Brain Games

Training a child to hold a whole cluster of items in his or her memory for even a short time may feel like trying to hold a wave on the sand. But a study published Monday says it's a drill that can yield lasting benefits. Children who've had such training have better abstract reasoning and solve problems more creatively than kids who haven't, the study found. But here's a warning to parents already grooming their young children for entry into elite universities: Don't automatically rush out to enroll your young genius in brain-training summer camp or invest in DVDs promising to deliver high IQs. These drills, the scientists found, pay the greatest dividends for children who actually need them and who find the escalating challenge of the games fun, not frustrating.

Training a child to hold a whole cluster of items in his or her memory for even a short time may feel like trying to hold a wave on the sand. But a study published Monday says it's a drill that can yield lasting benefits. Children who've had such training have better abstract reasoning and solve problems more creatively than kids who haven't, the study found. But here's a warning to parents already grooming their young children for entry into elite universities: Don't automatically rush out to enroll your young genius in brain-training summer camp or invest in DVDs promising to deliver high IQs. These drills, the scientists found, pay the greatest dividends for children who actually need them and who find the escalating challenge of the games fun, not frustrating.

Brain games can definitely fire up your neurons and help you learn new skills -- at least as they relate to the games themselves. But psychologists and neurologists still have one big question: Does mastering any of these brain training games really improve a person's thinking in real life? Can getting better at playing rock-paper-scissors, tracking birds on a screen or fielding rapid-fire math questions really help a person manage schedules, remember names and keep up with work? And can such mental gymnastics slow, or reverse, cognitive decline?

You may be lazing by the pool after a visit or two to the swim-up bar, but parts of your brain are always on duty — ready to leap into action should a stressful event require attention. This skeleton crew of sorts is called the default-mode network. It includes one of the busiest and most important structures in the entire brain, the hippocampus, which is responsible for processing memories. "Whenever you have to look something up or file something away, you ask your hippocampus to do it," says Jens Pruessner, an associate professor in the departments of psychology, psychiatry, neurology and neurosurgery at McGill University in Montreal.

The vaunted protection that intellectually active adults get from Alzheimer’s disease has a dark downside, a study released Wednesday has found. Once dementia symptoms become evident and Alzheimer’s disease is diagnosed in such patients, their mental decline can come with frightening speed.      That finding, published in the journal Neurology , comes from a study of 1,157 Chicago-based seniors who were followed for an average of just over 11 years. Six years after gauging the extent to which the study participants engaged in activities that challenged their mental capacities, researchers from Rush University Medical Center Alzheimer’s Disease Center made periodic assessments of the study participants’ cognitive health and traced the trajectories of their brain health.

You may be lazing by the pool after a visit or two to the swim-up bar, but parts of your brain are always on duty — ready to leap into action should a stressful event require attention. This skeleton crew of sorts is called the default-mode network. It includes one of the busiest and most important structures in the entire brain, the hippocampus, which is responsible for processing memories. "Whenever you have to look something up or file something away, you ask your hippocampus to do it," says Jens Pruessner, an associate professor in the departments of psychology, psychiatry, neurology and neurosurgery at McGill University in Montreal.

He was small and not particularly fast. His passing arm wasn't the strongest. But Frankie Albert was a winner at every level of football. Though not blessed with great physical talent, Albert beat defenses with brains and guile, first as a running back at Glendale High in the late 1930s, then as a quarterback at Stanford and with the San Francisco 49ers. After losing to Albert's 49ers, a rival coach lamented that he was beaten by a player who had "a million-dollar head and a dime-store arm."

Pretty much everyone who wanders into Pat Summitt's office or visits her basketball practice these days has learned to fear the iPad. The coach keeps her tablet filled with brain-wrenching games. Crossword puzzles and Sudoku. Math quizzes and memory tests. "When people come by," said Tyler, her son, "she gets them to sit down and try one of those things. " It was seven months ago that doctors diagnosed Summitt with early-onset dementia, Alzheimer's type, an incurable brain disease that affects memory, thinking and behavior.

