|
Stage: 4
Session number: 18
Average n-back: 3.75
I have done some meditation before beginning brain training… but I don’t feel the pulse of light referred to near the end of Martin’s guided meditation. Could you explain what this refers to?
MindSparke Brain Training Software
This post was submitted by Wren Canzoneri.
Stage: 2
Session number: 4
Average n-back: 3
I just did the meditation before I stared my daily session and I improved a great deal, I was more focused than before when i just did the session without the meditation
MindSparke Working Memory Training
This post was submitted by Niyiin.
Brain Training And Meditation
So often different medical, scientific and philosophical disciplines travel on parallel paths, unaware or only dimly aware of one another’s existence. This applies to many spheres, not just brain training, neuroscience, medicine, and psychology. But when these parallel paths bend slightly and converge, exciting progress often results.
Scientists from the Harvard Medical School, the Massachusetts Medical School, and the Bender Institute of Neuroimaging recently bent their paths to study the impact of mindfulness (regular meditation) on the brain. And here at MindSparke we find our own path of brain training research bending to meet them.
The research team set out to investigate what if anything was changing in the brain as a result of mindfulness practice. Specifically, they used neuroimaging to look for “pre–post changes in brain gray matter concentration” of sixteen healthy, meditation-naïve participants who took part in the two month program. The team looked for changes in gray matter concentration compared with a control group of 17 individuals. They found increases in gray matter concentration in the left hippocampus — the posterior cingulate cortex, the temporo-parietal junction, and the cerebellum in the MBSR group compared with the controls. In other words, brain regions involved in learning and memory processes, emotion regulation, self-referential processing, and perspective taking.
From a brain training perspective this is phenomenal. At MindSparke we’ve been investigating the brain training benefits of meditation before training with Brain Fitness Pro. We’ve found that just a brief (eight minute or so) period of mindful meditation before brain training with Brain Fitness Pro’s working memory exercises increases the effectiveness of the dual n-back training by as much as 20%. Several months ago we incorporated guided meditation into the MindSparke Brain Fitness Pro SE (Special Edition) online brain training program.
I found this piece very exciting. A high school in Staten Island, NY, is piloting a brief but regular period of meditation as an experiment to see whether it improves students’ concentration and academic performance. Fascinating!
“Before, they didn’t pay attention and they felt the need to be snarky in order to show they existed and to wake up. For teachers to yell at them about these things takes time out of class and makes them feel worse about themselves,” said Susan Finley, executive director of The Producers Project, which has been filming Concord High School students for seven years. “Now, when a teacher says focus, they know they can…There’s more confidence, they’re more relaxed in their own skin, and they feel more hopeful.”
The meditation practice is coupled with education about neuroplasticity and brain science.
(Image courtesy of silive.com.)
Saw this study today related to the mental health benefits of meditation which I found interesting – here’s a key excerpt from the overview:
“Evidence to support a neuroprotective effect [of meditation] comes from cognitive, electroencephalogram (EEG), and structural neuroimaging studies. In one cross-sectional study, meditation practitioners were found to have a lower age-related decline in thickness of specific cortical regions. However, the enthusiasm must be balanced by the inconsistency and preliminary nature of existing studies as well as the fact that meditation comprises a heterogeneous group of practices.”
1: Doraiswamy PM, Xiong GL. Does Meditation Enhance Cognition and Brain Longevity? Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2007 Sep 28. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 17905931.
Emphasis mine.
