ENIAC, the first computer capable of general problem solving, consisted of 70,000 resistors, 17,468 vacuum tubes, 10,000 capacitors, 7,200 crystal diodes, 1,500 relays, and around 5 million hand-soldered joints. At 27 tons, it filled an entire room, consumed 150 kW of power and required six people to program its routines. Today, a chip of silicon the size of a grain of sand has the same computing power as ENIAC. ENIAC went into operation in 1946. In the past sixty years more and more jobs have been transformed until now almost every mode of employment involves complex information processing in some way shape or form.

In our careers, our brain has become our most valuable asset. Many of us spend our days working primarily with words and numbers, using creative problem-solving skills extensively and exerting focused mental effort. But conference calls, voicemail, e-mail and instant messages inevitably disrupt our attention, adversely affecting our ability to form memories and stimulate learning. The frenetic work environment makes it harder for us to hone the very skills we need to succeed.

Fortunately, science the culprit is once again science the savior. Neuroscientists have learned that the adult brain can grow new brain cells and change to work more effectively in response to the right kind of mental stimulation. Recent studies have even shown that we can substantially increase our thinking capacity with carefully designed brain training exercises. Once thought fixed and immutable, scientists have demonstrated that we can use such exercises to increase our fluid intelligence and general problem-solving ability.

Last year a team from the Universities of Michigan and Bern developed a novel training method to progressively improve a person’s visual and aural working-memory, positing that this would produce a transfer gain in fluid intelligence. After only nineteen days the study participants recorded gains in working-memory and fluid intelligence over more than 40% (over and above the scores of those in a control group). The potential impact on our job performance of this kind of cognitive gain is immediately apparent.

What better way to shine at work so that you can get in line for that promotion, or to prepare for a switch to a more mentally challenging and more lucrative field of work? It’s always better to think smarter than to work harder.

If you decide that you want to boost your marketability by boosting your mental agility, it’s very important that you purchase training software that will do the job. In their study, the university researchers developed a particularly effective working-memory training protocol called “dual n-back.” Dual n-back is the only training protocol rigorous enough to demonstrate these kinds of results. (In the interests of full disclosure, and to shorten your search, I should mention that I was so impressed by the research that I employ the dual n-back method in my company’s brain training program, Mind Sparke Brain Fitness Pro.)

With the economy tightening and jobs becoming more competitive, it’s a smart move to nurture and expand your most valuable asset. And with the new findings on working-memory training, we now have the perfect tool to do just that.

Although historians trace the origin of New Year’s resolutions to the ancient Babylonians, the most apt historical symbol for the tradition is probably the Roman god Janus, his two faces looking back over past events and forward to the future. Where have we come from and where would we like to go. With an exciting new leap forward in the capabilities of brain training programs over the past year, this is the perfect time to make brain exercise our New Year’s resolution.

We can improve our brain health with aerobic exercise, weight loss, and by quitting smoking, all good New Year’s resolution candidates. But brain training gives us a very direct way to stimulate brain plasticity, and improve our memory, concentration, and mental sharpness. A recent study even proved that we can increase our fluid intelligence by training our working-memory.

Although scientists had long since dismissed the idea that the adult brain could grow and change, research from the last few years overturns that theory with studies proving quite the opposite. The right conditions can cause the production of new neural nerve cells and the brain in fact proves to be remarkably adept at rewiring connections work more effectively with the right training. (The concept of brain plasticity is even being applied in new therapies for stroke victims, restoring motor capabilities that traditional therapies could not.)

The Advantages of Brain Fitness Training

Academics: Good brain training software may be one of the most effective and affordable test prep programs you can buy. Test prep typically helps you increase your test scores but won’t help you do better in school, whereas brain training can boost your attention and general problem-solving ability. And if you have a diagnosed learning dysfunction, it’s possible that a targeted brain exercise will help. Where possible, many learning specialists have begun to use brain training in preference to accommodations as a way to address a deficit directly rather than working around it.

Career: For many of us, the working day requires a good deal of focus and creative problem-solving. Our brains work best when we can dedicate time and attention to the task at hand, but the stresses and demands of the workplace often conspire to make this almost impossible. The right brain training program can help us increase our attention span and train our cognitive skills. By training our brain we can reduce work stress and perform better (something that employers tend to notice and reward).

Mental Health And Well-Being: When we reach our forties, our brains begin to decline if we don’t do anything to prevent it. But a regular schedule of brain training helps reduce memory loss, and lowers our risk of developing Alzheimer’s symptoms and dementia. Not only that, but recent studies indicate that we can combat depression through stimulating neural growth, an important aspect of an effective brain training program.

