A key concern for those involved in EPPP preparation is staying mentally sharp. That is why we have been running series of articles on brain fitness. Our previous post, ‘Michael Merzenich and Brain Fitness’, introduced the ground-breaking work of neuroscientist Michael Merzenich, a pioneer in the field of brain fitness.
Merzenich was part of the team that received grants to develop Posit Science Corporation. The corporation uses plasticity-based science to research and develop exercises that increase cognitive functioning. Their exercises are available through their website, Posit Science, which is essentially a brain fitness gym that subscribers can access for $10 a month.
I don’t get any money for recommending this resource, but do so out of pure enthusiasm for Merzenich’s work. One of the reasons I’m so enthusiastic about it is because it has been proved to slow down, and sometimes even to reverse, the mental degeneration that often accompanies aging. In an article on the PositScience website titled ‘The Brain: Changing the adult mind through the power of plasticity’, Theresa Boyle explained about this degeneration process:
“Research by Dr. Timothy Salthouse at the University of Virginia shows that by about age 22 our ability to make rapid comparisons, remember unrelated information and detect relationships are at their maximum. Speed of thought and spatial visualization also peak around this age. Reasoning peaks a little later, at about age 28, and then typically declines, as do the other skills.”
What we now know is that this decline is not inevitable and can be averted by treating the brain like a muscle: the more you train it, the stronger it will become.
This has enormous for those studying to sit the EPPP and dovetails with observations we made in our previous post ‘Be Careful How You Train Your Brain.’
Further Reading