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The Seductive Lure of Online Brain Games

January 8, 2016 by Joycelyn Campbell Leave a Comment

You may have heard that Lumosity has agreed to settle with the Federal Trade Commission to the tune of $2 million in response to charges of deceptive advertising:

The FTC alleges that the defendants claimed training with Lumosity would 1) improve performance on everyday tasks, in school, at work, and in athletics; 2) delay age-related cognitive decline and protect against mild cognitive impairment, dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease; and 3) reduce cognitive impairment associated with health conditions, including stroke, traumatic brain injury, PTSD, ADHD, the side effects of chemotherapy, and Turner syndrome, and that scientific studies proved these benefits.

This didn’t surprise me since I’ve been following various researchers’ attempts to substantiate the many claims made by such companies. I was also aware that in 2014, a group of 70 cognitive scientists and neuroscientists issued a statement warning consumers of the hype over brain games:

We object to the claim that brain games offer consumers a scientifically grounded avenue to reduce or reverse cognitive decline when there is no compelling scientific evidence to date that they do. The promise of a magic bullet detracts from the best evidence to date, which is that cognitive health in old age reflects the long-term effects of healthy, engaged lifestyles. In the judgment of the signatories below, exaggerated and misleading claims exploit the anxieties of older adults about impending cognitive decline. We encourage continued careful research and validation in this field.

A large percentage of the population is concerned about cognitive decline. And they’re willing to pay for what appears to be an easy and even enjoyable quick fix. Quick fixes have become increasingly desirable in the internet age, so the concept of using your electronic device to play games devised by someone else to keep your brain in top form is brilliant marketing, if nothing else. It’s a mini, no-stress, workout for your brain.

The jury is still out as to whether brain games offer any long-term effectiveness. One thing that is known is that improving your performance in a particular game leads to improved performance in that particular game. In that regard, computerized games are no different from playing Scrabble or working crossword or Sudoku puzzles. The more crossword puzzles you work, the better you get at working crossword puzzles. The more Sudoku puzzles you complete, the easier the “challenging” puzzles become. That’s just how the brain works. The more often you attempt any task, the quicker and easier it is to do it. Practice may not make perfect but it definitely makes better.

According to David Z. Hambrick, associate professor of psychology at Michigan State University:

[I]f you find that people get better in one test of reasoning, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re smart; it means they’re better on one test of reasoning.

In fact, there’s some indication that just playing video games is better than so-called brain games at improving short-term memory capacity and reasoning.

If you like the experience of playing—and getting better at—computerized brain games (and paying for the pleasure), then go ahead and continue doing it. But computerized brain games are unlikely to have any far-reaching or long-term effects on your cognitive abilities.

And, as an article in Scientific American points out, they take up time that could be put to better use. I’ve been saying for some time now that the two things you can do to grow new neurons and increase the number of synaptic connections in your brain (thus expanding your mental model and your cognitive abilities) are:

Move! Engage in physical exercise.
Learn! Study something new and challenging.

That’s it. Do those two things every day and you will not only be doing something effective to forestall cognitive decline, you will also become healthier and potentially even higher-functioning than you already are.

2016: The Year of Clearing Space?

January 1, 2016 by Joycelyn Campbell 2 Comments

You can’t reach for the stars by climbing that mountain of clutter.

That’s what I wrote two years ago (2014: Time to Start Shoveling?) and I stand by it today. There are plenty of obstacles you’ll encounter in your life that you have no control over.

Clutter is a major obstacle, but it’s one you can do something about.

In fact successfully dealing with clutter, if it’s an issue for you, can actually boost your ability to deal with those other obstacles.

Not sure if clutter’s an issue? Here are some questions to ask yourself.

How much stuff are you holding onto because you might need it someday?
How much stuff are you holding onto because it has financial value or “might be” valuable?
How much stuff are you holding onto because it has sentimental value? Just how much of your past are you curating?
How much stuff are you holding onto simply because it’s already there?
How much stuff might you be holding onto that you don’t even know you have?
How many items of clothing or pairs of shoes do you have that you no longer wear—or that don’t even belong to you?
How many drawers, cabinets, closets, countertops, and shelves are so full you can’t fit anything else in or on them?
How much work do you have to do before you can clean your living or work space?
How much time do you spend looking for things?
Have you ever failed to respond to something in a timely manner because you lost track of the paperwork?
How much of your stuff needs to be repaired, refinished, repurposed, or recycled?
How often do you notice something in your living or work space and think “I really need to do something about that”?
Have you ever panicked at the thought of someone coming into your home and seeing the mess?
Conversely, have you ever said, “You think your place is bad, you should see mine”?
How many times have you gotten everything in one area completely tidy and organized only to find the clutter slowly creeping back months, weeks, or even days later?

