Are We Getting Smarter?
Mike Merzenich, neuroscientist, entrepreneur and one of the founders of the FastForward for Language system for dyslexia has been interviewed by News.com. The article, Are We Getting Smarter or Dumber? One of the key areas he talks about is brain plasticity: [FastForward for Language] have been training 70-to-90 year-olds to be more accurate aural-language receivers and language users. After 40 hours or so of training, the average trainee’s cognitive abilities are rejuvenated by about 10 years, i.e., their performance on a cognitive assessment battery is like those of an average person who is 10 years younger. Many individuals improve by 20 or 30 or more years in ability. Similar before-vs.-after effects have been recorded using basic cognitive measures in kids.
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