It was an exciting week for HAPPYneuron! We launched our latest product HAPPYneuron PRO at the inaugural SharpBrains Summit this week. HAPPYneuron PRO was developed using the same evidenced based technology as www.happy-neuron.com, but with new professional features enabling physicians, therapists, and other clinical practitioners to effectively supervise cognitive remediation and rehabilitation programs with their patients.
Another highlight of the SharpBrains Summit was a talk given by Michel Noir (the CEO of our parent company Scientific Brain Training) about the remediation and rehabilitation of neurocognitive deficits. Michel outlined the requirements to insure the efficacy of cognitive training programs. In discussing our PRO product, Michel highlighted the fact that mitigating against neurocognitive deficits is being recognized as a critical dimension of preventive and clinical care and practitioners who work with people with cognitive impairment need to target patient’s problem areas with tailored solutions.
Other highlights from VIP speakers were:
- Elkhonon Goldberg (the Chief Scientific Advisor to SharpBrains) indicated that many brain fitness products have only been focusing on working memory and that it is important for companies involved in brain fitness to take a more well-rounded approach.
- Bill Reichman (a professor from the University of Toronto) discussed the need of educating people to take brain health as serious as they have taken cardiac health in the past. He indicated that people should find brain fitness programs that target executive function, concentration and attention, and memory.
- Marian Diamond (Professor of Neuroscience and Anatomy at UC Berkeley) identified what she believes to be the five keys to cognitive longevity: Diet, Exercise, Challenges, Newness, and Love. She explained that the brain can demonstrate plasticity at any age if subjected to the appropriate stimuli.
- Yaakov Stern (a professor from Columbia University) discussed the importance of cognitive reserve, which is the mind’s resilience to neuropathological damage of the brain. Yaakov stated that improving cognitive reserve may delay or reverse the effects of aging on the brain.
- Adam Gazzaley (Director of the Neuroscience Imaging Center at the University of California, San Francisco) expressed the need to evaluate cognitive interventions scientifically. As an example he pointed to the fact that, contrary to popular belief, crossword puzzles have never been shown to improve memory.