My interest in clutter and having too much stuff (the two often go together) is related to the effect hey have on the brain. Clutter tends to snag your attention on a regular basis and in dozens of different ways. You don’t have an unlimited amount of System 2 (conscious) attention. How much of it are you letting your stuff siphon off? Wouldn’t you rather use your System 2 attention for something more productive or at least more interesting?

Having so much stuff that every space or place is filled or overflowing can have another dampening effect by keeping you stuck instead of allowing you to move on and explore other interests. Have you ever decided not to take up a new hobby, for example, because you have no space for the materials or the activity due to the fact that you’re storing a bunch of stuff you no longer use?

Clutter falls into different categories: physical/material, mental, emotional, and the hodgepodge of things left undone and/or not being attended to. But all of it has the same effect. So whatever it is:

Clean it out
Fix it
Address it
Replace it
Finish it
Toss it out

The best thing you can do for yourself in 2016 is to make it The Year of Clearing Space. You have no idea what you’ll be able to see once you get all that clutter out of your way.

Power Up:
Fake It till You Become It

December 25, 2015 by Joycelyn Campbell Leave a Comment

It’s difficult to make the kind of difference you want to make—in the world, in your immediate sphere, or even in your own life—if you lack the power to do so.

When stated directly, it seems obvious, doesn’t it? Yet, so many people who want to make a difference, or who just want to be effective, shy away from the very idea of power. Quite a few of them are women, but not a hundred percent of them.

What struck me the most during my collaborative group’s follow-up discussion on the subject of power this week was the extent of the mixed feelings that were expressed about being powerful. After listening to the comments and then doing a bit of research, I’ve concluded there’s a widespread tendency to conflate power itself with the use—and especially the misuse and abuse—of power. But power and the use of power are not at all the same thing. So this is likely the result of the unconscious part of the brain (System 1) taking one of its shortcuts, thereby sacrificing accuracy for speed.

Power is like water. Water is essential for life on this planet. A person usually can’t go for longer than three days without water, for example, and annual rainfall is critical for crops. Having enough water to sustain life is good. But tsunamis, tidal waves, floods, and hurricanes are not good. So both too little water and too much water can lead to negative, sometimes devastating, consequences. And when water is coming out of a firehose that’s being used to put out a fire, it’s good. But when water is coming out of a firehose that’s aimed directly at you, it’s bad.

Similarly, power unchecked is often power that’s misused or abused. But power kept too much in check is useless. If you want to be effective, you need to be powerful. In fact, a good working definition of power is: the ability or capacity to act or do something effectively. I can’t imagine there’s anyone reading this who wouldn’t be happy to be more effective.

Besides, powerful people tend not only to be more assertive and confident, but also more optimistic. And they tend to be better at abstract thinking.

If you don’t feel powerful or you’re making a concerted effort to avoid giving the impression of being powerful, you may unwittingly be expressing your powerlessness (which is probably not your intention). That’s because our bodies give us away. Whether subtle or readily apparent, nonverbal communication has a profound effect not just on the person or persons who might be observing us, but also—and most importantly—on us.

Posing for Power

Research by social psychologist Amy Cuddy reveals that sitting or standing in what she calls “low-power” poses can decrease your testosterone level by about 10 percent and increase your cortisol level by about 15 percent. Lower testosterone and higher cortisol will alter the way you feel about yourself—and not in a good way.

On the other hand, sitting or standing in “high-power” poses can increase your testosterone level by about 20 percent and decrease your cortisol level by about 25 percent. In effect, more power = less stress, which makes sense. [Please note that if you’re female, your testosterone level will not rise to the same level of a male. It will increase as a percentage of your own baseline level.]

You don’t have to go out and strut your stuff in front of the world every day. That isn’t even a good idea. What matters is whether or not you perceive yourself to be a powerful (effective) person. And you can increase your self-perception by altering your levels of testosterone and cortisol, which in turn will affect the amount of confidence you have in yourself, which is what others will then perceive.

