Child Neuropsychology

Does brain training work? There are a number of conflicting studies in the literature see Guardian games blog for example. There has recently been a lot of interest in the Ninetendo DS brain training game although I am not aware of any published work on it’s effectiveness (but see this BBC site article for some anecdotal evidence.) I have just come across a good study in the British Journal of Educational Technology by Miller and Robertson 2009 showing improvements in self esteem, and accuracy and speed of mental maths using the DS brain training games (Also see comment from Derek Robinson below). I note that in this study only the specific task of mental maths improved, which is partly what the DS program trains.  I don’t think there is evidence that the DS BT works across different areas to train the brain as a whole.  Nintendo brain training does not train specific brain areas or functions and does not fit with contemporary neuropsychological theory.  It is a more broad brush approach.   In reality the brain has numerous functions linked to different anatomical areas and trying to train the whole thing at once is, I think nonsensical. Brain training will have to become a lot more targeted if it is to work.

There is some evidence that targeting specific areas can be effective. The key candidate at the moment is working memory. Working memory is the ability to hold information in mind i.e mental arithmetic , remembering lists of instructions etc. Working memory is associated with the dorsal-lateral pre- frontal cortex in the brain. There is an interesting paper in PNAS that shows that training working memory resulted in increased IQ levels. You can access the training site and try it for yourself here for free. Also there is some interesting new research on improving working memory using a computer game, which is due to be published soon and which I will report on here.

The key to brain training is to know how the brain works and how it develops and then to target set areas. My own company Neurogames produces brain training games based on the science of brain and psychological development. The games are targeted on areas where I think we should be able to produce change and where I think brain plasticity exists. It is important to understand how the brain and it’s functions develop as this holds the key to what can potentially change. I am carrying out research on this at the moment. If we can show through good science and based on solid neuropsychological theory that change can occur and how it occurs, then there is the possibility to revolutionize how we learn.

Note: Update 20.4.10 a new large scale study published in Nature suggests that Nintendo brain training is not effective in producing transferable cognitive benefits.  Initial nature study is published here

A new study on the benefits of stem cell therapy in patients with multiple sclerosis is a very exciting one for all neuroscience. The study shows that by giving stem cells to MS patients, disability is halted or reversed. The study included measures of neuropsychological function as well as neurological rating scales and quality of life. Improvements in these areas were seen in 17 out of 21 patients and there was no deterioration in the other 4. The reason why it is so important lies in the use of stem cells. The problem with all neurological disability including childhood brain injury is that the brain can not repair itself. This is to do with the way the brain develops. The brain starts to develop at 40 days old with stem cells lining the neural tube. The stem cells turn into precursor cells, then blast cells and then specialized neurological cells. The whole process lasts until the fetus is approximately 6 months old. It is an amazing process with cells developing at the rapid rate of approximately 250,000 a minutes. However, by the end of six months the process stops and you are left with the brain that will last you the rest of your life. If you damage the cells in your brain they will not grow back in the same ways as skin and bone cells would. This is the reason why neurological injury is so hard to treat. If, however, we can replicate the natural development process by using stem cells the possibility is there to treat all neurological disability. It is still early days in terms of this research but these findings are very encouraging. A major problem has been that you basically need to use embryos to produce the stem cells. The recent Bush government in the US was against this on religious and moral grounds. There are however, some new discoveries now in using adult stem cells from different areas of the body. Also it is believed that Barak Obama will allow the stem cell research to start again. Just recently the FDA in the US approved use of stem cells in human medical trials for spinal chord injury. If the research does take off and if these early research findings are replicated there is the very exciting prospect of new treatments for neurological disability in the future.

A recently study from the University of California, Berkeley found differences in brain activation between children from low and high socioeconomic status (‘rich and poor kids’). The researchers used EEG to measure activation in the pre frontal cortex and found children from low socioeconomic backgrounds had a low EEG response which was similar to children with brain injury. The psychology group at Berkeley have a distinguished history of research looking at the development of pre frontal cortex. One of the key findings over the last 20 years is the role that the environment has in brain development. Originally work undertaken on rats showed that those in a drab environment had less well developed brains than those living in stimulating environments. It is likely that poor children have less stimulating environments which in turn affects their brain development. Some of my clinical work is with children who have been abused and neglected and a consistent finding is that they have lower than average intellectual functioning and low academic achievement. This latest study adds to the growing body of research highlighting the importance of early intervention for good brain development.