Paulette: Build Your Power Vocabulary
I love this book because I enjoy learning the origins of words and why we use them. I find this to be a key component in helping me remember new words and incorporate them into my vocabulary. There are chapters on ways to improve spelling and pronunciation, the roots of words, words that are commonly misused, specialized words, and words that we borrow from other languages. The book also includes exercises at the end of each section that almost feel like games. This is a great book for people who love words or for people who just want to strengthen their vocabulary.

Emily: Play
This book shows how essential play is in everyone’s life and how we can get it back. As a parent I thought it would be about how to help my children in play and reinforce my belief that we need to incorporate more into their daily life (and it is). However, it also argues that adults, parents in particular, need to prioritize some play time too. The opposite of play is not work, but depression. When we stop playing, we start dying. Brown has some incredible research to support that in order to be successful in life you must play. Have fun!

Rachel: Brain Rules
The 12 principles outlined in Brain Rules are presented in a very interesting way that is easy for anyone to understand and often very funny. The author, Dr. John Medina is also a professor and a lot of the book discusses how we learn, and more so, how we should be taught. This book is separated into segments that each discuss parts of the brain, how they work, and how they differ from person to person. Brain Rules is cleverly written combining science with real life experience and ideas for the future.

Come visit us and we can tell you even more about our favorite things to do!

Here are some of the games we would recommend for this age group:

Qwirkle

Q-Ba-Maze

Most of these products would be for 6 or 8 and up, however, Brain Noodles and Dado Cubes could work for kids as young as 3 or 4. Jishaku is one of our best selling products that works your coordination skills through magnetic challenges. It is a hit with adults as well!

Come visit us in a store or give us a call for even more ideas for the kids in your life. These games are fun, engaging, and brain boosting!

CogniFit published a press release last week about its new partnership with the NFLA to promote brain fitness software. Recent studies have shown that the combination of physical and mental fitness can help sharpen your brain, and the NFLA has taken that to heart. With all of the brain injuries related to football, it is especially important to focus on brain development and maintenance, so this was a much needed turn of events. Better late than never, right?

CogniFit was founded in 1999 with the intention of using the latest cognitive research to improve cognitive abilities for a wide age range.

I think this move is great, but shouldn’t there also be an effort to sharpen — or at least actively maintain — the cognitive abilities of the current NFL players? My hope is that this initiative will soon become normal procedure, especially amongst professional athletes.

I love story time. I think that is why I love history museums so much. The Chicago History Museum is a terrific place to go to improve your memory and enjoy doing it! Wandering around the exhibits and American History skills on famous figures like Abe Lincoln is a fun way to maximize your memory. As one brain specialist says: “When you retrieve old information, you recreate connections between brain cells, strengthening your recall abilities.” So check it out: http://www.chicagohs.org/

Art museums can also be a brain-energizing place to go. The Art Institute is always a big hit in Chicago, especially since the addition of the Modern Wing. Art can be associated with memory as well, for instance, you might have taken art history courses in the past and so seeing pieces of art challenges your brain to recall old connections. Learning about art also creates new connections between brain cells. It is a win-win! http://www.artic.edu/aic/

You also can’t go wrong with some laughs. Second City is a Chicago legend and going to one of their shows is a great way to boost your energy and de-stress. I’ve been told that I laugh a lot, and I am happy to hear that! You should go enjoy the hilarious antics of the Second City actors and enjoy the fact that you are getting more than just laughs out of it! http://www.secondcity.com/

I am always up for suggestions on places to check out in Chicago, especially if they help keep my brain fit! You can always send me your ideas via comments below, Facebook, or Twitter (@thebrainstore).

The first one: “Genius Locus” discusses the link between autism and the extraordinary ability of savants. The article notes that, according to recent research at King’s College in London, “as many as 30% of autistic people may have some sort of savant-like capability in areas such as calculation or music.” The article also notes that these abilities might arise from the hyper-attention to detail and sensory hypersensitivity of autistic individuals. It is even possible for “neurotypicals” (the rest of us), to develop savant-like abilities through repetitive attention to learning something complicated, such as London taxi drivers who memorize the city’s 25,000 streets and the quickest ways between them. Learning what they dub “the Knowledge” actually grows the hippocampus in their brains, but this comes at the cost of performance on other tests of memory, such as word-pairings.

Prefer to be knowledgeable on a broad range of topics? I recommend: The New York Times Guide to Essential Knowledge. It’s a great way to increase your memory . . . as well as your dinner table topics!

The second one: “Incognito” provided an interesting look into the way that insights come to us. According to new research published in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, the “aha” moment actually comes to our brains before we realize it. Subjects were shown brainteasers while their brainwaves were monitored. Those that solved the brainteaser had different brainwave activity than those who never got it. Interestingly, this activity was noticeable up to eight seconds before conscious awareness of the answer. This study, along with others discussed in the article, indicates that unconscious thought can solve problems without our realization. The challenge may lie in bringing them to our conscious thought.

If you try the brainteaser in the article and decide you want more, we recommend: Instant Brain Teasing Puzzles – fifty instant puzzles to develop your critical thinking abilities.

The third one: Also be sure to take a look at “Twice blessed” for new research on bi-lingual children and their potential advantages in decision-making.

I would love to hear your thoughts.

~Lindsay

For more information on the University of Virginia study, see: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/4995546/Old-age-begins-at-27-as-mental-powers-start-to-decline-scientists-find.html

On the other hand, the researchers found that participants continued to improve on tests of accumulated knowledge up until age 60. Other studies have found that this continual learning can make up for the deficits in other areas. For example, a study of older air traffic controllers found that they perform as well as their younger peers up until about age 60, calling into question the mandatory retirement age of 54. “The researchers found that while older air traffic controllers experience normal age related declines in some cognitive skills, their expertise on the job enables them to overcome these deficits and function on a par with their younger peers” (www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090309092939.html).

While the areas of decline may still be a concern, the good news is that there are things you can do to boost all of your mental abilities at any age and target the key areas of decline, and the sooner you start the better. For example, you can enhance visual perception and even nurture your creativity with Tangoes, based on the ancient Chinese Tangram puzzle. Tangoes can be found at:www.marblesthebrainstore.com/visual-perception/vp003.html.

I would love to hear from you. What do you think?

~ Lindsay