other brain functions, and how it is beneficial for mental health, cognition, and general well-being.

Studies and Scientific Research

Below you will find different scientific studies about the brain and the importance of cognitive training.

• Cognition and Aging: Verbal Learning, Memory, and Problem Solving. View

• The Processing-Speed Theory of Adult Age Differences in Cognition. View

• Normal Aging and Forgetting Rates on the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised. View

• Aging, Fitness and Neurocognitive Function. View

• Age Differences in Cognitive Performance in Later Life: Relationships to Self-Reported Health and Activity Life Style.View

• Use it or lose it: Engaged Lifestyle as a Buffer of Cognitive Decline in Aging? View

• What is Cognitive Reserve? Theory and Research Application of the Reserve. View

• Age and Visual Search: Expanding the Useful Field of View. View

• Training the Elderly on the Ability Factors of Spatial Orientation and Inductive Reasoning. View

• Improving Memory Performance in the Aged through Mnemonic Training: a Meta-Analytic Study. View

• The Impact of Long-Term Exercise Training on Psychological Function in Older Adults. View

• Multiple Sclerosis: Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Evoked Responses and Spinal Fluid Electrophoresis. View

• Cognitive Dysfunction in Multiple Sclerosis. View

• Life and Death of Neurons in the Aging Brain. View

• Aging and Neuronal Replacement. View

In addition, unbiased sources such as the Cognition Oriented Treatments Article Library and Evaluation platform have identified CogniFit as an evidence-based platform for cognitive training in older people.