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In today’s modern world, everyone seems to be busy. There always seem to be more meetings, more incoming emails, more things to read, more ideas to follow-up on, etc. And now, with smartphones, you can even tackle tasks at home, on vacation, or even at the gym!

There seems to be an underlying social pressure to “do it all,” both at work, and at home. Naturally, this contributes to feeling overburdened and overwhelmed. As human beings, we have finite energy and abilities, so it’s impossible to get through an infinite amount. In addition, time never seems to be on our side.

What if time, however, is not our only scarce resource? What about our cognitive bandwidth? Busy people seem to be short on cognitive bandwidth. In other words, they are short on basic cognitive resources, such as working memory and executive control. This scarcity is an issue because we use these resources in nearly every activity. We use it to reason, focus, learn new ideas, make creative leaps and resist our immediate impulses.

Cognitive bandwidth is used to be an active participant in an important meeting, to be an attentive boss to a frustrating employee, and to be a supportive partner or parent. Being short on cognitive bandwidth may also be the real reason we feel busy all the time, even when we’re not. What happens is, when we feel busy, we tend to handle our to-do lists less well than if we didn’t feel so rushed.

In fact, you’re more likely to make poor time-management choices because your decision-making abilities become impaired. That’s why we sometimes take on commitments we can’t handle or prioritize trivial tasks over crucial ones. As a result, a vicious cycle forms: your feelings of busyness leave you even busier than ever before. What exacerbates matters is that this mindset can penetrate into your leisure time. For instance, even when you have an hour or two of free time to recuperate, you may feel guilty, and consequently think you should be using this time “productively” too.

The guilt may arise from our current attitudes towards busyness. In the past, the ultimate symbol of wealth, achievement and social superiority was the freedom not to work. Leisure, was the ultimate symbol. Now, busyness has become an indicator of high status. Worth seems to be measured by how much time you spend doing which is often displayed by long work hours, power lunch meetings, etc. If we take a step back, however, we can regain a sense of control and feel less busy. This starts with becoming better cognitive bandwidth managers.

How to Feel Less Overwhelmed

You should acknowledge that different tasks require more or less cognitive bandwidth. A project status meeting may be time-consuming but not bandwidth consuming. The final decision about who to let go, could be bandwidth consuming but not time-consuming. You should also recognize that certain tasks may weigh down on your bandwidth even when you are not working on them. An example might be taking on a new strategy to rebrand the company. Lastly, you should participate in activities that do not tax bandwidth, this could be watching a soccer game, a workout at the gym or loafing on the sofa. It’s important to make time for tasks that refresh your bandwidth.

Another option to feel less overwhelmed is to enhance your brain function to improve cognitive bandwidth. Certain technologies exist that are designed to improve standardized measures of executive function and working memory. NeuroTracker is an example of one of these technologies. Normally, with improved executive function and working memory, you should be able to stay on task, plan, analyze, problem solve and understand better. In addition, it could help you improve your overall attention, focus and concentration.

So, while your workload may appear infinite, at least now you know how you can feel less busy, particularly when you’re not!

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I always knew we could enhance the visual system in a way that could help athletes become better performers. I started studying sports vision performance in baseball 28 years ago when this was a relatively new concept. Now, in my practice at Neuro-Vision Associates of North Texas, we run advanced performance programs for a slew of professional teams including Texas Legends of the NBA developmental league, FC Dallas of major league soccer, Allen Americans of the ECHL and Toronto Blue Jays (MLB). Every athlete can benefit from enhanced visual processing and attention. In our traditional practice we’re taking people with below-normal neuro-visual skills to normal level, but with athletes we’re actually taking those with normal skills to elite level vision skills, and then on to next-level performance for superior awareness and reaction times.

Athletic Training Programs

With our athletes we always run an initial battery of assessments which includes NeuroTracker, Senaptec Sensory Station and Right Eye. From that we configure specific performance programs. NeuroTracker is used in all our athletic training programs, which is setup in a dedicated room so we can integrate dual-task activities depending on each athlete’s protocols. For example, when I bring a baseball player in, they perform NeuroTracking in a batting and fielding position to get them into the right state for operating their visual skills on a higher level. Manipulating the challenge of the cognitive load as they progress is an important way to optimize their learning.

Enhancing Visual Attention

From a more vision-specific perspective, NeuroTracker is an ideal spatial training tool. I know that a key issue for many athletes is that when they become stressed during competition pressure, their visual attention collapses inwards. For example, this has been shown in sports science research in the NHL, showing that when players are about to pass the puck, they become suddenly vulnerable to being blindsided due to loss of peripheral awareness - a major concussion risk. This is one reason I use NeuroTracker for my own ice hockey training. The great thing about NeuroTracking is that it forces athletes to be open in space, and that’s a critical skill to keep driving and improve.

As part of this conditioning we include a technique we use called ‘look hard, look soft,’ that means focusing on one ball intently, then switching attention to open up to the whole visual space to track across a wide field of view. So it’s not just the movement but also perception of large 3D space which is important. Then of course we need to really train athletes to modulate between hard and soft focus rapidly and at very high levels.

Athletic Profiling

When I work with the pro teams I also provide training data analysis for them to leverage in their athlete profiling. A lot of the new tools like NeuroTracker are at the cutting-edge of sports science. One of the most interesting things we’re seeing in the last year or so, is pro sports teams becoming much more interested in this type of technology to measure and see improvements over time. There’s now a lot to offer for enhancing the core abilities of athletes, even at the highest levels of sports.

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The word concussion stirs up a lot of fear and anxiety in many people. These fears, however, are not wholly unjustified. In fact, there is growing evidence that points to the perils of repeat concussions. These include early dementia, such as Alzheimer’s, and chronic traumatic encephalopathy. What exacerbates matters is that brain injuries are often tough to identify and remedy. The signs may not show immediately, and brains respond differently to impact.

Concussion Statistics

Concussions are seen in kids, adults, seniors and happen in everything from combat to youth football. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that in the U.S., 10% of athletes will suffer from a sports-related concussion in a given season. That equates to about 3.8 million sports-related concussions per year. Note that this is only in sports, and even then, about 47% of concussed athletes do not self-report.

It’s no wonder, therefore, that the NFL, Department of Defense and the National Institutes of Health all fund studies about brain injuries and how to prevent them. So what does the future of concussion prevention look like? Can wearable technology register the strength of a hit on a player? Let’s take a look at some of the technological tools that have been developed with concussion prevention in mind.

