My four-year old son picks up new words and puts them to use as if they were so many pieces of Lego. Over the course of a dozen or so years, children build up a vocabulary of tens of thousands of words. A child's ability to absorb and master new information is a constant marvel. By contrast, adults would appear to be relative dullards. But the explanation for the difference between the growing brain and the adult brain yields the secret to the lifelong ability to maintain and improve brain function.

A child's brain produces large amounts of a protein known as BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor). BDNF stimulates the brain's center of attention and memory formation. For children, the copious production of BDNF means that their brains are constantly ready to take in new information and form new brain structures.

Toward the end of the critical learning period, an adolescent's brain releases even greater quantities of BDNF, shutting down this ability to effortlessly absorb and retain new information. By adulthood it is important for the brain to begin to consolidate the information it has absorbed in the formative years. Closing off the critical period prevents our brains from becoming saturated with too much information, and facilitates decision-making and long-term focus.

Until recently, scientists believed the adult brain incapable of growth or change. Prevailing wisdom resigned us to a long, slow mental decline. But recent advancements in brain science have proven that this is far from true. Activities that demand attention reactivate the brain's attention center. And when we carry out mental tasks that produce a sense of accomplishment, we create conditions under which the brain can grow and change.

When we tackle novel and rewarding activities with intense focus, our brains begin grow new nerve cells and restructure themselves to adapt to the new stimulus. The key to effective brain training is to create conditions that require attention and reward that attention while strengthening core brain functions such as memory, processing speed, focus, and overall processing capacity (problem-solving ability).

With mental focus and attention the nucleus basalis produces acetylcholine. Acetylcholine stimulates the brain's long term memory and retention.

When we feel challenged and rewarded the brain secretes dopamine (the 'happy' chemical).

Through the release of acetylcholine and dopamine, focus and mental challenge bring about the production of new neural nerve cells and changes in the brain's neural infrastructure. Cell growth and plastic change provide the capability for strengthening and improving core brain functions such as problem-solving ability, memory, and processing speed.

Brain Training In Everyday Life

All kinds of mental tasks produce some degree of neural growth, helping us stay sharp - learning a new language, solving puzzles, taking up a new career. But such incidental change isn't as directed and effective as that produced by some of the brain training exercises that scientists have designed.

A well designed brain training program improves cognitive ability using efficient and quantitatively verifiable exercises. The practical applications are many and varied: Learning specialists now work with brain training software to help reverse learning deficits; Senior centers offer brain training resources to their customers, helping to reverse memory loss and delay or prevent the onset of Alzheimer's symptoms or dementia; Schools have begun to introduce brain training as a way of optimizing children's academic study; And individuals have taken to brain training as a way to maintain and improve their mental agility, in some instances even capitalizing on the latest training programs as a way to increase fluid intelligence (problem-solving skills) - a goal once thought unattainable.

Although brain training is relatively new, there is no shortage of products on the market, and no guarantee that they will achieve the desired results. This presents us with the challenge of first identifying which product is right for us. They range in cost from less than fifty dollars to several hundred dollars, and the variance in efficacy is, if anything, even greater.

Since committing to a program requires time and money it pays to check the scientific credentials of the training. What specifically is it designed to achieve? Has its efficacy been independently tested or proven? Does the vendor specify the degree of improvement you should expect? And does training follow a prescribed timeline with set duration and milestones?

It's perhaps equally important to remember that brain training requires something from us, too. Plastic change can't be had without diligence and stamina. To use the analogy of physical fitness, we can't expect to increase our brain power without breaking a mental sweat. If we are willing to make the investment, however, the rewards will be well worth the effort.