Science FAQ

Brain Plasticity
What is neuroplasticity?
Is the concept of brain plasticity new? Is it broadly accepted in the science community?
How can understanding brain plasticity help people in the real world?
What is the relationship between brain plasticity and healthy aging of the brain?
What is required for programs to engage brain plasticity?

Cognitive Decline
What is cognitive decline?
Why do people experience cognitive decline as they age?
Why do brain processes slow down with age?
What does it mean to have a weakening of signal or input from the senses?
How does the production of neuromodulators decline, and why does it matter?
What is the net result of these changes?

The Programs
How do Posit Science programs address the issues of the aging brain?
Why does Posit Science have more than one program for brain fitness?
Should individuals use more than one Posit Science program?
What programs are Posit Science developing?

Studies and Results
How do you measure results in your science studies?
Who is measuring your results?
What scientific evidence demonstrates Posit Science programs work?
Common sense says that people have to “use it or lose it.” What makes your programs different?
How are Posit Science programs for healthy aging better than playing bridge or doing crossword puzzles?
Is it still a good use of time to do other kinds of activity to keep the brain healthy?
How many studies have been completed on your products?
What makes Posit Science products uniquely effective?
What do studies of your products show?
What are the ages and other characteristics of study participants?
What are the protocols?
What is “generalization” and has it been shown?
What is UFOV®?
Is your UFOV technology the same technology used in the ACTIVE study?
Do you plan additional randomized controlled trials on your programs?
What types of control activities have been used in trials of your technology?
Does the ACTIVE study mean that any form of cognitive training is effective?
Do studies that show that cognitively stimulating activities are associated with reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease mean that any form of cognitive stimulation is effective?

Ongoing Research
How do I contact the science team at Posit Science if I am a researcher?
How do I contact the science team at Posit Science if I am interested in participating in a study?

 

What is neuroplasticity?
Neuroplasticity, or brain plasticity, is the brain's ability to change physically creating new neural pathways and connections in response to new learning or stimuli. These physical changes can happen at any age, and go hand in hand with functional changes.

Is the concept of brain plasticity new? Is it broadly accepted in the science community?
A few decades ago, most scientists believed that the brain became “hard wired” within the first year or so of life and its structure or abilities could not be changed. One of the founders of Posit Science, Dr. Michael Merzenich, and other scientists working in this field began challenging this belief. Their research suggested that the brain was actually plastic – that it constantly remodeled itself in response to everyday events or stimuli. This adaptability or malleability of the brain has become known as neuroplasticity or brain plasticity. During the last 10 years, the neuroscience community has undergone a major shift in thinking, and there is now widespread consensus that most brain systems are highly plastic throughout life.

How can understanding brain plasticity help people in the real world?
Brain plasticity is a powerful and natural force for driving beneficial changes in the brain. As the scientific community improves its understanding of specific neurological issues, we can create training activities designed to harness the brain’s plasticity to create and reinforce neural pathways for specific results. In other words, we are pioneering a whole new way of addressing a range of conditions that we hope will include Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, schizophrenia, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and chronic pain, to name a few. Programs based on brain plasticity engage the brain’s natural learning mechanisms, and so require no invasive procedures or medication.

What is the relationship between brain plasticity and healthy aging of the brain?
Although cognitive decline is a normal part of aging, studies have shown that using the right kind of scientifically designed cognitive exercises can significantly improve cognitive abilities in adults. Posit Science programs are specially designed to stimulate a high level of mental activity in order to engage, harness and direct the brain’s plasticity. Some of the world’s leading brain experts, at our request, have looked across brain systems at what is happening on a biological and chemical basis and we have used their findings to design exercise programs to enhance performance and prevent decline.

What is required for programs to engage brain plasticity?
You can engage the brain’s natural plasticity – its ability to change in response to stimuli – if you present the right stimuli, in the right order, with the right timing. This sounds simple enough, but figuring out how is not so simple. That’s why we have teams of brain scientists from around the world working with us to design our programs. The programs need to be intensive, repetitive and progressively challenging. Only by pushing the brain to learn new skills will it build and refine neural pathways.