Accelerometers and Gyroscopes in Mouthguards

Now, there is a mouthguard that is used to prevent concussions. Essentially, this device contains sensors that are similar to the ones found in your cellphone: accelerometers and gyroscopes. When someone is struck in the head, it is able to tell you how the head moved at a thousand samples per second. David Camarillo, a professor of bioengineering and mechanical engineering at Stanford, is using the mouthguard on football players to learn more.

Photo Credit: Bob Stephan under CC BY-SA 2.0

The principle behind the mouthguard is that it fits onto your teeth. Your teeth have a high correlation to the center of gravity of the brain. This is due to the mouthguard’s placement in relation to the rear molars, which are attached to the base of the skull. Your teeth are one of the hardest substances in your body, so this placement gives a precise measurement of how your skull moves and rotates during a collision.

Why is this important? Well, researchers are starting to believe that concussions are more likely to occur when the head rotates in a certain manner. Camarillo even suspects that the forces from a violent rotation of the head rapidly travel down the center of the brain. As a result, it dissociates a bundle of nerve fibers called the corpus callosum that connects the right and left lobes.

Innovative Bicycle Helmet

How can you slow down the rapid descent? With a better helmet! Camarillo is working with Hövding, a Swedish company, to design a helmet that could help prevent concussions. Hövding has already designed an innovative bicycle helmet. Bike riding is the leading cause of concussions in kids. Hövding’s helmet contains an airbag that inflates, fixates on your neck and provides powerful shock absorption. It does this through sensors that detect the cyclist’s movement patterns and react in case of an accident. The helmet is a perfect example of how companies are looking at new ways to prevent concussions.

NeuroTracker & Concussions

Some medical professionals have already started to use NeuroTracker in concussion rehabilitation therapy. In fact, a pediatric and sports vision specialist recently discussed how he uses NeuroTracker as a tool in post-concussion recovery sessions. When we consider the future of concussion treatment, more experts are saying NeuroTracker could play an important role.

With all these new developments, there seems to be hope for concussion treatment and prevention. Luckily, the future does not look so bleak!

Featured Image: Lauren Irons under CC BY-ND 2.0

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In sports, what means the difference between a win or a loss? While many factors are at play, sometimes it boils down to an athlete’s ability to react quickly under pressure. Athletes with faster reaction speeds than their opponents could have a competitive edge. This is especially the case when critical plays are involved. In terms of quick reaction times, however, not all sports are created equal! Some sports are more heavily dependent on this factor than others. Explore our list below to find out more about the 7 sports that demand fast reaction speeds.

Hockey

In hockey, goalies have arguably the most difficult job – they have to stop a frozen, six-ounce puck that races directly towards them at speeds sometimes above 100 mph. Difficult enough under normal circumstances, but even more so when you are wearing about 50 pounds of equipment!

Soccer

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In soccer, some players can kick the ball as fast as 70 mph, but it can be even a lot faster than that. In fact, the fasted recorded speed of a kicked soccer ball is 131mph! In addition, a soccer goalie usually only has about 0.3 seconds to react to a penalty kick. How is that for a challenge? Fast reaction speeds, therefore, are imperative in this sport. It allows a team to score more goals, defend better and win more 50-50 balls, which increases overall possession.

Baseball

An average serve in this sport can travel faster than 120 mph. Tennis players have to anticipate their opponent’s every move. It takes incredible skill to have your body and mind function both independently, yet cohesively. The ability to react in a quick, reflexive manner to certain stimuli is fundamental in tennis. If you fail to do so, it could cost you the game!

A major league pitcher can throw a baseball up to and beyond 95 mph. The batter has to wait for the precise moment to swing at the ball, sometimes in one-tenth of a second! So, in this sport, a player’s ability to anticipate and react quickly is everything. By the time the ball has traveled within 12 feet from the pitcher’s mound, the batter has already anticipated it if it’s a curveball, slider, knuckleball, screwball, etc.

Table Tennis

Photo Credit: Gaël Marziou under CC BY 2.0

In this sport, concentration and alertness is paramount! Professional table tennis serves can reach speeds up to 90 mph. If you take into account the distance between the two players, you will see that the ball takes about 0.1 seconds to reach the other end. So while the actual table tennis ball may not travel as quickly in terms of speed than in other sports, the players have a shorter time to react. You also have to take into account that these players have to ‘read’ the spin, to apply an effective counter shot. In other sports, the balls travel faster, but in larger areas, so they have more time to anticipate a play.

Boxing

In boxing, the ability to react quickly is a standard expectation of being a fighter. If anything, boxing is a true test of one’s reflexes versus another’s. To survive the round, or even go on to win the match, it’s not just about being fast. You have to train your cognitive abilities to better anticipate your opponent’s next move. This will be the difference between jerking your head back instinctively and slipping back to counter with a knockout punch.

Motorsports

When a driver travels at 200 mph in a race car, reaction speeds become critical to his or her safety. These drivers require multifaceted cognitive and physical abilities when it comes to their ability to react rapidly under pressure and multitask.

Many factors affect an athlete’s reaction time speed, particularly in terms of having the correct reaction to complex situations or when there is a decision-making process involved. While physical reaction time is difficult to improve, mental reaction time is trainable. This is because the brain has potential for considerable improvement when conditioned in the right way.

Each athlete may have different methods to try to improve their reaction speed times, but cognitive training is a consistent method with beneficial results. To increase your overall attention and awareness in competitive play, consider strength training your mind. With NuTrain, you can improve the processing speed of your mental reaction times to achieve a competitive edge!

Cover Photo: WorldSeriesBoxing under CC BY-ND 2.0

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What differentiates an amateur athlete from an elite one? Is it their skill level? Or perhaps their drive and dedication? Well, research has revealed one reason for this major difference may lie in their brains. In fact, an athlete’s sports-related perceptual-cognitive expertise is a crucial element in top-level competitive sports!

Higher Number of Neurons

High-level athletes have a higher cortical thickness in a few areas of their brain in comparison to a non-athlete. In other words, they have a higher number of neurons! This is often used as an indication of cognitive ability in an individual. High-level athletes’ brains are, therefore, anatomically and functionally different from the average person. This difference enables them to perform better in complex and dynamic visual environments.

The Brain Areas

In what brain areas has a difference been noted? One is in the superior temporal sulcus (STS), which plays a particular role in socially relevant stimuli and biological motion perception. Biological motion perception involves the visual systems’ capacity to recognize complex human movements from a pattern of a few moving dots.

This is a very strong dynamic cue that can be used to avoid collision and anticipate opponents’ movements in sports. When elite hockey players need to decide whether they should continue to skate, pass or score, their unique abilities enable them to make a better-informed decision.