Self-Improvement: Although we would expect brain training to help us think more clearly, it’s not as well known that brain training can improve our self-esteem and even our musical aptitude. But the brain commands all aspects of thinking and emotion, even those not directly related to quantitative thinking. For those on a journey toward improved mind, body, and spirit, brain training offers a new world of possibilities.

Sticking With Your New Resolution

Unfortunately, statistics indicate that most of us won’t stick to our New Year’s resolutions. Men tend to do much better if they quantify their goals. And women can increase their chances of success by going public and by engaging their friends in the challenge. Fortunately, since many people enjoy the challenge and rewards of brain training, it can be an easier activity to stay with than some. You can measure your progress through the results of the exercises, and in many cases you can share your scores on some form of blog or social network.

If you decide to make brain training one of your New Year’s resolutions, make sure to select a brain training product that is effective and right for you. Not all brain fitness products are equally effective. Some engage us with brain teasers or games that don’t require significant focus and attention and won’t induce significant if any neural growth. Others work but cost hundreds of dollars or require a big time commitment.

Check the scientific pedigree of the training program. Does the vendor specify what the training will accomplish and what measurable gains to expect in memory or processing ability? Does the product come with a training schedule, telling you how much time to devote to the exercises and over what period?

Brain training could be the best New Year’s resolution you’ll ever make. With the right level of commitment it can bring about a big jump in mental ability and set us on the road to long-term brain health.

My experience with brain fitness software has revealed a very interesting and at first surprising connection to my level of happiness and sense of well-being. I’ve also heard this commented on regularly by other brain exercisers. The connection seems to work in two directions: If I’m feeling good, I do better at the brain exercise; and when I do the brain exercise, it makes me feel happier.

Recent scientific research would seem to shed light on both aspects of this phenomenon. Beginning with research performed by Dr. Richard Davidson at the University of Wisconsin in 2005, scientists have consistently found that the brains of those who meditate (such as Tibetan monks in Davidson’s study) function differently than normal brains. The firing of neurons is better coordinated and more intense.

On a much more limited, short term scale, this reflects my experience when I am feeling tranquil and at peace during brain training. I can improve my attention further if I close my eyes and breathe deeply between training blocks. The end result is better attention to the exercise and a greater ability to complete the training successfully. On days when I’m feeling stressed or low, my brain can’t stay focused and retaining items in working-memory is a struggle.

Another telling aspect of the research findings is that the more we practice these skills of mindful meditation, the more our brain responds.

Equally encouraging, new exploration of the mechanics of depression indicates that we can help our mood and mental health by stimulating brain growth. Researchers have found that new brain cell growth is essential for the working of antidepressants. The team from UT Southwestern Medical Center demonstrated that antidepressants stopped producing benefits without new nerve cell growth in the brain region called the dentate gyrus. And German researchers have found that stress inhibits new neural cell growth, thereby contributing to depression.

Which brings us back to brain exercise. Two activities are known to stimulate new nerve cell growth in the dentate gyrus: aerobic exercise and working-memory activation. While we’ve known for decades that aerobic exercise benefits us for many reasons, the finding that brain exercise can not only help keep us sharp but can also help keep us chipper is a welcome discovery.

However, not all brain fitness products will be equally effective in stimulating the growth of new nerve cells. Some programs engage us with brain teasers or games that don’t require significant focus and attention and won’t induce significant if any neural growth. Others may produce ideal conditions for new neural growth but cost hundreds of dollars or require a big time commitment.

If you’re looking for a brain training program, you should see what the vendor says about the training method. Is it based on hard science with proven results? Are the improvements you should expect well defined? Avoid products that make only vague or general references to these things, and those that don’t provide a schedule for the product’s use.

As with any form of exercise, brain exercise rewards in equal measure to our investment. We can’t expect to stay physically fit without breaking a sweat – so, too, a truly effective brain training program requires our attention and effort. The rewards to our mental health and happiness, however, can repay every ounce of that investment.

Henry Goddard, who popularized IQ testing in the US, perhaps did more than any other individual to convince the general public that IQ scores were static and genetically determined. Goddard even went so far as to recommend segregating those with low IQ scores from the rest of society. His thoughts and actions would have horrified Alfred Binet, the French psychologist who invented IQ testing and who firmly believed in the concept of human individuality and potential. Binet described the idea of unalterable intelligence as “brutal pessimism.”