When professional golfers talk about their game, they usually tell you it's all in their mind. Sometimes, that's the worst place for it to be, and now, in this age of golf doctors who fix sick swings, there is a new and expanding arena of specialists for golfers who want to play better. One such specialist is Chuck Hogan, who wants his clients to be the best they can be. "I try to tell them they can run their own brain," Hogan said.

If you're spending more and more of your time each day fumbling for names, looking for your keys and lamenting your lost youth, you probably shouldn't worry. Everyone loses a little -- what's the right word? -- "sharpness" as the years go by. By your late 20s, you've already hit your mental peak and are giving up mental speed and efficiency, says Glenn Smith, a professor of psychology at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Rochester, Minn. That's not to say older brains don't have advantages.

The vaunted protection that intellectually active adults get from Alzheimer’s disease has a dark downside, a study released Wednesday has found. Once dementia symptoms become evident and Alzheimer’s disease is diagnosed in such patients, their mental decline can come with frightening speed.      That finding, published in the journal Neurology , comes from a study of 1,157 Chicago-based seniors who were followed for an average of just over 11 years. Six years after gauging the extent to which the study participants engaged in activities that challenged their mental capacities, researchers from Rush University Medical Center Alzheimer’s Disease Center made periodic assessments of the study participants’ cognitive health and traced the trajectories of their brain health.

Brain games can definitely fire up your neurons and help you learn new skills -- at least as they relate to the games themselves. But psychologists and neurologists still have one big question: Does mastering any of these brain training games really improve a person's thinking in real life? Can getting better at playing rock-paper-scissors, tracking birds on a screen or fielding rapid-fire math questions really help a person manage schedules, remember names and keep up with work? And can such mental gymnastics slow, or reverse, cognitive decline?

He was small and not particularly fast. His passing arm wasn't the strongest. But Frankie Albert was a winner at every level of football. Though not blessed with great physical talent, Albert beat defenses with brains and guile, first as a running back at Glendale High in the late 1930s, then as a quarterback at Stanford and with the San Francisco 49ers. After losing to Albert's 49ers, a rival coach lamented that he was beaten by a player who had "a million-dollar head and a dime-store arm."

Football players, track stars, actors, jazz musicians and a homecoming princess are among key members of high school teams preparing for Ventura County's annual Academic Decathlon beginning this month. Over its 16 years, the event has taught many students and teachers that being smart doesn't necessarily mean being a card-carrying geek.

They're poised over their bells. The room gets quiet. The question is read: In "Sleepless in Seattle," Tom Hank's character was kept awake by a sleep disorder. Is it called insomnia, Indonesia, or kleptomania? Ding! "Kleptomania!" Uh . . . no. Next? "Indonesia?" No. Next? "Um . . . I don't remember what's left." Clearly, these are not auditions for "Jeopardy!" But what 10-year-old needs a lifetime supply of Turtle Wax anyway?

When professional golfers talk about their game, they usually tell you it's all in their mind. Sometimes, that's the worst place for it to be, and now, in this age of golf doctors who fix sick swings, there is a new and expanding arena of specialists for golfers who want to play better. One such specialist is Chuck Hogan, who wants his clients to be the best they can be. "I try to tell them they can run their own brain," Hogan said.

These days, Colleen Walker is thinking about the right side of her brain. This is a (gray?) matter of extreme importance to Walker, the year's wealthiest non-winner on the women's golf tour. She has been so close to victory that she can almost, well, see it in her mind. In just the last two weeks, she was second in the Nabisco Dinah Shore and second at San Diego.

These days, Colleen Walker is thinking about the right side of her brain. This is a (gray?) matter of extreme importance to Walker, the year's wealthiest non-winner on the women's golf tour. She has been so close to victory that she can almost, well, see it in her mind. In just the last two weeks, she was second in the Nabisco Dinah Shore and second at San Diego.