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Photo Credit: Alan Levine under CC BY 2.0

Is their developed STS the result of their sports experience developed over their lifespan? Or is their STS thickness determined at birth? The truth is, it’s still undetermined whether their superb visual processing abilities are simply due to nature, nurture, or both. But, one of the reasons that this area is more developed, is due to their sports expertise.

Pros and their Learning Rate

Nevertheless, there is truly something special about the brains of professional athletes. Take for example Canadian NHL hockey star Wayne Gretzky. He wasn’t unusually fast or strong compared to other players in the league, but still managed to score more points than any other player in NHL history. The superior athletes are the ones that can truly read a play and anticipate it.

A study was conducted to investigate the learning rates of professional athletes in comparison to elite-amateur athletes and non-athletes. The three groups took a cognitive test that involved paying attention to and tracking fast-moving objects. The test taps into similar decision-making skills required when driving or crossing a busy street.

Photo Credit: Sam Valadi under CC BY 2.0

What is remarkable is that not only did the professionals start at higher speed value, but they were also able to learn at a much faster rate. In a nutshell, they were able to start off at a higher performance level and improve more quickly than the other two groups. These results definitely shatter the “dumb jock” stereotype.

Sure, pro athletes may not always sound highly intellectual in interviews, but maybe it’s because their brain is busy doing something else. Remember that the next time you see one who is unable to express him or herself!

Cover Photo: Akiwitz under CC BY-SA 2.0

Most people are familiar with the idea that clumsiness can come from being anxious about the judgements of others – think of a driving test for example. This concept has now moved from the realms of psychology into neuroscience with a recent study showing that simply being watched can deactivate motor-skill areas in the brain. Neuroscientists at the University of Sussex’s Sackler Centre and Brighton and Sussex Medical School gave participants a motor-skill task under two conditions – one not being watched, another being watched by two observers.

Participants reported that they felt more anxious when they believed they were being observed. Brain activity was scanned while performing that task and revealed that the act of observation caused a region of the brain responsible for fine motor-control to shut down, and this matched a measurable loss of skill in performing the task. This brain region is also strongly connected to the action-observation network (AON), which helps us infer what other people are thinking about us and act accordingly.

Prior research with pianists showed that observation could cause hitting of the piano keys too firmly, but this is the first research to identify this kind of effect from a neurophysiological mechanism, and to pinpoint the source of the effect. This is an interesting finding for sports, as small changes in movement accuracy can greatly reduce performance outcomes.

However, as stressed by the researchers, the critical factor in generating anxiety is whether there is a negative or positive perception of how people are viewing us. For example this rings true in soccer penalty kick takers who are known to drop drastically in success rate when missing the shot could lose the game. Similarly, sports science research has also found confidence level can counter the effects of anxiety and is a psychological characteristic of elite athletes.

The bottom line is that shifting your attention away from anyone judging you negatively, or instead imagining them judging you positively, could make help keep your motor-skills accurate when you need them

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Cognitive Offloading and Your Smartphone

Picture this scenario; you’re discussing a TV show with your friend that you watched last night. You’re struggling to remember the name of one of the characters. So, you ask your friend: “What’s the bad guy called again?” Your friend answers. This concept is called cognitive offloading; you’ve just offloaded some of your thought processing onto someone else. With the Internet infiltrating multiple facets of our lives, cognitive offloading has gained prominence in the neuroscience realm.

Why is that? Well, these days it’s common to offload brainwork to your smartphone. After all, your trusted device is always ready to deliver almost unlimited knowledge. Just tap on a few touches, or talk to it, and the access is yours! Could this habit, however, have long-term effects?

Smartphone Memory Study

In a new study published in the journal ‘Memory,’ neuroscientists found that cognitive offloading comes with some side effects that could impact our overall intelligence in the long run. In the study, participants were split into two groups and presented with challenging knowledge-based questions. The first group was allowed to use Google, the other one was not.

The real test came when both groups were given easy questions, as well as the choice to use Google or not. What were the results? Well, the previous Googlers spent less time attempting to recall answers. In fact, remarkably 30% of them didn’t use their memory on a single question even though they knew the answers to most. When the participants had their finger on the smartphone trigger, it affected their ability to think within minutes. So, what do this all mean?

Implications on Your Intelligence

Recall – Googling could diminish our will and capacity to remember things spontaneously.  Smart phones are relatively quick, but human thinking is much faster! Offloading to your smartphone can block us from simply remembering.

Problem Solving – Figuring out a solution usually requires both recall of information and a sort of mental juggling of thoughts to find one useful answer out of many. Internet search fosters distraction which can disrupt the flow of creative thinking.

Neuroplasticity – There’s abundant evidence now of the ‘use it or lose it’ concept, as Googling prevents activation of key brain regions for memory, which ultimately makes them become weaker.

Should you stop using Google to preserve your intelligence? Absolutely, not! Instead, use only Google when you actually need to, as this could be more advantageous in the long run. Another alternative option is to engage in regular activities that flex memory muscles to keep you on your toes.

Benjamin C. Storm, Sean M. Stone, Aaron S. Benjamin. Using the Internet to access information inflates future use of the Internet to access other information. (Source)

Featured Image: Esther Vargas under CC BY-SA 2.0

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How to Predict Attention Levels?

Although the ability to sustain attention varies widely from person to person, characterizing these individual differences has been traditionally difficult to measure. A group of neuroscientists at Yale University took a novel approach to understanding the characteristics of mental stamina. Previously they had established that every person’s pattern of brain connectivity is unique, so they took that approach one step further to see if these patterns could provide a new way to measure each person’s attention characteristics. More specifically, connectivity patterns are synchronous activity observed across distinct parts of their brain, the significance of which is being supported by neuroscience showing that it’s actually how the brain interacts with itself that is the key in cognitive performance.

Ambitious Research

The researchers gave 25 participants a continuous attention task, which involved recognizing certain images presented in a long sequence, and then responding to them, or inhibiting responses to them. Each task would last more than 30 minutes. This provided a sustained attention measure based on recognition and response accuracy. During the test detailed maps of continuous brain activity were recorded across 268 distinct brain regions. Analysis of this data showed how functionally connected each region was with every other region.

The results revealed several hundred connectivity profiles specifically related to the task performance, and the nature of these profiles provided significant predictions of how well people performed. Perhaps more interestingly, they also analyzed brains scans of the participants when in a resting state, which was also predictive (though less so than when active), and more specifically it could reveal characteristics of ADHD. Fascinatingly, this connectivity signature approach suggests potential to assess attentional ability without any actual testing being performed.

