Change Your Mind With Nintendo DS January 7, 2009
Posted by drrohn in 9-5-4, add parents, adhd, aging, alternative treatment, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, attention training, brain, brain drain.Tags: ADHD memory, brain fog, focus, nintendo
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Professor Kawashima followed his dream. When he was a boy he saw himself putting his brain on a computer system. He believed that if he could represent mental functioning on a computer, he would be able to understand how people’s brains worked. On his journey he created the Nintendo DS brain training games. These games are inter-generational tools that are entertaining to people of all ages. Dr. Kawashima studied brain response with pet scans. He found when people simply watch television, brain zones that handle sound and sight respond. When playing a video game, zones that deal with motion and color respond. The part of the brain that really helps us think is called the prefrontal cortex. It is not stimulated with either of these activities.
Difficult math does not light up this part of the brain either, but simple math done under speed conditions makes a big difference. Reading silently does not use this part of the brain as much as when we read out loud. Dr. Kawashimi developed games that stimulate the prefrontal cortex. So the principle is to work out with your brain and have fun!
He came under fire because a British newspaper quoted him as saying videogames harm the brain. This is not actually true. He said videogames de-activate the prefrontal cortex. Professor Kawashima has four children. He let them all play video games but only for one hour every day. His reasoning was that sometimes the brain just needs to rest and video games were not harmful. He has done tests on elderly Japanese people. What he found was that solving mental puzzles can often arrest cognitive decline. Dr. Kawashimi says ‘I cannot comment on whether the illness of dementia is cured or not, but with these methods symptoms of dementia certainly improve”.
Other virtual activities that were once exclusively the domain of the young are being used with increasing success to rehabilitate older adults and bring them quality of life. In some senior centers card games and crossword puzzles are being replaced with virtual reality bowling or tennis. Crossword puzzles and sudoku are played in groups with computers and a mouse. These are much easier to navigate than small pieces of wood and studies have shown that simulated activities are almost as useful for practice as the real thing.
Some other scientists are jealous and treat his work with disparaging remarks such as there has not been enough time to test this or there is little empirical evidence. Other scientists like Dr. Posner are finding exciting results after only a few sessions with brain fitness tools. Scientists are testing brain games and finding increased brain fitness from the very old to the very young. Some say Professor Kawashimi is in it for the money. This is sad as all the royalties from the games and the books he wrote about the mind go entirely to the University. Dr. Kawashimi feels as a scientist it is his obligation and the obligation of others to return the results of our research to society.
This story is adapted from an article by Richard Lloyd Parry of the Times newspaper, London UK
By Dr. Amy Price
Adult ADHD July 5, 2007
Posted by edukfun in add, add parents, adhd, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, attention training.add a comment
I am back & this time writing about me. Yes, I am an adult with ADHD. My late husband had ADHD, my oldest son has ADHD, my younger son has ADHD and my daughter has ADD. So is it any wonder that the subject of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder has special meaning to me? I can’t get away from it no matter how hard I try!!!
I was not diagnosed until I was thirty-five years old. Wow! How did I survive all those years? When I was growing up I was the daughter of fabulously involved, loving parents. I was active in sports, never enjoyed reading, unless it was comic books, could not understand the “concept of math” and survived by way of calculator. But, back then they didn’t have the knowledge in reference to ADHD as they do today.
Read the rest at www.sparkmygenius.com!
-Ellen