Pick one of the high-power poses and stand or sit in it for two minutes. That’s it. If you’ve been ambivalent about experiencing and/or expressing power, you may find adopting one of these poses awkward or even uncomfortable. You may think it’s silly. Do it anyway. There are things you want to do in the world and for yourself. You’re up to something. If you want to be effective, if you want to able to translate your intentions into reality, you need to empower, rather than disempower, yourself.

Distractibility, Procrastination, and Focus: Look, a Bird!

December 4, 2015 by Joycelyn Campbell Leave a Comment

Everyone procrastinates at one time or another. Two big contributing factors to procrastination are straightforward: low self-confidence and the aversiveness of tasks. If we doubt our ability to complete a chore and find it as exciting as watching concrete set, we are more likely to put it off. It is no wonder that calculating our taxes, which is both difficult and boring, is famous for making procrastinators out of almost all of us. However, not everyone is a habitual procrastinator.

Procrastination is a characteristic often associated with perfectionism, as if perfectionism is a direct and quantifiable cause of procrastination. But it turns out that perfectionists actually tend to procrastinate less than other people do, which makes sense when you think about it.

Anxiety is another tendency that is frequently associated with procrastination. However:

According to analysis of about a hundred studies involving tens of thousands of participants, anxiety produces a negligible amount of procrastination at best—and even that tiny amount disappears completely after you take into account other personality characteristics, especially impulsiveness. –Piers Steel, Ph.D., author of The Procrastination Equation

This research suggests that the anxiety people feel when a deadline is staring them in the face and they aren’t sure they can meet it is the result of having procrastinated.

According to Piers Steel, it’s impulsiveness that is “the nickel-iron core” of procrastination:

[I]mpulsiveness creates procrastination because it makes small but immediate temptations, like playing Minesweeper or updating your social network status, especially attractive. The reward might be small but the delay is virtually nonexistent. On the flip side, large but distant rewards, like graduating or saving for retirement, aren’t valued much at all. Despite their importance, these long-term goals don’t motivate us until the march of time itself eventually transforms them into short-term consequences. Only in those final hours do we frantically try to catch up on what we really should have addressed long before. The more impulsive you are, the closer to deadlines you need to be before you’ll feel fully motivated.

I understand what he’s saying about impulsiveness, but I wonder if distractibility—which means to turn away from the original focus of attention or interest—might not be a more apt term for this than impulsiveness—which means to act suddenly on impulse without reflection.

Focus

A distraction is something that keeps us from giving 100% of our attention to what we’re doing or attempting to do right now. By diverting our attention, it dims our focus. Being distracted isn’t the same as choosing to take a break. Allowing ourselves to be distracted is rarely a conscious choice.

The path to anywhere is booby-trapped with an unrelenting blitzkrieg of tempting distractions so magnificent and horrible—and insistent—they may even invade our dreams.

These distractions tempt us because they include:

things we’re naturally interested in
things we’re convinced we need to know (every single thing there is to know) about
things we have to be on top of or take care of
things we suddenly remember we forgot to do
things that are simply so compelling we can’t not be distracted by them
things that take our minds off whatever we’re doing that we don’t want to be doing
things that seem better (more interesting, easier, or maybe just newer) than whatever we’re doing now

The internet is a major—and obvious—source of distraction, but it is an amateur compared to the source of distraction inside our own heads.

Attention is notoriously difficult to keep focused. One reason is that conscious attention requires, well, consciousness, and conscious (System 2) attention is a limited resource that can’t be easily or quickly renewed. It definitely can’t be renewed on command. If we squander it early in the day, we may not have enough left for another task that requires it later on. And squander it we do, on all kinds of things that are not worth actually thinking about.

When it comes to maintaining focus on a long-term goal—keeping our eyes on a distant prize—we often trip ourselves up at the outset by not accounting for the inevitable flagging of conscious attention. All evidence to the contrary, we’re convinced we will maintain the same level of enthusiasm and focus through the entire extent of a project that we had at the beginning of it. We count on our interest and enthusiasm to carry us through. It can’t and it won’t.

The sane thing to do, then, would be to assume that our interest, enthusiasm, and attention are going to flag and to create a plan that doesn’t rely solely on will power, self-discipline, enthusiasm, interest, or anything else that comes and goes.