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Exciting Potential

This is a new approach focused on one aspect of intelligence, but it could evolve into a multi-faceted technique for identifying wider cognitive functions as well as conditions of cognitive impairments, so it will certainly be interesting to follow this neuroscience domain. It also has potential for revealing the effects of NeuroTracker training, which even though it is a visual based task, has been shown to improve abilities across many different regions of brain function – it may also be possible to see if training changes a person’s connectivity signature.

Major Risk for Older Adults As many as 70% of older people with forms of mild cognitive impairment fall at least once a year. Injuries can be severe even from minor falls, but even without injury, the subsequent fear of falling often leads to avoidance of going outside which creates social isolation and weakened muscles creating greater fall risk. Accordingly fall risk is a major health concern in aging populations.

Current interventions for falls in older adults typically focus on improving muscle strength, balance, and gait, often with the use of treadmills. However, Dr. Anat Mirelman, lead study author of new research into fall risk, stated, "Older people's ability to negotiate obstacles can be impaired because of age-related decline in cognitive abilities like motor planning, divided attention, executive control, and judgement."

A New Study

In the largest study of its kind, Dr.Mirelman’s team researched fall incidence across 5 countries over 2 years following an intervention experiment. In this study the researchers chose to combine treadmill exercise with virtual reality where participants had to avoid virtual obstacles coming towards them, with the aim of combining both physical and cognitive aspects of training.  They also had another group performing just treadmill exercise. Both groups had some history of falls. The researchers then tracked all fall incidences over the next six months.

The average reduction for exercise interventions had been previously found to be 17%, which was similar in the treadmill only group.  However, the 142 participants in the VR treadmill group of had a dramatic 42% reduction in falls. The results are particularly significant because of the longevity of the prevention effects, as Dr. Mirelman summarized, "We found that virtual reality plus treadmill training helped to reduce fall frequency and fall risk for at least six months after training."

The implications are also far reaching because of the feasibility of this type of intervention, as Professor Stephen R. Lord at Neuroscience Research Australia independently commented, “These findings have important implications for clinical practice…treadmill training with a VR component could be administered in community gyms and rehabilitation clinics, and since the intervention is relatively short term in nature, throughput of many people would be possible.”

Other Related Research

The research also correlates with preliminary NeuroTracker studies showing that cognitive load is a critical factor in motor-skill coordination, showing that even the puck handling skills NHL pros diminishes when placed near their attentional threshold, and that combined physical and cognitive training improved capabilities in both areas with Olympic athletes.

These kinds of findings may pave the way to a new understanding of how cognitive intervention is key for maintaining physical safety into old age.

Study name:

Dr Anat Mirelman, PhD et al. Addition of a non-immersive virtual reality component to treadmill training to reduce fall risk in older adults (V-TIME): a randomised controlled trial.

(Source)

According to new research published in Orthopedic Journal of Sports Medicine, there is an increase in the number of concussion diagnoses among the U.S. population across various age groups. Health records of over 8 million individuals were analyzed, showing that the number of Americans diagnosed with concussion is growing across all age groups. However, adolescents showed the most dramatic trend.

Between 2007-2014 the number of concussion diagnoses in ages 10-14 increased by 143%, and by 87% in ages 15-19.  29% of the concussions involved some loss of consciousness.

Close to one third of these diagnoses took place in a physician’s office, raising concerns that general physicians should be as competent as emergency physicians in managing concussions. The study suggested explanation for the rise may be the increased participation in sports, and possibly an indication of improved awareness of brain injuries by patients, parents, coaches and medical professionals.

Often Neglected Symptoms

Though symptoms clear up in most cases of concussion within weeks, some patients suffer the effects for months in ways that severely affect day to day functioning as well as quality of life. In another recent but separate concussion study released in JAMA Pediatrics, evaluation of 63 boys who had suffered mTBI showed that even when symptoms had cleared, the process of returning back to school or day-to-day activities commonly brought back symptoms. In addition teenage brain injuries may be more concerning than for adults due to evidence showing that the chances of additional concussions are significantly higher than for individuals without a history of mTBI. Some researchers have also raised concerns that proper management of mTBI in teenagers is often neglected.

This new data suggests that more attention and care needs to be focused on managing concussion incidents and risks in teenagers.

Details of the study here,

10. L. Zhang, D. C. Sing, C. M. Rugg, B. T. Feeley, C. Senter.The Rise of Concussions in the Adolescent Population.Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine, 2016; 4 (8) DOI:10.1177/2325967116662458

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A cognitive scientist at the Johns Hopkins University has isolated the functional parts of the brain physics that deal with the physics of the real world in a paper just published. The author, Jason Fischer, outlined the importance of how we understand the real-world, “It is among the most important aspects of cognition for survival. We run physics simulations all the time to prepare us for when we need to act in the world. But there has been almost no work done to identify and study the brain regions involved in this capability.”

Though the majority of physics that we sense in our environments comes from vision, the brain’s physics engine has been found to be located in a separate set of regions devoted to planning actions. Among other tasks, the research involved monitoring brain activity subjects analysing Jenga style blocks to predict how the tower would fall and aspects of its structure.

When making predictions based on physical effects, the brain’s action and motor planning areas became active, and the more physical information there was to process, the more active they became. This happened even if subjects weren’t conscious of it. The findings intimately link physics intuition and movement planning, and may shed new light on how we learn to process the outside world. Fisher explained, “We believe this might be because infants learn physics models of the world as they hone their motor skills, handling objects to learn how they behave. Also, to reach out and grab something in the right place with the right amount of force, we need real-time physical understanding.”

With skills like trajectory prediction, force anticipation, and multiple object tracking at different velocities being critical skills in many sports, the finding that these distinct brain regions are involved in handling them may explain why some people can read the game better than others, even with the same experience and visual capacities. The findings also correlate with multiple NeuroTracker studies showing that training on a physics based visual processing task intimately relates to motor-skill performance, as well as transfers to improvements in high-level cognitive capacities outside the visual centres of the brain. In an interesting twist, a soon to be published NeuroTracker studies has also demonstrated training transfer to improved math abilities, which are known to involve mental physics simulation for internally visualizing mathematical problems.

