With the success of our first program in the Brain Fitness Program series, we now offer a program specifically designed to help people get the most from their senses as they age. In Brain Fitness 2: Sight and Sound, we look at the two important senses of vision and hearing, how they change throughout life, and what we can do to keep them healthy and fully functional. We know that we begin to experience decline in most cognitive functions in our 30s and 40s. As we grow older, the rate of decline increases, and the cumulative effects become more noticeable. We have increasing difficulty remembering, paying close attention, responding rapidly, performing complex tasks and our coordination and movement and many other cognitive functions that once came easily are now more difficult. But what we notice most is the difficulty hearing in a noisy place or seeing when we look at someone placed in front of a bright light, and we find that our reading slows. These are symptoms of elemental physical changes in the aging brain. The problem is more than just lapses in memory. We know that it is possible to enjoy improvement in our senses if we are willing to exercise our brain in the same way we exercise our body. This can help reduce the effects of the problems in the aging brain: (1) an increasing signal-to-noise problem in processing information collected by our senses, (2) a decline in the production of key brain chemicals and (3) a slowing in processing speed. These problems make it increasingly difficult to accurately receive, store, retrieve and manipulate information received from any of the five senses. As in our first program, over 50 neuroscientists participated in creating a system for strengthening the brain and making it perform with more agility, speed and comprehension. Brain Fitness 2: Sight and Sound is based on neuro-plasticity - the ability of the brain to change and adapt -- even rewire itself! Brain Fitness 2 looks studies how we see and how that changes through life. Frankly, we get lazy and comfortable in our lives, and that does not allow the brain to remain highly malleable or "plastic" throughout life. But, by presenting the brain with the proper stimuli, scientists can drive beneficial physical and functional change. In the past two years, this global team of scientists has developed computer-based stimulus sets (or "exercises") that drive beneficial changes in the brain. This methodology is being expanded to address auditory and visual processing and memory.
