This is what James May has to say about it!:

“This DVD has been designed for you and your family to enjoy. But not only to enjoy. The whole point of this programme – the real reason I’m here…is to make you cleverer.

The theory is really very simple, the more you train your brain the fitter it will become. Think of me as a kind of training instructor, for your noggin.

The good news about this type of work out is that I don’t have to don spandex shorts and a toweling head band. Test your memory, numeracy and literacy skills, as well as logic, spatial awareness and other impressive brain type sounding things!”

This DVD also includes a fully verified nationally calibrated IQ test.

Let us know what you think by commenting below.

To buy James May’s Amazing Brain Trainer click here.

Mental agility expert Tim Forrester from brain training website Cannyminds.com said: “Our brains require 0.1 calories every minute simply to survive.  When we do something challenging such as a puzzle or a quiz we burn through 1.5 calories every minute.”

Snacks you can enjoy which have the same calories as an hour’s brain workout include:

• A chocolate chip cookie = 56 calories
• A jammy dodger = 85 calories
• A custard cream = 57 calories
• A chocolate hobnob = 79 calories

But if you carried on for two hours with a puzzle you could enjoy:

• A pack of Hula Hoops = 175 calories
• A bag of maltesers = 186 calories
• A crème egg = 173 calories
• A bag of jelly babies = 180 calories

If you take time out in the evening with a quiz or crossword, you can enjoy:

• A pint of bitter = 182 calories
• A 120ml glass of white wine = 89 calories
• A Glass of champagne = 89 calories

The brain is made up of millions of neurons which communicate with other neurons and transmit messages to and from body tissues. Neurons produce chemicals called neurotransmitters to relay their signals. To produce neurotransmitters, neurons extract 75% of the sugar glucose, available calories and 20% of the oxygen from the blood. So undertaking activity such as difficult crosswords or challenging sudokus means your brain will need more glucose.

Eight-time World Memory Champion and Canny Minds Memory Expert Dominic O’Brien said: “Just as you need to continually exercise your body to stay fit and healthy you also need to exercise your brain and memory to remain mentally agile.” 

www.Cannyminds.com is the UK’s leading online brain training portal with books, DVDs, audio books, games and puzzles for all ages.  As well as an online shop it also offers independent articles and advice along with an interactive games room which includes puzzles and quizzes developed by Mensa puzzle editor Philip Carter.

Photo courtesy of PetitPlat by sk

This story has been covered on:

• SKY News
• Daily Telegraph
• Daily Express
• Daily Mail

It’s easy to forget things if memories are not retained by linking them to what you already know or reviewing them several times. Memories are formed by electrical signals making connections between nerve cells so that they form a network. It’s possible to improve your memory using special techniques that strengthen this network, making it easier to recall things that would otherwise be difficult to remember.

Top tips to improve your memory:

Pay attention
Memory is made up of three sections – sensory, short-term and long-term. All the data gathered from your senses enters the sensory memory – from here any information that’s ignored is thrown out, whilst information that you pay attention to passes on into the short-term memory. You can’t remember something that you never even knew, so if you don’t pay attention, information will never enter your short-term memory. If you want to improve your memory and take in information, it is vital to concentrate and not allow yourself to be distracted.
Chunking
Some of the things you try to memorise mean nothing to you – they may be isolated facts or strings of numbers. Short-term memory has a limit of about five items, so dividing up long sequences of data into more easily remembered “chunks” helps you to remember them. This is the way that most people remember telephone numbers.
Make associations
Making links between objects – called association – can help improve your memory. You can make associations that match numbers to pictures, organise words into groups or link a person with an image so that you never forget a name – anything that makes it easier for you to remember. One way to memorise a list is to visualise a journey that you often take. Link each landmark on the journey with an item on your list – the stranger the result, the easier it is to remember! Then go through the journey in your head to remember the items.
Mnemonics
Another trick for remembering a set of words is to use their first letters to make up a sentence or mnemonic. For example, “map vipers eat many jungle snacks using nails” gives you the sequence of the planets – Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune. It’s a ridiculous sentence, but these are sometimes the most memorable.