The published study can be found here,

Jason Fischer, John G. Mikhael, Joshua B. Tenenbaum, Nancy Kanwisher. Functional neuroanatomy of intuitive physical inference. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2016; 201610344 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1610344113

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Transcranial direct current stimulation (TDCS) is a technique for applying weak electrical energy to the brain via the skull, with the aim of activating neurons beyond normal activity. It’s not a new concept, and it can be done cheaply with off-the shelf kit costing as little as $40, or with commercial products recently put on the market. Preliminary research suggests that tDCS can enhance cognition, and relieve symptoms of anxiety, depression, and other conditions. For this reason it’s been getting increasing attention in the media. However a new neuroscience paper published in the Annals of Neurology suggests there’s a distinct difference between scientific research and a DIY approach, suggesting that “Do-it-yourself” users of tDCS are exposing themselves to hidden risks. Signed by 39 prominent experts in the field, the paper warns against trying to replicate the results of studies because of the unpredictable outcomes of the stimulation and the fact that certain benefits may come at the expense of other neurological effects. The paper was written with the aim to clarify that home use of tDCS is not encouraged as it may cause harm to users. Among the key concerns raised were whether the stimulation affects brain regions beyond those targeted, what activities are suitable while receiving tDCS, the differences from person to person, the type of stimulation administered, and the fact that most research is focused on treating the symptoms of disease, as opposed to cognitive enhancement in healthy individuals.

From a research perspective tDCS is still relatively new. Although anyone can experiment with commercially available tDCS products, this level of consensus among the scientific community suggests more studies need to be completed to establish the efficacy and practical implications of this type of intervention before it is adopted for home use.

Published Paper

An open letter concerning do-it-yourself users of transcranial direct current stimulation

Read Paper

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As the brain generally slows down with old age, continuing to perform well may be dependent on how networks are adaptively utilized through the effects of neuroplasticity, according to a new study from the University of California. UC Berkley researchers found evidence for neural network reorganization in older people’s brains, which helped them to perform short term memory tasks more efficiently, potentially compensating the effects of aging.

In a comparison with healthy adults and healthy people aged 60 or older, the researchers used fMRI scanning on subjects while they performed a series of visual-based short–term memory tasks. They focused scans on the frontal cortex, which is critical for executive functions and its connections to other parts of the brain. The results showed that older adults recruited additional between-module brain connections, specifically when performing tasks. One of the UC Berkley researchers commented, “We think this pattern of increased connectivity between frontal regions and other modules in the brain reflects a more integrated network architecture that is key for successful performance of executive control tasks in aging”.

They also found that older adults who performed better had improved structural integrity for connections between frontal and posterior brain regions – important for short-term memory. These results strongly support the idea of large-scale compensatory mechanisms in the aging brain. The bottom-line being older people’s brains can structurally adapt in new ways in order to retain mental functions. More research to define why some older adults show stronger neural reorganization than others could be critical for determining interventions to prevent the effects of cognitive decline in everyday life.

A potentially interestingly link here is another newly published study which shows that being overweight can contribute to reduced brain size from 50 years old onwards. Overall shrinking in brain size is considered a common symptom of aging in later life. In a cross-sectional study of 473 individuals aged between 20 and 87, the research specifically examined a reduction of white matter volume, and found striking differences between lean versus overweight people. There were no significant differences below 50 years old, suggesting brain health sensitivity to weight in middle-age onwards.   The mechanisms affecting these white matter volumes are not known, but staying leaner when going into retirement could well help boost long term cognitive health, and may even support neural reorganization to compensate for the natural effects of aging.

Study 1

“Reconfiguration of brain network architecture to support executive control in aging” by Courtney L. Gallen, Gary R. Turner, Areeba Adnan, and Mark D’Esposito inNeurobiology of Aging.

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Study 2

“Obesity associated with increased brain-age from mid-life” by Lisa Ronan , Aaron F. Alexander-Bloch, Konrad Wagstyl, Sadaf Farooqi, Carol Brayne, Lorraine K. Tyler, Cam-CANe, and Paul C. Fletcher in Neurobiology of Aging.

Read Study

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We covered the dual-task approach to NeuroTracker training in an earlier blog ‘The multiple stages of NeuroTracker training – performance’. You can see in that video how complexity can be amped up with training over time. Basically it goes something like this:

NeuroTracking, then NeuroTracking with a basic motor-skill task such as standing or balancing on one foot, then NeuroTracking with a more demanding performance specific task, such as dribbling a basketball.

It doesn’t sound like rocket science, but this was born out of sports science research, dubbed the ‘NeuroTracker Learning System’, there are a couple of principles to it which make it quite a powerful technique for advanced conditioning.

First, results with NHL, EPL and top Rugby athletes discovered that even adding a task as simple as standing (compared to sitting) can significantly lower both NeuroTracker scores and learning rates. This showed that getting overall cognitive load right is essential for maximizing conditioning effects. Second, a study with Spanish Olympic athletes found that after training up on just NeuroTracker, athletes could quickly adapt when harder and harder dual-tasks were added. So in a nutshell, if cognitive load is adjusted in line with adaptation to NeuroTracker training effects, then athletes can rapidly learn to handle exceptionally high loads of cognitive and motor-skill complexity – a classic quality of great athletic performance.

This is epitomized in soccer, where players like Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi have the prowess to thrive amidst pressure and chaos, making rapid but accurate decisions while executing sublime levels of physical skill. So for soccer coaches and players looking to step up gameplay ability when it matters the most on the field, here is a program to take a shot at.

Sitting

Standing

Balancing (balance beam/board or bosu ball)

Passing

Headers

Practical pointers

The added skill tasks are only performed during the movement tracking phase of sessions, and the athlete should try to keep visual focus on the NeuroTracker screen, using peripheral visual awareness for the soccer ball as much as possible. The dual-task sessions can also incorporate non-Core sessions like Overload, Dynamic, Target or Tactical. It’s important that sessions 15/20/25/30/35/40 are just Core sitting, as these provide a baseline reference. Only progress to the next dual-task level when NeuroTracker scores are no less than below 30% of the sitting Core, this ensures cognitive load is optimized for on-going learning effects. If the last phase is mastered, then get in touch with the NeuroTracker team for tips EPL teams use to reach the next level!

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Imagine being 80 years old, healthy, with high intelligence levels for your age, but having frequent memory problems affecting quality life and causing day to day stress. This was the case for a man from Brazil who agreed to participate in a cognitive intervention case study.

Referred to as ‘S.Z.’, he agreed to be the single study subject for a group of Sao Paulo neuropsychologists wanting to find out if cognitive training could help reverse the effects of natural aging. Married with four children, and holder of a PhD in architecture, S.Z. undertook a yearlong program of NeuroTracker and memory training, spread out over 32 sessions. The researchers selected NeuroTracker because cognitive training involving intense mental activity had showed promise for improvements in impaired memory. To gain a detailed look into changes over time, S.Z. also completed a wide range of pre-mid-post training tests on cognitive function, as well as multiple questionnaires assessing aspects of quality of life.

And so, a year later? The training proved effective for gains in episodic and working memory, memory strategies, and faster information processing speed. S.Z also showed improvements in sustained and alternating attention, along with above-average cognitive flexibility. A promising factor was that along with the on-going learning curves with NeuroTracker scores, the measures on the assessments were showing improvement over time even at the end of the 12 months.