What is cognitive decline?
Cognitive decline — a gradual weakening of understanding, thinking and remembering— is a natural and expected part of aging. This has been confirmed by numerous studies on memory, response time, attentiveness, the ability to speak and to understand what others are saying, and even IQ. We all face a gradual loss in mental sharpness as we age. This type of decline is not the same as Alzheimer's disease, which is a pathological condition.

Why do people experience cognitive decline as they age?
Cognitive decline is driven by a number of underlying interacting changes in the brain that, together, gradually and significantly cause a decline in brain function. There are three key underlying changes in the brain that cause this decline:

1. A slowing in brain processing speed.
2. A weakening of brain signals from the senses.
3. A decrease in the production of key brain chemicals (neuromodulators).

Why do brain processes slow down with age?
Like most older machines, the brain undergoes slow physical deterioration. This is aggravated by declining use. In the early part of life, the rapid pace of learning makes continuous, powerful changes in brain machinery. However, as people get older, they often become like concert violinists who have stopped practicing. Resting on their laurels, they still play a pretty good fiddle, but a practiced ear could hear that their skills are gradually fading.

What does it mean to have a weakening of signal or input from the senses?
Several kinds of changes in people’s bodies make it difficult for their brains to represent what they hear and see as accurately as they did when they were younger. Hearing and vision rarely improve with age. In addition to the well-known declines in the function of the ear and the eye, there are declines in function in the brain systems that deal with all of the senses. As these systems decline, it becomes difficult for the brain to create crystal-clear representations of sounds and experiences–of the input from the senses. The fuzzier those representations are, the harder it is for the brain to record and store them. It is then harder to find, retrieve and manipulate them.

How does the production of neuromodulators decline, and why does it matter?
As we age, the brain’s production of neuromodulators (brain chemicals that help with learning and remembering) drops sharply. For example, studies suggest that after age 40, with each passing decade people produce an average of 13% less of the critical neuromodulator dopamine than in the previous decade. Neuromodulators – especially dopamine, acetylcholine, norepinephrine, and serotonin – are essential ingredients in the brain’s ability to learn and remember. They are released when something important happens, which signals the brain that the event should be stored and remembered rather than dismissed and forgotten.

What is the net result of these changes?
As the brain’s ability to encode the things that we hear and see slowly deteriorates, the brain adapts by slowing down the pace at which it operates. Imagine that you are out at dusk, trying hard to figure out what you see in the distance. You must look at it for a longer time than you would in the bright of day to make it out. In the same way, the brain adjusts the time that it records incoming information for longer and longer periods. It takes longer and longer for the brain’s machinery to decide what it is hearing or seeing. As a result, the brain has difficulty keeping up.

For instance, at times it can no longer follow rapid conversations, causing us to disengage from the conversation or to ask people to repeat what they said. The brain is still trying to encode the first few syllables when the talker is midway through the sentence. Storage of this unclear, fuzzy and partial signal is further weakened by low neuromodulator production. As a result, when the brain tries to remember the conversation later, it has trouble doing so.

How do Posit Science programs address the issues of the aging brain?
The breakthrough in our approach is to go after the three root problems described above that the aging brain faces. Addressing the root problems gets to the symptoms, such as memory loss and waning problem-solving and communication skills. Our extended scientific team has looked across brain systems at what is happening on a biological and chemical basis and used their findings to design exercise programs to enhance performance and prevent decline.

Our programs are designed to:

1. Increase processing speed.
2. Help improve the fidelity (the strength and clarity) with which the brain processes signals or information.
3. Stimulate the machinery in the brain that naturally produces key brain chemicals.