For more tips on how to improve your memory, plus loads of other brain training techniques and insight, check out ‘Train your Brain to be a Genius’. Find out how your amazing brain works and explore the incredible potential of your mind. Put your grey matter to the test with puzzles, games and optical illusions to fine-tune your brainy bits.

The article was supplied by Dorling Kindersley, who are publishers of the new children’s book ‘Train your Brain to be a Genius’

To buy this product from the Canny Minds shop click here

A host of celebrities have kicked off the experiment on the BBC science series Bang Goes the Theory.

People are being asked to take part in regular memory and reasoning tests to see if they can boost brain function.

Dementia experts believe such computer tests could help ward off and slow the development of the disease.

But, to date, evidence has been mixed on the effectiveness of so-called brain training.

Dementia is caused by the mass loss of cells in the brain, and some believe one way to guard against it is to build up as many connections between cells as possible by being mentally active throughout life.

The theory has prompted several firms to market brain training programmes, but a recent investigation by consumer group Which? found only “weak” evidence they worked.

However, King’s College London research has shown that keeping the mind active though things such as work or computer use, especially later in life, could help.

The BBC now wants to put brain training to the test by asking the British public to take part in the nine-month study, Brain Test Britain.

Participants will carry out 10-minute online brain training exercises three times a week for at least six weeks. Before and after the study they will be tested to see if they have improved brain function.

The trial will be launched on the BBC One show by radio presenter Evan Davis and celebrities including Richard McCourt, of Dick and Dom, and TV astrologer Russell Grant.

See www.bbc.co.uk for more details.

Photo courtesy of snowblink

For decades psychologists, teachers and employers have relied on IQ testing to assess people’s learning potential. The tests measure problem-solving ability and a person’s capacity for abstract reasoning.  Now, however, scientists are suggesting that short-term or working memory is a better and simpler measure of the skills modern youngsters will need in school and in their eventual careers.

Tracy Alloway, director of the centre for memory and learning at Stirling University, is to release the latest research suggesting that tests of children’s working memory helped predict their grades more accurately than IQ tests.
“Working memory measures our ability to process and remember short-term information. It’s about how well we juggle different thoughts and tasks,” she said.

“There is a great deal of variation between different individuals and it is becoming clear that it is a much better way of predicting academic attainment.”

Such findings are likely to prove controversial, especially as Alloway claims that testing working memory also avoids the cultural bias built into IQ tests.

Such bias has been blamed, for example, for the way different racial groups achieve significant variations in their average scores.

In her latest research Alloway gave working memory and IQ tests to 98 children aged 4.3 to 5.7 years in full-time preschool education.

Recently, six years on, she revisited the children, now aged 10 and 11, asking them to take a battery of tests to measure working memory and IQ.

She said:

“Critically, we find that working memory at the start of formal education is a more powerful predictor of subsequent academic success than IQ.”

Alloway’s research is due to be published in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology.

Some link psychology’s new focus on short-term memory with the rise of the internet and other electronic databases which makes the ability to juggle facts and figures more important than remembering them for long periods.

Alloway believes there are other factors at work too. “Working memory assesses people’s ability to process information and keep track of complex tasks, so it is relevant to many aspects of modern lifestyles,” she said.
Other psychologists believe IQ tests still have a lot to offer. Robert Logie, professor of human cognitive neuroscience at Edinburgh University and an expert in working memory, said measuring IQ gave a far more complete view of a person’s all-round mental abilities.

He said: “There are many aspects to intelligence, and working memory is important but it is far from being the whole story.”

James Flynn, a New Zealand psychologist, has found that the IQ scores of populations in developed countries have been rising by three points a decade for the past century.

By Jonathan Leake, Sunday Times, 16th August 2009

Click here to buy Memory & Brain Training books from the Canny Minds shop

Photo courtesy of alles schlumpfs