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Perhaps more importantly, did S.Z. feel any different? His questionnaire results improved for self-perceived attention, memory, quality of life and self-confidence, along with reduced physical and psychological stress symptoms. Based on the findings, the neuropsychologists called for future studies to further this research area, and concluded:

‘The results suggest that the use of NeuroTracker for training cognitive processes is valid for cognitive rehabilitation programs to promote improvements in quality of life in the elderly, corroborating the results of previous studies.’

Although this is a single case study, the qualitative results are promising. The processes of normal aging can negatively impact all areas of day to day life, as well as family and friends. Cognitive treatments without the costs and risks of medication, that are also simple to do and require little time could offer a great deal for extending quality of life into old age. It is compelling to see research in this area, which will hopefully lead the way to larger studies.

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The Faculty of Kinesiology and Health Studies (KHS) at the University of Regina are really getting the most out of 3 NeuroTracker Pro systems across an impressive array of applied studies. Cognitive baselining, athlete performance enhancement and referee training are just some of the research projects they’re into.

Firstly over 300 hundreds athletes are undergoing training and testing programs incorporating performance baselines as part of a broader neuropsychological protocols assessment. This advanced approach will include cerebrovascular measures of changes in brain blood flow and oxygenation.

Secondly, ice hockey officials have also been part of ground-breaking KHS research to see if NeuroTracker training can enhance a range of officiating skills deemed to be most critical by supervisors of referees from the Saskatchewan Hockey Association. An active group of referees underwent training through the NeuroTracker Learning System, performing a total of 60 sessions while sitting down, standing, cycling on a stationary bike, and finally on a skating machine. They were then compared to a passive control group via on-ice officiating performance. The experimental group was found to have significantly better performance outcomes in competition assessments, which are now being analysed to investigate which specific aspects were most impacted. This research is planned to expand into soccer and football officiating.

Lastly, if the above wasn’t enough already, KHS are using NeuroTracker in the Motivation for Active Living Laboratory (MALL) to study potential benefits with non-athletic populations as part of their cutting-edge research programs.

It’s extremely impressive to see a single cognitive training technology being put to so many uses, and we hope to bring you insights from the lead KHS researchers in upcoming expert’s corner blogs.

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I’ve been in the game of human performance most of my life, and the quest to understand it has been a passion consuming decades of my own development as coach. I’d always integrated basic cognitive drills into training regimes, but it was actually after I joined Manchester United when it became clear that abilities coming from between the ears made the difference between top players and truly great ones. What surprised me was how little there was available to constructively train the cognitive components of performance. I was lucky enough to be funded to research new technologies, so I travelled to the University of Montreal to investigate NeuroTracker back when it was still just a lab technology only accessed by a handful of Canadian Olympians. After putting a plethora of professional athletes through well over 10,000 NeuroTracker sessions I certainly haven’t looked back – it’s part of all the coaching I do.

Things evolved a lot along the way. A key revelation was learning that you could find an athlete’s cognitive threshold, yet if they were well conditioned, you could then add on complex dual-tasks and they could adapt it, sometimes doing even better. When you think about truly exceptional performance, there’s always dynamic complexity with cognitive overload – it’s surpassing those boundaries which yields a definitive competitive advantage. So in simple terms, much of my coaching has evolved towards getting athletes to perform skill-relevant drills while under progressively greater cognitive loads. It’s not an all-in approach by any means, the finesse comes by firstly by isolating and training up cognitive and physical processes at a fundamental level, then by adding in complexity only when the athlete is ready to handle it. Otherwise you don’t get learning, just noise.

I founded Elite Lab a several years back so I could build a gym from the ground up centred on this methodology. It’s involved incorporating a lot of cognitive training technologies and as well basic equipment like pads, lights switches and even laser pointers. When integrated in combinations, you can achieve the goal of putting an athlete under pressure with a very flexible spectrum of difficulty – and that’s critical. An example of the difference this can make is the specialised program we undertook with Aaron Cook in Taekwondo. He came to me lacking the edge in competition, but responded to the training quickly, and amazingly well. This was confirmed to me when he knocked out the world champion in his weight-class with a round house kick, something rarely achievable in this sport. He hasn’t looked back since and is gunning for gold in Rio, going in as the favorite.

I think this is still just the beginning, technologies are evolving quickly, as is the science of performance. 10 years ago strength and conditioning was a fairly new idea in soccer, now it’s the bread and butter of any team’s training. I’m pretty sure we’re seeing a bigger revolution with the cognitive dimension.

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Two new studies have shown strong health links between physical and mental domains in aging. The first study sought to clarify the long term effects of exercise on brain health. Although many studies have indicated a positive relationship between physical fitness and cognitive health, some findings have been inconsistent. A large population of 3,714 healthy older people (av. 70yrs old) were tracked for exercise habits over 10 year period, followed by cognitive assessments which included MRI scans for close to 2,000 of the participants.

During the study approximately 10% of the participants developed dementia, of which most were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease. Participants with low exercise levels had a risk of dementia approximately 50% higher than those with higher exercise levels, signifying that exercise carries protective effects for cognitive health. Correspondingly, the MRI scans also found that greater levels of exercise correlated to larger total brain volumes. The bottom line is that a reduced risk of dementia and higher brain volumes may be additional health benefits of maintaining physical activity into old age.

The second study looked at balance abilities in in 578 healthy people aged 90 and older. The participants were assessed on standing balance and a four meter walking test every six months, over a two and a half year period. Neurological examinations revealed that 40% of the participants developed some level of dementia during study, and that this was significantly linked to poor performance on the physical tests. The researchers suggested that balance requires complex brain activity, and testing it may help doctors predict those at most risk for developing dementia, with the aim of providing prevention programs and treatment strategies. As balance impairments are typically more recognizable than psychological factors, this may also help people recognise signs of dementia in friends and family at early stages.

These type of research findings show that cognitive and physical health are being more and more understood as closely related to each other, and could offer an important research direction for helping us all age more healthily.

Study 1

Physical Activity, Brain Volume, and Dementia Risk: The Framingham Study.

Read Study

Study 2

Sound Body Sound Mind? Physical Performance and the Risk of Dementia in the Oldest-Old: The 90+ Study

Read Study

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After hosting the last FIFA World Cup, Brazil is now set to host the first Olympic Games in South America – starting this Friday, Aug. 5th. Over 10,000 athletes from 206 countries are set to compete, with 3.6 billion people expected to be spectating – 90% of which will have access to smart phones or similar devices while watching. With his infamous return to a 4th Olympic Games, Michael Phelps is currently one of the biggest sports stars on social media. Having already won 18 gold medals over the past three Games, he’s bagged seven more than all of Brazil’s golds over the same time, and of course will be gunning for more. Olympic legend or not, his social media is dwarfed by the Brazilian striker Neymar, with soccer likely to be the most popular event for the people of Brazil.