The idea that a person’s relative intelligence was inherent and unchanging soon became conventional wisdom. But in the decades since Goddard championed the testing of immigrants as they landed at Ellis Island, a growing body of research has proven that Binet was right and Goddard was wrong. All kinds of environmental and circumstantial factors determine and modify a person’s intelligence over time.

But if IQ isn’t fixed, it follows that we must be able to do something to make ourselves smarter. Until earlier this year there had been a dearth of concrete ideas about how to successfully accomplish this.

Training Working-Memory Increases Fluid Intelligence

Last year, a Professor of Psychology at the University of Queensland, Graeme Halford, theorized that as we work on a mental task, our brain has a finite degree of processing power. It divides this processing power, Halford suggested, between managing our short term memory (known as working-memory in this application) and fluid intelligence, or problem-solving functions. The more we have to think about what we need to remember, the less we can focus on solving the problem.

A team of researchers from the Universities of Michigan and Bern picked up on Halford’s theory and took it a step further. If working-memory can be increased by training, they posited, perhaps this would lead to an increase in fluid intelligence. To test this idea, the scientists developed a task that would develop a subject’s working-memory.

To measure fluid intelligence the researchers employed questions from a standard IQ test. The study recorded significant increases in fluid intelligence in all participants compared to a control group who weren’t trained. After only 19 days of training, each participant in the trained group (as compared to the control group) improved on the fluid intelligence test by more than 40%.

When the results of this study were published in April, they garnered a lot of attention in the media and the scientific community. But the biggest reaction came from people who read about the results and wanted to try the training for themselves. (In the interests of full disclosure, my company has released a commercial version of the training. Feedback from those who’ve used the training at home have confirmed the researchers’ findings; some even taking before and after IQ tests on their own dime and recording substantial increases in IQ scores on full-scale certified tests.)

Finally then we can relegate the concept of fixed IQ to the scrap-heap of mistaken ideas. Alfred Binet would appreciate this advance, I bet, although he might wonder why it took so long for us to get here.

For a child, learning is almost effortless. By six years of age, children have a vocabulary of about 14,000 words and assimilate dozens of new words on a daily basis. In contrast, learning a new language as an adult can be a slow and laborious process. We’re so familiar with this curious and dramatic difference between the child and the adult brain that we don’t even question it. But once we understand the mechanism and reason for the difference we can use this knowledge to our advantage.

The growing brain produces large quantities of a nerve-growth protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor or BDNF. This protein activates the nucleus basalis, the brain’s center of attention and memory formation. Copious BDNF production ensures that children pay attention to everything (except their parents!) constantly absorbing new information and forming new memories and 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.

Known in the scientific community as neurogenesis and neuroplasticity the ability to rewire the brain provides the foundation for effective brain training. Effective brain training protocols use mental tasks that demand focus and reward that focus via exercises that strengthen memory, processing speed, and problem-solving ability.

The Three Pillars of Brain Training

1. Attention

To activate the nucleus basalis we must exert considerable focus and attention. This stimulates the nucleus basalis to produce acetylcholine, which in turn instructs the brain to fix the memories being formed.

2. Reward

Mental challenge and reward stimulate the production of another brain chemical – dopamine – which in turn is critical for plastic change.

3. Targeted Training

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 Practice

There are many activities that stimulate neural growth and help us stay mentally fit – studying a new language, tackling puzzles and brain teasers, learning a new skill – but while these are relevant and worthy pursuits, they’re not as targeted and effective as a carefully designed and scientifically tested brain training exercise.

In a practical application, brain training aims to produce reliable and measurable changes in brain function: Learning specialists have begun using targeted training to address and even eradicate learning disabilities; Adults in their forties, fifties and beyond now use brain training programs to help reduce or prevent memory loss as well as delay or prevent the onset of Alzheimer’s symptoms or dementia; An increasing number of school systems employ brain training so that children will learn more effectively; And across the world individuals are beginning to seize on the advantages for self-improvement promised by programs that can even increase our problem-solving ability.

Unfortunately, it can be difficult for a consumer to know which brain training products are the right products. Some products billed as ‘brain training’ programs engage the user in teasers and games that don’t have a true scientific foundation. Others may work but cost hundreds of dollars or require a big time commitment.

Before purchasing a brain training program, check the scientific pedigree of the training exercises it incorporates. Does the vendor spell out specifically what the training will accomplish, providing measurable gains in memory or processing ability? And does the product come with a training schedule, telling you how much time you should devote to the exercises and over what period you should train?

Lastly, it’s important to remain aware that even the best brain training program requires our focus and diligence – those essential elements of brain plasticity. As with physical exercise, we can’t improve if we don’t exert ourselves. But the rewards if we do so will be well worth it.