Why does Posit Science have more than one program for brain fitness?
The brain is probably the most complex piece of machinery in the world. It has many diverse systems with unique exercise needs. To achieve widespread brain fitness, you must work out different areas of the brain. Part of the reason that Posit Science has a 40-person Scientific Advisory Board is that they each bring their specialized expertise to the team. Some advise us on the auditory system, some the visual system, some on the neuromodulatory system, and so on.

Should individuals use more than one Posit Science program?
It’s up to you. Each Posit Science program is effective on its own. However, the programs are designed to compliment each other. If you are mostly interested in improving your ability to keep up with speech, we recommend the Brain Fitness Program. If you are interested in activities that require visual capabilities—such as driving and many sports—InSight is the best choice. We believe that doing both will amplify positive effects and help you feel as sharp as possible.

What programs arePosit Science developing?
Our scientists are working on programs for healthy aging in five broad areas: auditory processing (listening and communication), visual processing (seeing), executive function and associative processing (problem solving), motor control (hand movement) and vestibular processing (balance). Our first program—the Brain Fitness Program now available—focuses on listening and communication. Cortex with InSight, also available, focuses on visual processing.

How do you measure results in your science studies?
We are conducting studies using various neuropsychological tests and three types of brain imaging to understand the extent and nature of improvements. The neuropsychological tests explore such fields as memory, processing speed/response time, attentiveness and language fluency. Brain imaging indicates areas of increased activity in the brain. On a more human level, we expect to see people become more engaged, more communicative and happier, which are very important but softer qualities to measure.

Who is measuring your results?
In addition to conducting many of our own studies, we are collaborating with academic and government-sponsored centers to substantiate our findings. These groups include the University of California at San Francisco, the University of California at Davis, the San Francisco Veterans Administration Medical Center, the Veterans Administration of Northern California Health Care System, Stanford University, the University of Southern California, Mayo Clinic, and Yale University. We plan to continue to run studies to refine and improve our offerings and collect longitudinal data. By continuously studying results, we expect to be able to build better and better programs over time.

What scientific evidence demonstrates Posit Science programs work?
Numerous studies have shown that people who use Posit Science programs experience significant improvements in cognitive abilities. Results from some of these studies have been published in prestigious scientific journals, including Progress in Brain Research and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Read more about our results in our Studies & Results section.

Common sense says that people have to “use it or lose it.” What makes your programs different?
Every Posit Science program is created using a set of rigorous scientific design protocols known collectively as SAAGE™. The SAAGE standards incorporate the feedback of world-renowned neuroscientists and allow Posit Science programs to improve fundamental brain functions.

The acronym SAAGE stands for Speed, Accuracy, Adaptibility, Generalizability, and Engagement, but to be fully SAAGE-compliant a program must follow the rigorous, specific requirements in each of these categories.

SAAGE-based programs do not teach people memory tricks, how to perform an exercise, or other ways to compensate for deterioration in cognitive function. Instead, they target the root causes of cognitive difficulties to generate widespread improvements in cognition. People who use SAAGE-based programs see the positive changes they experience extend to standardized cognitive assessments--tests that are widely used by doctors and scientists--not just on the training program itself. Read more about SAAGE.

How are Posit Science programs for healthy aging better than playing bridge or doing crossword puzzles?
The IMPACT study—a large, controlled, randomized clinical trial--demonstrated that using the Brain Fitness Program is more effective in improving cognitive abilities than doing crosswords or other commonly recommended activities for brain fitness. Led by distinguished scientists from Mayo Clinic and the University of Southern California, the IMPACT study proved that people can make statistically significant gains in memory and processing speed if they do the right kind of scientifically designed cognitive exercises. The IMPACT study also demonstrated that the cognitive gains made by people who use Posit Science programs “generalize,” or extend, to everyday life situations. This means that if you do a lot of crossword puzzles, you will probably get very good at them. However, if you use a Posit Science program, you will find it easier to think more quickly and remember more information even when you’re not using the program. Read more about the IMPACT study.