Use Your Brain

If you want to use your brain to help maintain your focus, one thing you can do is set up checkpoints along the path to monitor your progress and to reward yourself for your achievements. The hits of dopamine your brain releases when you reward yourself will not only make you feel good, they will also activate emotional and learning circuits to increase the likelihood you will remember what you did and will want to do it again. As you get closer to reaching your goal, your brain will actually increase the amount of dopamine it releases each time you pass another checkpoint.

Achieving a distant goal—which could mean two months, two years, or two decades from now—requires detailed planning in order to get your brain to get with the program. Imagining the outcome—so you know what you’re aiming for—is important. But if you don’t identify all the steps it will take to get to the finish line and claim the prize, your brain will not be on board. Your brain, in fact, will be looking to board any passing train it catches sight of, and it will be taking you right along with it.

Just as everyone procrastinates from time to time, anyone can become distracted. The trick is to not allow chasing squirrels to become a habit.

How much do you procrastinate? Here’s a link to a procrastination survey you can complete. It might be an interesting distraction.

Light Up Your Brain with Gratitude

November 27, 2015 by Joycelyn Campbell Leave a Comment

Thanksgiving is the one day a year we set aside to reflect on the people and the things we’re grateful for. At least that’s the idea. The reality of feast, family, friends, fun, and football isn’t entirely off the mark. All those warm, festive feelings are good for us and good for each other. At least they have the potential for keeping us out of trouble. But the giving thanks part of Thanksgiving can easily fall by the wayside, especially in light of another characteristic of the holiday: frenzy.

Yes, it’s nice to have a day that’s focused on people getting along, eating good food together, and thinking about what we’re grateful for. But it’s hard to stuff a year’s worth of gratitude into a single day. Gratitude is more powerful and more effective when undertaken as a regular practice than when treated as an annual event.

Multiple studies confirm that gratitude can improve your health, happiness, and wellbeing. Among other things, a regular gratitude practice can help you:

Sleep better and longer
Exercise more
Be more optimistic
Decrease aches and pains
Lower anxiety and depression
Increase resilience

How? Well, researchers at the National Institute of Health (NIH) observed that people who felt gratitude had higher activity in the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus is an area of the brain responsible for controlling such bodily functions as eating, drinking, and sleeping, as well as influencing stress levels and metabolism.

Gratitude also activates the neurotransmitter dopamine, which is involved in the brain’s reward system. The release of dopamine fills us with a feeling of pleasure. It’s the reward we get for the behavior we just engaged in. The purpose of the brain’s reward system is to help ensure that we learn—and remember—behaviors that enhance our chances of remaining alive. That’s why so many of the things we naturally find rewarding are related to food and reproduction. In addition to food and sex, lots of things trigger the release of dopamine, including social interactions, generosity, and—as it turns out—gratitude.

Dopamine plays a role in:

Movement
Memory
Behavior and cognition
Attention and alertness
Motivation
Sleep
Mood
Learning

It’s part of a brain circuit called the mesolimbic pathway, which connects behaviors to feelings of pleasure, resulting in the formation of habits. When dopamine is released, emotional and learning circuits are activated to increase the likelihood we will remember what we did so we can repeat the behavior. The hit of dopamine we get from feeling grateful engages our brain in what neuroscience researcher Alex Korb calls “a virtuous cycle.” Once we begin practicing gratitude, our brain actively looks for things to be grateful for. How cool is that?

Find a Gratitude Practice that Works for You

There are several different ways to practice gratitude. You can choose one, mix and match, or modify one or more to suit yourself. The keyword is “practice,” which means doing it on a regular basis.

Gratitude Journal: Keep a gratitude journal in which to record things you experience that you’re grateful for. You can do it by hand, on a computer, or with an app.

Gratitude List: Think of—or record—one or more things you’re grateful for, either every day or once a week. Interestingly, there’s evidence that doing this weekly is more effective than doing it daily.

Expressing Gratitude: Create a daily practice of conveying your gratitude to other people—friends, family, co-workers, service people, even strangers—verbally or in writing.

Gratitude Meditation: Begin your meditation by acknowledging what you are grateful for in the present moment.

At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us. —Albert Schweitzer

Gratitude is an appreciation for what is meaningful and valuable to us. Simply experiencing feelings of gratitude can enhance our wellbeing by changing our brain. But since we’re social animals, it makes sense that sharing those feelings by expressing our gratitude whenever possible is even more rewarding.

Posing for Power

Focus

Use Your Brain

Find a Gratitude Practice that Works for You

Contact Me