Letters to the Editor
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@droogoy
the way it works is that repeated mental effort takes over adjacent areas. for example, if (because of stroke) you cannot do arithmetic, you can "cannibalize" the spatial orientation section which is near it. this takes about a year of daily effort.
ok, you are very analytical so you wouldn't want to lose those areas by specializing in mazes for instance. but at the same time you wouldn't want to go over the same areas - that wouldn't *develop* anything new. Gauss, who liked languages, kept his brain sharp by learning new ones. people like music - it's an end in itself - learning an instrument would help your brain as well as your temperament. but the biggest problem with growing old is that we grow lazy - and just don't want to put in the effort. -
The Cure
I think smoking prevents AIDS. Feel free to disagree.
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I think smoking cures Autism
It certainly stops all their mothers from chatting me up.
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Old & new areas
david sugarman wwrote:
but at the same time you wouldn't want to go over the same areas - that wouldn't *develop* anything new
Oh, I agree! This is why I also study languages (Latin, Russian, German etc.) as well as do translations, say of Spanish text to English etc. I will also write poetry on occasion, and read lots of philosophy - as well as science, math. Oh, and let's not forget good science fiction and other classics (e.g. 'Babbit' by Upton Sinclair etc.)
I also draw, and drew the cover art for one of the books I had written (fantasy, sci-fi) and had published in 2005. You can see this art at amazon.com, just use the search function and type in:
"The Messiah Paradigm"
It is written under my nom-de-plume, "Daeron Shane".
So, yeah, I am kind of an all-rounder type!
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i will droogoy
you sure have a lot of energy! (i'm more like gobbledegook or electro robot)
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i just DID check it out, droogoy
but every site wants money. i like reading but i don't like paying; you have anything online for free?
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Just a thought
A 95 year old relative plays simple word game puzzles, crosswords, etc. He also has one glass of wine or beer a day, just before bedtime.
He is one of the most clear thinking, sharpest people I know. He takes no medication--except an occasional sleeping pill--still drives a car, can out walk most people twenty years younger and has a positive outlook on life.
He recently admitted that gay people are alright. OK, his favorite niece admitted she was a lesbian, but I digress. He also refuses to let any religious dogma dictate his life, but he is a very generous, kind hearted person.
This man was a rancher, and did not graduate from college. He just kept his mind active. He only recently moved into a retirement center because he was a bit lonely after his spouse passed away. The most active, clear headed elderly people there all seem to participate in puzzle solving. I found that interesting.
So, who knows? Maybe word solving helps. But I don't think we need fancy, over priced brain fitness programs. It is just like exercise. Simple walking will really do the trick too.
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Strange that PBS was pushing it
The special accompanying the infomercial for the Brain Fitness Program, about neuroplasticity, distinctly stated that so-called "brain fitness" workouts do not have any measurable positive effect in preventing mental decline. What does seem to have an effect, the program said, was physical exercise.
Ten minutes after this statement, two PBS staff came on to sell the Brain Fitness Program. They made some really questionable claims in support of the BFP, including, IIRC, that it may help prevent "dementia." (Though IIRC, they didn't say the A-word.) It was a completely bizarre disconnect between the special and the BFP promotion.
It wouldn't bother me so much, except that people I know who are really worried about developing Alzheimer's are, naturally, falling for these sales pitches. Given that the science doesn't seem to support the product, I think it's manipulative.
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@not butter (nice handle)
i'll have to tell Electro Robot and gobbledegook about that! (another advantage of smoking)
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Aptitudes and Exercises
It's important to distinguish two different issues in looking at Posit's exercises. The first, author Burton speaks to, namely the dubiously-established relationship between their exercises and any beneficial cognitive effect on aging. Burton also questions the functional relationship between these type of exercises and daily life activities. That's true enough, but misses a more general point.
What Posit's several exercises address are actually aptitudes, mental qualities we're born with and, depending on our life circumstances, develop to one degree or another. One's configuration of aptitudes has a lot to do with the occupations and avocations we choose - or should choose. We wouldn't want people who can't put squiggly-shaped blocks together more quickly than most to be engineers, and we wouldn't want to pay to watch an opera that has singers who can't differentiate pitch or remember tones (I'll steer clear of how many rock singers can't). For most of us, who fall somewhere in the middle of the population on most aptitudes, practice on any one can bring improvement to some degree, but will never make us a Horowitz.
And if that's the case, what can be expected of a program like Posit, which doesn't even test users to establish actual need and baselines to work from? Not much, I'm afraid, more than probably most of us are doing already, which I suspect is doing what - using those aptitudes - we're already good at.
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Neuroplasticity
A lot of good research is being done in the area of neuroplasticity, including studies of those who have suffered strokes or other accidents and use various techniques to regain and strengthen cognitive function. Sharon Begley's book and another book "the brain that changes itself" describe research in the area with some impressive results. When I first saw this article , I thought it mgiht have something to do with neuroplasticity, a fascinating subject. We have all been taught that once we get past a certain age our brains are for lack of a better word "fossilized". Salon- you really gave the subject short shrift. I hope you do the subject justice in the near term.