Is it still a good use of time to do other kinds of activity to keep the brain healthy?
Actually, as scientific knowledge grows, we believe a variety of lifestyle changes will prove to be helpful in maintaining cognitive function. Everything from diet to physical exercise to hobbies will likely be helpful. We plan to help guide people in choosing ordinary activities, so that they know which ones are most likely to be beneficial. However, we also believe that our programs will play a fundamental role in maintaining and revivifying brain function, and will go beyond what ordinary activities can do.

How many studies have been completed on your products?
More than 30 studies have been published in peer-reviewed journals. Many additional studies are completed or underway and on their way to publication. Some of these studies have been conducted by our company and/or funded by our company. Many others have been funded by grants, including grants from the NIH, and conducted independently. Click here to see a list of our studies.

You may note that some of our studies pre-date Posit Science. That is because Posit Science has acquired some technologies that had been clinically validated prior the acquisition. These technologies have been carefully integrated into our products with the close collaboration of the scientists who originally developed them.

The breadth and depth of these studies differentiate Posit Science from others. No other commercially available brain fitness products for healthy aging are backed by any published studies at all. To our knowledge no products other than ours have been shown generalize to standard measures of cognitive function (memory) in healthy older adults in published randomized controlled trials.

What makes Posit Science products uniquely effective?
We invest heavily in scientific design and outcomes studies of our products to ensure we lead the field in both of these scientific undertakings. As a result, our design methodology and protocols are unsurpassed, and the body of published scientific literature specifically on our products far exceeds the support for any other products that are commercially available today. Our mission is to get proven science out of the labs and into the hands of people who can benefit.

What do studies of your products show?
Posit Science and other researchers are constantly studying a variety of outcomes measures. Clinical trials have demonstrated several benefits, and more work is constantly underway. Click here to see a list of published, completed, and ongoing studies of our products.

In brief, our programs have been demonstrated to:

• Improve processing speed and processing accuracy of the visual and auditory systems of the brain
• Generalize to standardized measures of improvements in memory and attention
• Improve performance in everyday activities as measured by Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADLs) and Timed IADLs
• Improve health-related quality of life
• Improve driving as measured by decreases in dangerous maneuvers, increases in driving frequency, conditions and distance, and road sign observations
• Reduce automotive crash risk

What are the ages and other characteristics of study participants?
The ages and characteristics of participants vary by study. Most studies are of healthy adults over age 55. Some studies include younger participants and some include participants with impairments. The characteristics of study participants can be found in each study listed here.

What are the protocols?
The protocols vary by study as the investigators seek to answer different questions in different studies. Most studies of our auditory training technology are based on 40 total hours of training over 8-10 weeks. Most studies of our visual training technology are based on 10 total hours of training over 4-10 weeks.

What is "generalization" and has it been shown?
When scientists ask about generalization, they are asking whether the beneficial effects can be seen in measures that are not directly related to the task trained. For example, if I work on my golf swing, does my tennis game improve? Generalization is important because it shows that participants can reasonably expect to improve their cognition rather than just improve at a strategy that compensates for a cognitive deficiency. For example, using mnemonic strategies can help people remember lists but does not “generalize” to improvements in other memory tasks. Using “standard measures” is important because it shows that the generalization occurs with the kinds of measures that scientists know are useful and appropriate in the study of aging.

Participants in our studies get better at the activities on which they have trained. This is not surprising as people improve at most skills at which they practice. For example, we see a 131% improvement in auditory processing speed in a recent study as measured by a test that corresponds to the training task. In the past, this has been where most studies have started and ended. People got better at the task at which they trained and it is assumed that has some value in everyday life.

One exciting aspect of our research is that we have seen generalization such that people notice differences in their everyday lives. Studies show: improvements in standardized measures of memory and attention, in standard measures of health-related quality of life, in standard measures of everyday function, and in various measures of driving ability.

