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Changemakers Forum:
Use It or Lose It! Brain Training for a better quality of life with age.
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I wonder whether you've yet had a chance to see, or hear about, the NYT article whose writers argue that the "case" proving the success of "brain-training" games is quite weak.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/08/opinion/08aamodt.html?em&ex=1194757200&en=cc24b7f2823ab62f&ei=5087%0A
I'm so eager to hear whatever thoughts you might be willing to share.
Best,
Diane
Changemakers
Thanks for your entry. It prompts a question.
You've indicated that your product's distinction (from other brain-training devices) is its massive online database of 7.5 million games that (you suggest) have been proven to work. Yet, when it comes to testing, you refer to a single test (or round of tests) (done in Des Moines with CDC funding.) I'm having trouble making sense of what seems a discrepancy. Might you help?
I look forward to hearing your response.
Diane
Changemakers
Diane,
Sorry for the misunderstanding. Happy-Neuron maintains an inventory of over
60 distinct games and puzzles, each with multiple variables and categorized
by five functional components including attention, memory, spatial
abilities, language and executive functioning. Taken together our games and
puzzles afford 3000 unique hours of game playing time and have been played
online over 7.5 million times since early 2006.
All of Happy Neuron's products have emerged from multi-year programs of
neurocognitive research under the direction of Happy Neuron's chief
scientist, Dr. Bernard Croisile. Previous research by Croisile (2002, 2006),
Stern et al. (2004), Wilson et al. (2002), and Willis et al. (2006), among many
others, successfully demonstrated the generally salutary effect of cognitive
stimulation on the aging brain. Our CDC funded pilot study in Iowa is the
inaugural study of online stimulation that we hope will initiate a
comprehensive program of continued research in collaboration with leading
neuroscientists from around the world. Open questions for the field as a
whole remain: exactly how much of what kind of stimulation yields what
specific outcomes in which target populations?
Happy Neuron's strengths are the richness and variety of its games at
various levels of difficulty that keep the player interested and challenged.
Diana Miner
Scientific Product Manager
Happy-Neuron Inc.