RIO HAS A FEW SURPRISES IN STORE

1) There will be a completely new team taking part, created by the IOC, the team of Refugee Olympic athletes (ROA) will include up to 10 nominated refugee athletes who will get their own welcome ceremony at the Olympic Village.

2) A sport making a return after a 112 year absence is golf, and Rugby Sevens will make its debut as a new sport comprised of small teams and games just 15 minutes long. Technically the USA holds the last Rugby gold medal won in Paris when it was included in 1924.

3) The Olympic rules state that all competitors must have been born before Jan. 1, 2003, and with young competitors in diving and gymnastics, this will make Rio the first games to have competitors actually born in this millennium.

Previously there were concerns for games attendance figures, with slow ticket sales due to political issues and worries over the Zika virus. However the bulk of the 7.5 million tickets available are already sold, so it looks like Rio’s main Maracanã Stadium will be busy. That said it’s unlikely to match density achieved when 173,000 people crammed in to watch the 1950 World Cup Final.

Autism, ADHD and OCD are neurodevelopmental disorders that together affect around 15 per cent of the youth population. Although they have traditionally been studied as separate disorders, they do have common symptoms as well as some genetic links with each other. A newly published MRI study shows they actually share brain biology characteristics and may lead to a new perspective on how and why these neurological conditions develop in childhood.

A team of Toronto scientists from three hospitals performed brain imaging of white matter in 200 children diagnosed with one of the three conditions, but were otherwise healthy. White matter is made up of nerve fibers that enable communication between different regions of the brain. In children with autism, ADHD and OCD they found impairments in white matter in the main tract connecting the right and left hemispheres of the brain. Known as the corpus callosum, it is the largest white matter tract in the brain, critical for allowing neural communication between each side of the brain.

The finding of this study is significant because it provides biological evidence that impairments in actual brain structure relate to a spectrum of behavioural symptoms across different developmental conditions. This suggests potential for new forms of treatments targeting a spectrum of behaviours rather than isolated conditions. As there was also correlational evidence that the progression of symptoms is related to the development of white matter tracts at a young age, it may also pave the way for early intervention reducing the lifelong onset of symptoms.

Read the Paper

A Diffusion Tensor Imaging Study in Children with ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorder, OCD and Matched Controls: Distinct and Non-Distinct White Matter Disruption and Dimensional Brain-Behaviour Relationships.

American Journal of Psychiatry, 2016

Read the paper here

A newly published study by the Center for BrainHealth measured changes in brain blood flow and oxygenation via MRI scans of healthy adults (around 65 years old) as they completed a 12 week cognitive training program. They trained on tasks designed to improve executive functions in strategic attention, integrative reasoning and innovation. The group showed improvements in these areas along with a 7.9 percent increase in blood flow throughout the brain. The founder of the Center for Brain Health and study lead commented:

‍“We can lose 1–2 percent in global brain blood flow every decade, starting in our 20s. To see almost an 8 percent increase in brain blood flow may be seen as regaining decades of brain health, since blood flow is linked to neural health. We believe the reasoning training triggered neural plasticity by engaging the brain networks involved in staying focused on a goal.”‍

They also trained a second group throughout the program, but these participants completed three 60-minute sessions per week of aerobic exercise on a treadmill or stationary bike. This group showed improved memory performance, along with higher cerebral blood flow, but specifically in a region of the brain associated with memory function, an area known to be vulnerable in aging and dementia. Supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health, this high quality research followed on from prior clinical trials that indicated cognitive training could yield benefits across executive functions. The study’s findings provide key insights into how non-pharmacological cognitive interventions can positively affect neurophysiological changes in the brain, and in ways that are pertinent to maintaining health in old age. The paper concluded, “We propose that the distinct benefits of CT (cognitive training) resulted from harnessing experienced-driven neural plasticity”. Although the study did not combine cognitive and physical training as a single intervention, it does pave to way to research in this area.

The full study can be found here,

‍http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnhum.2016.00338/full

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A student taking notes in class, a driver on a downtown road, a grandparent chatting with grandchildren, a basketball player making a pass, and a person making their way through a busy shopping mall. What do all these people and situations have in common? Well from the title above you’ve probably guessed working memory. We’ve all heard it’s important, but actually what it is and why it’s critical in human performance is not so well known.

Working memory has been studied in detail for decades and is now recognized to impact all areas of learning and thinking. As such it’s thought to be one of the most important mental faculties, critical for cognitive abilities such as planning, problem solving, reasoning and maintaining concentration. Much research in education has shown its key both in classroom performance and for acquiring knowledge over time – predicting educational outcomes independently of IQ. Studies have similarly shown that this applies to career training, affecting the speed with which a skill such as computer programming is acquired.

So what exactly is it? Well it’s much more than memory, the ‘working’ part is pivotal. Not only do we need to keep certain bits of information accessible in mind, we also need to perform cognitive operations on them, manipulating or transforming them. And surprisingly often. As in the opening examples, we need to do this for many separate things both simultaneously and quickly. It’s all about how many things you can hold in your mind at once while meaningfully processing them.

Working memory capacity varies greatly from one person to another, something akin to how many programs a computer can handle running at the same time without slowing down or crashing. For a person with weak working memory, almost any situation with complexity and pressure soon becomes overwhelming. There’s good news though on two fronts. Firstly as we’ve seen in NeuroTracker research from healthy aging to university students and kids with learning difficulties, it’s a trainable ability responsive to the effects of neuroplasticity.

Secondly, it’s highly flexible, so when it’s improved it allows you to manage more information from any type of situation. Even in the case of different types of working memory, such as visuo-spatial compared to verbal, the processes draw on shared central executive resources that manage how much of each type of information should be held or discarded, and accordingly allocated to specialized brain regions for efficient processing.

Imagine boosting your working memory capacities – complex situations will seem simpler, accurate decisions will come more rapidly, and you will feel more aware day to day – so time to get training! To find out more about NeuroTracker studies showing improved working memory, check out our research summaries.

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Le NeuroTracker est un système d’entrainement en 3D unique qui améliore la performance des joueurs de niveau élite sur le terrain. Le système améliore la vitesse d’intégration des informations visuelles, de la connaissance situationnelle ainsi que la capacité de concentration. Ce sont là trois habiletés mentales clés permettant aux athlètes de prendre de meilleures décisions et de les mettre en pratique plus  efficacement lors  du déroulement de la partie.