What is UFOV®?
UFOV (Useful Field of View) is the area over which you can quickly and accurately see details without moving your eyes or head. This area generally gets smaller as people age. UFOV is also the name of a visual training and assessment technology that has been investigated in dozens of published studies, many funded by the National Institutes of Health. Developed by Visual Awareness Inc, the UFOV technology is proven to increase driving skill and safety and reliably predict an individual’s risk of being involved in a traffic accident.

UFOV training can also help people complete activities of daily living more quickly and accurately and help older adults maintain overall health-related quality of life. In early 2008, Posit Science acquired Visual Awareness Inc and UFOV. UFOV is incorporated into FOUR OF the FIVE exercises featured in the InSight program.

Is your UFOV technology the same technology used in the ACTIVE study?
Yes. In the ACTIVE study, the UFOV technology was called “speed of processing training.” Posit Science worked closely for more than a year with the scientists who invented the UFOV technology and participated in the ACTIVE study to integrate it into our program InSight.

Do you plan additional randomized controlled trials on your programs?
Absolutely. We run studies to validate our claims, expand the claims we’ve already validated and to advance the science in the field. We have many randomized controlled trials planned and currently underway and we support many independent researchers in this area.

What types of control activities have been used in trials of your technology?
Different control activities are used in different trials. We use control activities that ensure that the improvements that we see in individuals using our training program are specifically due to the unique SAAGE-based science of our training programs, and not, for example, due to a “placebo effect” (meaning that participants show improvements just because they believe the training program might be helpful), or due to general cognitive stimulation (which any activity might provide). Our control activities are designed to be plausibly helpful to people (so that they engage the placebo effect), and to provide cognitive stimulation through learning (so that they provide a meaningful comparison to our training program). In addition, our control activities are time-matched, computer-matched, and social-contact matched to our training programs, ensuring that these factors are not by themselves responsible for the gains we see with our training programs. For example, we have used educational DVDs with daily quizzes to test learning as a control activity, because they provide plausible benefit to participants through learning of facts, they match current doctors’ recommendations for staying cognitively active (i.e., people are often advised to “stay cognitively active” for brain fitness), participants have high engagement with this activity (resulting in a low dropout rate from the study), and they can be matched for time on a computer. Other control or comparison activities have also been used in the studies, including computer games, audio books, internet surfing, reasoning classes, and memory classes. Some studies also have been run with “no contact” controls, which are control groups who engage in no special activity during the study period but are matched to the study group and tested before and after.

Does the ACTIVE study mean that any form of cognitive training is effective?
No. The scientists who developed the training programs used in the ACTIVE study made very specific decisions regarding the specific details of those training programs. The study demonstrated that these training programs provided correspondingly specific and unique benefits. For example, only participants in the reasoning training program showed improvements on reasoning skills, and only participants in the UFOV-technology-based training program showed improvements in health-related quality of life. This means that the specific details of cognitive training programs matter—and that new cognitive training programs that are different from these three need to specifically demonstrate effectiveness in randomized controlled trials.

Do studies that show that cognitively stimulating activities are associated with reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease mean that any form of cognitive stimulation is effective?
No. Although those studies do show that individuals who engage in more cognitively stimulating activities are the same people that generally develop Alzheimer’s disease more slowly, they do not show which of those facts causes the other. In fact, many scientists believe that the very early stages of brain change that presage Alzheimer’s disease (which can not be detected with today’s technology) cause a reduction in cognitively stimulating activities—meaning that cognitively stimulating activities do not prevent Alzheimer’s disease, but rather that Alzheimer’s disease prevents cognitively stimulating activities. This “chicken and egg” question can not resolved with the study designs used to date—randomized controlled trials that follow participants for many years will have to be done to provide a conclusive answer to this question.

How do I contact the science team at Posit Science if I am a researcher?
If you are a researcher who is interested in studying Posit Science programs, please send an e-mail to sfscience@positscience.com.

How do I contact the science team at Posit Science if I am interested in participating in a study?
If you are interested in responding to a request for study participants, please send an e-mail to sfscience@positscience.com.