Dear Tucson Audiologists? Patients and Colleagues,
Here?s another post in our series on essential ?ear-brain connections?underlying Perception-Attention-Memory?processing and strategies. ?Some posts looked at Tip-of-the-Tongue?Phenomenon; another reported results of studies of brain exercises, performance, and brain function in older adults. ?None bear directly on hearing and hearing aids, but we will get to that as we report the research and build the argument. ?So far, there are spots of good news, some profound, some funny:
The Good News?
- ??Neuroplasticity occurs in aging brains. ?That disproved earlier theories of uniform brain decline with age. ?Remember the old saw that ?You lose 10,000 brain cells a day?? ?Not true.
- Reasoning training may slow decline in everyday life performance. It was a small effect, but people who received cognitive training on a reasoning task reported less decline 5 years later in daily living performance, compared to those who did not receive the training.
- Tips of the Tongue aren?t signs of memory loss. ?Older people had more instances of ?knowing but can?t come up with the name? than young people, but they still had the names in memory. ?Retrieving one name out of all the stored names and related information was trickier for the older group, perhaps they had more stored in memory.
- Older people can learn to juggle. ?That disproved earlier theories that ?You can?t teach an old dog new tricks.? ?So there. ?On the other hand, they didn?t achieve the same levels of juggling proficiency reached by younger people. ?Oh well.
The Disappointingly Bad News
There is also bad news, at least for older puzzlers. ?Empirical support just isn?t there to support the popular idea that doing brain training games improves one?s daily reasoning and function. ?A wonderfully readable position article by George & Whitehouse (2011) casts a gimlet eye on the ?industry? of brain exercisers. ?Their memorable introductory remarks deserve a lengthy quote:
In the therapeutic void created by over 20 failed Alzheimer?s disease drugs during the past decade, a new marketplace of ?brain fitness? technology products has emerged. Ranging from video games and computer software to mobile phone apps and hand-held devices, these commercial products promise to maintain and enhance the memory, concentration, visual and spatial skills, verbal recall, and executive functions of individual users?.. ?A neologism forged by the marketplace??neurobics??evinces the belief that this new?generation of strenuous games, puzzles, and brainteasers can encourage the growth of synapses?and dendrites and enhance cognitive health just?as aerobic workouts improve pulmonary health and increase cardiovascular health.
Surveying individual studies and meta studies, the authors find little or no evidence to support the notion of a?transfer effect from doing specific brain exercises. ?Paraphrasing thir? conclusions:
gamers only improve within the challenges designed by the game itself ? there are no indication that the games produce any significant effect in the gamer?s day to day cognitive abilities.
In plain words, do Suduko if you enjoy it, but don?t expect it to help you improve/maintain cognitive function in daily life.
On the Other Hand?.
You?ll be relieved to learn that George & Whitehouse don?t stop with the bad news. ?Rather, they propose adopting a politically-stanced ?holistic approach? combining psychosocial, emotional and spiritual inputs as a means of promoting cognitive health as we age. ?We just have to quote them again because they write so passionately on the subject:
To ignore the complex etiology of ?neurodegeneration? and thus to fail to frame brain aging as a public health and broader social issue, is a conceit fostered by a neoliberal-capitalist approach to brain fitness.
In plain words, these authors want you to stop doing brain games by yourself (?reductionist? approach) and start interacting with others in meaningful ways (?holistic approach?). ?It?s not a question of who gets the most points or who?s the smartest, it?s a question of who interacts best with others in growth and wellness activities such as:
- Collaboration: ?Taking a challenging cognitive activity and incorporating it with a psychosocial activity: Group Suduko!
- Walking in the park with friends, going to a museum, volunteering ? all ?neurobic? AND designed to establish meaningful relationships.
Where?s the Ear-Brain Connection?
In plain words, it?s pretty hard to collaborate, volunteer, or walk and talk with friends unless you can hear what they?re saying. ?As Audiologists, we do not align ourselves with the the ?neoliberal-capitalist? brain fitness group (or even know what that means), and therefore continue to advocate good hearing as an essential element for maintaining psychosocial interaction. ?For those who don?t naturally possess good hearing, we continue to advocate appropriate hearing aids to get you to good hearing, ?good social interaction, and good cognitive function.
Stay tuned for a post on the relationship of physical exercise to cognitive function AND?.
drum roll ?. brand new research that shows ? for the first time ? ?a direct connection between hearing loss and cognitive decline. ?We?ll report on it after we get hold of the original paper and read it thoroughly. ?
Presented for your reading pleasure by
Your Tucson Audiologists,
Holly Hosford-Dunn PhD
and
Sharon K Hopkins MA
References:
George DR & Whitehouse PJ.? Marketplace of Memory: What the Brain Fitness Technology Industry Says About Us and How We Can Do Better.? The Gerontologist, Vol. 51, No. 5, 590?596.
photo courtesy of benchmark60
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