Identification de lancer

Les batteurs ont généralement environ 250 milisecondes pour identifier le type de lancer auquel ils vont faire face,  identifier la trajectoire de la balle et diriger la batte au bon endroit. Meilleurs sont les batteurs dans le traitement rapide d’information visuelle, meilleurs seront leurs frappés. Le NeuroTracker améliore la capacité du batteur à détecter les signaux clés émis par le lanceur au moment de son lancer. Ceci leur permet de prédire précisément où et quand le lancer atteindra le marbre et de déterminer s’ils doivent tenter de frapper ou non.

‍Stratégie de jeu efficace

Une fois la balle en jeu, les joueurs doivent évaluer la situation rapidement, prévoir ce qui vient, évaluer les possibilités qui  s’offrent à eux, et tout cela en une fraction de seconde. Quand les scores sont raprochés, la pression exercée sur les athlètes est énorme. Le NeuroTracker améliore la performance des athlètes en entrainant leurs fonctions perceptivo-cognitives nécessaires à une prise de décision rapide.

Endurance mentale

Le baseball  combine tour à tour de longues périodes d’inactivité et d’autres d’action intense, mais l’inactivité n’est que physique. Mentalement, les joueurs sur le terrain et au marbre doivent rester attentif au moment présent. Le NeuroTracker augmente l’endurance cognitive comme l’entrainement physique augmente l’endurance physique. Le NeuroTracker améliore aussi l’attention et la vigilance, permettant ainsi aux joueurs de demeurer attentifs et, ce faisant, maintenir un avantage compétitif tout au long de la partie.

Comment Fonctionne Le Neurotracker?

L'objectif visé lors de la création du NeuroTracker était d'allier temps et efficacité. L'entrainement des athlètes devait être à la fois rapide et efficace afin d’éviter toute surcharge ou fatigue accrue. Les algorithmes du nt s'adaptent au fur et à mesure de l'entrainement de l'athlète, et ce, en tenant toujours compte de son seuil personnel de difficulté. Le NeuroTracker détecte les aspects cognitifs les plus faible chez l’athlète et adapte l'entrainement en conséquence. Le NeuroTracker joint l’entrainement  de niveau avancé au mode vigilance tactique afin d’améliorer les réflexes de l’athlète.

L’Expertise Acquise à l’Entrainement se Transpose T-elle Surle Terrain De jeu?

L'expertise acquise à l'entrainement se transpose t-elle sur le terrain de jeu? Les statistiques compilées au sein d'équipes d'élite ainsi qu'en laboratoire démontrent que oui.  En 2010, les Canucks de Vancouver ont connu une saison exceptionnelle. Il s’est avéré que l’unique changement adopté par la formation sportive a été l’utilisation intensive du NeuroTracker.

En 2011, des chercheurs ont prouvé que le NeuroTracker améliore la perception du mouvement biologique.  Cette perception est fondamentale à la compréhension du langage corporel.  En 2014, notre équipe scientifique a démontré que des athlètes de niveau universitaire au soccer avaient amélioré la précision de leurs tirs de 20%. En 2015, les Warriors de Golden State ont gagné le championnat de la NBA et l’équipe de Providence College a gagné le championnat NCAA de hockey sur glace masculin. Les deux équipes s’entrainent avec le NeuroTracker. Le cerveau est l’organe qui s’adapte le plus facilement - ce n’est donc pas une surprise que l’entrainement cognitif ait des effets importants sur la performance.

Après combien de temps peut-on observer des résultats?

Vous observerez des résultas significatifs après une quinzaine de scéances d’entrainement (générallement étalées sur 3 à 5 semaines). Habituellement,  les scéances se déroulent deux à trois fois par semaine. Il faut cependant savoir qu'il n'y a aucun danger à faire cet entrainement de façon quotidienne et plusieurs athlètes de niveau professionnel incorporent le NeuroTracker à leur programme d’entrainement habituel. Une séance d’entrainement peut ne prendre que 5 minutes, ce qui le rend facile à intégrer à tout programme d’entrainement.

Le NeuroTracker est aussi utilisé pour le dépistage éventuel d’athlètes d’élite en évaluant leur capacité cognitive. La célèbre revue scientifique Nature a révélé, dans une de ses études, qu'il existe une différence marquée dans la façon dont les images en mouvement sont traitées selon différentes catégories d'individus. En effet, on distingue une différence significative selon que les personnes soient des collégiens, de simples amateurs ou de véritableS professionnels. Le NeuroTracker est le résultat de 20 ans de recherche en perception visuelle et cognitive au laboratoire de Psychophysique et Perception Visuelle de l’Université de Montréal.

A study just published in Military Psychology reports some remarkable effects of cognitive training on Working Memory span, but before looking at that let’s get a handle on what Working Memory really means. Virtually everyone has heard of it, but most people mix it up with short term memory, like the ability to remember a phone number you just heard. Working Memory is very different. Although it does involve holding transient information, it’s really more about rapidly processing and manipulating it.

Think of it more like the skills needing for juggling balls as opposed to simply holding them. As such it’s a very high level mental capacity essential for awareness, comprehension and decision-making. Known as a core executive function, thousands of Working Memory studies have shown its critical effect in human performance as well as its central role in cognitive impairments when weakened. For this reason senior researchers in the Canadian Armed Forces sought to find effective methods for improving Working Memory span through training interventions. Specifically they were looking for a technique that could provide this when training time is limited.

Based on indications from previous research and the need for a task that can adapt to different levels of ability, they chose to test NeuroTracker in a 41 personnel study using active and passive controls. First they measured Working Memory baselines on three standardized measures, then the soldiers performed 10 single NeuroTracker sessions (6-8mins each) spread out over two weeks, and finally they retested on Working Memory.

Not surprisingly the active group (placebo training) and the passive group (no training) had negligible difference in scores, but the NeuroTracker-trained group showed significant boosts in all three measures used in the tests, leading the researchers to conclude:

“Our resulted demonstrated that…NeuroTracker training can lead to gains in verbal, visual, and matrix Working Memory span, registering medium to large effect sizes in the process…[NeuroTracker] training can benefit Working Memory capacity in a military sample”.

As the trained group showed higher than normal NeuroTracker learning rates, the level of transfer effects may not be consistent across other populations. That said, an intervention of approximately 65 minutes of training is extremely short as far as cognitive programs go, making the effects on high level cognitive function all the more surprising.

The published study: Military Psychology, Online First Publication, May 19, 2016. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/mil0000125

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